Bitcoin Forum

Wired.com is reporting that Overstock.com is now accepting bitcoin: http://www.wired.com/business/2014/01/overstock-bitcoin-live/

Just went to checkout. Can confirm bitcoin is there. Fucking HELL YEAH!

https://i.imgur.com/9Awsni3.png?1

Awesome! Price will go up today.


BUY BUY BUY!!

Not sure why they only accept Bitcoin for orders shipped to USA. Isn't Bitcoin exactly the thing they need for smooth international orders with no chargebacks?

Any reason not to accept Bitcoin internationally?


Everyone knew they are going to accept it, I don't see why people should panic buy right now.

That's what I thought, I'd expect them to extend it to international soon.

9th January 2014 - Overstock saved Bitcoin. This day will go down in history.

the plan was for june , not early jan

Hey guys,

I opened an Overstock spending spree thread in Economics for posts of items bought at Overstock.

Anyone who makes any purchases at Overstock please take a moment to post a photo, info or whatever about your purchase there: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=407448.0

 :)

Is this only USA related - or do they have branches in other countries?

make sure you support them  :)

Why?
The use Bitpay... They don't handle Bitcoin themself.

Sorry, but this is not worth mentioning. Everyone can accept bitcoin processed to fiat.

Right. Because large corporations should just start immediately conducting their business in bitcoin - direct from consumer, then paying employees and other business related expenses with bitcoin. That's the only way this would be worth mentioning, right?

Good grief.

For someone who is going to be sending people to space this guy is one hell of a troll!   :D

If Overstock will report sales increase after adding bitcoin, other retailers will be more motivated to follow the trend.

I believe in bitcoin and space travel  ;D
BUT! I don't believe that we need these bitcoin fiat processors. They will replace the banks, but they do exactly the same.

With Bitpay we have even more middleman than in the fiat system.

Bank -> Exchange -> Bitcoin -> Bitpay -> Exchange -> Bank (Bitpay) -> Bank (Merchant)

We need a "troll" tag.

It's true this chain is terribly long. I think it will get shorter over time, eventually resulting in just "sender -> recipient", if we're lucky. But this will not happen tomorrow.

Hopefully more companies will also accept Bitcoin directly the way Virgin did.

Well, if both users use coinbase..

Bank -> Coinbase (user) -> Coinbase (merchant) -> Bank

if user already holds bitcoin

Bitcoin -> Coinbase -> Bank

Too bad this is basically bitcoin's last year, given all the confirmed bad news we have from sources, especially confirmed non-English sources, especially from China, but also other places.  The HODLERS will hopefully give us all time to get out above $10.

You'll have time, Proudhon... Lots and lots and lots of time! Ha ha ha!!  :D

And now explain the average joe why he should pay for clothes with bitcoin?
He could just go the "normal" way with a simple bank transfer. No risks involved.
With Coinbase he has to trust another entity. It's just more risks without ANY advantages for this specific task.

And now explain the average joe why he should pay for clothes with paypal?
He could just go the "normal" way with a simple bank transfer. No risks involved.
With paypal he has to trust another entity. It's just more risks without ANY advantages for this specific task.

And now explain the average joe why he should pay for clothes with visa?
He could just go the "normal" way with a simple bank transfer. No risks involved.
With visa he has to trust another entity. It's just more risks without ANY advantages for this specific task.

etc

Yeah, why use Paypal? That question is legit.
Visa is something different -> it's faster than bank transfer and you can buy with "credit" -> pay later

Bitcoin doesn't offer any advantage over the existing solutions (bank transfer, visa, paypal) in case of buying clothes, ...

I don't see any stores in the US where you can pay with a bank transfer (they probably don't want to wait a week for it to clear).

PayPal steals everyone's money and nobody should use them ever.

Visa sometimes declines you for no apparent reason.  I went to the Home Depot 1 mile from my house where I shop at least twice a month for over 15 years and they blocked my card saying it was a "risk".  Their answer (when I cancelled the card), "Well there's been a lot of fraud at Home Depot lately."  OK, but don't you think you should allow it at the one 1 mile from my house that I shop at every other week?!?

Is this on their homepage anywhere? Because I sure as hell couldn't find it.

Not on the homepage but at http://www.overstock.com/bitcoin

That's my point. You'd think an announcement like that would be shared with every single person visiting their site. Yet it's not.

It offers lots, but here's a big one:

Online purchases using credit cards and other existing solutions expose you to the risk of having sensitive information stolen (credit card numbers, paypal passwords, etc).

Bitcoin allows you to make a purchase without exposing yourself to this risk.

BOOM!

Oh you mean if only Target accepted BTC? Well, paying my credit card also gets me a interest free loan for a few weeks.

holy shit they sell books  !

https://i.imgur.com/TNiJkCo.jpg

now gonna buy that 5' beanbag I've been wanting for a minute

Overstock is using Coinbase which I believe only takes US customers. (anti money laundering, know your customer etc etc)

No risks involved huh?  Here is the most advanced form of risk reduction.

Cold storage -> hot wallet -> coinbase -> bank

The user doesn't have to deal with coinbase at all. The user can just send bitcoin to the bitcoin address provided through the Overstock website and that's that. Proof of payment lives forever in the blockchain.

Once they have international bitcoin sales up and running, and report those figures, I predict more merchants wanting a piece.

Wow, this in incredible news!  I am so happy right now ;D

Rumor has it Newegg might be on board as well.

