€500 note; legal tender...?

Wertz

Talking to a workmate on the phone earlier. We've been doing a lot of overtime in the run up to christmas and at this time of year it's almost always for cash. Anyways, part of his cash for the last couple of weeks he got paid for yesterday happened to be a €500, fresh from the bank, barely a crease....so he decides to go out and do some xmas shopping today, was in one particular music/game store about to blow 120 odd quid on stuff when the girl at the till refused to take it. When he asked why she said it was store policy. He said that there was no sign up to inform customers, she just shrugged and walked off. He left his purchases there and left. Spent the next while wandering into shops and asking could someone change it, but all refused....in the finish up a bookies changed it for him (and didn't even require him to place a bet).
My point to the thread is this; if these notes are in circulation then why are shops seemingly outright refusing them? I mean there's something like 12 different security features on all euro notes, every shop has a UV light or pen...it only takes a second to look at the hologram or the watermark none of which are easily faked, so why the policy? If someone isn't sure at the till then it's easy to call a manager and have the note verified; no-one's going to mind the note being examined....but to point blank refuse it on a saturday coming up to christmas is ludicrous.
Thoughts?
Ever had similar problems?

Da Bounca

As far as I know, they can't be refused unless the shop person simply hasn't enough change to give in return. That 'policy' is bull. Maybe she didn't know they existed and didn't want to risk taking it in.

JohnCleary

Got one from the post office before. Went across the road to Curry's and they wouldnt accept it. Had to go to the bank (closer than the post office) to change it. They changed it no probs, just did the marker test on it. Bit silly but meh

johnnyskeleton

I used to work in the sandwich bar of a hotel and a guy came up to the counter and wanted to buy his sandwich with a 500 note. I asked my manager if we had to accept it, and because it was a hotel with pretensions of classiness we did (I had to spend 10 minutes getting change from other parts of the hotel).

But being realistic, most shops wouldn't have enough change in the till. This makes the 500 note pretty much useless other than for tourists and drug dealers.

Rob_l

these notes are best used at 12:30 when bars are only open enter bar with friends order a round of drinks then try to pay with said note

Hilarity will ensue

Karoma

Moved from AH.

davejones

Same thing happened to me last week in an off license.
The guy behind the counter said he couldn't take it; so i asked him why and i told him to check it (i had only just got it from the ATM).

he said it was probably real but too much of a risk to take.He was nice about it and everything.

I told him to suck my balls and went to another off-e.

Zaph

I know a lot of places refuse to take €200 notes too. I was given one in Madrid last week and asked for €50s instead as I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to spend here. I don't think either the €200 or €500 note are issued here. I always assumed that one of the reasons shops refuse them is that it could clean out the tills of a lot of smaller notes, making it harder to give people change. I remember reading at the time the Euro came in that the reason the larger denomination notes were issued was because some Europeans, Germans in particular, liked to hold large sums of money in cash and favoured high denomination notes. 200 and 500 Deutschmark notes were apparently quite common and a DEM 1,000 note was also in circulation.

JohnCleary

Rob_l wrote: »

these notes are best used at 12:30 when bars are only open enter bar with friends order a round of drinks then try to pay with said note

Hilarity will ensue

brilliant!

Santa Claus

davejones wrote: »

I told him to suck my balls and went to another off-e.

Did you offer him the 500 note to do this ?


A lot of major chains don't take anything higher than a 100 euro note as there are a lot of forged notes come into circulation in the run up to christmas when shops are busy and staff are less likely to check the notes.
Obviously they'll accept the risk of getting some forged 50s or 100s but a 500 is just too much to lose.

As for legal tender, a shop is under no onligation to take any notes it doesn't want to under law.

jor el

davejones wrote: »

(i had only just got it from the ATM).

You got a €500 note from an ATM? I thought ATM's didn't give out anything bigger than a €50 not.

