Server-based eligibility detection

Abstract

A merchant apparatus 16 and server apparatus 24 for determining eligibility of a shopper for a tax free purchase. The merchant apparatus receives shopper identification information 12, e.g. passport i

Description

There is provided a merchant apparatus, a server apparatus, a system, and a method. It can be useful to provide a server-based system for coordinating the eligibility of operations performed in a variety of different locations. According to a first aspect of the present techniques there is provided a merchant apparatus comprising: receiving circuitry configured to receive shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items; communication circuitry configured to request shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition; and control circuitry responsive to the shopper eligibility information resulting in an identification that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, to signal ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free. According to a second aspect of the present techniques there is provided a server apparatus comprising: communication circuitry configured to receive, from a merchant apparatus, a request for a shopper eligibility check comprising shopper identification information to identify a shopper; and control circuitry configured to generate shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition, wherein the communication circuitry is configured to transmit the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus. According to a third aspect of the present techniques there is provided a system comprising the server apparatus according to the second aspect and at least one merchant apparatus according to the first aspect. According to a fourth aspect of the present techniques there is provided a method of operating a merchant apparatus comprising: receiving shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items; requesting shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information and the purchase identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition; and in response to the shopper eligibility information identifying that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, signalling ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free. According to a fifth aspect of the present techniques there is provided a method of operating a server apparatus comprising: receiving, from a merchant apparatus, a request for a shopper eligibility check comprising shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying one or more items that the shopper wishes to purchase tax free; and generating shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition, transmitting the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus. The present techniques will be described further, by way of example only, with reference to configurations thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 schematically illustrates a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 2 schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 3 a schematically illustrates a merchant apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 3b schematically illustrates a merchant apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 4 schematically illustrates a server apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 5a schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out by a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 5b schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out by a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 6 schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 7 schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 8a schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 8b schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 8c schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 8d schematically illustrates an example of a professional buyer condition according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 9 schematically illustrates an apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques; Figure 10 schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out according to some configurations of the present techniques; and Figure 11 schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out according to some configurations of the present techniques. The ability for shoppers travelling to foreign territories to purchase at least some items tax free has led to an opportunity for professional buyers to take advantage of the tax free rate when bulk purchasing items in a foreign territory (e.g., a foreign country or groups of foreign countries having a common tax framework) in order to export those items and offer them for sale outside of the foreign territory. This approach may allow the professional shopper to make a profit whilst still selling the items at a cheaper rate than would otherwise be available in a territory other than the foreign territory. Whilst professional buyer activities are not necessarily illegal in all territories, merchants are coming under pressure in some territories to take action to restrict the tax free sale of items to potential professional buyers. The inventors have recognised that professional buyers may be hard to recognise, particularly where a shopper (who may be a potential professional buyer) visits a store and / or multiple stores within a chain of stores multiple times. In such a scenario, the merchant (e.g., the shop clerk or store worker) serving the shopper may be different for different visits by that shopper and, as a result, the merchant would not necessarily recognise that the same shopper is bulk buying stocks of a particular item or set of items. According to some configurations of the present techniques there is provided a merchant apparatus comprising receiving circuitry configured to receive shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items. The merchant apparatus is also provided with communication circuitry configured to request shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition. The merchant apparatus is also provided with control circuitry responsive to the shopper eligibility information resulting in an identification that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, to signal ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free. Different territories provide different approaches for tax free shopping. The approaches may include a VAT (Value Added Tax) off approach, in which the shopper identifies themselves as a foreign visitor and purchases the items without paying VAT. The shopper may be provided with additional paperwork that must be subsequently presented on exit to the territory in order to validate their purchases. Alternatively, a VAT on approach may be taken in which the shopper purchases the items at a price including VAT and, at a time of making the purchase, identifies themselves as a foreign visitor and is provided with paperwork (or a digital record of a tax free transaction) in order to allow the shopper to recover the VAT at a validation point on exit from the foreign territory. In both cases, the merchant apparatus receives shopper identification information in combination with purchase identification information identifying the items that the shopper wishes to purchase in order to determine whether the shopper is a foreign visitor (and therefore potentially eligible for tax free shopping). The inventors have recognised that this identification information may also be used to identify potential professional shoppers. The merchant apparatus therefore requests shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus which may be used to record details relating to the shopping behaviour of the shopper and / or tax free transactions associated with the shopper. The server apparatus may be a local server apparatus, e.g., local to the store, local to a chain of stores, or local to a shopping mall in which the store is located. Alternatively, the server may be non-local, e.g., the server may be a server associated with the foreign territory or an international server that is associated with a plurality of territories (further details of the server apparatus will be discussed below). The merchant apparatus communicates with the server using the communication circuitry to request the shopper eligibility information. The communication circuitry transmits the request to the server apparatus including shopper identification information. The shopper eligibility information is used to make a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items will cause the purchasing total to meet a professional buyer condition. The determination may be made by the server apparatus or by the merchant apparatus. For example, in some configurations the communication circuitry transmits the purchase identification information to the server apparatus. The server apparatus may then perform the determination and return, as the shopper eligibility information, an indication of whether completing the purchase for the one or more items will cause the shopper to meet the professional buyer condition. Alternatively, in some configurations the determination may be made by the merchant apparatus. In such configurations the shopper eligibility information may indicate a current purchasing total (or current purchasing totals) associated with the shopper to enable the determination to be made at the merchant apparatus. The determination may then be made by the merchant apparatus based on the purchasing information. Regardless as to whether the determination is carried out at the merchant apparatus or the server apparatus, the determination identifies whether the shopper can proceed to purchase the one or more items tax free or if completing the purchase will result in the shopper meeting the professional buyer condition. Where completing the purchase will result in the shopper meeting the professional buyer condition, the control circuitry will signal ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free. The