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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > iPhone, iPad & iPod > Apple Rejects Cash For iPad

Apple Rejects Cash For iPad
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Lotus Esprit
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May 19, 2010, 04:57 PM
 
Link: CNN Video
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scaught
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May 19, 2010, 09:46 PM
 
Added On May 19, 2010
A California woman says she was denied the chance to buy an iPad because Apple won't take cash. KGO reports.
Truly a travesty of our times. How will she overcome this?
     
Zeeb
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May 19, 2010, 10:39 PM
 
You know what? As much as people like to look down on her and make assumptions about why she doesn't have plastic to pay for an iPad--at least she has the cash upfront. That's more than I can say for many so called "middle class" people who are buried in credit card debt and are behind on their mortgages but who will flash their plastic without even thinking twice.

If Apple wants to keep track of how many iPads people buy so they don't sell them they can just take down a license number or something.
     
Lotus Esprit  (op)
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May 19, 2010, 11:18 PM
 
Originally Posted by Zeeb View Post
If Apple wants to keep track of how many iPads people buy so they don't sell them they can just take down a license number or something.
If she is paying cash Apple has no legal right whatsoever to ask her for any identification as long as the amount is under $10,000.00.

If Apple was smart they would do something for this woman like giver here a fee iPad, iMac, MobileMe account and pay for her lifetime internet accesss wired and wireless.

It would be great PR and really doesn't cost them anything.
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AKcrab
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May 19, 2010, 11:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by Lotus Esprit View Post
If Apple was smart they would do something for this woman like giver here a fee iPad,...

It would be great PR and really doesn't cost them anything.
As a gesture of goodwill toward Diane Campbell, the woman whose experience brought the issue considerable publicity, two employees visited her home today to offer her an iPad free of charge.
"I am just so excited," said Campbell. "Words can't explain right now."
Apple Axes 'No Cash' Policy for iPad Sales - Mac Rumors
     
andi*pandi
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May 20, 2010, 07:44 AM
 
Ah, a happy ending!
     
ghporter
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May 20, 2010, 07:46 AM
 
If the Apple Store has no facilities to handle cash, that would make it a "legal" reason not to take cash. I haven't seen a cash drawer at my local Apple Store for some time. There is NOTHING illegal about not taking cash at a store that typically sells stuff that costs thousands of dollars. It may not be smart or "friendly" for customers who just want an iPhone case, but it's perfectly legal. Besides, Apple had a "per customer" limit on iPad sales, right? How would they keep track if they just sold them without some way to definitively track who they sold them to?

And it sounds like Apple - on a corporate level - fixed things just fine. The "set up an Apple account in the store" solution is quite elegant.

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turtle777
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May 20, 2010, 08:27 AM
 
case of a woman on fixed income who had saved up cash over a period of weeks to purchase an iPad as her first computer.
Uhm, I hope someone told her that w/o a desktop / laptop computer with iTunes to synchronize, she'll be somewhat limited in the use of the iPad.

-t
     
jokell82
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May 20, 2010, 09:45 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
If the Apple Store has no facilities to handle cash, that would make it a "legal" reason not to take cash. I haven't seen a cash drawer at my local Apple Store for some time. There is NOTHING illegal about not taking cash at a store that typically sells stuff that costs thousands of dollars. It may not be smart or "friendly" for customers who just want an iPhone case, but it's perfectly legal. Besides, Apple had a "per customer" limit on iPad sales, right? How would they keep track if they just sold them without some way to definitively track who they sold them to?

And it sounds like Apple - on a corporate level - fixed things just fine. The "set up an Apple account in the store" solution is quite elegant.
Apple does take cash at their stores, they just had a policy to not take cash for iPads (and before for iPhones as well). I'm not sure if that is legal or not (I suspect not, but I don't know).

And who cares if Apple wants to track purchases? Limit it per transaction or per visit, that should be enough.

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-Q-
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May 20, 2010, 10:49 AM
 
The short answer is that federal legal tender laws require creditors to accept payment denominated in dollars, but generally do not require businesses to accept any particular form of payment -- such as cash.

So while not the most customer-friendly of policies, it's not breaking any sort of laws.

Edit: And to add that it *could* be illegal if a state does have a law requiring businesses to accept cash for transactions:

http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq...l-tender.shtml
( Last edited by -Q-; May 20, 2010 at 10:54 AM. Reason: Adding the link to the US Treasury that states such)
     
pcryan5
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May 20, 2010, 11:16 AM
 
Originally Posted by ghporter View Post
If the Apple Store has no facilities to handle cash, that would make it a "legal" reason not to take cash. I haven't seen a cash drawer at my local Apple Store for some time.
FWIW - I purchased mine @ APPLE in Washington for cash that I've been hoarding since that glorious +8% CAN/US exchange rate period.

