back to article UK punters happy to pay £3 to top up e-wallets

A survey of UK attitudes to mobile payments reckons that £3 a time is the sweet spot for topping up wallets, with 65 per cent of you looking forward to pay-by-tap. Paying for the privilege of adding credit to a purse was the option selected by 34 per cent of respondents to the survey, which was carried out by marketing …

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  1. Simbu
    Mushroom

    I'll stick with the plastic thanks.

    Anyone who wants to charge me to spend my own money in a slightly more convenient way can go fuck themselves. With schemes like this in the UK, why is it a surprse that so many people are incapable of managing their money these days? No different to mugs who accept the "£2.50 to use your credit card" charges.

    Won't be adopting unless it costs me no more than my card / cash.

    1. AndyS

      Mugs?

      How do you suggest we book flights these days then? The wrong-doing isn't always on the part of the (abused?) consumer.

    2. Dances With Sheep
      Stop

      > Anyone who wants to charge me to spend my own money in a slightly more convenient way can go fuck themselves

      For what it's worth, every time you pay with a *credit* card, Visa / Mastercard takes a 2-3% cut, which, surprise, will get added on to the shop prices to compensate. (And with American Express, it's nearer 5%...... ever wondered why so few small shops take Amex?)

      If you are paying your friendly, local business, pay 'em in cash. They will appreciate not letting the credit card companies dip a finger in the pie, and cash-flow can be an issue with small business. (The credit card companies will only pay the merchant monthly)

      Debit cards on the other hand, charge a flat fee (rather than a percentage) typically of a few pence. All the same, I'd rather pay cash and not let these parasites take a cut.

      1. HaplessPoet
        Thumb Down

        I don't think so.

        Most banks charge small business quite a bit to "handle cash"

        Also the poor shop keeper has to make sure he doesn't get robbed of it either in the shop or on the way to the bank.

        The charges made by credit card companies are excessive too. however debit cards do not get charged in the same way. Businesses pay a flat fee or a few 10's of pence for Debit Cards.

        That's cheap when you consider the aggro accepting cash entails.

        e-wallets etc should be no different.

      2. Simon Neill

        But..

        If you pay them in cash they then need to make sure they have enough change on premises at all times to give you change.

        Then they have to transport said cash to a bank most likely, since the majority of their expenses will probably not accept cash. That then is either a high risk transfer themselves or they pay someone like securicor to transport it for them.

        Then there is the insurance, buying a safe or whatever they feel they need and the fact that stolen cash is very hard to recover. Perhaps paying by card IS the better way.

      3. Horned-Devil

        Obviously never worked in an industry where you are presented with these choices.

        Merchant accounts pay out based on your arrangement with them. I've had monthly, weekly and daily settlements in my past - all depends on their view of your businesses (and the transactions) risk.

        Cash is quite an expensive way of handling a business - you have additional insurance costs for cash on the premises, banking isn't free (and any mug out there who thinks it is better wake up!), there is a risk of cash disappearing from the till, an additional cost of maintaining the tills as well as keeping an adequate float. Additional reconciliation headaches (although you have that with CC it can at least have a degree of automation) plus deemed time per transaction (possibly not an issue but again, depends on the business).

        Whilst CC is hardly risk free (increasing CC fraud etc) it is a convenient way to get to the cash into the business if done right - the charges you quote are probably not a million miles off but it does depend on the volume of your business and its deemed risk to the merchant (for example, Tesco will not be charged 3% by VISA)

      4. jonathanb Silver badge

        The credit card company pays the merchant about 2-3 days after the transaction takes place. It costs shops money to take cash as well, so debit cards are actually the cheapest way to pay them.

    3. Naughtyhorse

      mugs who accept the £2.50 to use your credit card

      not a mug m8.

      just capable of making the calculation as to whether the convenience of using the machine in front of me is worth the charge, or do i walk christ knows how far, taking christ knows how long out of my busy day to the nearest 'free' atm.

      sometimes i do, sometimes i dont

      you pays your money and you takes your choice

    4. Piro Silver badge
      Pint

      Agreed.

      I avoid those cash machines that want to charge me a goddamn thing.

      Usually the pub will take your card anyway! Just order another drink.. or two.. to get to over their minimum card limit!

