Paying for a watch with a big wad of cash..?
Discussion
Not me unfortunately, but was looking at a display in the window of a well known high street watch company. Won't say which one but it specialises iin watches from the land of toblerone and cuckoo clocks...
Behind the display was the shop area, set out with desks and highly manicured staff - plus a small number of customers.
At the desk immediately next to the display I was lookng at (from outside) were two guys in their early 20's talking to a female member of staff (seated) and a salesman (running around bringing stock for the 2 guys to look at).
On the desk were a number of nice watches and the biggest stack of banknotes I've ever seen in real life.
The guys were obviously looking for a good deal, a fair bit of haggling between them and the sales team was in progress.
I'm pretty sure money laundering rules apply to all retailers these days - so how were these guys going to make a large cash transaction on the high street? (My big assumption is that the cash was theirs - not the shops!)
Second question - does waving a big wad of cash around actually get you a better deal with a mainstream retailer? Seems a bit unlikely to me...
Behind the display was the shop area, set out with desks and highly manicured staff - plus a small number of customers.
At the desk immediately next to the display I was lookng at (from outside) were two guys in their early 20's talking to a female member of staff (seated) and a salesman (running around bringing stock for the 2 guys to look at).
On the desk were a number of nice watches and the biggest stack of banknotes I've ever seen in real life.
The guys were obviously looking for a good deal, a fair bit of haggling between them and the sales team was in progress.
I'm pretty sure money laundering rules apply to all retailers these days - so how were these guys going to make a large cash transaction on the high street? (My big assumption is that the cash was theirs - not the shops!)
Second question - does waving a big wad of cash around actually get you a better deal with a mainstream retailer? Seems a bit unlikely to me...
It used to be about £7k but think it's now around £5k that the retailer would need passport / driving licence details & then has to send the transaction details to HMRC to prevent fraud / money laundering.
banks now above a certain amount if you withdraw cash ask for the purpose of the cash & can refuse the withdrawal if you don't provide. again to prevent the tradesman asking for cash or the purchaser trying to get a better deal for cash payment and avoiding the VAT / TAX ect!
I sold a car for cash about 4 years ago & when I tried to pay the money in - all be it about £30k - you'd have thought I was trying to hold the bank up the commotion it caused! I was there for about 15 minutes convincing them I'd only sold a car & they had to take the registration number & details of the purchaser before they would let me pay the money into my account!
banks now above a certain amount if you withdraw cash ask for the purpose of the cash & can refuse the withdrawal if you don't provide. again to prevent the tradesman asking for cash or the purchaser trying to get a better deal for cash payment and avoiding the VAT / TAX ect!
I sold a car for cash about 4 years ago & when I tried to pay the money in - all be it about £30k - you'd have thought I was trying to hold the bank up the commotion it caused! I was there for about 15 minutes convincing them I'd only sold a car & they had to take the registration number & details of the purchaser before they would let me pay the money into my account!
Edited by MrSimba on Sunday 1st February 09:27
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