3 ms·

How do you pay for things that are just one or two euros? In my local boulangerie they don't accept cards for less than 5€, so if I just want a baguette I need

How do you pay for things that are just one or two euros? In my local boulangerie they don't accept cards for less than 5€, so if I just want a baguette I need to have cash.

pas 1y ago
I assume there's no minimum there (as I haven't encountered such a requirement in Hungary for some time, nor in Spain)
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
basisword 1y ago
In the UK most small shops had this same 'minimum spend' requirement for card. It disappeared a few years ago (maybe during Covid) and now I haven't come across minimum spend in a long time. That was one of the last things that made me always keep some cash on hand. Now, I genuinely cannot remember the last time I used cash - it's been at least 2-3 years, probably longer.
input_sh 1y ago
Oh it's easy: they don't use Visa / Mastercard, but their own domestic system called Swish, which is much cheaper for businesses and of course completely free for individuals. Similar instant payment systems have really blossomed across the world, especially in recent years. One by one, countries are finally figuring out that there's no reason to rely on American brands for all of the payment processing.
- timeon 1y ago
  > Oh it's easy Can you use it without local ID/phone and with foreign bank account?
  - KomoD 1y ago
    No because you need BankID which is issued by your bank and to get BankID you need a Swedish bank and a personnummer. You can use a foreign phone number with Swish but some banks don't allow it (or only allow some countries, e.g. finland).
- KomoD 1y ago
  A lot of stores have minimums if you want to pay with Swish, the more common answer to how we pay for small amounts like that is... we just use our cards like any other purchase.
sorenjan 1y ago
That was a thing in Sweden as well, but it's illegal to charge an extra fee when using cards since 2010. So to answer the question, everyone just uses cards even for small purchases, and often those "cards" aren't physical cards but Apple or Google Pay on the phone. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-2010751-om-betaltjanster_sfs-2010-751/#K5 https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/sven...
kassner 1y ago
If you ignore supermarkets, basically no place sells stuff in that low of an amount. Using Stripe as an example, transaction fees are 1.5%+1.8kr. I’m hard pressed to find a place that sells items with a price below 20kr, and even cheap crap from china costs at least that when buying online. So unless your business has an unexpectedly large amount of low price transactions, it’s not a big issue.
KomoD 1y ago
We just use our cards.
veeti 1y ago
You're not going to find a baguette for less than 5 euros anyway
- jobigoud 1y ago
  Not sure what you are talking about. A baguette is ~1€, same for a croissant or a chocolatine. Maybe 1.10 or 1.20 depending on the place. I do it all the time. It forces me to have the cash otherwise I need to take another random item I don't really need.
  - Symbiote 1y ago
    At least in Denmark, people are fine paying and shops are fine receiving 10DKK (cheap loaf of bread) or whatever on a card. I have paid 0.5DKK on a card when I've forgotten to ask beforehand for a plastic bag, and the shopkeeper cares to make me pay after.

How do you pay for things that are just one or two euros? In my local boulangerie they don't accept cards for less than 5€, so if I just want a baguette I need to have cash.

pas 1y ago

I assume there's no minimum there (as I haven't encountered such a requirement in Hungary for some time, nor in Spain)

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

basisword 1y ago

In the UK most small shops had this same 'minimum spend' requirement for card. It disappeared a few years ago (maybe during Covid) and now I haven't come across minimum spend in a long time. That was one of the last things that made me always keep some cash on hand. Now, I genuinely cannot remember the last time I used cash - it's been at least 2-3 years, probably longer.

input_sh 1y ago

Oh it's easy: they don't use Visa / Mastercard, but their own domestic system called Swish, which is much cheaper for businesses and of course completely free for individuals. Similar instant payment systems have really blossomed across the world, especially in recent years. One by one, countries are finally figuring out that there's no reason to rely on American brands for all of the payment processing.

timeon 1y ago
> Oh it's easy Can you use it without local ID/phone and with foreign bank account?
- KomoD 1y ago
  No because you need BankID which is issued by your bank and to get BankID you need a Swedish bank and a personnummer. You can use a foreign phone number with Swish but some banks don't allow it (or only allow some countries, e.g. finland).
KomoD 1y ago
A lot of stores have minimums if you want to pay with Swish, the more common answer to how we pay for small amounts like that is... we just use our cards like any other purchase.

sorenjan 1y ago

That was a thing in Sweden as well, but it's illegal to charge an extra fee when using cards since 2010. So to answer the question, everyone just uses cards even for small purchases, and often those "cards" aren't physical cards but Apple or Google Pay on the phone. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/lag-2010751-om-betaltjanster_sfs-2010-751/#K5 https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument-och-lagar/dokument/sven...

kassner 1y ago

If you ignore supermarkets, basically no place sells stuff in that low of an amount. Using Stripe as an example, transaction fees are 1.5%+1.8kr. I’m hard pressed to find a place that sells items with a price below 20kr, and even cheap crap from china costs at least that when buying online. So unless your business has an unexpectedly large amount of low price transactions, it’s not a big issue.

KomoD 1y ago

We just use our cards.

veeti 1y ago

You're not going to find a baguette for less than 5 euros anyway

jobigoud 1y ago
Not sure what you are talking about. A baguette is ~1€, same for a croissant or a chocolatine. Maybe 1.10 or 1.20 depending on the place. I do it all the time. It forces me to have the cash otherwise I need to take another random item I don't really need.
- Symbiote 1y ago
  At least in Denmark, people are fine paying and shops are fine receiving 10DKK (cheap loaf of bread) or whatever on a card. I have paid 0.5DKK on a card when I've forgotten to ask beforehand for a plastic bag, and the shopkeeper cares to make me pay after.