      I'd much rather pay the pub for a beer than watch it disappear into a goddamn cash machine.. just so I can get my cash. Jog on, cash machine operators..

    5. patrick_bateman

      When you say stick with the plastic, prices on the shelf already include a 'plastic' handling charge, if you use cash you can get upto 5.4% off at the checkout just by asking.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        What...

        are you smoking, and can i have some?

        Try going into Tesco or Starbucks and 'negotiating' with the cashier because you're giving them some metal discs instead of a piece of plastic. You'll get laughed at. The types of places that will be using e-wallets will not be pricing according to whether you pay by debit or cash.

  2. Richard 22
    WTF?

    Equivalent costs

    I think I'd be prepared to pay as much as taking cash from an ATM and putting it in my actual wallet. And that's free. Unless somebody could demonstrate a big benefit of this cashless payment thing (is dealing with cash really losing us as individuals that much time?) I don't think I could justify paying more than a few pence.

    1. Robert Carnegie Silver badge

      ATMs aren't free for chavs.

      If you have a "basic" bank account in the UK, you've probably just been cut off from the "free" cash machines that most banks provide at their own premises and at supermarkets. You may be able to use your own bank's ATM - perhaps only your own branch, I don't know - and maybe the ones that you do indeed have to pay to use, in small shops. And I don't know about Asda.

      Tesco - I think it was Tesco, I don't swear to it - impressed me with their effrontery in offering an on-site cash machine that is not only free but actually donates to charity each time you use it. Perhaps you are wondering how much the donation is. It is 0.000125. One-eightieth of one penny. If I've got it right, that is. Imagine how embarrassing if I got a digit wrong and it's one-eighth of a penny. Red face, eh?

      Businesses have a small cost of cash handling in the labour of moving money around and doing it securely, and possibly a large cost of some of it being nicked by employees. Sometimes it can be dealt with by docking it from wages. An interesting method that I heard about recently is to use this means of recovery when restaurant customers leave without paying, which implies that you won't have much trouble getting out of the door as long as your own waiter doesn't rugby-tackle you. And you won't have trouble catching their eye when you want another napkin, either.

      But even so, eight pence cost to a retailer for you using chip and pin is something to think about.

      And the rest of these charges on payment devices are a tax on the morlocks. Does that seem fair to you? I have qualms, actually.

      1. Elmer Phud
        Mushroom

        Too many variables

        if, probably, maybe, I don't know, I don't swear, perhaps, if I've got it right, possibly, sometimes, I heard of,

        and wtf have 'chavs' got to do with this mess of uninformed blather.

        Make your mind up ffs!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Chavs???

        I think you'll find quite a lot of people are now on basic bank accounts, not just "chavs"...

    2. Asgard
      Big Brother

      @Richard 22, "dealing with cash"

      Another benefit of cash is we avoid the relentlessly increasing corporate spying on us all. I hate the idea of being charged for using my phone as a payment device, only to then have the additional insult of them using my phone payment as a way to spy on me as well. I've had enough, these parasites can frankly go fuck themselves.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Why would I want to pay three pounds so that when someone nicks my phone they can buy themselves a latte?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lacking the Obvious making it totally pointless

    A classic fail! Like asking a turkey we're thinking we might kill and eat you for christmas this year, we're not sure if we're going to, so to help us decide this would you like to be eaten as part of the entre, main course or desert for christmas this year? (obvioulsy turkey and custard might be a bit nastry but hey ho ho ho)

    I suppose the results of this very poor survey will be wheeled out when the cusomer starts to wonder why they are being charged to much money to use these types of systems, you wanted to pay a flat fee of £x everytime you top up... you told us so, even though the companies providing them will also be taking a % of the overall transactions each time they are made.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Anything and custard is a bit nasty.

  5. jai

    3 quid a time? WTF?

    There's another alternative, I'll continue to put paper cash into my physical wallet and use that instead.

  6. David 39
    WTF?

    Errr Yeah

    And next time I buy a copy of the sun I'll give the retailer an extra fiver for the privelege of spending my money in his shop. Then when I get home I'll chuck all my money in the bin.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Regardless of current practice

    If "electronic money", whatever the form, is to succeed, then handling your money electronically cannot cost much of anything. To me this "study" is intended as an industry enticement to get into this so far ailing game, and doesn't reflect punters' belief they'll actually use all this instead of the old wallet that costs something to buy but not anything to put money in or take out of. I mean, that wasn't an option in the "study", seriously.