I'd say most places won't accept anything bigger than a €100 note because they wouldn't have the change in the till for it. Buying a few cans and expecting change from a €500 is a bit much.

TheDriver

i got one once and it scared me to have it, went to bank straight away to lodge it and withdraw as i wanted it.
Shops are dead scared of forged notes hence why they don't accept them

davejones

jor el wrote: »

You got a €500 note from an ATM? I thought ATM's didn't give out anything bigger than a €50 not.

I'd say most places won't accept anything bigger than a €100 note because they wouldn't have the change in the till for it. Buying a few cans and expecting change from a €500 is a bit much.

Not from an ATM but from a bank.
Sorry for the confusion.

okidoki987

I've seen a few guys buying cars with a load of them but very very few shops will accept them.
Too much of a risk of forgeries and takes out too much change from a till.
A lot of shops have signs up they won't take €200 notes let alone a €500 one.
Avoid at all costs too much hassle.

mikemac

Interesting fact. The $100 used to be the standard form of currency for international drug dealers.
Now it is the €500 note.

When working as a barman, we never took €200 or €500 notes.
Too much of a risk.
Ordering one drink with a €100 note rings alarm bells in your head so you might would politely refuse it or might accept it. It was up to you.

And it broke my heart to see a till cleaned out of change as everyone used high value notes. To be fair, that's what ATM dispense.

Despite the security features, there are forgeries in circulation and coming up to Christmas is the prime time they are passed off.
So don't be offended if a shop refuses it, it's a big risk to them. As others have said, a bank will change it no problem.

YeatsCounty

As mentioned by others above, refusal of €100, €200 and €500 notes mainly has to do with a fear of being scammed and a non-willingness to empty out the till of much (if not all) of its change. I've seen a lot on signs in Canadian corner shops stating that they don't accept $100 dollar notes or above, so it's not just in Europe. Come to think of it, I've seen a couple of small stores that have a policy of refusing $50 notes and above.

alanceltic

When the euro was introduced and became legal tender there was a condition that the €200 & €500 could be refused, as far as i know a €100 can not be refused....

Toto Wolfcastle

I worked in M&S and we accepted them but were advised to have another sales assistant witness the transaction. This was more to make sure the correct change was given back, so a customer could not come back and claim to have been short changed.

2 stroke

micmclo wrote: »

So don't be offended if a shop refuses it, it's a big risk to them.

I take offence when a shop that I'm known in, refuses my money. Though I wouldn't expect anyone to accept a high value note for a few euro worth of goods.

Mint Sauce

alanceltic wrote: »

When the euro was introduced and became legal tender there was a condition that the €200 & €500 could be refused, as far as i know a €100 can not be refused....

knew there was a 100 and a 500, never heard of a 200 before

mikemac

irish-stew wrote: »

knew there was a 100 and a 500, never heard of a 200 before

200euror.jpg

skibum

I used to work in a pub in Dun Loaghaire and last summer a couple of older german guys came in one evening, very well dressed, sat at the counter, first question was would I change a €500 note?, they had been to a few other places who all said no, it was about 6pm so the banks were closed. I told him I would have to have a look at it first so yer man took out a wad of the fvckers and peeled one off! I had a good look at it, checked it out with the "pen" so took it. They were happy spent good few bob on food and drink, had a good time talking to the locals and left me €50 tip

After they went one of the regulars who worked at the marina told me that they had arrived that afternoon on a multi-million Euro boat and were heading down to the med where their wives were going to meet them.

I wenr to the bank the following day to get change, used the note no problems.

vibe666

when my mum sold her bar in tenerife part of the sale (25k) was in cash and the people buying the bar gave it to her in an envelope as 500e notes.

me and my sister had to count it, but it didn't take long as there was only 50 of them.

there was something really odd about counting out 25k in crisp new bills that didn't even make a bulge in the envelope they were in.

i guess all the drug dealers are onto a good thing.

