I can see both sides, but as a customer I tend to avoid little shops knowing that they generally charge you for card use so I end up using <insert evil supermarket chain here>. I'm not frightened to use the cash machine or anything but cash is only used for the pub where there not even a card option and to pay for parking where again there is no other way of paying. It's very easy to get 100 quid out of the bank and fritter it away on nothing. At least with a debit or credit card you can see where it has gone and you're not left with 1, 2 and 5ps pulling your pants down.
I own a chippie, we have a card machine. We got it as the local Co-op closed and this had the only village cash machine. We pay £14.45 per month for the machine its self. It's like a mobile phone contract on a 24 month contract. We are charged 30p for every debit card transaction and 3.2% of the transaction for credit card transaction. We only have a £3 minimum spend. If it is under this we say it is 30p. To be honest I think we have charged 1 or 2 people. Just to cover the cost. I would not charge more than the cost it cost me of you get my drift
Aside from the banks or machine contract ripping you off,, I never quite understand the logic of what you have said above (and Ive read it on here before and lots of times over the years elsewhere).
If it costs you 30p each time, no matter what is spent AND your profit margin is the same (ish) percentage on most items (lets say 7%), why only charge the transactions under a certain amount, or why charge anyone at all, its part of the cost of your equipment for your business isnt it?
My local shop has a £6 minimum. When I've gone in for some milk I have sometimes bought a magazine or something so I can pay by card, but not too often. I rarely ever carry cash with me.
It's very easy to get 100 quid out of the bank and fritter it away on nothing. At least with a debit or credit card you can see where it has gone and you're not left with 1, 2 and 5ps pulling your pants down.
I find the opposite: it's easy to keep spending with a card, as there is no quick way of keeping track of what you've used (short of entering each transaction into an account book, or having instant on-line access to your account).
With cash, you know how quickly you've been spending because the wad of notes in your wallet rapidly gets thinner! And when there's nothing left, you know you've reached your limit. (And it's not so easy to get the cash in the first place, having to drive around to find a working ATM without a queue. That's probably half the reason why people pay by card, as they can't be bothered to get cash.)
If it costs you 30p each time, no matter what is spent AND your profit margin is the same (ish) percentage on most items (lets say 7%), why only charge the transactions under a certain amount, or why charge anyone at all, its part of the cost of your equipment for your business isnt it?
Most places don't charge the customer anything for card sales (except online or for things such as theatre tickets); the costs are shared by all customers.
The lower limit is there to keep the costs down. Without the limit, imagine what would happen when you have a large number of customers buying, for example, one 20p sweet each, and paying by card. At 30p a time, the shop is losing money! Those low-value items would have to go up, but then cash customers would go next door (where the queues would move more quickly too!)
The shop by me charges 50p for using your card for purchases under £10 i personally find this to be fair as he is only a small shop so needs to cover the card charge somehow.
I have seen someone try and use a debit card to buy a newspaper, bearing in mind a small newsagent will probably be on the higher rate of 45p to 50p per debit card then I understand the card charge.
If I had no cash & was going to be charged, I'd walk out.
These shops make enough profit as it is. If enough people boycotted them, they would quickly get the message
Thats where you are wrong, some smaller businesses are working hard to make ends meet, a credit card is a convenient way to shop no one has to accept them at all and a small shop often cannot afford to absorb the costs, also remember that you get your goods immediately, depending on the merchant the shop may not get the money for between 3 to 5 days or longer. Barclays may make a new retailer with not huge trunover or profits wait for up to 28 days ? they say its safeeguarding them which is rubbish of course it just means they sit on the money.
I don't carry cash, but always keep my credit card on me for petrol or meals.
There's a card shop nearby that I go to whenever I have a buy a card of some description, but they have a £5 minimum spend before you can use your card.
I have managed to build up a collection of sparkly gift bags and generic cards that I will never use in my attempts to bring my spend above a fiver!
The way your manager treats customers, he deserves to have none before too long.
?? As I said, our company policy for cashback is a minimum of a fiver and a maximum of fifty pounds.
When it comes to paying with a card though, the smallest amount I've had a customer use their card for is.....wait for it.....3p! I rang his stuff up and told him the total, whereupon he produced a pocketful of loose change which, after we'd counted it up, turned out to be 3p short. He said "Don't suppose I can use my card for 3p can I"? Now as far as i know we don't have a minimum payment amount (or at least I haven't been made aware of one), so I said "If you like" and put the transaction through. Dunno what the bank made of it though!
Shops have to cover their overheads. So if they don't charge the customer with the card for the charge they will have to spread it over other customers. I don't see why I should pay for another customer to use his card when I am paying by cash,
?? As I said, our company policy for cashback is a minimum of a fiver and a maximum of fifty pounds.
When it comes to paying with a card though, the smallest amount I've had a customer use their card for is.....wait for it.....3p! I rang his stuff up and told him the total, whereupon he produced a pocketful of loose change which, after we'd counted it up, turned out to be 3p short. He said "Don't suppose I can use my card for 3p can I"? Now as far as i know we don't have a minimum payment amount (or at least I haven't been made aware of one), so I said "If you like" and put the transaction through. Dunno what the bank made of it though!
