A merchant has every right to refuse your payment if you pay by check. Please note, however, that this refusal must meet certain conditions and, above all, the merchant must inform you of this by means of display, labeling, or by another means of his choice from the moment it is clearly visible. /P>
Whether it is a merchant or a craftsman, these professionals are within their rights if they refuse that you pay them by check as a means of payment. But they must nevertheless fulfill certain conditions.
The first of the conditions for a merchant to be able to oppose your payment by check is that he must inform you beforehand, and in a clear manner.
This information can be given by the merchant in the form of specific marking, labelling, panels at the entrance to his store, at his checkouts, or even a display such as "the house does not accept not checks".
In all cases, the indication that a merchant does not accept checks must be visible so that consumers are necessarily warned that they will not be able to use this means of payment.
Professionals who do not have physical points of sale, like many craftsmen for example, must mention on their quotes that they do not accept payment by check and thus inform their customers in advance.
On the other hand, you should also know that a taxi driver or a driver of a transport car with driver (VTC) are not obliged to accept payment for their trips by check. They are, however, required to offer two types of means of payment, cash or credit card.
There are instances where a merchant cannot decline your check payment. Thus, professionals affiliated with an approved management center (CGA) are required to accept this type of means of payment and must inform their customers of this possibility by means of a visible display such as, for example, "merchant accepting payment sums due by checks, made out in his name in his capacity as a member of a management center approved by the tax authorities".
As indicated by the tax services, "an approved management center is an organization whose purpose is to provide industrial, commercial, craft and agricultural companies with technical assistance in terms of management/prevention of the economic and financial difficulties of their members, 'tax assistance and prevention and training'. Merchants, or any other professionals, are not obliged to join an approved management organization, but this procedure allows them to benefit from certain tax advantages.
Note, however:merchants affiliated with an approved management center have the possibility of choosing between two types of means of payment:either checks or bank cards, and not necessarily both. That is to say that a professional who adheres to a CGA and who chooses payment by credit card, and therefore excludes that by check, is entirely within his rights to be able to refuse your payment by check.
On the other hand, these affiliated professionals have the right to nevertheless refuse your payment by check if you are in the case of a purchase of low amount which it is customary to pay in cash, if the regulations on which they depend imposes cash payments and if the costs of cashing your check are very high compared to the amount of the sale.
Even if a merchant accepts that you pay it by check, it may impose specific conditions for this type of payment method.
Professionals can thus, for example, require a minimum purchase amount, as well as a maximum amount. A merchant is entitled to refuse your payment by check if you find yourself in one of these cases. Here too, the professional must inform his customers beforehand of these limits with, for example, a display such as "checks are only accepted from XXX euros" or "checks are accepted up to XXX euros".
A trader can also subject payment by check to the obligation to present an identity document which includes a photo of the customer, that is to say a national identity card, a driving license or a passport. /P>
Finally, even if he agrees to be paid by cheque, a merchant can refuse your payment made in this way if he considers that the costs of cashing his checks billed by his banking institution are disproportionate to the amount of the transaction.