    1. PatientOne

      All business transactions are charged for by the banks for handling. The amount isn't always small, either. This is how the banks are putting pressure on business to reject cheques: Putting up the fees until it's just not worth honoring them any more.

      But to charge the consumer a fee up front... okay, that's double dipping as they'll also get a handling fee from the shop this money is spent at...

      As to the nature of this study: They didn't allow a 'no fee' option, and £3 is a lot if you're only wanting to add £10 credit, so to me this is a skewed study and the intention is to push people to use this system more than, say, debit cards. After all, if it's a £3 fee per top up, you'd want to keep the top ups to a minimum, and then you'd want to spend that money, probably in preference to cash or debit card... and all the while the banks will be making a greater profit.

      Be interesting to see what they charge the retailer for use of this system, though...

    2. c3

      Speaking of current practice: Proton

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proton_(bank_card)

      (Still) In use in Belgium and quite handy IMO. And 100% free.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Speaking of proton...

        ... a bit up norf from there they didn't have one system, no, they had two: "Chipper" and the incompatible "Chipknip". That didn't fly so one gave up, but that didn't gain the other much breathing room for some reaon. And now they're trying again with the same thing redone in RFID. Various parties at various times went and done gone right ahead and forced use of the things, but uptake elsewhere has lagged and keeps on lagging. I don't know how widespread the Belgian proton system is, though I do know it's not compatible with the Dutch chipknip.

        I say something is seriously wrong with the financial industry (and for that matter its governance) when they keep on pushing technologies and end up outright forcing people to use them because otherwise people just won't. Just keep on accepting cash instead of calculating the "gains" of no longer having to count coins before your customers have noticed your newfangled system has been deployed, eh. That sort of thing breeds ill-will.

  8. Powelly

    I'd love to see the way the questions were phrased. As you've mentioned in the article the results seem fanciful in the extreme.

  9. Silverburn
    FAIL

    No 'free' option in survey???

    <--- see icon

  10. JasonW
    WTF?

    Let me get this straight...

    ... people are willing to spend up to £3 extra so they can spend their own money in selected outlets?

    No doubt these same people would complain if they asked for £100 at the cash point and it only dispensed £95?

    No wonder consumer debt is so high in the UK.

    1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      Thumb Down

      But that is what happens already

      You will get the £100 from the ATM, but your account will be debited £100.08 (OK, I know that the charge is not applied immediately but I'm sure you see my point).

      The banksters tell us the cashless society is better and 'safer' than carrying cash, it's a lie, its just an excuse to change you for taking your money out of the bank, that's after paying a charge to put in the bank in the first place.

      Consider a not too large national bank, an average of 5 million transactions a night, 251 working days in the year, at 8p a transaction that's £100,400,000 a year in transaction charges.

      But the scams don’t stop there, got a credit card? Did you use in a POS machine, enter your PIN and have the credit card approve the transaction only to find when you get your statement that the crucking funts charged you for letting you go over your limit…

      May their arse-holes turn square and rot in the corners!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        You've been had....

        Never been charged 8p here...

  11. druck Silver badge
    WTF?

    ...fuck and off.

  12. Sam Liddicott

    half an hour?

    Half an hours minimum wage to top-up an e-wallet?

    That's crazy talk.

  13. Marvin the Martian
    Paris Hilton

    Where do they find these people?

    I'm sure that, if asked, this lot would tell you they don't want no stinkin' free cash withdrawals, they go to the cornershop machines taking £1.70 regardless of transaction size. "Support your local cornershop" or somesuch.

    1. semprance
      Go

      @Marvin

      There's one outside the MacDonalds at the end of my road; what's their excuse? I'm genuinely starting to think it's because they know that their 'broader' customers won't be willing to cross the road and walk 500 yards to the free one...

      I agree with most of the above, many people are stupid and/or lazy, and will be more than willing to use these pay-to-pay services...