On one hand:

1. I am skeptic about the business side of this - people don't generally buy stuff with bitcoins (unless they really need anonymity) - they invest in it.

2. This is only the USA - I did not even know what overstock is before these news


On the other hand:

1. This is really huge in legitimizing bitcoins as money - nothing better then showing that you can buy stuff with bitcoins from big retailers.

2. It is very concrete - everyone can go to overstock and check that this option is indeed there.

3. It is persistent - many people will not read the wired article, but they'll notice it when buying at overstock.

This news is too old

+1+1+1

Supporting the economy!!!  :)

But they did it sooner than announced first - so it is kind of new news, plus it has the persistent concrete aspect of not being just a media fact - but something that everyone can check.

Speculation-wise, Mr. Overstock-CEO-guy just saved our asses. 8)

Now I'd be very grateful if you US-based guys show them continued appreciation, so that the experiment succeeds and they eventually decide to give EU people like me a similar payment option, e.g. through Neo&Bee.

The owner of Overstock has pretty much admitted there may not be a huge amount of business from it, and he is doing it for political reasons and its future potential.

But. For those who already have BTC, buying stuff is a far easier way of cashing out than trading it for a local currency. Especially when your little stash keeps increasing in value... Why not spend a little now and then?

The likelihood of people buying BTC specifically to spend is low I think, but there exists at least two other groups: Those who bought it earlier as an investment and now want to cash some out, and those who are actively doing business in it (receiving it as payment). The latter category is growing and I think/hope has most promise for the future. (And this latter category is made of people who are earning their bread and butter money and so actually must spend their BTC)

I get the feeling he might be pleasantly surprised.

Why would early adopters with lots of bitcoins ever want to waste their bitcoins on Chinese junks being peddled on overstock.com? We know that by HODLING we can make tons of profit.

It makes sense only if the early adopter CONVERTED his bitcoin to fiat for profit-taking purpose and then bought the said junk on overstock.com using the fiat. Even then, he's getting hosed on future profitability.

The overstock CEO's a smart guy, he knows he won't get a whole lot of business from bitcoin hodlers.

This the best news I heard in while!!! Finally you can buy stuff you really want with any profits you made. No hassle, no need to go through bank, don't have to worry about identity theft. No need to worry about missing credit deadlines.

If most of the online businesses start accepting bitcoins, then there will be a strong need to have a lot of bitcoin atms that can deposit fiat into bitcoins making it easy for newcomers to start using bitcoins.

Everything good comes in steps. This is one of the first steps.

well, I both HODL and I SPENDL. I have a cold wallet that remains untouched, and a hot one that I spend from occasionally.

and most people holding will take some gains now and then. I guess it depends how long you have been holding... If you only bought recently you may not be ready to spend yet. But if you've seen 100x or greater returns (as lots have)... These people have already been HODLING for the longest time, and are now ready to enjoy a little profit now and then. (and to pass the BTC on for a next generation of brave new bitwarriors to HODL for them)

Maybe if you have plenty of fiat this makes less sense. But for some, their BTC value far exceeds their fiat.

And there are others, small businesses and freelancers, who receive it as payment and won't HODL at all and don't believe in any more meteoric rises. Probably it will be a small fraction of their overall income, so it's easier to spend then bother converting to fiat. And spending it directly can also enable tax avoidance more easily, though I would not advocate that.

They would do better if they offer discount for using bitcoin and share they profit instead of taking it all for themselves. Because it's not easy to buy bitcoin just to use it to buy something for average person.

Thats just so so so so so so so so much stupid...

"He has to trust" another entity... OMG! How many people had problems with paypasl or visa buying some stupid clothes... and now... how many people had real problem just obtaining bitcoin...? The pros are heavily on the side of paypal and mastercard here...

The more i am here on this forum, the more i think a lot of bitcoin people are just out-of-reality :-(.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/01/09/overstock-bitcoin/

CEO says:

“Our first purchase with Bitcoin was a $2700 patio set,” says Byrne from Salt Lake City, where the company is based. In the first 90 minutes of Bitcoin sales, the site had received about 150 orders. Byrne says the company’s rough estimate is that 1% of its sales in 2014, or approximately $13 million, will come in the form of Bitcoin. “It’s a wild guess,” he says.

Let's show Byrne how to choo choo, mfs!!!  ;D

I have to agree with you. Most bitcoin users here are out-of-reality. They live in their world.  ;D
They should leave their basement more often and talk to people outside of the tech world.

The simple question is:
Why use bitcoin at the moment as payment method?
Can someone please list a few real pros compared to paypal, master/visa or bank transfer?


Bitcoin as store of wealth or speculation asset is something completly different.

I have not been following the latest US tax advice in relation to Bitcoin, but I would suspect that a single large retailer like this would yield some valuable data for the IRS in relation to who has large amounts of bitcoin and what capital gains they are or are not paying.  I would be thinking about auditing patio chair guy if I was them.

The simple answer is to encourage the use of Bitcoin as a payment method going forward.

Sure, PayPal, Mastercard and VISA are easy to use and great for maintaining the status quo, but there are real long term gains to be made - for both merchants and consumers - if Bitcoin adoption succeeds.

This news would be great if Overstock actually had anything close to the inventory that Amazon has. I went through my past 20 or 30 amazon orders (variety of totally random things), and Overstock only had one thing in stock. And it was priced 25% higher than Amazon. I'll definitely check Overstock whenever I'm ordering something online, I just don't think they'll have something I want to buy very often and at a competitive price. :/

+1