Cash only shops

Ally Dick

The question I have is, are they fiddling their taxes, or laundering money? There is a Chinese takeaway, and a laundrette where I live...both cash only. I've seen hairdressers and beauty salons which are the same as well

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

The former, definitely. The latter, possible but not as likely.

BuboBubo

Are the card machines expensive? I've been given that excuse in shops a few times.

Melania Frump

I was on holidays recently and was offered discount on cash sale but none on card. Obviously tax dodge.

Tippsman

Make CASH great again.

Darc19

BuboBubo wrote: »

Are the card machines expensive? I've been given that excuse in shops a few times.

€20/month and the charge for debit cards is cheaper than the charge for lodging cash in a bank.

Credit card charge is less than 1%

No excuse these days.

Pauliedragon

Your not Irish unless you fiddle your tax. Half the people I know do foxers every Saturday and then come 5pm they sit in the pub watching the match complaining to the barman about how the foreigners are ruining the country. Declare your foxers to revenue then complain about the Immigrants taking your money.

Nigel Fairservice

There's an old style convenience shop across the road from my office that doesn't take card. It is surrounded by offices and a few tech companies. I can only imagine the sales they're missing out on. I rarely have cash so don't bother going in. I go to the other shop (a similar old style shop) a minute away that takes card and buy what I need there.

Richard Hillman

My local Chinese is cash only. I like to order first then pop around to the shops and the ATM but it's a dangerous game because if the ATM is down, you're a bit screwed.

Your Face

You pay now.

blueshade

There's a massive problem with people being trafficked from China and Vietnam, especially to work in beauty salons etc. I notice a place that opened recently where even the men are doing nails and all the staff are wearing those surgical masks while on the premises. I do wonder if the staff have been trafficked and it businesses are cash only it might be to keep a lid on the trafficking. It's up to the owners as to what they lodge in the bank and if it's all that's going through the till. What about all these kebab/fast food shops too?

Church on Tuesday

Tippsman wrote: »

Make CASH great again.

She seems to be doing fine.

Eggs For Dinner

Darc19 wrote:

Credit card charge is less than 1%

1% is a significant margin when running a business

branie2

Tippsman wrote: »

Make CASH great again.

Johnny Cash

the beer revolu

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

1% is a significant margin when running a business

The point was that it isn't free to lodge cash.
You will also be charged for bags of coins as needed.

McCrack

I think it's common enough in small shops/butchers etc in towns not to accept card.. The old school businesses

CFlat

Chinese in a town where I work also cash only. First time I used it, rang ahead, ordered, arrived in to pay with card, sorry cash only. Running around like a fool trying to find a cash machine. Never used them again.

So much for aiming for a cashless society.

Ally Dick

So if the revenue inspected these places, what would the excuses be? Sorry, not earning enough to pay or charge VAT? That won't wash. I know a tyre place that had a sign up for years claiming that their card machine was out of order. Eventually the revenue shut them down

Yurt2

Ally Dick wrote: »

So if the revenue inspected these places, what would the excuses be? Sorry, not earning enough to pay or charge VAT? That won't wash. I know a tyre place that had a sign up for years claiming that their card machine was out of order. Eventually the revenue shut them down

I've heard that certain ethnic restaurants are a favourite target of inspections for Revenue; almost always churns up a juicy tax settlement for the exchequer.

Effects

CFlat wrote: »

Chinese in a town where I work also cash only. First time I used it, rang ahead, ordered, arrived in to pay with card, sorry cash only. Running around like a fool trying to find a cash machine. Never used them again.

When you rang ahead, why didn't you confirm whether they took card or not?

bodhrandude

In my corner shop if you use your debit card you have to buy ten euro worth goods first so I always remember to have cash for that place.

