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Title: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: peglegtrading on July 06, 2011, 04:09:23 AM Has there been any sort of wiki or faq set up to help new merchants establish BTC rates for the products they are offering? I was thinking prices need to be at a slight premium to cash to offset the risk of accepting BTC. Of course it's most ideal if the products being offered already have a built in profit margin well beyond the daily BTC volatility.
Any feedback is much appreciated. Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: BitcoinPorn on July 06, 2011, 04:14:18 AM This is one of those things that is up to the shop owner. I mean, if I could afford it, I would take a cut every time, but I would be ensuring that whatever I am doing would not only have a good product but promote Bitcoin in someway as well. Basically take a slight monetary loss and ensure the benefits are shown to the customer and I think in the end will be better for long term business.
In the end I think it is kind of what you are saying in the sense that the people who have the most sway with the product itself, are able to move quicker with any drastic market changes. Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: MKW2012 on July 06, 2011, 05:17:11 AM I agree that a slight premium to cash would work best. The reason being that its convenient for consumers, as well as for the volatility of Bitcoins the merchant would be taking on.
Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: Stephen Gornick on July 06, 2011, 09:05:56 AM Has there been any sort of wiki or faq set up to help new merchants establish BTC rates for the products they are offering? I was thinking prices need to be at a slight premium to cash to offset the risk of accepting BTC. Bitcoin payments are non-repudiable (cannot be revoked nor reversed). So there isn't risk that a payment received in bitcoins would get a chargeback or won't be settled. Is the risk you are referring to the exchange rate risk? If so, then to protect against that the merchant simply executes a hedge to match each payment. i.e., Payment accepted for 2.0 BTC, a 2.0 sell on the exchange occurs immediately. That approach then could allow prices displayed to be dynamic and competitive with cash. This approach is described here: - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_accept_Bitcoin,_for_small_businesses#Setting_Prices At some point consumers will expect that their purchases using bitcoins will be priced equal-to or possibly at a discount even compared to the equivalent cash price, but until that point in time is reached most merchants are today able to tack on a premium. Because the benefits bitcoin offers to a merchant are significant though, expect them to wield the ability to pay using bitcoin as a competitive advantage. Thus any price premium obtainable today should be considered just a temporary condition. Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: peglegtrading on July 06, 2011, 10:41:24 AM Has there been any sort of wiki or faq set up to help new merchants establish BTC rates for the products they are offering? I was thinking prices need to be at a slight premium to cash to offset the risk of accepting BTC. Bitcoin payments are non-repudiable (cannot be revoked nor reversed). So there isn't risk that a payment received in bitcoins would get a chargeback or won't be settled. Is the risk you are referring to the exchange rate risk? If so, then to protect against that the merchant simply executes a hedge to match each payment. i.e., Payment accepted for 2.0 BTC, a 2.0 sell on the exchange occurs immediately. That approach then could allow prices displayed to be dynamic and competitive with cash. This approach is described here: - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_accept_Bitcoin,_for_small_businesses#Setting_Prices At some point consumers will expect that their purchases using bitcoins will be priced equal-to or possibly at a discount even compared to the equivalent cash price, but until that point in time is reached most merchants are today able to tack on a premium. excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for. Are there any website scripts to auto convert current rates to BTC for ecommerce yet? I suppose it's a rather simple thing, just not something I have any experience with. Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: peglegtrading on July 06, 2011, 10:45:11 AM This is one of those things that is up to the shop owner. I mean, if I could afford it, I would take a cut every time, but I would be ensuring that whatever I am doing would not only have a good product but promote Bitcoin in someway as well. Basically take a slight monetary loss and ensure the benefits are shown to the customer and I think in the end will be better for long term business. In the end I think it is kind of what you are saying in the sense that the people who have the most sway with the product itself, are able to move quicker with any drastic market changes. I source a great deal of products from China and am surprised there is not more BTC ready sites foucsed on this segment of the market as there are so many people beholden to Paypal in the worst way. I know everyone has their own horror stories so I will spare the details but just the slightest whiff or a legit alternative has got me very excited to be rid of that foul miscreant. Title: Re: Bitcoin Marketplace standards best practices Post by: bitfreak! on July 06, 2011, 12:07:09 PM excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for. Are there any website scripts to auto convert current rates to BTC for ecommerce yet? I suppose it's a rather simple thing, just not something I have any experience with. If you check out the merchant page (http://bitfreak.info/index.php?page=merchant) on bitfreak you might find some answers to your questions. |