shopper may then choose to only purchase a subset of the one or more items, in which case a further determination may be made to identify whether the subset of the one or more items will cause the shopper to meet the professional buyer condition. Alternatively, the shopper may choose to cancel their purchase(s) or to purchase the items without requesting tax free. Whilst in some configurations signalling the ineligibility may prevent the merchant from being able to complete a tax free shopping transaction, in some configurations the merchant may choose to overlook the ineligibility of the shopper for tax free and may proceed with the transaction tax free regardless of the signalled ineligibility. In other words, the signal may be provided as a warning that the shopper meets a professional buyer condition but may not actively prevent the merchant issuing a tax free transaction. The provision of shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus may be performed, for example based on a lookup by the server apparatus of the shopper identification information in a database. The database may identify, for each of a plurality of shoppers, previous purchase information identifying one or more previous purchases made by that shopper. Further details and options relating to the provision of the shopper eligibility information will be provided below. In some configurations the control circuitry is responsive to the shopper eligibility information identifying that the shopper is permitted to make the purchase, to perform one or more steps to complete the purchase and to transmit a purchase completion indication to the server apparatus. The purchase completion information may include the purchase identification information (for example, if this has not already been transmitted to the server apparatus). Alternatively, or in addition, the purchase completion information may include the shopper identification information or a unique transaction identification number, for example, supplied by the server apparatus in association with the shopper eligibility information. The inclusion of the shopper identification information or the eligibility identification number may be used by the server apparatus to associate the purchase information (either included in the purchase completion indication or provided previously in the request for the purchaser eligibility information) with shopper information already stored at the server apparatus, for example, in a database accessible by the server apparatus. The one or more steps to complete the purchase may comprise receiving currency from the shopper, e.g., in the form of cash, credit card, debit card, cryptocurrency, and / or digital currency. The one or more steps to complete the purchase may further comprise communicating with a card issuer associated with the purchaser and triggering a financial transaction to occur between the merchant and the shopper. The shopper identification information may comprise any information that is appropriate for identifying the shopper. In some configurations the receiving circuitry is configured to receive journey identifying information identifying a journey of the shopper; and the communication circuitry is configured to request the shopper eligibility information based on the arrival date information. The journey identifying information may include arrival date information, e.g., flight (or other commercial or private transportation) information identifying a date on which a flight (or other commercial or private transportation) carrying the traveller arrived in the territory. The arrival date information may be used in determining the shopper eligibility information to ensure that only purchases made during a current visit to that territory are considered when making the determination. For example, the traveller eligibility information may be based on only purchases for items made on or since (i.e., on or subsequent to) the arrival date. Alternatively, the journey identifying information may indicate a calendar year (or a calendar month) and / or a predefined number of days. For example, the journey identifying information may indicate the calendar month of the journey and the total information may correspond to a total over that calendar month. Alternatively, the journey identifying information may identify a predefined number of days and the total information may correspond to a total over that predefined number of days. In some configurations the information comprised in the journey identifying information, and how it relates to the total information, may be dynamically configurable. The journey identifying information may identify a current journey of the traveller or a plurality of journeys of the traveller. In some configurations the shopper identification information and / or the journey identifying information are based on a passport of the shopper. In some territories, the passport of the shopper will be provided with a stamp (or a sticker) indicating a date of entry to and exit from the territory. The passport of the shopper can therefore be used to provide full shopper identification information and / or journey identifying information. In some configurations the shopper may record their identification information and journey identifying information digitally, e.g., in advance of their visit to the foreign territory. The shopper may then be provided with identification information, e.g., a username, a user identification number, a one dimensional code (e.g., a barcode), a two dimensional code (e.g., a QR code), or other identification information as will be apparent to the person skilled in the art. The identification information may be provided in the form of a visitor card, and / or may be stored on a user’s mobile device (e.g., a smart phone). The identification information can then be provided to the merchant apparatus as the shopper identification information which can then be used to determine the identity of the shopper and / or date of arrival by performing a lookup in a database. In some configurations the receiving circuitry comprises passport scanning circuitry configured to scan the passport to obtain at least one of the shopper identification information and the journey identifying information. In some configurations the receiving circuitry is configured to receive the shopper identification information and / or the journey identifying information input by an operator of the merchant apparatus. In some configurations the apparatus may be configured to receive the shopper identification information from the passport scanning circuitry and the arrival data information may be input by the operator of the merchant apparatus (e.g., the merchant, or a store worker). In some configurations the control circuitry is responsive to receipt of a threshold warning indicting that the number of remaining purchases before the shopper is identified as a professional buyer is below a threshold, to signal the threshold warning to an operator of the merchant device. The threshold warning may be signalled to the operator of the merchant device, for example, when the shopper is unable to make any further purchases without meeting the professional buyer condition. The threshold warning may also be transmitted to the shopper, for example, via an application on a smart phone of the shopper. The threshold warning may indicate a total remaining allowance (e.g., in terms of items and / or cost of the items) that the shopper may purchase before the professional buyer condition is met. The purchasing total may be variously defined. In some configurations the purchasing total information corresponds to purchases belonging to at least one purchase category. For example, only specific purchases (e.g., products for purchase) may fall within the criteria set for defining whether the purchaser is considered to be a professional buyer or not. Alternatively, or in addition, different limits may be set in relation to different product categories. For example, some products may be recognised as particularly attractive to professional buyers and products grouped into those categories may be provided with a lower limit (either in terms of quantity or cost) than products deemed to be less attractive to professional buyers. In some configurations the purchase category comprises consumable products and / or non-consumable products. In some configurations the purchase category may be specified at a finer level of granularity. For example, the purchase category may relate to a type of product, e.g., electronics goods or telecommunications devices. In some configurations the purchase category may relate to goods falling within a certain price range. In some configurations the professional buyer condition requires a first purchase category total relating to the consumable products to exceed a consumable products threshold, and / or a second purchase category total relating to the non-consumable products to exceed a non-consumable products threshold. A professional buyer may therefore be defined in terms of consumable products purchased, non-consumable products purchased, or a combination of both the consumable products purchased and the non-consumable products purchased. In some configurations the professional buyer condition is defined on a per purchase category basis. For example, different thresholds may be provided for each category, both in terms of the total cost of items within a category and / or in terms of total number of items purchased from within that category. As discussed, the categories may be broad categories, such as consumable or non-consumable goods. Alternatively, or in addition, the categories may relate to specific classes of items such as telecommunications equipment / devices, computing equipment / devices, electronic equipment / devices, jewellery, watches and / or perfume. In some configurations, the categories may relate to specific items. In some configurations, the categories may only include items over a predetermined value. In some configurations the