Comments on: I see there is a certain amount of ignorance about the significance of Eur500 notes, so let’s elaborate, shall we?

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 14:39:25 +0000

In reply to H.P. Baxxter. I said any basis. ANY BASIS. Shopkeepers are free to refuse anyone's custom. Go and have a word with a legal expert. I give up.

By: RS

RS — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:18:50 +0000

In reply to H.P. Baxxter.

Only if the shopkeeper is in the enviable position of cherry-picking his customers.

I would understand a shopkeeper refusing the high denomination note on the basis of not having enough change for other customers but not solely on the basis of the high value.

Suppose the amount of goods bought would have been almost or even exceeded five hundred euros, would you as a shopkeeper be expected not to accept the note? On what grounds?

By: China Crisis

China Crisis — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 09:22:41 +0000

In reply to J Abela. Does China control Tonga's energy supply and, therefore, its competitiveness and its economy, in exchange for a vote in the EU? Just asking.

By: Daffid

Daffid — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 07:01:00 +0000

In reply to Gahan. To replace the DM1,000 note that disappeared with the introduction of the euro.

By: K

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 06:47:30 +0000

When I worked as a barista at the airport, I had a lot of shady foreigners trying to purchase a cheesecake with a 500-euro note. However, I always just refused the note (as I was told to do), and never gave it a second thought. Never realised what the implication of the note are.

By: M.

M. — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:43:54 +0000

In reply to likki. My thoughts exactly.

By: M.

M. — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:43:11 +0000

I have only ever seen €500 notes twice in my life – once at a Burger King outlet abroad, where somebody tried to buy a burger with one such note, making it pretty obvious that he wanted to break the note up (he was refused). The second time was at Arkadia in St Julian’s around a year or so ago, where a scruffy (but ‘tal-pepe’) middle-aged Maltese woman tried to buy something worth around €10 with another such note. The cashier had referred the matter to her manager who, I believe, obliged.

By: H.P. Baxxter

H.P. Baxxter — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 22:15:13 +0000

In reply to RS. No it isn't. Did you know that a shopkeeper can even refuse your custom if you don't have the right change?

By: U Le!

U Le! — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:56:52 +0000

We were recently purchasing a birthday gift at a jewellery shop in Valletta when a non-Maltese couple walked in and after some browsing decided to buy a bracelet. They tried to buy the 300+ euro item using a 500 euro note. The owner preferred to risk losing the sale rather than accepting the 500euro note. At the time it struck me as odd.

By: J Abela

J Abela — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 20:32:02 +0000

This has nothing to do with the above but it seems that Malta is not alone at the receiving end for gifts from China. Tonga receives free unsafe planes and badly built buildings and roads in return for vote in the UN and access to their fish stocks and minerals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23469223