    2. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

      Or

      They were all being sarcastic since apparently noone said they wanted it free. To be honest these days anyone with a clipboard that won't go away get stupid answers from me, probably the same from everyone else especially since you say No ten times and get told but but.

      1. PatientOne

        Cap. Scarlet: Free wasn't an option, as I read it. So yes, I think they got a lot of stupid answers from those who don't agree with paying twice for this (you'll also pay the retailer as they'll get charged per transaction, too).

  14. Shaun 1
  15. Steve Evans

    Really?

    There are people that say it is possible to charge too low a fee for moving your own money about?! What asylum was this survey conducted in?

    From my cursory look at the graph I would say that the sweet spot (if they must charge) is below £1. After that you get at least a 20% leap in the "dislike"... The people conducting this survey seem to think that the sweet spot should be defined as "pissing off less that 50% of your customers".

  16. Individual #6/42
    FAIL

    Tobin Taxes to kill economy - in micro

    Even the greediest cashpoints only take 2:50! How on earth do they think that £3 will encourge e-wallets over the handy numbered pictures of the Queen?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sounds like people thought they were being asked how much they wanted to put on the card each time. What was the exact question and context?

  18. bitmap animal
    Stop

    Give me my money for free

    I'm always intrigued why people think that it should be free to “get my money”. This applies to old and new technologies. Someone has to take you cash, process it, install and maintain the network of cash machines and make sure the cash machine you want to withdraw it from has the cash available.

    How many companies supply their services for free? When you put your stuff into storage do you expect Access to look after it for free because it’s your stuff? No, but you expect people to do that with your money and expect them to be responsible for it. As I recall the storage companies expect you to take out insurance for your goods, banks are, within limits, guaranteed.

    I know banking is different as they can use your money to try (rather unsuccessfully recently) to make money so they can, amongst other things, not charge you for their services in most cases.

    I don’t expect this view to be popular, but I think you need to stop and think about the free service you are getting – it has to be paid for somehow and as a business they have to balance income with expenditure.

    1. Andrew Moore

      It's being paid for...

      ...by allowing them to loan on my money to other parties and making a nice chunk of interest out of it. Also I'm sure my money (and others) appears in some line in their yearly reports, indicating some form of success in their business and encouraging others to invest.

      And I allow the banks to do this with my money for free. So if the bank wants to make it easier for me to transact my money with them; don't be taking the piss and try charging me for it. After all, a house safe is free, available 24 hours and a lot safer (pardon the pun).

      I had this exact conversation with my bank manager 25 years ago and have not been charged any transaction charges since.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @bitmap animal

      wrong target - it is reasonable to charge the retail outlets* to take money, as is seen with credit cards, debit cards, cheques etc. as they are the main ones benefiting from this kinds of tech**

      Your storage analogy is well flawed - you only have two players - the punter and the storage company - with no mention of payment processor. Your analogy would be more realistic if you asked whether it would be reasonable for the storage company to periodically move your stuff around and charge you to do so.

      Bank savings may be guaranteed, but they are guaranteed by the government (in short the taxpayer) not the bank - for fuck's sake man, should I be expected to pay the banks a premium for the benefit of paying for my own fucking insurance as well? Because that is what you are saying.

      *Which means they will pass some or all of it into us, but that is the nature of business, and competition will make this fair and reasonable rather than an absurd £3 top-up

      **The time and effort savings to me [in contactless paying] will be minimal, a couple of minutes a week probably, however the shop benefits massively through quicker customer turnaround, shorter queues, not having to handle large amounts of cash etc.

      1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

        @bitmap animal

        read up on fractional reserve banking, although it applies to deposits, banks are equally adept at managing, and using, money that is "in transit" or is in current accounts as well.

    3. Just Thinking

      Think about who benefits

      Step back in time to the days when people didn't have current accounts. Everyone was paid weekly in cash, and used that cash to buy things. If they wanted something expensive they put money in a jar each week to save for it.

      Minor PITA for the man in the street, but a massive cost to employers, shops, the government, utility companies etc having to move all that money around.

      When the banks invented personal banking, the benefits to individuals were so slight that if they had tried to charge people to "get their own money out" people would just have insisted in continuing to be paid in cash and pay for things in cash - no bank involvement at all. So the costs were either hidden (using the interest from your cash) or passed on to the shops etc who actually benefit.