Mint Sauce

micmclo wrote: »

200euror.jpg

tbh, i would think fake seeing that before i would think the same of a 500

I've seen all of the notes, I had a €100 at one stage, my brother had a €200 and my da had a €500, not sure where he got it from.

I feel guilty enough using 50s for small purchases, let alone the bigger ones.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

any shop can legitimately refuse to take your money as far as i know. One is only obliged to receive legal tender in repayment of a debt already incurred. In this case, the debt does not exist, so the shop can ask for payment as they like.

Rein-in

Technically a store is not allowed to refuse any type of payment. If they believe that they are at risk from a transaction, they can turn it down.

Some posters have mentioned the whole counterfeit aspect of €500 notes, well, the most counterfeited note in the Eurozone is the €50, so they should turn down these notes aswell. It's up to the shop to prove that your €500 is a counterfeit, not up to you to prove that it's genuine.

replytohere2004

Watch out for these two note, they may be fake:

tuxy

Sean_K wrote: »

any shop can legitimately refuse to take your money as far as i know. One is only obliged to receive legal tender in repayment of a debt already incurred. In this case, the debt does not exist, so the shop can ask for payment as they like.

Sounds right to me. Buying something is a contract and either party can decide they do not want to do the deal.
Some people talk so much crap with no links of consumer law to back it up.

JohnC.

Rein-in wrote: »

Some posters have mentioned the whole counterfeit aspect of €500 notes, well, the most counterfeited note in the Eurozone is the €50, so they should turn down these notes aswell. It's up to the shop to prove that your €500 is a counterfeit, not up to you to prove that it's genuine.

I have seen small shops that do turn down €50. The problem with €500 is the amount of risk involved. A shop will lose 10 times more with a €500 that turns out to be fake than a €50. There is also a problem with it cleaning out change, so it just may not be practical for a shop to take it.

Such a large note is really more suited to business use than everyday consumer use. Hell, I try not to even get €50 notes from an ATM if I can help it unless I will be making €100+ purchases. And even then, I will more often use a credit card for a large purchase and pay it off online when I get home.

Wertz

I ended up out on the beer with this guy last night, he was still pissed off about it, reckoned he had spent about 30 minutes wandering around Virgin picking up stuff for presents....like I said above the total came to over 120 euro and in such a shop as Virgin on a saturday afternoon 5 weeks before christmas, I find it very hard to believe that they couldn't manage to cobble together 380 odd in change; I mean every other c*nt out doing their shopping was presumably spending 50's or 20's and the shop was busy.
In the finish up the guy had not enough "acceptable" money (no CC either) to pay for his items so they were left there, his half hour picking them wasted and he has to go and do it all again someplace else.
It's all fine and well going to a bank....unfortunately they don't see fit to open evenings and weekends so TBH going to a bank isn't an option.
Someone else mentioned fake 50's, the only fake euro note I've ever seen. Good enough to fool the eye but doesn't stand up to any closer scrutiny.
No matter what has been said above, I think the refusal is ridiculous, especially when there's no sign to state store policy. You could say he should have asked at the counter prior to starting picking pressies, but in my mind at least I'd find thatmore suspicious than just going up expecting them to take it...

Good one about the bar though, must remember that one...

jor el

jor el wrote: »

You got a €500 note from an ATM? I thought ATM's didn't give out anything bigger than a €50 not.

I'd say most places won't accept anything bigger than a €100 note because they wouldn't have the change in the till for it. Buying a few cans and expecting change from a €500 is a bit much.

It depends on where the ATM is. We were going on holiday one year and my uncle took all his spending money out as cash in the airport departures area. It was just a regular TSB machine (I Think) , but when he took out €600 it came out as 3 x €200 notes.

