Hey Big Spender: Don’t Use Apple Pay in the UK

For those looking forward to the launch of Apple Pay in the United Kingdom, and planning to go on a bit of spree when it arrives, better limit your sprees to the dollar store—or its direct British equivalent—for a while.

New reports have arrived noting that there will be a limit of 20 pounds sterling, or around $32 as of this writing, per transaction until at least September.

The reports note that there are certain rules governing contactless payments in the country, and in keeping with those rules, there’s a limit on per-transaction rates. That rate is set to jump from 20 pounds to 30 pounds in September, so once it does, the rates will jump to match. Contactless payments in the UK by credit and debit cards have the same limit, which are also set to be raised to £30 in September.

Additionally, there are also set to be further changes from Apple Pay itself, especially as Apple Pay members in the UK get access to terminals that can accept the higher rates, which apparently can be done.

Most UK terminals are kept to the lower limits, meanwhile, so the changes may be gradual. Also in the fray is a list of banks; most of the UK’s major banks are, at last report, in on the action, so there could be some changes afoot that way too.

That’s not exactly good news for Apple Pay; while admittedly, there are quite a few things that can be bought for $30 a clip—at least in the United States—ranging from a tank of gas to some light groceries and so on.

But to pretty much tell anyone looking to spend $40 and up that they’re out of luck? That doesn’t seem like a plan that’s really conducive to drawing in business. Of course, it’s also worth noting that most high-end retailers may not be interested in taking mobile payments in the first place; no one’s going to pull out a smartphone to pay for a car, for example, or for high-end jewelry. There’s no reason they couldn’t, of course, but it likely wouldn’t feel right.

I’m of two minds about this; on the one hand, it seems like these limits on Apple Pay could do some real damage to the company going in, especially as systems that don’t have limits join in. But by like token, the limits may not be such a problem in the first place, since contactless payments on payment cards share the same limit.