Discrimination in transactions: business and investment

So, I popped into my local store for some groceries with a buddy, and while we were chatting with some familiar faces, something pretty funny went down that got me thinking. A customer wanted to make a transfer, but the seller turned them down because they were a regular who lived nearby. The seller insisted on cash instead. Then this other customer, who I didn’t know, came in, bought some stuff, and asked for an account number to do a transfer. And just like that, the seller gave it without any hassle. My friend and I caught on to how differently the seller treated both customers and we came up with this term 'transactional discrimination'. I couldn't help but laugh and agreed that’s exactly what we just witnessed. From what I found out while researching for this post, transactional discrimination is when sellers treat different customers in different ways during a transaction. It covers the conditions and willingness to make a deal. So, I decided to bring this topic about transactional discrimination in business to the table. Have you ever heard this term before in relation to business or investment? Got any real-life stories that relate to this or wanna argue against it?

A seller can theoretically refuse any buyer if they have a valid reason for doing so, and if I understand what you described correctly, the seller refused a bank transfer to a buyer he knows, but allowed the same to someone else? Maybe it's a specific situation in your country, but I personally haven't encountered such things, because every store in the EU must have clearly stated payment methods and every buyer can choose which method to use. If such a situation happened to someone, they could sue the store, but I don't see how anyone would think of doing such things, it simply doesn't make sense.

The only thing that I can assume is that maybe, the guy living close by have bought some items from this seller and made a transfer that didn't end well for the seller. For instance, he might have done a transfer that took a very long time before it reflected or it didn't. Which might be the reason the seller asked for cash because he no longer trust this guy paying with transfer. I have experienced this too. Some sellers don't accept transfer from some particular people. Though, it might be a different reason.

I have witness something of this such in two to three occasions, and when I approached the seller she told me something different from what I have read so far. The seller told me that the person he refused transfer is into something illegal, and anybody who is into what they are doing always do fake transfer making sellers to lose money. At this point that she prefer physical cash to transfer. And to be frank she is very correct, the fake transfer of a thing is something rampant over there so I won't blame her for acting that way to that particular customer.

You really need to explain your story better because the payment method doesn't even make sense from what you've described. What "transfer" are you talking about? A bank transfer? Most people use credit/debit cards these days or something like Venmo/cash app. The most obvious reason that a shopkeeper would not want to do this is there are additional fees or it takes longer to do, which may be inconvenient for other customers that just want to pay simply. No good business person is going to turn away business like that unless there is a good justification why. Maybe the "customer" is a known bad apple, who has caused problems in the past or has a criminal history that you don't know about, meaning it's possible they are involved in fraud or using other peoples accounts without permission.

I have never seen a shop owner refuse a different payment for the reason you are referring to, when the shop accepts cash or transfer payments, it will be applied to all customers without distinction. At least in my own area. My thinking now, may be a bit wild... The reason for refusing payment could be that the shop owner thinks the source of funds is from gambling, there could be shop owners who are reluctant to accept payments from bad results or consider it the result of gambling even though the transfer is from their own account.Y Maybe my opinion is wrong, it's just that why is this differentiated, while you yourself don't know the reason the shop owner did it.

Yeah it sounds strange but Transaction or business discrimination surely exists because sellers have serious preferences for certain customers. In this particular case it could be that the first customer got his transfer rejected because they might have had an encounter on this particular issue before and that’s why the shop owner outrightly rejected the offer, could be your curiosity of him using tainted funds that might have actually affected the business owner in the past. Or possibly this user might have defrauded the shop owner using this means of payment. Another form of transaction discrimination which isn’t related to this is actually that of a chronic debtor and the business owner applies strict rules to him

IIn my dictionary, I can say business or transaction finish successfully only after I received the money on my hand, my pocket or on my bank account, before that everything is still hanging and at risk. Every business's priority not to please every customer, but to keep transactions safe, smooth, and profitable. For me SOP is number one but I make exceptions only if there is zero risk and give benefit for my business. From your story i assume the store owner priotity is transaction certainty and minimize risk. For grocery store, cashflow is business life, any disturbance will cause unhealthy business turnover even business death. I need more information to figuring out whether what store owner did is customer mapping, a trouble protection or a marketing strategy. Big grocery usually has rigid rule but from your explanation there are no SOP.

In my country, that would be a problem, as stores are prohibited from refusing legally accepted payment methods unless they have an unacceptable technical reason. I've seen at least two similar stories in local news: An elderly woman was refused food at a shop marked "cashless", and the local central bank refused to exchange coins for banknotes.

Paying is what matters, the payment mode can be anythingh right? I never expereinced, if they accepted card then I will and if not then the cash is the only option but refusing one but accepting the other doesn't make sense since the business owner is losing his profits if he denies like that.