      Everything that has followed on from there is to save the banks money. ATMs cost, but a lot less than a human teller. Cards, DD cost, but less than cheques.

      Maybe now we are in so deep that they can get away with charging us for things. But if a bank provides absolutely no method to withdraw your own money free of charge (even if that means attending a branch in person) people might want to go back to cash.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      @ bitmap animal

      You've no idea how banks actually work, do you?

  19. cloudgazer

    7 million of us in London already use an e-wallet thanks, and we absolutely don't pay for top-ups. If they tried to charge £3 for every oyster top-up there would be riots all over again!

  20. auburnman
    Trollface

    These poor businesses...

    Haven't their friends in the music industry taught them how unfair it is to compete with free, how much money they will 'lose'? Or maybe they'll be a PR/lobbying campaign to criminalise/demonise paper money - "Every time you use untraceable paper cash, you are funding terrorist extremist Somali pirate people traffickers! Stay safe with our trackable, chargeable, e-cash system.

    It's so simple, you just bend over the kiosk and pay."

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I suspect that this is about setting a mindset. Retailers are now unhappy that they got us used to "free" credit card use - they have to pay the provider of the service. Some now make a "credit card" surcharge - although it many cases this is just trying it on - the prices didn't go down to cash buyers when the cc charge got added - and it's amazing what happens with some retailers if you just say "no thank you, then" when asked.

    Someone will have to pay for e-money and someone will want to make a profit from it. Either we pay or the reatiler does (i.e. we pay but don't notice it). The providers, hope (expect) that they can make it both. The big boys will initlially be able to say to the providers "we want price X" - until there is large user base in which many retailers will have to "fodl" and accept the %age the providers want. But in the interim, where the providers need to make market share, charge the user and not (or ather lower rates) the retailer makes sense.

    Eventually, once there are enough users, the providers might have to change tack as consumers will be attracted by a better deal. In the end, even those who decide to keep using their paper money will wned up paying for the services - much like cash users pay for credit cards to day.

    Of course, there still are retailers - esecially the low cost (e.g. Lidl) who won't take credit cards, for instance. And small retailers usually pya higher %ages. So somethign sniliar will happen with these schemes if they ever take off.

    Remeber, as well, the organisations that currently distribute the folding stuff will probably control the e-versions - you can already hear the "no demand" argument .....

    1. Oldfogey

      Lidl

      Funny thing, Lidl here in Wales take credit cards - but not those in England.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Doomed to failure

    Various companies have been trying to push eCash systems for at least 20 years now. It has never been successful and it never will be because there is no market for it. There is no benefit to the consumer of such a system.

    It will never replace cash or debit card because it has the disadvantages of cash, and the disadvantages of a debit card and the advantages of neither. It's a stupid idea and the only people that want it are the suppliers who plan to make money by skimming every transaction or top-up.

    1. Bruno Girin

      If you were right then the Moneo system that has been around in France for several years would not be the success it is. A typical use is to pay at parking metres in the street: no need for loose change and more practical than a full chip+pin transaction (or the phone system you can find in some areas of London for that matter). Any situation where you have automated payment systems that deal with small amount would benefit from it. Paying in shops is more debatable.

  23. Richard Tobin

    Did they understand the question?

    Perhaps they thought they were being asked how much they would want to top up each time.

    Unless they report the questions actually asked, the results are worthless.

  24. Boring Bob

    Rubbish

    I bet the 300 people they questioned work in marketing in the electronic wallet industry. "And do you think most people will be willing to pay more than 25p to charge their wallet?" "Of course I do otherwise my job makes no sense and the company I work for is bankrupt"

    1. bitmap animal
      Happy

      At Broing Bob 10:15

      I think inadvertently you've hit the nail on the head there. Suggesting that if they asked the people whose jobs depended on it if there should be a charge.

      You suggested that if there is no charge then they would go bust and therefore there would be no service available. So to have the service you have just shown that there does need to be charging.

      (I'm not for it, just trying to get people to understand you can't have anything for free)

  25. Inventor of the Marmite Laser Silver badge

    Yeah Right.