Presumably, because the machines only hold so much, they filled it up with €50s, €100s and €200s.

dermo88

I should point out that we are now living in a society where electronic transactions for large purchases are the preferred means. The reason for having 200 and 500 Euro notes goes back to the inception of the Euro. There were four countries in the Eurozone with high denomination banknotes like this, namely Germany (1,000DM = 510 Euro), Netherlands (1,000 Guilder = 450 Euro), Austria (5,000 Schilling = 365 Euro), Italy (500,000 Lire = 252 Euro). For cultural and historic reasons, people there tended to prefer cash, and were comfortable with that.

Ireland did have high denomination notes, but they were scarce, and tended to be used by Cattle dealers, Auctioneers, Bookmakers, in the rural cash based economy of the 1920's to the 1970's. If we consider that in 1928, the Irish Currency Commission printed 20, 50 and 100 Pound notes with the purchasing power equivalent in todays terms to 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 Euro, its something of an eye opener. Mind there were "only" 10,000 x 100 Pound notes printed then to cater for a population (then) of 3.5 Million.

It was only after the "great inflation" of the 1970's that high denominations became relatively common again. Even in the 1980's, 50's and 100's were scarce enough. The most forged denomination tends to be worth roughly 4 to 8 hours work on the minimum wage, and that note is.....the 50 Euro. It used to be the 20 Pound note.

If we look over the generations, you see a change towards the highest denomination note being available but scarce. In Ireland, up until the early 1970's, 20, 50 and 100 Pound notes were incredibly scarce, Fivers and Tenners were common enough, since most people were paid in cash.

Worldwide, central bank policy tends to gravitate towards having the second or third highest denomination being the most commonly used/issued from ATM machines. The craziest place I have seen for high value notes being used, oddly enough is Singapore. Their highest note is worth 5,000 Euro (S$10,000), and S$1,000 are common enough - I don't think any of you would want to lose one. They are used in car deals, property deals, casinos (outside Singapore for the moment), and designer clothing stores. However, the S$10,000 note is fitted with an electronic tag, so be prepared for some serious explaining if you try and bring some of them out of the country, and explain where you got the cash from. Not that I have had the fortune to go through such an experience.

On an idealogical point - governments despise high value notes, especially socialist Governments, since they want to rob your hard earned money, and socialists hate the European Central Bank with a vengeance. They believe, with a certain degree of justification that these facilitate tax evasion and criminal activities.

Also, the Euro design, if you notice has been very proactive in thinking 30-40 years ahead in terms of inflation, 500 Euro today, will be worth around 130 Euro at current inflation rates in 30 years time, so I think we'd better get used to these things popping up more often. Incidentally the Spanish nickname for a 500 Euro note is a "Bin Laden". Everyone has heard of them, but hardly anyone has seen one.

parsi

replytohere2004 wrote: »

Watch out for these two note, they may be fake:

I dunno. They look Kosher to me - very similar to the wad of eur355 notes I got from some dodgy looking dude who assured me that they are all the rage in Eastern Europe...

Wertz

Good post dermo88, very interesting. Especially like the bin laden thing...

Faerie

tuxy wrote: »

Sounds right to me. Buying something is a contract and either party can decide they do not want to do the deal.
Some people talk so much crap with no links of consumer law to back it up.

You're right! A shop can of course refuse to accept a 500E note. In contract law it's the customer who initiates the contract - makes the offer- by bringing the goods to the counter. The person at the checkout can decline the offer. There seem to be a lot of 'urban myth' laws in circulation.

I've seen shops in England with signs saying they won't even accept £50 notes! It's funny really because it just shows how £50 is still considered a fair amount of money whereas 50E notes are almost disposable!

Gillo

Wertz wrote: »

like I said above the total came to over 120 euro and in such a shop as Virgin on a saturday afternoon 5 weeks before christmas, I find it very hard to believe that they couldn't manage to cobble together 380 odd in change

TBH, having worked in retail for years I'd say it was a security issue and nothing to be with having available change. As has already been said a lot of store's won't accept 500 notes because of the risk of fake notes, the problem is no matter how hard you stress that it is a general policy a lot of people will take it personally and assume you are accusing them of passing off forged notes; for that reason it's generally safer to blame it on not having enough change.

