Minimum Spend when using credit card

afis1904

Deleted_User said:

Gerry1 said:

Deleted_User said:

jimbo26 said:

It would appear that contactless payments attract a lower cost to the retailer, hence the no minimum spend for contactless payments. 

Well the sandwich van still charges for card transactions under £3 contactless or not.

That's illegal.  They're allowed to have a minimum spend but not to charge more for a card payment.

There minimum spend is £3. To buy the £2.80 sandwich they wanted me to pay an extra 20p to make it up to £3 so I chose a sandwich for £3 instead.

That's illegal and minimum spends are also against VISA's and MasterCard's Terms and Conditions as well as being against the Terms and Conditions of pretty much all card machine issuers

GingerRob

afis1904 said:

Deleted_User said:

Gerry1 said:

Deleted_User said:

jimbo26 said:

It would appear that contactless payments attract a lower cost to the retailer, hence the no minimum spend for contactless payments. 

Well the sandwich van still charges for card transactions under £3 contactless or not.

That's illegal.  They're allowed to have a minimum spend but not to charge more for a card payment.

There minimum spend is £3. To buy the £2.80 sandwich they wanted me to pay an extra 20p to make it up to £3 so I chose a sandwich for £3 instead.

That's illegal and minimum spends are also against VISA's and MasterCard's Terms and Conditions as well as being against the Terms and Conditions of pretty much all card machine issuers

Not in this country it's not

What about minimum charges for using a card?

Because businesses have to pay the bank when a customer uses a card, many put a minimum charge in place. Some small shops or pubs have a £5 or £10 minimum spend before they will accept a card. This will not be illegal under the new directive, so expect it to continue. However, as consumers switch away from using cash, many retailers may not want to risk losing their business.

https:/ /www. bbc. co.  uk/news/business-40655333 (remove spaces)

In the US, merchants can apply a 4% surcharge (despite only being charged 1.5% - 3% themselves). as the link provided by the user who bumped this 2 year old thread yesterday indicates

[Deleted User]

2e0arr said:

Poundland accepts for a £1

Morrisons will accept a card for a 50p newspaper. All the proper big chains will it's only the small businesses and one man bands that still see cards as the enemy.

[Deleted User]

I was in a pub last night that took cards for payments of £5 and over for free, but charged 50p if you wanted cashback. How legal is that and what do they gain from it?

wiseonesomeofthetime

According to this old article, businesses can charge for providing cashback!

"Businesses will be allowed to charge for cashback, and ATMs are outside the scope of the rules."

also

"Retailers can continue to impose a minimum spend for card payments if they wish – this is typically £5 or £10."

EarthBoy

Deleted_User said:

I was in a pub last night that took cards for payments of £5 and over for free, but charged 50p if you wanted cashback. How legal is that and what do they gain from it?

I should think it's just as legal as ATMs charging you to withdraw your own money.  Anyway, it might change because the Chancellor is reportedly going to force banks to foot the bill for providing cashback, so it won't cost the pubs anything if the reports are true.
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-8059913/Chancellors-new-plan-set-allow-pubs-shops-hand-cash.html

afis1904

Minimum spend is not against the law ( which I didn't insinuate) but it is against VISA and thus card machine issuer rules: https://gocardless.com/guides/posts/minimum-card-payment-limits/

Fingerbobs

GingerRob said:

afis1904 said:

Deleted_User said:

Gerry1 said:

Deleted_User said:

jimbo26 said:

It would appear that contactless payments attract a lower cost to the retailer, hence the no minimum spend for contactless payments. 

Well the sandwich van still charges for card transactions under £3 contactless or not.

That's illegal.  They're allowed to have a minimum spend but not to charge more for a card payment.

There minimum spend is £3. To buy the £2.80 sandwich they wanted me to pay an extra 20p to make it up to £3 so I chose a sandwich for £3 instead.

That's illegal and minimum spends are also against VISA's and MasterCard's Terms and Conditions as well as being against the Terms and Conditions of pretty much all card machine issuers

Not in this country it's not

I'd say it is possibly illegal, but not for those reasons. The customer was asked to pay an additional amount if they wanted to use their card to pay for the cheaper sandwich, which sounds to me like a surcharge, which isn't allowed.

2e0arr

I'm trying to think what is the lowest price thing I can buy with a credit card ?

maybe Tesco carrier bag at 10 pence ?

dcfc67

Lots of small local shops near me now take card payments. They all put up signs stating card payments accepted on purchases over £4 or £5 depending on shop.

As a customer you cannot argue, either pay cash on your £3 purchase or buy something else to meet the minimum spend criteria.

As a small business they wouldn't want card payments for very low spends as they have to pay a % of purchase to company that supplies the card reader