    On the basis that anyone signing up will get stuffed with yet more junk marketing; I'd readily agree to paying three quid a pop to top up, but only if I can bill my time for reading (or otherwise) any marketing drivel I receive from them of people they've sold my name to and dealing with it as I, in my sole opinion, see fit, for five quid a pop.

    Pucking Farasites.

  26. Mike 68

    Yo Dawg...

    I heard you like to pay, so I'm charging £3 to put money in yo wallet, so you can pay while you pay!

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stupidity Tax

    Here is you sign. Go forth an tell everyone who really stupied you are.There also should be national database of all stupided people. They views do not matter as they are stupided.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Wow

      Seven spelling mistakes in just three lines. You certainly told all those stupided people.

  28. Dan 55 Silver badge

    Nope

    At the moment there's a commission per transaction that the trader has to pay accepting payment by debit or credit card which is fought over by various parties.

    However many involved in the e-wallet chain (mobile manufacturer, operator, bank, Visa/MC, etc...) can fight over those same scraps themselves for their payment method. The sweet spot for topping up an e-wallet for the end customer is 0p.

  29. Robert E A Harvey

    Next it will be the sneezing tax, I tell you.

    Bollocks to this, I'm going to stick to cash.

  30. Pete 2 Silver badge

    Ask a londoner

    A lot of people already have what is in effect an e-wallet. It's the oyster card that they use to keep the cost of travelling round the metropolis at a level somewhere between obscene and merely extortionate. If you want to know what people who actually use an electronic card to pay for goods and services would be willing to pay simply to keep money in their account, just ask anyone touching in or out. Try suggesting tho them that they should pay three quid just to top-up and then duck, sharpish, as a fist shaped reply tells you the answer.

  31. HaplessPoet
    WTF?

    I really worry about some people.

    Who in their right mind would pay to spend their own money?

    It's as if, when faced with a survey, they don't want to appear cheap!

    But instead they prove themselves to be idiots instead.

    Struth!

  32. The BigYin
    Mushroom

    Sod right off

    Here is how much I will pay to top up my e-wallet: £0.00

    Any more and I won't use it.

    I realise I pay a fee for using Credit Cards (3%-ish, included in the price and the Card companies lobbied heavily to prevent shops from offering a discount for cash) but at least a Credit Card gives me protection from dodgy traders (which is why I only pay by CC on-line).

    What benefits do I get from an e-wallet? Other than having my privacy further raped and bank balance gouged once again.

    Just like non-free cash machines - fuck right off. Robbing bastards.

  33. TerryB

    God save the Queen

    The world of finance, don’t you just love it? A world populated by lazy little fuckers who seem to think that your money is theirs.

    Personally I think we should all be doing our best to support the Queen and that nice anonymous stuff that has her head on it and a promise from the Bank of England to pay you on demand.

    1. Yet Another Commentard

      technical aside

      The "pay on demand" means that the Bank will swap an old tatty, out of date, ripped etc note for the same value of sterling. You can't go and get your gold back.

      So if you find an old £1 note that the shops won't take, go to Threadneedle Street and they will happily swap it for a nicely printed new one. If it's one from 1797 they will give you a £1 coin for it, but you would be an idiot as the antique value would be much higher than the face value. Weird. Last time I checked, there was no charge for that service.

      Then again, cash is simply an interest free loan from you to the Bank of England, so you are paying for that too.

  34. djs

    Let me tell you a story. A long, long, long time ago we had this thing called "paper money" and you could receive it from a "hole in the wall". There was a complicated arrangement where some of these things charged you for dispensing paper money if you didn't have the correct magic icon on your magic token.

    People bitched like you wouldn't believe about this.

    Now there's a much simpler arrangement where only a few machines charge you money and they announce how much in big letters on the screen. Also, it's not that much.

    It seems to me that some people do not wish to learn from the past. In the meantime, I'll stick with good old fashioned paper money. It's a lot harder to steal than any of the high tech alternatives.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    eight pence shops currently pay on every Chip & PIN transaction.

    It's much more than that for small businesses with a relatively small number of

    card payments. You have to hit a fairly hefty number of transactions to get the

    average down to 8p.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Lets get some real results for this survey to go back to them with.

    I've set up a real survey here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9SDKBC8

    I will post the results at the end of the week. Let's see if they match up .... somehow I doubt it.