~P
     
Eug
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May 20, 2010, 05:56 PM
 
Originally Posted by AKcrab View Post
As a gesture of goodwill toward Diane Campbell, the woman whose experience brought the issue considerable publicity, two employees visited her home today to offer her an iPad free of charge.
"I am just so excited," said Campbell. "Words can't explain right now."
Apple Axes 'No Cash' Policy for iPad Sales - Mac Rumors
I wish I had thought of that.
     
ghporter
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May 20, 2010, 07:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by -Q- View Post
The short answer is that federal legal tender laws require creditors to accept payment denominated in dollars, but generally do not require businesses to accept any particular form of payment -- such as cash.

So while not the most customer-friendly of policies, it's not breaking any sort of laws.

Edit: And to add that it *could* be illegal if a state does have a law requiring businesses to accept cash for transactions:

U.S. Treasury - FAQs: Legal Tender Status of currency
Cash says "legal tender for all debts, public and private." But you must incur the debt before you can pay it. Scenario: if a vendor has a reasonable cause to not take a particular means of payment, he is not required to establish that "debt" by conducting a sale with you. To my knowledge, most states still haven't established laws that require vendors to take plastic in more than a few situations-it's just more convenient and "customer friendly" to do so, so it's not likely there are many statutes that require sellers to take cash.

Oh, and IRS, which is of course part of the Department of the Treasury, DOES refuse cash for income tax payments. Their rationale is just as I said earlier: they are not set up or equipped to protect such large quantities of cash from theft. Most government entities have limited facilities to handle cash, often preferring checks which can be much safer to handle. Only a few around here are equipped to handle plastic on-site, though I did renew my drivers license online using plastic...

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
olePigeon
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May 20, 2010, 07:28 PM
 
Not all the Apple Stores have cash registers, amazingly enough. Some only have card swipers.
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msuper69
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May 20, 2010, 08:05 PM
 
Cash is going the way of the Dodo bird. It's only a matter of time so Apple might be considered ahead of the curve.
     
jokell82
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May 20, 2010, 08:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by msuper69 View Post
Cash is going the way of the Dodo bird. It's only a matter of time so Apple might be considered ahead of the curve.
Screw that. There always needs to be a way to buy things anonymously. No way do I want absolutely everything I buy able to be traced back to me, no matter how innocent the purchases. I'll specifically avoid retailers that don't take cash.

All glory to the hypnotoad.
     
pooka
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May 20, 2010, 08:59 PM
 
Wait. how in the hell do you use an iPad without a computer? I couldn't even get my sister's to turn on without downloading 300MB of OS and iTunes updates over a crappy DSL connection. Seems a bit retarded.

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reader50
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May 20, 2010, 09:38 PM
 
Since she saved up $600 for it, she can now afford a used Mac system.
     
freudling
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May 23, 2010, 05:02 AM
 
I raised an eyebrow at this too. How sad, we can't use the only true legal tender to pay for things in certain cases. I had cash and got refused too. I had a credit card as well, made some other large purchases there, and wanted to buy a few more things with cash I had. One was the iPad. Nope. They refused me the sale. Just funnel us into using credit.

This is really an unfair policy by the Treasury Department. Businesses should be required to accept cash.
     
turtle777
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May 23, 2010, 05:17 PM
 
Originally Posted by freudling View Post
This is really an unfair policy by the Treasury Department. Businesses should be required to accept cash.
a) This has nothing to do with the treasury dept.

b) It's a free country. If a business doesn't want to sell for cash, so be it.
We are not Venezuela, where businesses are forced to accept worthless cash at fixed prices. But we're getting there.

-t
     
SpaceMonkey
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May 28, 2010, 10:31 AM
 
Originally Posted by msuper69 View Post
Cash is going the way of the Dodo bird. It's only a matter of time so Apple might be considered ahead of the curve.
In fact, Apple wouldn't even accept my payment for an iPad when I gave the store clerk a floppy disk with my bank transfer information on it.

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scaught
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May 28, 2010, 11:10 AM
 
Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey View Post
In fact, Apple wouldn't even accept my payment for an iPad when I gave the store clerk a floppy disk with my bank transfer information on it.
I was generous in my offer of "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for an iPad today". The blue and spikey haired gentleman behind the counter merely blinked in response. Perhaps he assumed I would be paying in cash on Tuesday?
     
-Q-
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May 28, 2010, 11:14 AM
 
Originally Posted by scaught View Post
I was generous in my offer of "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for an iPad today". The blue and spikey haired gentleman behind the counter merely blinked in response. Perhaps he assumed I would be paying in cash on Tuesday?
I believe that payment offer is for hamburgers only. And cash is still an accepted form of payment.
     
macaddict0001
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May 30, 2010, 02:18 AM
 
Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey View Post
In fact, Apple wouldn't even accept my payment for an iPad when I gave the store clerk a floppy disk with my bank transfer information on it.
400k or double density?
     
   
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