March 17, 2025 at 1:49 am

Cashier Enforced A Minimum Purchase Rule For Card Payments, So A Customer Cancelled Their Entire Order Out Of Spite

by Benjamin Cottrell

surprised woman with credit card

Reddit/Canva

Some stores think they can nickel and dime their way around card fees, but they forget customers have their own tricks up their sleeve.

Annoyed with a nonsensical policy on minimum purchases, one pet owner was determined to show the business that stubbornness has a cost.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

Transaction fee for a purchase? What about a refund?

A few years ago, I was at a pet shop picking out some toys for my cat, and the total ended up being ~$40.

I paid with my card because I don’t carry cash on me, which was all fine and good until I had another browse of the store and decided I wanted to get some treats for my cat as well.

I think they were around $5.

But this shopper was about to hit a roadblock.

I went to pay for them at the counter with my card, and the owner/cashier refused to put my purchase through unless it was over $20.

She said they get charged a transaction fee for card purchases, so only allow card purchases for amounts over $20.

The customer tried to reason with the cashier, but the cashier wouldn’t budge.

I asked if they could just add the surcharge on top of the amount, but she refused.

I had to spend over $20 to use my card.

I was pretty annoyed considering I had just bought a whole heap of stuff, so I asked if she got charged a transaction fee if I got a refund.

So that’s when they had a brilliant idea!

Turns out they do 🙂

So I asked to return the other stuff that I bought, got my money back, and I guess they got charged the transaction fee twice anyway 🙂

The story may have had a petty policy, but this customer was determined to be pettier.

Reddit is sure to get a kick out of this one.

Why not just go for three at this point?

Screenshot 2025 02 27 at 9.39.10 PM Cashier Enforced A Minimum Purchase Rule For Card Payments, So A Customer Cancelled Their Entire Order Out Of Spite

Is the store even allowed to enforce a rule like that?

Screenshot 2025 02 27 at 9.40.29 PM Cashier Enforced A Minimum Purchase Rule For Card Payments, So A Customer Cancelled Their Entire Order Out Of Spite

Maybe this wasn’t a good business to support anyway.

Screenshot 2025 02 27 at 9.41.15 PM Cashier Enforced A Minimum Purchase Rule For Card Payments, So A Customer Cancelled Their Entire Order Out Of Spite

In some places, cash is king.

Screenshot 2025 02 27 at 9.42.12 PM Cashier Enforced A Minimum Purchase Rule For Card Payments, So A Customer Cancelled Their Entire Order Out Of Spite

The business’ policy tried to cut corner, but it ended up only losing them more money.

Let’s hope the store learned a valuable lesson: When you push a customer too far, they just might push back.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.