You and your colleague and Manager believe that cashback is min £5, but have you actually looked it up in the Policy document.
The customer you and then the Manager refused claims that other branches do it.
They could be mistaken or the other Branch staff could be mistaken or other Branches may be deliberately disregarding the Policy in the interests of Customer Service.
If the Policy does indeed state that Minimum Purchase is £0.00 but Minimum Cashback is £5.00, I would tend to suggest that it should be reviewed by responsible person in Head Office Accounts Dept.
It could be a mistake in the wording and intention of the rule.
Customers want all sorts of strange things sometimes and, if they are reasonable, they should be allowed.
I'm surprised your Manager did not allow the 20p as a special case (are they denied all discretion?).
Maybe there were other reasons. Low value purchase and 20p on top from a stroppy customer might not be conducive to agreeing.
We are not a shop but we had to stop people paying with a credit card without a charge. Debit cards fine, i'll absorb the 20 odd pence it costs me but when credit cards charge me up to 3% there is no way. People only wanted to pay on credit to get the Tesco points etc. I'm not paying for that and why should I? And it hasn't affected business one jot.
I bought an old car a few years back from a back street car dealer. A typical Arthur Daley outfit. When I came to pay with my credit card he added a percentage on the price of the car (£750) .... I think I paid an extra £22 or something.
I paid it because I really wanted the car (which I sold on for £1000 4 weeks later, so I got the money back anyway) ... but I had never heard of this charge before, and certainly would have hoped to have been informed before the very last minute.
I bought an old car a few years back from a back street car dealer. A typical Arthur Daley outfit. When I came to pay with my credit card he added a percentage on the price of the car (£750) .... I think I paid an extra £22 or something.
I paid it because I really wanted the car (which I sold on for £1000 4 weeks later, so I got the money back anyway) ... but I had never heard of this charge before, and certainly would have hoped to have been informed before the very last minute.
Yeah credit cards are expensive to process compared to debits.
I got it wrong before, apparently our DC transactions aren't 25p, they're an astonishingly low 19p.
Credit Cards's are 2.3% by comparison though, American Express is 2.95%
Obviously for a big purchase that's going to make a big difference compared to if it was paid for on debit card
I do most of my spending on cards but still like to have some cash on me - although it's rarely more than £20 unless I'm going for a big night out. For some situations it is just quicker and easier to pay by cash, especially if you have the exact change.
I bought an old car a few years back from a back street car dealer. A typical Arthur Daley outfit. When I came to pay with my credit card he added a percentage on the price of the car (£750) .... I think I paid an extra £22 or something.
I paid it because I really wanted the car (which I sold on for £1000 4 weeks later, so I got the money back anyway) ... but I had never heard of this charge before, and certainly would have hoped to have been informed before the very last minute.
Yes, you should have been told. We tell everyone there will be a charge if they want to pay with a credit card. Some pay it anyway but most either switch to debit or pay with cash.
Banks are charging for anything they can get away with. We got stung when I sold a caravan to a customer for £30,000. He wanted to pay by debit card so I said that was fine. Problem was it was a business debit card and unknown to me the bloody banks charge a percentage on those. Cost me about £400!!
Remember if everywhere has to cover the charge so the customer doesn't see it then it'll be passed on in higher prices, places like tesco factor it in as another part of their running costs just like electricity when working out the costs for each item, smaller shops quite often find it harder to absorb what could be expensive charges especially if its a small newsagent etc where margins are pretty low anyway and a lot of stuff like papers etc are pricemarked so theres no way of charging more and they don't have the bargaining power with the suppliers to get an extra 1% of the trade price etc
so for smaller places cash is still king as the same £20 go's a lot longer before the banks get their cuts of the pie
Some small independent shops round here wont accept less than £10. Went in to buy some ciggies and he wouldn't let me pay on my card and tried to flog me some stuff I didn't want just to make it up to a tenner. I told him I didn't want to buy anything else so he directed me to the cash machine in the corner which charged £1.75 to withdraw my own money. Another thing I totally object to so I told him to shove it and said I was going to Sainsburys up the road which was less than 2 minutes walk away. As I was walking out the shop he tried to shout me back but I thought to myself, "too late pal, you've just lost a customer" and carried on walking.
Their loss. I only went there for convenience but when they're already charging you over the odds for stuff and then slap on a minimum charge it really takes the piss. It was not only cheaper in Sainsburys but I could get free cashback and the ATMs outside don't charge you to get your money out and unlike small independent retailers, they don't follow me around the shop or keep tabs on me while I'm shopping, making out like I'm gonna steal something.
Comments
Aside from the banks or machine contract ripping you off,, I never quite understand the logic of what you have said above (and Ive read it on here before and lots of times over the years elsewhere).
If it costs you 30p each time, no matter what is spent AND your profit margin is the same (ish) percentage on most items (lets say 7%), why only charge the transactions under a certain amount, or why charge anyone at all, its part of the cost of your equipment for your business isnt it?
works every time.
