Nearly €500,000 a year spent on accidental tips through contactless payments

New CCPC guidance urges clearer tipping practices as contactless technology leaves thousands unintentionally paying extra at checkouts

Despite a rise in card usage, tipping in cash remains dominant, with many consumers not having confidence that electronic tips go to staff. Picture: iStock

Almost half a million euros may be accidentally 'tipped' to Irish businesses each year by consumers inadvertently touching their phones against tipping terminals they did not notice.

Ireland's consumer protection watchdog has issued new guidelines for restaurants, cafes, hair salons and other traders on how to best collect tips with new technologies, saying transparency is vital.

The CCPC has told businesses that tipping on a terminal must be easy to avoid, tipping terminals must be kept separate and must be clearly labelled, mandatory service charges must be communicated in advance, and optional service charges must be added to bills automatically. In 2024, more than 1.5 billion contactless payments worth €26.7bn were made in Ireland. Touchscreen and ePOS systems now allow businesses to present tipping prompts directly at the checkout.

A survey carried out by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) found nine in 10 consumers tip at least some of the time, and women over 35 are the more likely cohort to tip. However, two-thirds of customers believe tipping in Ireland is becoming less voluntary, while three in every four would like to see businesses make it easier to opt out of tipping.

"Newer technologies like payment screens and tipping terminals are changing the way we tip for services," Simon Barry, the CCPC's Director of Research, Advocacy and International, said. "It’s important that businesses using these technologies do so in a way that protects the consumer’s right to decide whether and how much to tip."

The survey found that sit-in restaurants and cafes have the highest levels of tipping, with 82% of customers saying they do so in such settings. This is followed by hairdressers, beauty and nail salons, where 68% tip, taxis at 60% and delivery services at 58%.

The survey found that cash remains the dominant tipping method with 89% of consumers saying they tip this way even when bills are paid by card. This is partially driven by a lack of trust in the distribution of card tips, with only 29% believing digital tips reach staff.

Two-thirds of consumers say tipping screens are now a familiar sight and while many do find them easy to understand and even potentially helpful in leaving a tip, a sizeable minority disagree that it is easy to bypass the screens, with another 25% not feeling confident using them.

Some businesses now use separate terminals with a set tip amount on them for users to tap their card or phone.

The CCPC survey found that amongst the consumers who have encountered one, 26% reported accidentally tapping the terminal and unintentionally paying a tip – almost 1 in 10 of the total adult population in Ireland. 

"Assuming a tip of €1 on the occasions when this happened, this could mean that almost half a million euro has been spent on accidental tips on these terminals alone – demonstrating why tipping terminals should be clearly labelled and physically separated from the payment terminal (for example, placed away from the till), to reduce accidental taps," the CCPC guidance states.