Legal Tender

axer

Can a shop refuse to take a 500 euro note or other large notes? i.e. must they accept them as they are legal tender?

PeakOutput

as far as i know it depends on how much the item you are buying is.

there was another thread on tender here a few months ago a search might bring it up.

i know they do not have to accept more than a certain amount of coins

Our man in Havana

Dunnes Stores have a notice posted in store stating that €200 and €500 euro notes will not be accepted. There must be sound grounds for such a notice.

In France I have seen notices all over the place saying that €200 and €500 notes would not be accepted.

dermot_sheehan

Legal Tender simply means that in an action to recover a debt, it is a good defence to have tendered Bank Notes or up to 50 coins. Businesses are perfectly free however to accept/reject credit cards/cheques/coins.notes when a debt has not yet occurred. Since you are not indebted to Dunnes Stores at any stage (title to the goods passes to you at the till when you tender payment and it is accepted) you can not required them to accept legal tender.

axer

gabhain7 wrote:

Legal Tender simply means that in an action to recover a debt, it is a good defence to have tendered Bank Notes or up to 50 coins. Businesses are perfectly free however to accept/reject credit cards/cheques/coins.notes when a debt has not yet occurred. Since you are not indebted to Dunnes Stores at any stage (title to the goods passes to you at the till when you tender payment and it is accepted) you can not required them to accept legal tender.

Thanks, that cleared it up for me. So basically if I go into a shop to purchase something they do not have to accept what I am offering but if I go into a restaurant and eat a meal they have to accept the tender(euro notes or less than 50 coins) as I am indebted to them?

johnnyskeleton

Apart from anything else, most small shops wouldn't have enough money in the till at any given point in time to give you change of the 500 note.

dermot_sheehan

axer wrote:

Thanks, that cleared it up for me. So basically if I go into a shop to purchase something they do not have to accept what I am offering but if I go into a restaurant and eat a meal they have to accept the tender(euro notes or less than 50 coins) as I am indebted to them?

Basically yes,

When, as in the restuarant example, you are indebted to the establishment and offer euro notes or up to 50 coins in payment, they must accept it. Otherwise if they were to subsequently attempt to sue you for the debt you would have a defence that legal tender was offered. There is no right to change though so you'd have to tender the exact amount or foregoe the change.

So if you ate in a restaurant and the bill came to €500, the restaurant would be obliged to accept a €500 note in payment. If they refused it and you walked off and they subsequently attempted to sue you in the District Court, you can have action dismissed as you have tendered legal tender.

Victor

gabhain7 wrote:

There is no right to change though so you'd have to tender the exact amount or foregoe the change.

I thought it was more a matter of no right to exact change now?

templetonpeck

Bond-007 wrote:

Dunnes Stores have a notice posted in store stating that €200 and €500 euro notes will not be accepted. There must be sound grounds for such a notice.

In France I have seen notices all over the place saying that €200 and €500 notes would not be accepted.

I think this is because there were a flood of false E200 and E500 notes doing the rounds.