StupidLikeAFox

Eggs For Dinner wrote: »

1% is a significant margin when running a business

At this stage it's a small price compared to sales you are losing out on

cj maxx

I tend to use card for everything bar a bar of chocolate or something.
The only places I know of that don't take card are hairdressers. Usually a single hairdresser, cash in hand business

AulWan

Any small business can now get a card reader quite cheaply but the problem with that is it leaves a trail for tax purposes. The only reason for being cash only is avoiding tax.

A friend of mine who has her own small business providing beauty services was told by her accountant not to take card payments for this very purpose.

Jimbob1977

The merchant (shop) will pay card fees on every transaction.

In some cases, it will be a flat unit fee - like €0.15.

In other cases, it will be based on the value of a transaction, say 1.75%.

The key determining factor is the type of card (debit or credit) and the reputation of the merchant (small player or big company). There is an assessment fee, an interchange fee and the margin taken by the acquirer (Elavon etc).

As an example, a €10 chip shop takeaway could cost anywhere between €0.15 and €0.18. That's quite significant as it is coming out of their pocket.

The advantage is that they don't have the security risk of a tonne of cash in the till.

Montage of Feck

A cashless society is a scary thought if you value human rights.

Ally Dick

Beggars on the street will be dreading the day we go cash only

colm_mcm

Ally Dick wrote: »

Beggars on the street will be dreading the day we go cash only

Try again

suicide_circus

i would say there is a ferocious amount of shenanigans going on with asian restaurants, salons, phone shops etc. both in terms of tax and people trafficking

fritzelly

bodhrandude wrote: »

In my corner shop if you use your debit card you have to buy ten euro worth goods first so I always remember to have cash for that place.

They're breaking MC/Visa's terms of use - you are not supposed to impose a minimum spend

Even if I have enough cash on me, I’d leave the items and go to the next shop if they didn’t offer card services.

fritzelly

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Even if I have enough cash on me, I’d leave the items and go to the next shop if they didn’t offer card services.

Me too, only back from Spain and didn't use cash at all. Every bar and shop took the card regardless if it was only a few Euro
With the banking costs it doesn't make sense to not accept card and say have to spend so much first (other than for the reasons already alluded to)

Sleeper12

Bank fees can be higher with card payments than cash in the real world.

Obviously if you look at bank fees it will show that cash is more expensive to lodge than card payments. For a lot of businesses cash is cheaper. My local chipper takes no cards or cheques. Suppliers & staff get paid in cash. This does not mean that something dodgy is going on. It makes sense to pay everyone in cash. The chippy pays no bank fees on this cash at all. Any cash that needs to go into the bank will go into a savings account with free banking and transferred in one large sum into the business account. They could transfer let's say 5k and only pay one transfer fee. This is obviously much cheaper than paying a fee for each card transaction and renting a card machine.

For many businesses cash is cheaper than cards

Still waters

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Your not Irish unless you fiddle your tax. Half the people I know do foxers every Saturday and then come 5pm they sit in the pub watching the match complaining to the barman about how the foreigners are ruining the country. Declare your foxers to revenue then complain about the Immigrants taking your money.

Anecdotes make the best stories

FAET

Ally Dick wrote: »

The question I have is, are they fiddling their taxes, or laundering money? There is a Chinese takeaway, and a laundrette where I live...both cash only. I've seen hairdressers and beauty salons which are the same as well

It is an attempt to fiddle taxes; including payroll taxes (whether worker illegal or not), which is bad for everyone (except possibly the "employer").

Money laundering wouldn't be dependent on whether or not they except card.

Pauliedragon

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Your not Irish unless you fiddle your tax. Half the people I know do foxers every Saturday and then come 5pm they sit in the pub watching the match complaining to the barman about how the foreigners are ruining the country. Declare your foxers to revenue then complain about the Immigrants taking your money.

What is a foxer? Is that another name for a nixer?

Sleeper12

BuboBubo wrote:

Are the card machines expensive? I've been given that excuse in shops a few times.

