Going to pay loaded with coins, even if they are legal tender, does not guarantee that the store will accept them. There is a figure above which there is no longer an obligation to receive them and if it is exceeded, the business can reject them.
As an example, you could decline payment for purchases of more than 100 euros in coins or for a 5-euro bar bill in 5-cent coins. Because? According to the Bank of Spain in an entry in the Banking Customer Portal, “establishments are not required to accept more than 50 currencies in a payment.”
There is an exception, which is payment in the so-called “public cashiers”, windows that depend on an entity or body of the public sector.
In banks, the limit is similar: they are not required to accept more than 50 currencies in payments. The objective is to avoid delays in serving other customers by counting one by one…
What about clients who necessarily have to deal with many currencies and want to enter them more frequently? Charging in cash is more common in commerce and hospitality, such as in a bar or a neighborhood store. In their cases, when dealing with entities “they need special cash services”, explains the Bank of Spain. For example, a bakery that wants to enter the daily collection or a week in which there are many coins.
Within the special services, the entity undertakes to accept, count, package and transform periodic deliveries for deposit into account. It is also responsible for sending and delivering cash refunds, converting these currencies into bills or coins of a certain value. This is usually done by subcontracted vans, but it is noted that “it does not mean that they can ignore incidents that arise due to their actions and must respond to the client.”
This service does not have to be free. The bank may charge a fee for accepting a “high number of coins” on a frequent basis. The commission is not limited and is considered in accordance with good practices, as long as the entity reports the charge and the amount.
