Bitcoin Forum

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/bitcoin-boon-overstock-become-biggest-retailer-accept-virtual-currency-2D11785539

*accepting

*expecting to be accepting ;P

That's great news, I wonder why it's taking them so long to get it implemented?

Amazon is next.

Definitely not happening.  Overstock to Amazon is like Lake Tahoe to Pacific Ocean.  Not when VISA, Discover, AMEX, MAstercard is around.

unbelievable..  :o  I'm Shocked

If Amazon is next, there will be a BIG BANG within the BTC network! Value will skyrocket imo~

A bit more detailed info here at a new coindesk article  http://www.coindesk.com/overstock-unveils-more-details-bitcoin-adoption/


I love the quote pointing out that it was only 10 years ago that mcdonalds started accepting credit cards.

I run into a lot of bitcoin naysayers constantly pointing out that very few places accept bitcoin right now, failing to remember just how young bitcoin is and how other payment options like credit cards or online shopping took decades to finally reach the point they have currently reached.  Although most places don't accept bitcoin as of right now, the rate at which new merchants are starting to accept it seems very promising that in the future bitcoin will be accepted at most places.

Which leads to an interesting question, if by places accepting bitcoin causes the value to skyrocket, why would be inclined to spend their bitcoins instead of holding onto them to make a nice profit. If companies start accepting bitcoin but no one uses it, what effect would that have on merchants wanting to stick with bitcoin.

Not trying to sound negative, just trying to look at all things related bitcoin and try to predict the type of impact it could have.

This will take some time.

Overstock could probably have 1% of their sales transacted in bitcoin and they would see a return on investment in setting up their payment network. "No" fees is pretty enticing to a low margin retailer.

Interesting to see how this plays out. Hopefully it'll go well and more retailers will take note. If it goes bad it could be disastrous though. I've never heard of Overstock, so I have no idea how big it is, but any merchant taking Bitcoin is good on the whole.

6$ is still 6$, whether its in USD or BTC. so even if you spend some there is no reason why you cant top up your balance every so often while still enjoying the rising value.

5M unique visitors per day, devoting 5-6 person, risks considerations aso, it takes some time in a big company which has quite a lot to lose if sth does not work out

Just want to point out that when I went to check out www.overstock.com I was greeted with

Now shipping to United Kingdom

We make it easy to shop from United Kingdom with:

All prices in Pounds sterling
Duties and taxes calculated at checkout
Low international shipping rates
Guaranteed landed costs (no additional charges at delivery)

How good is this?  :D well, those prices are pretty insane, not very lol

Not if the value drops. I suppose they could use a payment processor that converts the BTC into cash straight away, but I'd rather hold on to the BTC for a bit in case the price rises, but obviously this is risky and difficult for businesses.

why there is always only one option? i can spent and save coins at the same time.


@ hilariousandco

of course they will have a payment processor.  ::)

Read my post again ::).

Correct but if you have $6 you can use on a debit card  or $6 in bitcoin that you think will be worth $12 next week. Very few people outside of some bitcoin enthusiasts would probably want to spend $6 that they expect to go up in value.  If you can top up than that means you already have the cash to do so so why not just spend that cash instead of converting it to bitcoin only to do the same thing with it.

I think it is a very valid arguement and most people I've talked to about bitcoin tend to say the same things when I say they should use bitcoin , they typically say  1) why buy something with cash so i can buy and item when i can already buy that item direct with the cash   2) why spend something i expect to go up in value .

I for one am a huge fan of bitcoin and the potential it has for international transactions, control over your own money without heavy fees, and microtransactions along with some of the benefits of remaining somewhat anonymous.  So for me personally I will be buying some bitcoins specifically to use at overstock.com to support them and support the community.  Just like I try to do at any place that choses to accept bitcoin recently, so long as they have some items or services I like or want.

I agree with everything you said, except I wont be spending my coins on anything any time soon, but I'm glad they're are people like you who are willing to spend their coins. We need transactions and goods to be purchased to keep the momentum going.

true you can do both especially if something is coming up in value quite a bit. i still think though that it's a very valid arguement that when something is going up in value people don't want to let it go. it's like people who go gamble and start winning and can rarely ever seem to walk away when their ahead.

anyway,  it's great to see a large retailer getting behind bitcoin. i suspect it's going to be a growing trend in the coming months/years. super excited about that!

just to clarify i wont be spending my coins i already have sitting around as well. im actually planning on not touching thouse for a good 5-15 years actually.

what i will do though is see something i want on overstock, go buy that amount in bitcoin and then make the purchase right away. in that situation im still basically using fiat to make a purchase while still supporting the overall bitcoin community and overstock.  maybe you could consider doing something like that as well ?

Ah ok. And wow at 5-15 years, you really are in it for the long run haha. I have no timeframe on when to start selling or buying with my coins, but the market will dictate how quickly this comes about. In a few years' time I'd love to be able to spend them on the highstreet and book holidays with them and spend them around the world etc.

A lot of people here probably wouldn't spend their coins on purchases on Amazon and Overstock (as mentioned earlier in this thread) but just the fact that we'd be able to do business with BTC transactions is a huge plus.

And let's not forget that the average joe who'll start immersing himself in the BTC world would probably love to spend them on sites like Amazon, etc. They probably wouldn't care nearly as much as us about the value of BTC increasing in the future (making us not spend them now).

I mean, people still buy new release movies/music at full price even when they know full well that the cost will decrease after a couple of months.

When I think about the amount of time it took for credit/debit cards to catch on and be used in most places, or the amount of time it took before online shopping become a normal thing that most people do. 5-15 years seems pretty reasonable imo for a timeframe for bitcoin to start to reach it's full potential.

I have my bitcoins that i hold on to and occasionally add onto that.  and then i have bitcoins that i spend. for any bitcoins i spend its almost always done at the same time, i want to make a purchase so i buy that amount in bitcoin and then spend those bitcoins. usually takes about 30minutes or so for the whole process. i do that to try to reduce volatility.

I don't see this being used by many people, but for reasons other than hording.  Overstock would have to give some sort of incentive for people to use bitcoins, otherwise there's no reason to go through the hassle of getting them (especially when it will end up costing more with exchange fees) just to spend them at Overstock.  Additionally, cash back credit cards still give people more of a reason to use them over bitcoins. 

How long did it take for credit/debit cards to catch on? Remember, new technology moves faster and gets implemented quicker now than it did back in the day, so I think if Bitcoin will ever become mainstream it will do so well before five years. I could easily see 2-3 years.

I'm excited for this as well.

Shopped at Target yesterday, and despite their major credit card leak last month - had a great experience using the Gyft app to buy a card.  I simply selected my amount in the store, then the cashier just scanned my phone.  Boom.  No leaking CC#s or personal data.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57616201-83/target-data-stolen-in-hack-showing-up-on-black-market/

As long as 2FA is enabled, and people use common sense with their bitcoin security information - this will help steer people over to using unbreakable cryptography as a payment system.