Also bear in mind, that the store should have been doing a lot of till drops on the day in question so it's possible they may have not had the change there.

tvnutz

Wertz wrote: »

I ended up out on the beer with this guy last night, he was still pissed off about it, reckoned he had spent about 30 minutes wandering around Virgin picking up stuff for presents....like I said above the total came to over 120 euro and in such a shop as Virgin on a saturday afternoon 5 weeks before christmas, I find it very hard to believe that they couldn't manage to cobble together 380 odd in change; I mean every other c*nt out doing their shopping was presumably spending 50's or 20's and the shop was busy.
In the finish up the guy had not enough "acceptable" money (no CC either) to pay for his items so they were left there, his half hour picking them wasted and he has to go and do it all again someplace else.
It's all fine and well going to a bank....unfortunately they don't see fit to open evenings and weekends so TBH going to a bank isn't an option.
Someone else mentioned fake 50's, the only fake euro note I've ever seen. Good enough to fool the eye but doesn't stand up to any closer scrutiny.
No matter what has been said above, I think the refusal is ridiculous, especially when there's no sign to state store policy. You could say he should have asked at the counter prior to starting picking pressies, but in my mind at least I'd find thatmore suspicious than just going up expecting them to take it...

Good one about the bar though, must remember that one...

You hardly think they keep all the money in the tills? I work in an Xtra-Vision and we are not allowed to have more than €200 in the till at any one time. Drops are done regularly. So since he only was going to spend €120 it would have been a lot of change to muster up. It may be their policy not to accept €500 euro notes anyway,but I would not accept one as I wouldn't have that much change. The only time I did accept one was when a guy bought a PS3 for €499 and used a €500 note. Checked it with the pen and it was grand,dropped it in the safe right away.

As for €50 notes,last week we had 3 fake ones taken in,they looked quite real but now we are told we have to check every €50 note with the pen before we take them in.

EamonnKeane

The more cash is in circulation, the more money the EU can make (through guarantees on it, or something). The purpose of the €500 note is to replace the US$100 bill as the main criminal denomination - a wad of 200 x €500 notes is worth as much as 1,500 x $100, it's less bulky and thus easier to conceal.

jor el

dermo88 wrote: »

500 Euro today, will be worth around 130 Euro at current inflation rates in 30 years time

Maybe we can finally get rid of all the coins below 50c then too. They're all practically useless now, they certainly will be then.

Santa Claus

tvnutz wrote: »

You hardly think they keep all the money in the tills? I work in an Xtra-Vision and we are not allowed to have more than €200 in the till at any one time. Drops are done regularly. So since he only was going to spend €120 it would have been a lot of change to muster up. It may be their policy not to accept €500 euro notes anyway,but I would not accept one as I wouldn't have that much change. The only time I did accept one was when a guy bought a PS3 for €499 and used a €500 note. Checked it with the pen and it was grand,dropped it in the safe right away.

We're talking a Virgin megastore in the build up to Christmas. Those tills would be taking a few hundred in notes across the store every 5 minutes so unless they were doing a drop every 10 minutes (which would be stupid as it would take them away from the till for too long) they'd easily have change.

Also these shops have plenty of security as opposed to an xtra-vision so hardly comparing like with like.

The law that allows a shop refuse a purchase is that selling stuff in a shop is called an "invitation to treat" rather i think. I'm sure someone on the legal forum would explain this better than i can.

dermo88

Regarding - Getting rid of coins below 50 cent.

That might be desirable in a High cost location such as Ireland, but that is not the case in other parts of the European Union where costs/salaries are substantially lower. Some of us here remember 1/2p coins until 1984-1985 when they were finally axed. By then they had no practical nuisance, no buying power, and were thoroughly detested. 1 and 2 cent coins will go the same way, and in any case, most countries prefer to have a 100/200 to 1 ratio between lowest value coin and lowest value banknote. So I can see a timescale for the end of the 1 and 2 cent coin in Ireland within the next two-three years (2010). 5 cent coins will last another 15 years before becoming irrelevant (2025), and 10, 20 cent, judging by other countries historical standards should easily last until 2040, so we've quite a long way to go to the point where we get rid of 50 cent coins.