purchasing total information comprises a total number of products purchased per store. In some configurations the purchasing total information comprises a total number of products having a value greater than a predefined limit per store. In some configurations the purchasing total information comprises a total number of specific products purchased per store. In some configurations the purchasing total information is calculated during a current journey of the shopper. The current journey of the shopper may be determined, for example, based on the arrival date information and the current date. In some configurations the current journey of the shopper may be determined based on a date of purchase of each item purchased by the shopper. For example, if there is a gap greater than a certain number of days / weeks / months between the purchase dates of products, then products purchased before the gap may not be considered to form part of the current journey. In some configurations the purchasing total information is calculated based on a purchase history associated with the shopper. The purchase history may be stored, for example, by the server apparatus and may comprise a complete purchase history of the shopper. Alternatively, the purchase history may only include specific items, for example, those considered to contribute to whether the professional buyer condition is met. In some configurations the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from stores comprised within a chain of stores and the purchasing total information comprises a chain purchasing total associated with the chain. This approach helps prevent a professional buyer from visiting a number of different stores within a chain of stores and purchasing the same item or items from those stores in an attempt to circumvent professional buyer restrictions. In some configurations the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from a same store and the purchasing total information comprises a store purchasing total associated with the store. The per store total may be stored in addition to, or as an alternative to the chain purchasing total. In some configurations the professional buyer condition may be defined as per store professional buyer condition and a per chain professional buyer condition. In some configurations the purchase history comprises an item total indicating a number of times an item has been purchased, and the purchasing total information comprises an item purchasing total associated with the item. The item purchasing total information may be used in addition, or as an alternative, to the chain purchasing total and the store purchasing total. The provision of an item purchasing total helps prevent a professional buyer attempting to circumvent professional buyer restrictions by bulk purchasing items from different stores comprised in different chains. In some configurations the professional buyer condition may be met based on a combination of a number of purchased items (either in total or within one or more predetermined categories) and total amount spent by the shopper (either in total or within one or more predetermined categories). In some configurations there is provided a server apparatus comprising communication circuitry configured to receive, from a merchant apparatus, a request for a shopper eligibility check comprising shopper identification information to identify a shopper. The server apparatus also comprises control circuitry configured to generate shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition. The communication circuitry is configured to transmit the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus. The server apparatus may be provided on a per store basis, a per chain basis, a per region basis (for example, where a territory comprises a plurality of different geographical regions such as states, counties, or countries), a per territory basis, or on a worldwide basis. The server may be provided with storage circuitry configured to store a database in which shoppers are identified based on shopper identification information and in which shopper history information indicating previous purchases of the shoppers is stored. The server may perform a lookup in the database based on the shopper identification information in order to identify the shopper history information from which the shopper eligibility information can be generated. The server may also receive information identifying one or more items that the shopper wishes to purchase and may perform the determination as to whether or not the shopper is permitted to purchase those items tax free. Alternatively, the shopper eligibility information may be provided to a merchant apparatus that is configured to make the determination based on purchase identifying information that is known to the merchant apparatus but that has not been provided to the server apparatus. In such configurations, where the shopper is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free, the merchant apparatus may subsequently transmit the purchase identification information to the server apparatus so that the server apparatus can update the history information stored in the database. In some configurations the request for the shopper eligibility check comprises journey identifying information; and the control circuitry is configured to determine purchases made during the current journey of the shopper based on the journey identifying information. The server apparatus may store, for example, in the database, date information indicating a date on which purchases made by shoppers were made. The date information may be used in combination with the journey identifying information to identify whether the purchases were made during the current journey of a shopper. For example, the date information stored in relation to the shopper may be compared against an arrival date comprised in the journey identifying information and purchases made on or after the arrival date may be counted as part of the current journey. In some configurations the control circuitry is configured to perform at least one accuracy check on the journey identifying information and, in response to the journey identifying information failing the at least one accuracy check, to trigger the communication circuitry to transmit an error indication to the merchant apparatus. For example, the at least one accuracy check may comprise a plausibility check to determine whether the journey identifying is plausible for a foreign visitor. For example, the control circuitry may be configured to compare the journey identifying against a current date (i.e., the date of the day on which the arrival date information is received) and may trigger the transmission of the error indication if the journey identifying identifies a date in the future or a date more than a predefined number of days in the past. In some configurations the at least one accuracy check comprises comparing the journey identifying information with journey identifying information indicated in one or more recent purchase records associated with the shopper information. For example, if journey identifying information is provided each time the shopper makes a purchase, a consistency check can be performed between different purchases and an error could be triggered, for example, if there is an inconsistency between the journey identifying information such as an arrival data identified in the journey identifying information being earlier than arrival date information comprised in the journey identifying information of one of the recent purchase records. In some configurations the server apparatus comprises storage circuitry configured to store shopper record information identifying the shopper and the purchasing total information associated with the shopper, wherein the control circuitry is responsive to receipt of the request from the merchant apparatus to retrieve at least one stored purchase total associated with the shopper from the storage circuitry and to perform the determination by calculating the purchasing total based on the at least one stored purchase total and the purchase information. The storage circuitry may be arranged to store the shopper records in a database having a plurality of entries, each entry comprising shopper record information for one of a plurality of shoppers. The shopper record information may store the purchasing total information in any form. For example, in some configurations the purchasing total may be stored as such, i.e., a sequence of bits that, when decoded, indicate the purchasing total. In other alternative configurations the purchasing total may be stored as information indicative of each purchase made by the shopper and the purchasing total can be identified (calculated) from the information indicative of each purchase. In some configurations both the purchase total and information from which the purchase total may be derived are stored. The storage circuitry may be located at a central location or may be comprised of distributed storage stored at a number of physical locations. In some configurations each entry may include historical information identifying whether the shopper has previously been identified as a potential professional buyer. The historical information may, in some configurations, be indicated to the merchant apparatus in addition to, or as part of, the shopper eligibility information. In some configurations the server apparatus is responsive to receipt, from the merchant apparatus, of a purchase completion indication, to update the shopper record associated with the shopper. Updating the shopper record may be performed entirely in response to the receipt of the purchase completion information. Alternatively, the shopper record may be updated before the purchase completion indication is received but may not be finalised until the purchase completion indication is received. For example, an updated total may be calculated before the purchase completion indication is provided but may not be stored until the purchase completion information is