Yes they can be. 20 euros rental for the machine plus a percentage of the transaction. Transaction reverse /refund cost 3 euro even if the refund is 50 cent.

LeBash

I still pay with cash for 90% of what I buy. It's never been turned down once, the battery doesnt run out on it and the chip and pin has never been unreadable on it.

Ally Dick

Ally Dick wrote: »

So if the revenue inspected these places, what would the excuses be? Sorry, not earning enough to pay or charge VAT? That won't wash. I know a tyre place that had a sign up for years claiming that their card machine was out of order. Eventually the revenue shut them down

One can pay & charge VAT without having a card machine.

Still waters

Ally Dick wrote: »

So if the revenue inspected these places, what would the excuses be? Sorry, not earning enough to pay or charge VAT? That won't wash. I know a tyre place that had a sign up for years claiming that their card machine was out of order. Eventually the revenue shut them down

Cash is legal tender, if a business makes a decision to take only cash that's their choice, revenue may kick up a fuss but there's not a lot they can do

weldoninhio

Pauliedragon wrote: »

Your not Irish unless you fiddle your tax. Half the people I know do foxers every Saturday and then come 5pm they sit in the pub watching the match complaining to the barman about how the foreigners are ruining the country. Declare your foxers to revenue then complain about the Immigrants taking your money.

WTF is a foxer??

weldoninhio

bodhrandude wrote: »

In my corner shop if you use your debit card you have to buy ten euro worth goods first so I always remember to have cash for that place.

That’s against the T&Cs of having the machine. Contact their bank. They cannot have a minimum charge.

colm_mcm

weldoninhio wrote: »

WTF is a foxer??

It’s like a tommer

Ally Dick

weldoninhio wrote: »

That’s against the T&Cs of having the machine. Contact their bank. They cannot have a minimum charge.

My local Spar is at the same carry on. I went to buy a birthday card using a contactless visa card, the other day, and the cashier said he couldn't do it, and rudely pointed to the ATM in the shop. I put the card back and walked out

wally1990

A foxer is a nixer

*Think* it's a cork word for it , could be wrong

Ally Dick

I've noticed that going hand in hand with cash only shops, is the absence of a receipt, which means you won't get a VAT breakdown...so I assume they are not paying VAT....e.g. on the fiddle

Ally Dick

Ally Dick wrote: »

My local Spar is at the same carry on. I went to buy a birthday card using a contactless visa card, the other day, and the cashier said he couldn't do it, and rudely pointed to the ATM in the shop. I put the card back and walked out

It’s the only way they’ll learn if they lose enough business vs dodging the fees.
Granted you’ll always have the issue of tinfoil hatters who want to keep using cash because google and the gubberment are going to steal their identities, but hopefully that fad will die down soon and we can get back to convenience.

Chris_Heilong

Cash in shops is faster than waiting for a machine to authorize a debit card, much prefer cash.

PhilOssophy

Honestly, I no longer blame anybody earning a few bob on the side given we spend things like 1.8m on a printer, send money into a black hole in our health service, 2bn on a hospital (and rising), 3bn + on broadband, and that's before I even mention some of the other waste.

If I could avoid paying tax on some of my income, I would.

(Important to note though, that the corner shop etc would still have bought their stuff off somebody, so its not like they can just sell everything at cash and not declare any of it).

enricoh

Was in croker for a match in the summer. Went to get a pint at half time n with all the clowns paying by card I didn't bother in the end.
Dunno if they had exceeded the contactless limit or wifi issues or what but it was painful!
Should be a bar for cash only imo- way faster!

RugbyLover123

The only places that I’ve come across that are still cash only are the barbers I go to and the local chipper.

I always presumed the barbers liked the cash only as it encouraged people to tip. They charge an uneven amount for a cut and I usually round up for the tip.

The local chipper has always been cash only. Been in the village for at least 20 years. ATM right beside it though, but if that’s out of order it can be a problem!