Time and inflation will gradually do this. Its a historical phenomenon in the 20th century. Once we moved away from precious metals as currency in everyday usage in August 1914, some countries have experienced this more than others. The most dramatic example in the old Eurozone being Italy, which fell from 25 Lire to Sterling in 1918 to 2,500 to Sterling by the time the Euro was created. Spain fell from 25 Pesetas in the 1920's to 225 Pesetas to Sterling by the time the Euro was created. Others (yet) again, pulled off revaluations after coming off gold, notoriously Germany (twice), in 1923 when the made 1,000,000,000,000 Papermarks = 1 Reichsmark, and 10 1947 10 Reichsmark to 1 Deutschmark, and if you think Germany was bad, try the commie block bunch who are much worse in the long term. So you see the Germanic paranoia regarding inflation. France also pulled off a revaluation in 1958 when they retarrifed 100 old francs to 1 new.

The United States has seen a 25 fold depreciation in its currency through inflation since moving off gold.

The United Kingdom has seen a 70 fold depreciation in the same way. And if you think thats bad, they are the relatively strong ones in the bunch.

The best performer for managing inflation throughout the entire Eurozone and maintaining its currency WITHOUT change until 2002, are.....The Dutch.

As for the point "the more cash in circulation, the more money the EU makes".

- Thats not quite true. You have to remember what a Banknote essentially is. Its a means of payment. But in the modern era, its easy to forget its old role, it was a cheque, drawn on a private Bank, stating "Payable to bearer on demand". These evolved into becoming fixed denominations, with security features, but in only three countries today, do you actually see the old role of the Banknote - Northern Ireland, Scotland and Hong Kong.

Instead of gold, however, todays these privately issued Banknotes are backed by Bonds, Stocks, Government Securities, and Cash.

The fundamental difference between the Euro and the US Dollar, is that the former is an asset based currency, and the US Dollar is debt based. by debt based, its almost purely US Government debt.

THE ECB makes money through being a lender of last resort for commercial banks. But banknotes and coins constitute a tiny fraction of the total cash in circulation, something less than 5% of the total GDP.

And its more complicated than that. Theres far more to it.

kaiser sauze

Santa Claus wrote: »

Did you offer him the 500 note to do this ?


A lot of major chains don't take anything higher than a 100 euro note as there are a lot of forged notes come into circulation in the run up to christmas when shops are busy and staff are less likely to check the notes.
Obviously they'll accept the risk of getting some forged 50s or 100s but a 500 is just too much to lose.

As for legal tender, a shop is under no onligation to take any notes it doesn't want to under law.

Legal tender, i.e. the €500 note, must be accepted in payments. You're completely wrong here. I expand on this below, but what I state here is based on a perfect world, where change is bountiful.

tuxy wrote: »

Sounds right to me. Buying something is a contract and either party can decide they do not want to do the deal.
Some people talk so much crap with no links of consumer law to back it up.

Ok, back yours up?

Faerie wrote: »

You're right! A shop can of course refuse to accept a 500E note. In contract law it's the customer who initiates the contract - makes the offer- by bringing the goods to the counter. The person at the checkout can decline the offer. There seem to be a lot of 'urban myth' laws in circulation.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Urban myths, indeed.

The business initiates the contract by making the offer, the customer accepts and contract is formed once the business accepts the payment.

The business is free to refuse the payment if it does not wish to honour its offer. This is why, slightly OT, that a business is not bound by the price displayed on an item, but in practice they will let it go at the incorrect price to hopefully feed off the goodwill of the happy customer.

The business cannot renege on the contract by reason of refusing legal tender or having a policy notice saying that they do not accept denominations above 'x' amount. This is illegal.