received. In the event that the shopper is identified as a potential professional buyer, an indication of that identification may be stored in the shopper record. As discussed, the professional buyer condition may be based on purchase categories, costs and / or stores from which the purchase has been made. Whilst this can be a fixed condition, in some configurations the professional buyer condition is dynamically configurable. The professional buyer condition may be different in different territories and may be changed in view of laws or regulations in that territory. The provision of dynamic configurability for professional buyer condition allows merchants to adapt the conditions imposed based on local laws and practises, and / or based on preferences of the merchant. In some configurations the professional buyer condition is configurable on a per store basis and / or on a per store chain basis. For example, some stores may choose to implement a stricter professional buyer condition whilst others may choose to implement a more lenient condition. The conditions may be updated either by a privileged user logging into a control interface of the server or through the merchant device. The conditions may be set by a central tax authority in accordance with one or more local laws or restrictions. The configurable professional buyer condition may be specified in terms of any mathematical or logical formula that takes, as inputs, a category of items, a cost of items, a time period during which the items were purchased, etc. The professional buyer condition may be a single condition or it may require a logical combination of conditions to be satisfied in order for the professional buyer condition to be met. In some configurations the control circuitry is responsive to a determination that shopper is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free, to determine a remaining purchase allowance indicative of a number of remaining purchases that the shopper is eligible to make tax free without meeting the professional buyer condition; and the control circuitry is responsive to the number of remaining purchases being below a threshold, to trigger the communication circuitry to transmit a threshold warning indicating that the number of remaining purchases is below the threshold. The threshold may be a dynamically configurable threshold (for example, set by a merchant) or a static threshold. The threshold warning may, in addition to indicating that the number of remaining purchases is below the threshold, also indicate how many remaining purchases the shopper can make before they will meet the professional buyer condition. Some configurations of the present techniques will now be described in relation to the figures. Figure 1 schematically illustrates a system 10 that may be used according to some configurations of the present techniques to help merchants to identify eligibility of users. The system comprises a merchant apparatus 16 and server apparatus 24. The system may comprise one or more further merchant apparatuses (not illustrated), for example, provided within a same store, within different stores, or within a chain of stores. The merchant apparatus 16 and the server apparatus 24 are coupled to one another, for example, via a local area network or a wide area network. The merchant apparatus 16 is provided with receiving circuitry 18, communication circuitry 20, and control circuitry 22. The receiving circuitry 18 is configured to receive user identification information 12 identifying a user wishing to purchase one or more items, and purchase information 14 identifying the one or more items that the user wishes to purchases. The purchase information 14 may include, for each item, a code identifying the item, a description of the item, a cost of the item (e.g., a tax inclusive cost or a tax exclusive cost), and or information identifying a category of the item. The receiving circuitry 18 passes the user identification information 12 and the purchase information 14 to the communication circuitry 20 which requests user eligibility from the server apparatus 24. The communication circuitry 20, subsequent to requesting the user eligibility information waits to receive user eligibility information from the server apparatus 24. On receipt of the user eligibility information, the control circuitry 22 identifies whether the user identified by the shopper identification information 12 is eligible to make the purchases identified in the purchase information 14 tax free. If the control circuitry 22 determines that user is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free, then the control circuitry 22 enables the merchant apparatus 16 to perform one or more steps to complete the purchase tax free and to transmit a purchase completion indication to the server apparatus. Alternatively, if the control circuitry 22 identifies that the user is ineligible to purchase the one or more items tax free, then the control circuitry 22 signals ineligibility of the user to the merchant. The server apparatus 24 is provided with communication circuitry 26 and control circuitry 30. The communication circuitry 26 is arranged to receive a request from the merchant apparatus 16 (for example, over a local area network or a wide area network). The request includes the shopper identification information 12. The control circuitry 30 is responsive to receipt, by the communication circuitry 26, of the request to generate eligibility information to be used to determine whether the shopper identified in the request purchasing one or more items tax free will result in the shopper meeting a professional buyer condition. The communication circuitry 26 is configured to return the eligibility information to the merchant apparatus 16 to enable the merchant apparatus to identify eligibility of the user. Figure 2 illustrates an approach to obtaining a refund of tax associated with a purchase in some territories. The approach illustrated in Figure 2 includes a user (e.g., a shopper who may also be a traveller) 1 indicating to a merchant 3 that they are a foreign visitor from outside of the territory and that they wish to reclaim the sales tax (VAT) for their purchase. The merchant 3 issues a merchant invoice for the purchase and a tax free form to the traveller 1. Subsequently, when the traveller leaves the territory, the merchant invoice and the tax free form are presented, together with the goods, to customs 5. Customs 5 then determines eligibility and validates the tax free form. The tax authority 7 then accepts the validated tax free form and invoices, and processes the tax refund. Subsequently a payment is made to the user 1 to refund the sales tax (VAT). The payment to the user 1 may be in any suitable form, for example by crediting the amount of the tax refund onto a payment card, by giving cash to the user 1 or by a transfer of funds into an account of the user 1. For example, the user 1 may wish the payment to be made directly into a bank account. The user 1 provides the bank account in order for the payment to be processed and completed. It will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art that the described tax free shopping flow is but one of a plurality of tax free shopping flows that may be implemented in different territories based on local laws and requirements. For example, whilst it is possible that the tax refund may be provided by the tax authority, tax refund processing may instead be facilitated by one or more intermediate companies who perform one or more steps to facilitate the refund being paid to the traveller. The tax free forms may be specific to the intermediate company and may be stored in a digital form, for example, on a server belonging to the intermediate company in association with a digital identifier of the shopper. In such configurations, tax for the purchases may be paid by the shop to the intermediate companies. Subsequently, when the tax free form is validated, the intermediate company may refund the tax, or a portion of the tax once a fee has been deducted, to the shopper. In the event that the shopper does not validate the tax free form, the intermediate company can pass the tax to the tax authority to ensure tax requirements are met. The provision of tax free shopping is open to exploitation, for example, by professional buyers seeking to bulk purchase desirable items at a reduced price, i.e., at the tax free price, before exporting the items and reselling them outside of the territory, e.g., in the professional shopper’s home territory at a price that is more expensive than the tax free price yet cheaper than a price in the home territory. Whilst this practise may be legal in some territories, some territories may require merchants to take action to reduce or prevent this practise. As discussed, the identification of a potential professional buyer can be difficult. For example, a professional buyer may visit a store multiple times on multiple days, may visit multiple stores within a chain of stores, and / or may use multiple different means for payment for items. Such behaviours make it highly unlikely that the professional buyer will be served by a same merchant and their shopping behaviours may be hard to detect. Hence, the system set out in figure 1 may be used to help merchants to identify eligibility of users Figures 3a schematically illustrates a merchant apparatus 42 according to some configurations of the present techniques. The merchant apparatus 42 is provided with receiving circuitry 44, communication circuitry 48, and control circuitry 50. The function of the communication circuitry 48 and the control circuitry 50 is the same as described in relation to the merchant apparatus of figure 2 and this description will be omitted here for conciseness. The receiving circuitry 44 is configured to receive purchase identification information and shopper identification information as described in relation to figure 2. The receiving circuitry 44 comprises passport scanner circuitry 46 configured to scan a passport 40 of the shopper. The passport