Have you considered the integration of Bitcoinpayments? Why, or why not?

[goodmorning]

Hey everyone,

Hope you are having a good Friday,

Wanted to stop by and see what everyone's opinion about Bitcoin payments and their potential impacts within a small business setting.

We all know charge-backs are a growing issue and some pay almost 10% annually, horrible.

Bitcoin payments give us an opportunity to reduce these completely. One of the common misconceptions is a vendors subjectivity to Bitcoin's volatile price. This is not true. The majority of payment processors offer features to combat volatility with locked rates and automatic account deposits. All for a fraction of the rates charged by traditional processors similar to Paypal and others.

You can start accepting Bitcoin in seconds with plugins for any eCommerce platform, hardware for any fast paced environment, and apps to save on cost by using existing devices.

Give it a try today.

Does your business accept Bitcoin? What are the positive negative impacts?

If you haven't considered integration, why not? Are you open to accepting a new form of digital payment, or happy with your current processors?

[vangogh]

First I removed the links you posted, since they were clearly you promoting a site. You should refrain from future promotion or you'll likely find your account no longer works. However, I left the rest of your post, because I thought it could make for an interesting conversation.

I don't use bitcoins for a few reasons.

1. I see no reason to trust it. I have no idea whether it will still be here in a few years. I'm not saying it won't be and I expect that in time money will just be digital accounting, but I don't see any reason to assume bitcoin will be here.

2. There's no insurance or protection for the money. If someone steals any bitcoins I have, I'd be completely out of luck. You have to be more active in protecting your bitcoins and I don't want to spend my time doing that.

3. There's not much reason to jump in. Some people jumped in early because of the potential increase in value of each bitcoin. The more stable it becomes, the less chance there is of your bitcoins significantly increasing in value.

4. Limited places I can spend the money. I can't think of anything I regularly buy that accepts bitcoins. My bank won't accept it for my mortgage payment. The supermarket I go to doesn't take them. I don't think I can use them to pay for any of my utilities. Why would I want to accept bitcoin if I can't spend them.

5. It's still hard to use. I'm not worried about figuring out how for myself, but you do still need to be on the tech savvy side of things to understand how to use your bitcoin, which means most people won't be using it.

I definitely think that in time a system like bitcoin will be in use. I don't know if it will be bitcoin or something still to come. I do think whatever system it'll need to be easier to use and it'll need some kind of insurance or protection before it's really a viable system.

Having said all that I know Stripe, which I'm using to collect payments will let me offer an option for bitcoin and Strip will convert the money immediately into U.S. dollars. I've thought of accepting bitcoin for a month of two to see if it leads to more sales. Assuming I do, I would probably keep some of the money in bitcoins to learn more about how they work. However, I don't see myself collecting a lot of bitcoins in the near future.

When it comes to my money, I tend to be more conservative. Bitcoin needs more stability, more guarantees about the protection of my money, and wider adoption before I'll use them myself in any significant way.

[Freelancier]

It's like asking if I accept Rubles for payment for my business.

First of all, my customers don't have Rubles and wouldn't think to paying with Rubles.

Next, I don't trust the "government" backing Rubles or the protections their banking system provides. Therefore I don't trust the currency is going to be readily convertible into dollars, which I do trust.

Also, I don't use any local services that accept Rubles. So holding Rubles doesn't do anything except increase my tax (because I accepted them as payment for services rendered) without providing a way to pay taxes with them (or to replace the dollars I have to spend elsewhere with Rubles, so that I'll have enough dollars to pay my taxes).

Finally, And if I do accept Rubles and then have to convert them, I have to worry about currency flux and managing my risk there. If Rubles were to drop 20% because enough people lose trust in the "government" backing the Ruble, then I'm losing money if I'm holding them. The flip side also exists, but why does my business need that risk at all?

And Rubles are a currency backed by a nuclear-armed sovereign government. Bitcoin? Pfft.

[turboguy]

Why don't I take Bitcoin? No one has requested it. If I start getting customers ask if we can take it then I might look into it. I would much sooner we don't start getting requests. We take so many forms of payment that I don't need another. I would take rubles before I would take Bitcoin. My Russian distributor would like that but he seems ok paying in greenbacks.

[vangogh]

No one has requested it.