    1. Deaths Pirate

      And if you would be so kind as to vote this up and share it so we have a larger percentage of survey takers I would be most grateful.

    2. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart
      FAIL

      Are you taking the urine??????

      I answered "No" to Q2 but I still have to answer Q3

      3. If you did, or had to, answer 'Yes' to question 2, how much do you think you should pay to use your own money?

      Less than 1%

      1% - 5%

      5% - 10%

      A flat fee

      Other (please specify)

      I filled in the other box and it won't accept it!!! You’re the dickhead that created the original survey, aren’t you......

  37. HP Cynic
    WTF?

    The fact the there was no option to say "I'd pay nothing" speaks volumes about the veracity of this tiny survey.

  38. welshie
    WTF?

    Can someone explain to me why having a contactless payment card built into my mobile phone is any better than having a contactless payment card in my wallet?

    Now can someone explain to me why I would want all the aggro of having to keep topping it up?

    Now can someone explain to me why I would want to be charged for the priviledge?

  39. SpaMster
    FAIL

    Rip Off

    So if i want to buy a TV worth £1000 using this, i'll have to pay an extra £170 on top of the price just for the privilege of using the service?

    I'll just use my card thanks!

  40. Graham Marsden
    Holmes

    "paying nothing wasn't an option"

    In other words, the survey was rigged to *only* get an answer of "how much are you willing to pay?" not "are you willing to pay at all?".

    I'm sure if there was a "paying nothing" option, that would by far have outstripped all other options.

  41. scrubber
    FAIL

    And the survey says...

    The reason you get these stupid results is because those of us clever enough to know that a service can't be too cheap are the ones who tell survey takers in the street or on the phone to fuck right off and stop wasting our time. It is only the gormless arseholes who do the survey and this is the result you'd expect from them.

    1. Stuart Elliott
      FAIL

      As you say

      Anyone with half a brain cell is on the other side of the street when someone with a clipboard is in the immediate vicinity.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        But... but... but...

        The other side of the street is where the chuggers gather.

        Packs of them, clipboards and insincere smiles at the ready waiting to ask if you'd like to set up a direct debit to pay for clean water for an abandoned panda in an unvaccinated minefield.

        It's hell on the mean streets I'm telling you. Hell!

      2. Uplink

        If I see someone with a clipboard, and they spot me, I stop to talk to them. And I talk to them. And I talk to them. 20 minutes later I'm still talking. And I'm not going away, but I'm not giving in either. They're not giving up either until they come full circle and run out of things to say. Then they send me on my way. But I know that in those 20 minutes they didn't get anyone else chugged.

        It's interesting to see them insist that I give them my card details (secret number on the back as well) even though I insist I'll go on their website to make the donation.

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £3!?!?!?!?!?

    Calm Down Dear

    It's only the price they have plucked out of thin air in order to give their "service" a perceived value.

    Then, when they lower the price to say....£1.50 or have a "Free Friday" or something, all you sheep will be falling over each other to give them your money because your tiny brains will see it as good value.

  43. pctechxp

    Prepaid cards

    Tried three of these myself (including O2 Money which was free to O2 customers) but got pissed off at having to pay a top up fee or in the case of O2 Money some companies not recognising the card number

    All ended up unused in my desk at home and I just use my debit card.

    As for booking fees, it's time we boycotted those charging them.

  44. N2

    The survey shows

    That 316 Richard Craniums, thats dickheads to the unwashed, are happy to pay £3.00 for stuff all

  45. Richard Porter

    (paying nothing wasn't an option)

    It's the only option. The vendor will use nfc if it's cheaper than accepting cash.

  46. fearnothing
    Pint

    What I want to know is, how the hell do they expect us to remember what we have on the card? If I put £50 on one of these things and then go on a bender, my balance in the morning could be anywhere between £0 and £20, and I wouldn't have the foggiest. I'd have to go outside and walk a block or so just fo find out how much cash I have as opposed to simply emptying out my pockets?

    Beer, obviously.

  47. fearnothing

    ... Or I could just use whatever wallet function they build into the handset to find out. < 3 hours sleep fail.

  48. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I can see how the banks will solve this, charge £3 to load your e-money, or pay £3.50 to get it from the ATM.

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