scanner 46 is arranged to identify information from the passport, for example, a name of the shopper and a nationality of the shopper. The passport scanner 46 may also identify one or more additional identification details of the shopper, for example a passport number. The passport scanner circuitry 46 may scan an image of the passport and retrieve one or more details of the passport using optical character recognition (OCR). Alternatively, the passport scanner circuitry 46 may be configured to read one or more computer readable storage medium fabricated into the passport in order to determine the identification information. The identification retrieved from the passport is used as the shopper identification information. Figure 3b schematically illustrates an alternative implementation of a merchant apparatus 50 according to some configurations of the present techniques. The merchant apparatus 50 is provided with receiving circuitry 52, communication circuitry 54, and control circuitry 56. The function of the communication circuitry 54 and the control circuitry 56 is the same as described in relation to the merchant apparatus of figure 2 and the description will be omitted here for conciseness. The receiving circuitry 52 is configured to receive purchase identification information and shopper identification information as described in relation to figure 2. In particular, the receiving circuitry 52 comprises an interface for the merchant to input traveller identification information. The traveller identification information may be read from a passport, or other identification information of the shopper, and input (for example typed) by the merchant. The information input by the merchant is used as the shopper identification information. Figure 4 schematically illustrates details of a server apparatus 60 according to some configurations of the present techniques. The sever apparatus 60 is provided with communication circuitry 62, control circuitry 64, and storage circuitry 66. The storage circuitry 66 is arranged to store a database 68 of information indexed using shopper identification information and to store, for each identified shopper stored in the database 68, purchase total information associated with that shopper. The communication circuitry 62 is arranged to receive a request for shopper eligibility information from a merchant apparatus. The control circuitry 64 is responsive to receipt of the request to trigger the storage circuitry 66 to perform a lookup in the database 68, based on the purchaser identification information, to determine if the database 68 contains an entry identified by that purchaser identification information and, if so, to retrieve the purchase totals associated with that purchaser identification information. In the event that the database 68 does not contain information relating to that shopper identification information (e.g., because the request relates to a first purchase made by the shopper), then the storage circuitry 66 is configured to allocated a new entry in the database 68 indicating the purchaser identification information. The purchase totals retrieved from the database 68 may be returned as the shopper eligibility information in order to enable the merchant apparatus to make a determination as to whether the one or more items the shopper wishes to purchase will cause the purchase total to meet the professional buyer condition. Alternatively, the control circuitry may perform the determination based on purchase identification information identifying the or more items the shopper wish to purchase and may return the result of the determination as the shopper eligibility condition. It will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art that the totals referred to could relate to any of the totals described above. For example, the totals may be a total number of items, a total cost, a total number of a same type of item, a total cost of a same type of item, a total number of items in a given category, a total cost of items in a given category and / or a combination of total costs or items in a plurality of different categories. The total costs may be tax free costs, tax inclusive costs, and / or total tax amounts. Figure 5a schematically illustrates an interaction between a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus. At step 70 the merchant apparatus receives shopper identification information to identify the shopper. At step 72 the merchant apparatus receives purchase information identifying one or more items. At step 74 the merchant apparatus transmits a request for shopper eligibility information to the server apparatus. The request includes the shopper identification information, received in step 70, and the purchase information received in step 72. At step 78 the server apparatus retrieves a shopper record of the shopper identified in the shopper identification information and performs a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition. The server apparatus generates shopper eligibility information indicating a result of the determination. At step 80 the server apparatus transmits the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus. At step 82 the merchant apparatus signals the shopper eligibility to the merchant. In the illustrated configuration it is assumed that the shopper is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free. At step 84 the shopper completes their purchase. At step 86 the merchant apparatus transmits an indication that the shopper has completed their purchase to the server apparatus. At step 88 the server apparatus updates the shopper record to include the purchase of the one or more items. Figure 5b schematically illustrates an alternative interaction between a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus. At step 170 the merchant apparatus receives shopper identification information to identify the shopper. At step 172 the merchant apparatus receives purchase information identifying one or more items. At step 174 the merchant apparatus transmits a request for shopper eligibility information to the server apparatus. The request includes the shopper identification information, received in step 170, but does not necessarily include the purchase information received at step 172. At step 178 the server apparatus retrieves a shopper record of the shopper identified in the shopper identification information and generates shopper eligibility information including information from which it can be determined whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free. At step 180 the server apparatus transmits the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus. At step 182 the merchant apparatus performs a determination of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on the shopper eligibility information and the purchase information received at step 172. At step 184 the merchant apparatus signals the shopper eligibility to the merchant. In the illustrated configuration it is assumed that the shopper is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free. At step 186 the shopper completes their purchase. At step 188 the merchant apparatus transmits an indication that the shopper has completed their purchase to the server apparatus, if the purchase information received at step 172 was not included in the initial request (as transmitted at step 174), then the purchase information is included in the purchase completion information. At step 190 the server apparatus updates the shopper record to include the purchase of the one or more items. It will be readily apparent to the skilled person that steps 70 and 72 of figure 5a, and steps 170 and 172 of figure 5b could be completed in either order or in parallel. It will further be apparent that if the result of the determination is that the shopper is ineligible to purchase the one or more items tax free then the merchant may choose to cancel the transaction without completing steps 84, 86, and 88 of figure 5a, or without completing steps 186, 188 and 190 of figure 5b. Furthermore, it will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art that the purchase information, received at step 172 in figure 5b, may be received at any time prior to step 182, for example, the purchase information may be received subsequent to steps 174, 178, or 180. Figure 6 schematically illustrates an example determination of whether a professional buyer condition is met. The determination is made based on a request 90 comprising shopper identification information and purchase information. The purchase information identifies a first item (Iteml) and a first number (Numberl) of those items that the shopper is requesting to purchase tax free. The purchase information also identifies a second item (Item2) and a second number (Number2) of those items that the shopper is requesting to purchase tax free. The shopper ID is searched in a database 92 and the shopper record 94 corresponding to that shopper ID is retrieved from the database 92. The items identified in the request 90 are then looked up in the shopper record 94 and the number of those items purchased is read out. In the illustrated example, Iteml is looked up in the shopper record 94 and the number of purchases of that item, i.e., 8, is read out and passed to summation circuitry 96 along with the number of requested purchases of that item, i.e., Numberl. The number of requested purchases of that item is added to the previous number purchased and the total is output to the comparison circuitry 100. Similarly, Item2 is looked up in the shopper record 94 and the number of purchases of that item, i.e., 0, is read out and passed to summation circuitry 98 along with the number of requested purchases of that item, i.e., Number2. The number of requested purchases of that item is added to the previous number purchased and the total is output to the comparison circuitry 100. The comparison circuitry 100 performs a determination as to whether the totals passed from the summation circuitry 96 and the summation circuitry 98 meet the professional buyer condition