That doesn't necessarily mean no one wants it. It just means thy don't request it. Not everyone will contact you to let you know. Most people will just move on to another site.

The argument for accepting them is the more ways you allow people to pay you, the more people will pay you. I have thought about accepting them through Stripe while Stripe pays me in dollars. There's not any risk for me that way. I wouldn't notice how someone paid, though I'm sure I'd see stats on what people are using to pay.

I'm still not sold on bitcoin as a lasting currency, though I think its chances of survival are greater than 0.

[Harold Mansfield]

I don't take or deal in Bitcoin. USD's work just fine for me. VG laid out a good list. The only thing I could add personally is that from what I know I about it..I don't trust it for anything other than dabbling around in. I don't trust that it's going to be come a major form of currency that's going to be understood, trusted, or embraced by any significant number of people, businesses or financial institutions.

Most of my customers are small business owners who aren't very tech savvy. They won't be asking me anytime soon about bitcoin, and of the ones with eCommerce sites they won't be implementing it anytime soon.

It may or may not be a fad but one thing is for sure, one more instance of corruption and people getting ripped off and it's dead.

I consider myself pretty tech savvy and like to adopt new technologies and products. As do many others here. If it's new or emerging I'm chomping at the bit to find our more about it or see how I can use it to my advantage. But when it comes to bit coin there's just nothing terribly exciting about it and it's unregulated.

Whatever it may have the potential of being is a long way off.

[turboguy]

That doesn't necessarily mean no one wants it. It just means thy don't request it. Not everyone will contact you to let you know. Most people will just move on to another site.

The argument for accepting them is the more ways you allow people to pay you, the more people will pay you.
We do try to make it easy for people to pay us. In our case about 80% of our business is phone and about 15% online. Most often we take the major credit cards or checks or wire transfers. Once in a long while we get a request for us to take the Discover card which we do and once in a long while someone wants to use PayPal which we also will do although we don't like to. I would be a bit shocked if someone asked if we take Bitcoin but if anyone ever does then I would be happy to look into what we need to do to accept it. Most of our customers are not that tech savvy and I would be surprised if we get a request anytime soon. I am also not sold on it being a lasting currency but would not totally rule it out.

[vangogh]

If most of your business is over the phone, then bitcoin probably isn't required. I don't know that I'll accept it either, but part of me is curious. If I can let people pay with them and still set the price in dollars and still get paid I dollars, I don't see a downside. Then again, I haven't rushed over to start accepting them bitcoins either. I don't really expect bitcoins to be a major currency in my lifetime. I can see how all our money will eventually be virtual though. We're mostly there already.


I don't trust it for anything other than dabbling around in

Trust is definitely an issue with bitcoin. It's creator is anonymous, which doesn't lend an aura of trust. There's 0 protection other than what you do to protect your own bitcoins. At least one of the major bitcoin banks was stealing money if I'm remembering that correctly. Don't hold me to that. It's a perfect currency for black market exchanges. Wasn't bitcoin the currency of Silk Road, before it was shut down.

I do think the idea of virtual currency is very likely at some point. I use a lot less cash now than I did 10 years ago. Most of my transactions are probably online. I get paid when one company or another updates some digits in my bank account. I move the digits around to pay my mortgage and keep the lights on. I usually have some cash on me, but there's a lot less of it in my wallet than there used to be.

[Harold Mansfield]

To me I don't see bit coin as a solving some kind of problem or making anything more efficient or convenient. We already deal in virtual currency. Very few people get paid with cash. It's all a digital representation of cash. Credits basically.

Whether you get a pay check or get paid by clients. If you get a paycheck I supposed you can convert that credit slip into cash, but most people just deposit the credit slip into their account and now they have more credits which they spend through their ATM and Credit Cards which also just transfer credits.

The only time I actually touch cash is when I take it from the ATM, otherwise I can go months without having any actual greenbacks in my pocket.

[krymson]

I'm the same way... I don't think bitcoins are a viable commodity. I think they'll be around for a while, but I think they're over hyped. 2 years ago, my mindset was different. I know NewEgg take bitcoin, but like whats beens stated, there's no protection or security for bitcoins.

I'll stick with the "secure" stuff. Like what's in my bank account and what goes into my bank account, I know it will pay for food, shelter, and transportation.