Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Information and questions about the Law in Spain and Andalucia.
Manchesteral
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Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Postby Manchesteral » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:30 pm

Does anyone know if retail establishments in Spain are legally required to accept debit/credit/bank cards as payment.
Iv'e noticed a number of, admittedly, smaller retailers in the Torrox area who do not accept cards as payment, it doesn't bother me either way but I'm curious ?

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gerryh
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Re: Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Postby gerryh » Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:47 pm

I very much doubt if there is any legal requirement.
Some retailers won't accept them because of the high cost that the bank charge them for accepting payments.
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katy
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Re: Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Postby katy » Tue Jul 23, 2019 1:40 pm

Cash is easier to fiddle the books. Our local village shop and P.0 doesn't give receipts if paying by cash (unless asked) but always a receipt if paying by card. Have seen notices here saying no cards if purchase less than £10 but rare. I think retailers can do what they want.

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:01 pm

Manchesteral wrote:Does anyone know if retail establishments in Spain are legally required to accept debit/credit/bank cards as payment.
Iv'e noticed a number of, admittedly, smaller retailers in the Torrox area who do not accept cards as payment, it doesn't bother me either way but I'm curious ?
No the only legally mandated way to pay is in cash. A company cannot be forced to accept cheques or cards. You can pay with any denomination of note but coins are restricted and the receiver can refuse to accept payment for a debt if the payment includes more than50 coins. So no paying a 1 Euro bill with 1c coins

alpineSi
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Re: Credit/debit cards in retail establishments

Postby alpineSi » Thu Jul 25, 2019 1:34 pm

I worked in retail in France and imagine the same problems apply with cards in Spain, namely that VISA/MasterCard charges aren't cheap, businesses have to rent the terminal to take the payments and there might be a bank servicing charge. My old employers did everything they could to discourage AMEX saying it's the most expensive to process. Hardly fair to expect a village shop to fork out if only making a few transactions a day.


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