I find the opposite: it's easy to keep spending with a card, as there is no quick way of keeping track of what you've used (short of entering each transaction into an account book, or having instant on-line access to your account).
With cash, you know how quickly you've been spending because the wad of notes in your wallet rapidly gets thinner! And when there's nothing left, you know you've reached your limit. (And it's not so easy to get the cash in the first place, having to drive around to find a working ATM without a queue. That's probably half the reason why people pay by card, as they can't be bothered to get cash.)
Most places don't charge the customer anything for card sales (except online or for things such as theatre tickets); the costs are shared by all customers.
The lower limit is there to keep the costs down. Without the limit, imagine what would happen when you have a large number of customers buying, for example, one 20p sweet each, and paying by card. At 30p a time, the shop is losing money! Those low-value items would have to go up, but then cash customers would go next door (where the queues would move more quickly too!)
I have seen someone try and use a debit card to buy a newspaper, bearing in mind a small newsagent will probably be on the higher rate of 45p to 50p per debit card then I understand the card charge.
Thats where you are wrong, some smaller businesses are working hard to make ends meet, a credit card is a convenient way to shop no one has to accept them at all and a small shop often cannot afford to absorb the costs, also remember that you get your goods immediately, depending on the merchant the shop may not get the money for between 3 to 5 days or longer. Barclays may make a new retailer with not huge trunover or profits wait for up to 28 days ? they say its safeeguarding them which is rubbish of course it just means they sit on the money.
There's a card shop nearby that I go to whenever I have a buy a card of some description, but they have a £5 minimum spend before you can use your card.
I have managed to build up a collection of sparkly gift bags and generic cards that I will never use in my attempts to bring my spend above a fiver!
?? As I said, our company policy for cashback is a minimum of a fiver and a maximum of fifty pounds.
When it comes to paying with a card though, the smallest amount I've had a customer use their card for is.....wait for it.....3p! I rang his stuff up and told him the total, whereupon he produced a pocketful of loose change which, after we'd counted it up, turned out to be 3p short. He said "Don't suppose I can use my card for 3p can I"? Now as far as i know we don't have a minimum payment amount (or at least I haven't been made aware of one), so I said "If you like" and put the transaction through. Dunno what the bank made of it though!
We don't take cash
Although not technically a 'shop' in the most literal sense.
You and your colleague and Manager believe that cashback is min £5, but have you actually looked it up in the Policy document.
The customer you and then the Manager refused claims that other branches do it.
They could be mistaken or the other Branch staff could be mistaken or other Branches may be deliberately disregarding the Policy in the interests of Customer Service.
If the Policy does indeed state that Minimum Purchase is £0.00 but Minimum Cashback is £5.00, I would tend to suggest that it should be reviewed by responsible person in Head Office Accounts Dept.
It could be a mistake in the wording and intention of the rule.
Customers want all sorts of strange things sometimes and, if they are reasonable, they should be allowed.
I'm surprised your Manager did not allow the 20p as a special case (are they denied all discretion?).
Maybe there were other reasons. Low value purchase and 20p on top from a stroppy customer might not be conducive to agreeing.
I bought an old car a few years back from a back street car dealer. A typical Arthur Daley outfit. When I came to pay with my credit card he added a percentage on the price of the car (£750) .... I think I paid an extra £22 or something.
I paid it because I really wanted the car (which I sold on for £1000 4 weeks later, so I got the money back anyway) ... but I had never heard of this charge before, and certainly would have hoped to have been informed before the very last minute.
Yeah credit cards are expensive to process compared to debits.
I got it wrong before, apparently our DC transactions aren't 25p, they're an astonishingly low 19p.
Credit Cards's are 2.3% by comparison though, American Express is 2.95%
Obviously for a big purchase that's going to make a big difference compared to if it was paid for on debit card
Yes, you're right it does make a difference.
It was the one and only time I have ever been charged for using my CC.
Had I known in advance I would have taken cash.
Yes, you should have been told. We tell everyone there will be a charge if they want to pay with a credit card. Some pay it anyway but most either switch to debit or pay with cash.
Banks are charging for anything they can get away with. We got stung when I sold a caravan to a customer for £30,000. He wanted to pay by debit card so I said that was fine. Problem was it was a business debit card and unknown to me the bloody banks charge a percentage on those. Cost me about £400!!
They are not being greedy, they are just covering costs and not making a profit, banks are the ones that are greedy.
If the banks charged you every time you used a debit card would you be happy?
so for smaller places cash is still king as the same £20 go's a lot longer before the banks get their cuts of the pie
Their loss. I only went there for convenience but when they're already charging you over the odds for stuff and then slap on a minimum charge it really takes the piss. It was not only cheaper in Sainsburys but I could get free cashback and the ATMs outside don't charge you to get your money out and unlike small independent retailers, they don't follow me around the shop or keep tabs on me while I'm shopping, making out like I'm gonna steal something.
>>>>>
But gradually being whittled away ie Cash no longer accepted paying for Premium Bonds, or London Bus travel..