and outputs a result of that determination. Figure 7 schematically illustrates a further example determination of whether a professional buyer condition is met. The determination is made based on a request 102 comprising shopper identification information and purchase information. The purchase information identifies a first item (Iteml) that the shopper is requesting to purchase tax free, and a total cost associated with that item (Costl). The purchase information also identifies a second item (Item2) that the shopper is requesting to purchase tax free, and a total cost associated with that item (Cost2). The shopper ID is searched in a database 104 and the shopper record 106 corresponding to the shopper ID is retrieved from the database 104. The items identified in the request 102 are then looked up in the shopper record 106 and the total cost of those items purchased is read out. In the illustrated example, Iteml is looked up in the shopper record 106 and the total amount previously spent on that item, i.e., £4000.00, is read out and passed to summation circuitry 108 along with the total cost of requested purchases of that item, i.e., Costl. The cost of requested purchases of that item is added to the previous amount spent on those items and the total is output to the comparison circuitry 100. Similarly, Item2 is looked up in the shopper record 106 and the total amount previously spent on that item, i.e., £0.00, is read out and passed to summation circuitry 110 along with the total cost of requested purchases of that item, i.e., Cost2. The cost of requested purchases of that item is added to the previous amount spent on those items and the total is output to the comparison circuitry 112. The comparison circuitry 112 performs a determination as to whether the totals passed from the summation circuitry 108 and the summation circuitry 110 meet the professional buyer condition and outputs a result of that determination. Figures 8a-8d schematically illustrate a sequence of purchases made by a shopper and the corresponding calculation of whether the professional buyer condition is met. In the illustrated example, the professional buyer condition is met when a quantity condition and a cost condition are both met. The quantity condition is met when a total number of general goods purchased exceeds 20. The purchase condition is met when the total purchase cost is greater than three million Yen. In the illustrated example, there is no condition on the consumable goods purchased. In figure 8a shopper B makes a first purchase at store A on date C. The shopper requests to make the first purchase tax free. In the illustrated example, the shopper purchases consumable goods in the form of cosmetics, and purchases general goods 120 in the form of ladies’ clothes and a watch. The quantities of general goods and the amount spent on the general goods is passed to calculation logic that sums the total quantity of general goods and the total cost of the general goods. The shopper is requesting to purchase a total of 6 items at a total cost of 2,300,000 Yen (2 items of ladies’ clothes at a total cost of 200,000 Yen, 3 items of ladies’ clothes at a total cost of 100,000 Yen, and 1 watch at a cost of 2,000,000 Yen). The amounts and costs are summed by the calculation logic and a determination is made of whether the professional buyer condition is met. The calculation logic determines if the total number of items purchased exceeds the threshold of 20. Because the total number of purchases (equal to 6) is less than the threshold of 20, the outcome of the quantity condition 122 is not met. The calculation logic determines if the total cost of the purchases is greater than 3 million Yen. Because the total cost of the purchases (equal to 2,300,000 Yen) is less than the threshold of 3 million Yen, the outcome of the cost condition 124 is not met. Because both the quantity condition and the cost condition are not met, the professional buyer condition is not met and the outcome of the determination 126 is that no alert should be signalled. The totals calculated by the calculation logic are stored to be used in future calculations of whether the professional buyer condition is met. In figure 8b shopper B makes a second purchase at store A on date C. The shopper requests to make the second purchase tax free. In the illustrated example, the shopper purchases consumable goods in the form of cosmetics, and purchases general goods 130 in the form of ladies’ shoes and leather goods. The quantities of general goods and the amount spent on the general goods is passed to calculation logic that sums the total quantity of general goods and the total cost of the general goods. The shopper is requesting to purchase a total of 5 items at a total cost of 1,100,000 Yen (1 item of ladies’ shoes at a total cost of 300,000 Yen, 3 items of ladies’ shoes at a total cost of 700,000 Yen, and 1 item of leather goods at a cost of 100,000 Yen). The amounts and costs are summed by the calculation logic, along with the totals that were previously stored for that shopper, and a determination is made of whether the professional buyer condition is met. The calculation logic determines if the total number of items purchased exceeds the threshold of 20. The total number of purchases is equal to the previous total 133 of 6 items plus the total number of new general goods (equal to 5). Because the total number of purchases (equal to 11) is less than the threshold of 20, the outcome of the quantity condition 132 is not met. The calculation logic determines if the total cost of the purchases is greater than 3 million Yen. The total cost of purchases is equal to the previous total 135 of 2,300,000 Yen plus the total cost of the requested purchases (equal to 1,100,000 Yen) Because the total cost of the purchases (equal to 3,400,000 Yen) is greater than the threshold of 3 million Yen, the outcome of the cost condition 134 is that the cost is over the threshold. However, the professional buyer condition requires that both the quantity condition and the cost condition are met. Because the quantity condition is not met, the professional buyer condition is not met and the outcome of the determination 136 is that no alert should be signalled. The totals calculated by the calculation logic are stored to be used in future calculations of whether the professional buyer condition is met. In figure 8c shopper B makes a third purchase at store A on date C. The shopper requests to make the third purchase tax free. In the illustrated example, the shopper purchases consumable goods in the form of liquor and perfume, and purchases general goods 140 in the form of ladies’ clothes and a painting. The quantities of general goods and the amount spent on the general goods is passed to calculation logic that sums the total quantity of general goods and the total cost of the general goods. The shopper is requesting to purchase a total of 11 items at a total cost of 300,000 Yen (1 painting at a total cost of 200,000 Yen, and 10 items of ladies’ clothes a total cost of 100,000 Yen). The amounts and costs are summed by the calculation logic, along with the totals that were previously stored for that shopper, and a determination is made of whether the professional buyer condition is met. The calculation logic determines if the total number of items purchased exceeds the threshold of 20. The total number of purchases is equal to the previous total 143 of 11 items plus the total number of new general goods (equal to 11). Because the total number of purchases (equal to 22) is greater than the threshold of 20, the outcome of the quantity condition 142 is that the total number of items is over the threshold. The calculation logic determines if the total cost of the purchases is greater than 3 million Yen. The total cost of purchases is equal to the previous total 145 of 3,400,000 Yen plus the total cost of the requested purchases (equal to 300,000 Yen) Because the total cost of the purchases (equal to 3,700,000 Yen) is greater than the threshold of 3 million Yen, the outcome of the cost condition 144 is that the cost is over the threshold. Because both the quantity condition and the cost condition are met, the professional buyer condition is met and the outcome of the determination 146 is that an alert should be signalled. The totals calculated by the calculation logic are stored to be used in future calculations of whether the professional buyer condition is met. Figure 8d schematically illustrates an alternative third purchase that may have been requested by the shopper instead of the purchase requested in figure 8c. The shopper requests to make the third purchase tax free. In the illustrated example of figure 8d, the shopper makes a similar set of purchases to those described in relation to figure 8c. However, the total number of items of ladies’ clothes is equal to 8 (not 10 as was the case in figure 8c). The shopper is requesting to purchase a total of 9 items at a total cost of 300,000 Yen (1 painting at a total cost of 200,000 Yen, and 8 items of ladies’ clothes a total cost of 100,000 Yen). The amounts and costs are summed by the calculation logic, along with the totals that were previously stored for that shopper, and a determination is made of whether the professional buyer condition is met. The calculation logic determines if the total number of items purchased exceeds the threshold of 20. The total number of purchases is equal to the previous total 153 of 11 items plus the total number of new general goods (equal to 9). Because the total number of purchases (equal to 20) is not greater than the threshold of 20, the outcome of the quantity condition 152 is that the condition is close to the limit but is currently not met. The calculation logic determines if the total cost of the purchases is greater than 3 million Yen. The total cost of purchases is equal to the previous total 155 of 3,400,000 Yen plus the total cost of the requested purchases (equal to 300,000 Yen) Because the total cost of the purchases (equal to 3,700,000 Yen) is greater than the