The seller may have had a bad experience with the customer whose transfer was rejected. In the course of running a business, there are some people I might not be willing to accept online payment, except that I would have to confirm it through several channels. The reason is that if someone is a well-known fraudster who can send a fake transaction, he would have to suffer from this transactional discrimination. I have seen businesses lose money because these fraudsters send fake bank credit or debit alerts.   I have never encountered it because there are always stated means of payment in supermarkets and others. In the rural areas in my country, everyone is aware that they prefer using cash. So buyers would have to go to these rural markets with physical cash.

It happened to me once in a supermarket when I was younger. I delivered a cash note to the cashier in order to pay for the products, and then she looked at me with a nasty face, then she looked to the cash note and told she couldn't accept it. I asked why, and she just replied she couldn't accept it. Then I went home and told my family what happened. So an aunt who was there told me to give her the same cash note I used, as she would go to the same supermarket to purchase the same products. She went there and this time the money was accepted without any questions or denies. It's really annoying when situations like this happen to us, but I guess there are another cases where the seller really fears being scammed by the customer.

Maybe it was just something that happened in that moment, perhaps not all the time. It is also possible that the seller just wanted cash transactions maybe because he has not had any that day. Also, Some sellers need cash more based on the kind of business they operate, that may be one of the reasons for the refusal to accept bank transfer. Another reason for denying that buyer from using transfer could be that the seller knows that this buyer had the cash to pay too. A seller may act different towards a buyer who is not someone from close by because they do not want that customer to go because they don't have the cash to pay.

This is typically being bias because if you think about it in a more trust able way, the seller was supposed to allow the buyer whose their house is very close to the shop because he is the one that would give a high patronage in the sellers business than the person that comes from far to buy from him. Although some of this things didn't just happened because sometimes it could be a misunderstanding between them before the transfer but however is a wrong thing from the business seller because whatever misunderstanding he has with someone it shouldn't affect their business. Perhaps an amount could also be an issue to this because if what he bought from the shop was too small considering the charge of any amount a person receives they might not accept a small transfer except if the buyer would send together with what they would charge.

Sometimes what can cause such rejection may be the customer history with the seller. So it may not necessarily be because the customer is close neighbour to the seller, experience with the customer is what matters. In other words, the same treatment may happen to another known customer far away if history transactional history with transfers is always having issues. If a seller trace something that looks like fraud and delayed transfers, he or she may decide not to continue with such kind of transaction with that particular transaction. I have not been in such situations though but fraud, doubts/trust are likely reasons that sellers require cash from a customer. But, you would have taken the opportunity of being close there to probably ask to know what is actually the reason. It would have made your post have direct knowledge because now we are going to be guessing and you too.

I have never seen this before but there can be an explanation to this, I thought you must have asked him why he do that, but I guess you have not asked. Anyway I think, the customer he knew already might have delayed the transaction if the cashier would have said yep you can make online transaction, because they know each other, and that type of friendship is like only for benefits, nothing else, the customer might abuse that relation so to avoid it the cashier must have said no I don't take any online transactions. Another reason could be, that the cashier knows the money he have online is not good for his bank because a lot of people have wrong kind of money in their banks that can cause serious problems to even business accounts. Anyway it can be really funny but also sounds backward.

Sometimes I see similar stories in my country. It is always more profitable for the seller to sell the product for fiat. Why? This is a kind of business tax evasion trick. However, if the buyer firmly declares that he does not have a fiat, and all the money is only on the card, then the seller has no choice but to carry out this transaction, which, of course, will be registered. I see such actions not in central supermarkets but in small shops, as sellers will not be able to "avoid taxes" on a large scale without being held accountable.

I can say that some instances of transactional discrimination comes from personal conflicts, disputes and behaviors that creates reactions between the seller and the buyer.However, businesses are not supposed to discriminate customers but discrimination occurs when misunderstanding and unresolved conflicts influence professional judgement, activities and understanding.

This is true and it is even possible that the person isn't ready to do the transfer right away and wants to do it later but the seller requested immediate payment in cash to avoid long stories with the said client as against the unfamiliar client that was ready to pay right away. People take advantage of business owners they're familiar with a lot and I don't blame the seller for requesting he pays in cash. The seller must have definitely lost trust in the familiar buyer making payments by transfer through previous unpleasant experiences that must have led to requesting cash from him.

I've heard a situation where a bank front desk cashier refused to give a customer standing in front of her, her pen to use and write, but when another customer that she was familiar with came and requested for pen, she gladly gave the customer she was familiar with, the other customer she refused to give pen stood up from where he was seating and confronted her, at that point she didn't give the guy any attention. However the young man had to ask another cashier to render him same service within the banking hall, and the other cashier immediately obliged and he withdrew the cash he wanted. So after when the guy had left, the cashier that attended to him was telling the other that lady, the man that you refused to give pen to write his withdrawal slip has hundred's on millions in his account, meanwhile the man was just putting on short's and a Polo shirt.