Bitcoin Forum

I've been aware of bitcoin for a long time, but only recently have I seen that there may be benefits for me to accept it in my small online shop. I operate a VERY niche market website, and to be totally honest I don't expect that I will be doing much business in bitcoin. I am more interested in accepting them for the free advertisement and 'buzz' that will be created simply for the fact that I will be one of the few vendors accepting them for the type of products I sell(medicinal herbs, natural personal care products). Hopefully it will drive up traffic enough that I can get into reselling other types of products similar to mine, as now I only sell what we produce.

So I've been doing quite a bit of research on coinbase, and it doesn't take long to get pretty suspicious of this company. The number of complaints is astounding, but they all seem to be from 'regular' bit coin traders. I am unable to really find any reviews of their service from a merchant's standpoint, which is what I am concerned about.

Forgive me for not seeing the writing on the wall, but I still am seriously considering joining. I certainly would not use them if I was just looking to get into trading btc, but as a merchant I don't feel like I have much to lose. That is why I am posting this inquiry here: please correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't feel like I am going to have much negative exposure: I'm not investing one penny of my money, only if I actually start selling things for btc will I have money tied up in their system. And even then, it's not money that I put in, but what has been generated from sales(that presumably I wouldn't have made for USD).

The only major concern I have is of security. I will have to set up the ACH transfer to my bank account and I worry about that type of exposure. Does anyone know of any instances of people's bank accounts being accessed by malevolent actors through coinbase?

Sorry if this is long winded, but I would appreciate hearing ANY experiences from merchants using coinbase for ecommerce. Even if your experiences have nothing to do with the above questions, ANY advice is welcome.

I have been using coinbase for 2 months. You are right they are a merchant not a trade or exchange. I have had some hiccups with them but have had them all solved to my satisfaction with a little persistence. So far no problems in terms of my bank account or credit cards linked. They are based in the USA which means they must meet the security and regulation policies in the USA even though bitcoin is not "official".