threshold of 3 million Yen, the outcome of the cost condition 154 is that the cost is over the threshold. Because the quantity condition is close to the limit and the cost condition is met, the professional buyer condition is not met but is close to being met. The outcome of the determination 156 is that no alert should be signalled, but an indication that the shopper is close to the limit is output. The totals calculated by the calculation logic are stored to be used in future calculations of whether the professional buyer condition is met. It will be readily apparent to the person skilled in the art that the example set out in figures 8a-8d is one possible example of rules defining a professional buyer condition. As discussed above, the professional buyer condition is dynamically configurable and may be configured per territory, per chain of stores, per store, and / or per brand. The professional buyer condition may be based on any criteria related to the shopper or the purchases, for example, the professional buyer condition may be based on one or more of a quantity of goods purchased, a type of goods purchased (e.g., consumable or nonconsumable), a cost amount of the purchase (e.g., a total amount, a subtotal amount, a net amount, an amount of VAT, a gross amount), a number of items belonging to a particular category that are purchased, and / or a total number of purchases. The professional buyer condition may be constructed as a logical combination of criteria. As a first example, the professional buyer condition may be configured so that it is met when the total number of purchases exceeds a first threshold OR when both a number of items in a category exceeds a second threshold AND a total purchase amount exceeds a third threshold. As an alternative example, the professional buyer condition may be configured so that it is met when a total amount of a particular item (or items within a particular category) exceeds a threshold within a given duration (e.g., within a single trip, plural trips, a calendar year, within a previous predefined period of time). As a third example, the professional buyer condition may be configured so that it is met when either of the condition of the first example OR the condition of the second example are met. Figure 9 schematically illustrates an apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques. The apparatus comprises calculation logic 202 configured to determine if a professional buyer condition 204 is met based on purchase history information 200 and purchase information 208. The purchase history information 200 comprises a list of items purchased tax free (Item 1, Item 2, Item 3, ..., Item N), a category of that item (Catl, Cat2, Cat3, ..., CatN), a total purchase cost for that item (Costl, Cost2, Cost3, ..., CostN), a quantity of the items purchased (Quantityl, Quantity2, Quantity3, ..., QuantityN), and a date on which each item was purchased (Datel, Date2, Date3, ..., DateN). The purchase information comprises corresponding information for items that the shopper wishes to purchase tax free including an indication of the item (Item X), a category of the item (CatX), a cost of the item (CostX), a quantity of the item (QuantityX), and a current date for purchase of the item (DateX). The purchase history 200 and the purchase information 208 are provided to the calculation logic 202 which performs a calculation to determine if the professional buyer condition 204 is met, for example, as described above. The calculation logic then outputs an indication of whether the professional buyer condition is met. The professional buyer condition 204 is a dynamically updateable condition that can be updated, for example, through provision of a new professional buyer condition 206. The professional buyer condition 204 and the new professional buyer condition 206 may be based on any logical and / or arithmetic arrangement (or combination) of the purchase history information 200 and the purchase information 208. When the professional buyer condition 204 is updated with the new professional buyer condition 206, the calculation logic ceases performing the determination as to whether the shopper is a potential professional buyer based on the professional buyer condition 204 and begins performing the determination as to whether the shopper is a potential professional buyer based on the new professional buyer condition 206. Figure 10 schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out at a merchant apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques. Flow begins at step S90 where it is determined if shopper identification information and purchase information have been received. If, at step S90, it is determined that shopper identification information and purchase information have not been received, then flow remains at step S90. If, at step S90, it is determined that shopper identification information and purchase information have been received, then flow proceeds to step S92. At step S92 shopper eligibility information is requested from the server based on the shopper identification information and the purchase identification information. Flow then proceeds to step S94 where it is determined if shopper eligibility information has been received. If, at step S94, it is determined that shopper eligibility information has not been received, then flow remains at step S94. If, at step S94, it is determined that shopper eligibility information has been received, then flow proceeds to step S96. At step S96, it is determined whether the shopper is eligible to purchase the items tax free. If, at step S96, it is determined that the shopper is eligible to purchase the items tax free, then flow proceeds to step S98 where shopper eligibility is signalled before flow returns to step S90. If, at step S96, it is determined that the shopper is not eligible, then flow proceeds to step SI00 where the ineligibility of the shopper is signalled before flow returns to step S90. Figure 11 schematically illustrates a sequence of steps carried out at a server apparatus according to some configurations of the present techniques. Flow begins at step SI 10 where it is determined whether a request for a shopper eligibility check, including shopper identifying information and purchase identifying information, has been received from a merchant apparatus. If, at step SI00, it is determined that no request for a shopper eligibility check has been received, then flow remains at step SI 10. If, at step SI 10, it is determined that a request for a shopper eligibility check has been received, then flow proceeds to step SI 12. At step SI 12 it is determined if making the one or more purchases tax free will cause the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition. If, at step SI 12, it is determined that making the one or more purchases tax free will cause the shopper to meet the professional buyer condition, then flow proceeds to step SI 14 where shopper eligibility information is generated indicating that the shopper is ineligible for making the purchases tax free. Flow then proceeds to step SI 16. If, at step SI 12, it was determined that making the one or more purchases will not cause the shopper to meet the professional buyer condition, then flow proceeds to step SI 18 where shopper eligibility information is generated indicating that the shopper is eligible for making the purchases tax free. Flow then proceeds to step SI 16. At step SI 16 the shopper eligibility information is transmitted to the merchant apparatus before flow returns to step SI 10. In brief overall summary there is provided a merchant apparatus and a server apparatus. The merchant apparatus receives shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items. The merchant apparatus requests shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition. The merchant apparatus, in response to the shopper eligibility information resulting in an identification that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, signals ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free. In the present application, the words “configured to...” are used to mean that an element of an apparatus has a configuration able to carry out the defined operation. In this context, a “configuration” means an arrangement or manner of interconnection of hardware or software. For example, the apparatus may have dedicated hardware which provides the defined operation, or a processor or other processing device may be programmed to perform the function. “Configured to” does not imply that the apparatus element needs to be changed in any way in order to provide the defined operation. In the present application, lists of features preceded with the phrase “at least one of’ mean that any one or more of those features can be provided either individually or in combination. For example, “at least one of: [A], [B] and [C]” encompasses any of the following options: A alone (without B or C), B alone (without A or C), C alone (without A or B), A and B in combination (without C), A and C in combination (without B), B and C in combination (without A), or A, B and C in combination. Although illustrative configurations of the invention have been described in detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to those precise configurations, and that various changes, additions and modifications can be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. For example, various combinations of the features of the dependent claims could be made with the features of the independent claims without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A merchant apparatus comprising:receiving circuitry configured to receive shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items;communication circuitry configured to request shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition; andcontrol circuitry responsive to the shopper eligibility information resulting in an identification that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, to signal ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free.

