“Credit card minimum 15 euros”. Once common, this type of display tends to disappear from the checkouts of small businesses. Except those of tobacconists, who perpetuate the tradition. There is a reason for this, although it is debatable.
Buying a baguette, a sandwich, a bottle of water with your bank card is now possible. But a magazine or a pack of cigarettes is much more complicated.
While the majority of small merchants now accept card payments from one euro, tobacconists are resisting, especially in large cities. Particularly in Paris, where some of them set a threshold of 30 euros to be able to use his card, reports The Parisian. A legal practice, if this floor price is clearly displayed at the point of sale checkout. Only the refusal of cash is strictly prohibited.
No, merchants do not have the right to refuse your coins and notes
Cash objective
The objective is clear: it is aboutencourage customers to opt for cash or, alternatively, to consume more. In the case of tobacconists, this minimum amount is generally indexed to the price of the pack of cigarettes, forcing smokers without cash to buy two packs instead of one, or to complete their basket with a newspaper, a game or a piece of candy. However, this is not enough to explain why the practice is much more widespread among tobacconists than among other traders.
The origin of this exception lies elsewhere: in the nature of the goods distributed. Tobacconists, in fact, are not not in control of their selling prices. It is the State, for example, which sets the price of cigarettes and the merchant’s net commission (8.15%). Impossible, therefore, to play on the margin to amortize the cost of card payment.
Accepting the card has a cost
Because it must be remembered: accepting the card is not free, far from there. In addition to the price of renting the electronic payment terminal (TPE), banks charge fees for each payment. They include their own remuneration, but also interchange commissions (0.2% or 0.3%, depending on the cards) and access fees to the CB, Visa or Mastercard networks. “I still pay 500 to 600 euros per month in commission to my bank plus 40 euros for renting the payment terminal,” explains a tobacconist at Parisian.
This choice of inflating the bill to absorb these costs is, however, increasingly questionable. It was understandable at the time when the fees charged by banks included a fixed part, which weighed proportionally heavier on smaller amounts. Under pressure from public authorities, this practice has now been abandonedfor the benefit of fully proportional fees.
Where to find a 100% free bank card?