Suica refund

If you have spent say only 1200Yen on the Suica card, is the balance of 300Yen refundable (in addition to the 500Yen deposit)?

If you want to refund remaining balance on the card, a 210 yen service fee applies.

So, if you have 300 yen left on your card, you will get a refund of 90 yen plus the 500 yen deposit. If you have 210 yen or less balance on your card, you will get back only your 500 yen deposit.

If you have only a bit left in your card, I'd prefer using it for vending machines, restaurants or other shops accepting Suica/PASMO. That way you don't have to mind of the service fee. And in those shops you can pay just a part of the price with the card and rest with other methods of payment, so you can basicly use up the money of your Suica/PASMO completely if you want.

Maybe it depends on cash registers whether you can combine Suica e-money and cash for payment, but I guess that's highly possible in shops of a large-scale retailer like those of major supermarkets.

A shop accepting Suica cards / PASMO cards may accept them only at one or a few cashier desks. An icon of Suica / PASMO will help you. As to e-money systems for shopping and for railroad fares, Suica are PASMO are compatible.
- Picture showing the icons
http://www.pasmo.co.jp/share/images/en/img-index5.jpg

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Use the remaining balance at a convienence store, or pay the remaining balance of a train ride.