2. The merchant apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control circuitry is responsive to the shopper eligibility information identifying that the shopper is permitted to make the purchase, to perform one or more steps to complete the purchase and to transmit a purchase completion indication to the server apparatus.

3. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein:the receiving circuitry is configured to journey identifying information identifying a journey of the shopper; andthe communication circuitry is configured to request the shopper eligibility information based on the journey identifying information.

4. The merchant apparatus of claim 3, wherein the shopper identification information and / or the journey identifying information are based on a passport of the shopper.

5. The merchant apparatus of claim 4, wherein the receiving circuitry comprises passport scanning circuitry configured to scan the passport to obtain at least one of the shopper identification information and the journey identifying information.

6. The merchant apparatus of claim 4 or claim 5, wherein the receiving circuitry is configured to receive the shopper identification information and / or the journey identifying information input by an operator of the merchant apparatus.

7. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the control circuitry is responsive to receipt of a threshold warning indicting that the number of remaining purchases before the shopper is identified as a professional buyer is below a threshold, to signal the threshold warning to an operator of the merchant device.

8. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the purchasing total information corresponds to purchases belonging to at least one purchase category.

9. The merchant apparatus of claim 8, wherein the purchase category comprises consumable products and / or non-consumable products.

10. The merchant apparatus of claim 9, wherein the professional buyer condition requires a first purchase category total relating to the consumable products to exceed a consumable products threshold, and / or a second purchase category total relating to the non-consumable products to exceed a non-consumable products threshold.

11. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the professional buyer condition is defined on a per purchase category basis.

12. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the purchasing total information comprises a total number of products purchased per store.

13. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the purchasing total information is calculated during a current journey of the shopper.

14. The merchant apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the purchasing total information is calculated based on a purchase history associated with the shopper.

15. The merchant apparatus of claim 14, wherein the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from stores comprised within a chain of stores and the purchasing total information comprises a chain purchasing total associated with the chain.

16. The merchant apparatus of claim 14 or claim 15, wherein the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from a same store and the purchasing total information comprises a store purchasing total associated with the store.

17. The merchant apparatus of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the purchase history comprises an item total indicating a number of times an item has been purchased, and the purchasing total information comprises an item purchasing total associated with the item.

18. A server apparatus comprising:communication circuitry configured to receive, from a merchant apparatus, a request for a shopper eligibility check comprising shopper identification information to identify a shopper; andcontrol circuitry configured to generate shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition,wherein the communication circuitry is configured to transmit the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus.

19. The server apparatus of claim 18, wherein the purchasing total information corresponds to purchases belonging to at least one purchase category.

20. The server apparatus of claim 19, wherein the purchase category comprises consumable products and / or non-consumable products.

21. The server apparatus of claim 20, wherein the professional buyer condition requires a first purchase category total relating to the consumable products to exceed a consumable products threshold, and / or a second purchase category total relating to the non-consumable products to exceed a non-consumable products threshold.

22. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 21, wherein the purchasing total information comprises a total number of products purchased per store.

23. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 22, wherein the purchasing total information is calculated during a current journey of the shopper.

24. The server apparatus of claim 23, wherein:the request for the shopper eligibility check comprises journey identifying information; andthe control circuitry is configured to determine purchases made during the current journey of the shopper based on the journey identifying information.

25. The server apparatus of claim 23 or claim 24, wherein the control circuitry is configured to perform at least one accuracy check on the journey identifying information and, in response to the journey identifying information failing the at least one accuracy check, to trigger the communication circuitry to transmit an error indication to the merchant apparatus.

26. The server apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one accuracy check comprises comparing the journey identifying information with journey identifying information indicated in one or more recent purchase records associated with the shopper information.

27. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 26, wherein the purchasing total information is calculated based on a purchase history of the shopper.

28. The server apparatus of claim 27, wherein the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from stores comprised within a chain of stores and the purchasing total information comprises a chain purchasing total associated with the chain.

29. The server apparatus of claim 27 or claim 28, wherein the purchase history comprises a history of items purchased by the shopper from a same store and the purchasing total information comprises a store purchasing total associated with the store.

30. The server apparatus of any of claims 27 to 29, wherein the purchase history comprises an item total indicating a number of times an item has been purchased, and the purchasing total information comprises an item purchasing total associated with the item.

31. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 30, comprising storage circuitry configured to store shopper record information identifying the shopper and the purchasing total information associated with the shopper,wherein the control circuitry is responsive to receipt of the request from the merchant apparatus to retrieve at least one stored purchase total associated with the shopper from the storage circuitry and to perform the determination by calculating the purchasing total based on the at least one stored purchase total and the purchase information.

32. The server apparatus of claim 31, wherein the server apparatus is responsive to receipt, from the merchant apparatus, of a purchase completion indication, to update the shopper record associated with the shopper.

33. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 32, wherein the professional buyer condition is dynamically configurable.

34. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 33, wherein the professional buyer condition is configurable on a per store basis and / or on a per store chain basis.

35. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 34, wherein:the control circuitry is responsive to a determination that shopper is eligible to purchase the one or more items tax free, to determine a remaining purchase allowance indicative of a number of remaining purchases that the shopper is eligible to make tax free without meeting the professional buyer condition; andthe control circuitry is responsive to the number of remaining purchases being below a threshold, to trigger the communication circuitry to transmit a threshold warning indicating that the number of remaining purchases is below the threshold.

36. The server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 34, wherein the professional buyer condition is defined on a per purchase category basis.

37. A system comprising the server apparatus of any of claims 18 to 36 and at least one merchant apparatus of claims 1 to 17.

38. A method of operating a merchant apparatus comprising:receiving shopper identification information to identify a shopper, and purchase identification information identifying the one or more items;requesting shopper eligibility information from a server apparatus based on the shopper identification information, the shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase the one or more items tax free based on a determination of whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition; andin response to the shopper eligibility information resulting in an identification that the shopper is not permitted to make the purchase, signalling ineligibility of the shopper to make the purchase tax free.5 39. A method of operating a server apparatus comprising:receiving, from a merchant apparatus, a request for a shopper eligibility check comprising shopper identification information to identify a shopper; andgenerating shopper eligibility information enabling identification of whether the shopper is permitted to purchase one or more items tax free based on a determination of 10 whether purchasing the one or more items tax free will cause purchasing total information associated with the shopper to meet a professional buyer condition, transmitting the shopper eligibility information to the merchant apparatus.15