Back OT.

Businesses can refuse, for example, a €500 for the often mentioned reason that they do not have change, and this is acceptable. You could go down the quagmire of a customer insisting that a business accepts the tender, which they're legally bound to do, but in practice this might simply not be possible for the business. Xtra-Vision, for the reasons given earlier in this thread are a perfect example of this. A customer might not be willing to accept store credit for the change of a €500 note that was used to buy a game for €70. This is where common sense prevails.

Sam Vimes

2 stroke wrote: »

I take offence when a shop that I'm known in, refuses my money. Though I wouldn't expect anyone to accept a high value note for a few euro worth of goods.

the fact that you're known is beside the point. just because you're not a forger doesn't mean you haven't been given a forged note without your knowledge

tuxy

kaiser sauze wrote: »

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Urban myths, indeed.

The business initiates the contract by making the offer, the customer accepts and contract is formed once the business accepts the payment.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Remember that an offer is not the same as an invitation to treat. The latter arises where goods are displayed in a shop or on advertising bill board where the consumer is being invited to make an offer on the particular goods.

http://www.performanceplus.ireland.ie/home/index.aspx?id=236

The consumer makes the offer.

See what I mean about having links to back up what you are saying?

kaiser sauze

tuxy wrote: »

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

http://www.performanceplus.ireland.ie/home/index.aspx?id=236

The consumer makes the offer.

See what I mean about having links to back up what you are saying?

LOL

You did not even read your own link. You glossed over the part about invitation to treat, which, in laymans terms, I tried to explain.

tuxy

kaiser sauze wrote: »

LOL

You did not even read your own link. You glossed over the part about invitation to treat, which, in laymans terms, I tried to explain.

Yes I guess you tried, but you explained it incorrectly.

kaiser sauze

tuxy wrote: »

Yes I guess you tried, but you explained it incorrectly.

*shakes head ruefully*

Yes, I tried, but when people don't even read what they tried to use to back themselves up, it's a lost cause.

Faerie

kaiser sauze wrote: »

*shakes head ruefully*

Yes, I tried, but when people don't even read what they tried to use to back themselves up, it's a lost cause.

.

Your previous post makes no sense. Why? Well if the shop was making the offer by displaying goods they would be obliged to sell it regardless of whether or not it was in stock. This would be completely impractical. I sat through many contract law lectures, I know!

Taken from the Court of Appeal judgment in Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Chemists (1952), 'the fact that a customer picks up a bottle of medicine from the shelves in this case does not amount to an acceptance of an offer to sell. It is an offer by the customer to buy, and there is no sale effected until the buyer's offer to buy is accepted by the acceptance of the price.'
Looking at it again I suppose you could argue that the contract is formed when the checkout person accepts the offer but even so it wouldn't be accepted in a court because it's so impractical. So no matter what way you look at it a shop can refuse the note.

tuxy

Thanks Faerie, I knew someone who can talk sense and back it up would post.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

Faerie wrote: »

.

Your previous post makes no sense. Why? Well if the shop was making the offer by displaying goods they would be obliged to sell it regardless of whether or not it was in stock. This would be completely impractical. I sat through many contract law lectures, I know!

Taken from the Court of Appeal judgment in Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Chemists (1952), 'the fact that a customer picks up a bottle of medicine from the shelves in this case does not amount to an acceptance of an offer to sell. It is an offer by the customer to buy, and there is no sale effected until the buyer's offer to buy is accepted by the acceptance of the price.'
Looking at it again I suppose you could argue that the contract is formed when the checkout person accepts the offer but even so it wouldn't be accepted in a court because it's so impractical. So no matter what way you look at it a shop can refuse the note.

Just to expand on that, if you want to really piss of a taxi driver, pay with a €500 note, because, at the end of the journey, they debt is incurred, and as legal tender, the taxi driver is obliged to accept it.:D, well in theory...