Bitcoin Forum

Post any questions you have for http://spendbitcoins.com (http://spendbitcoins.com) here and they will be answered for everyone!

Happy spending!

EDIT: Newbies post here -- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=40809.0

Been using you for the past few days.  Very happy.

My only problem I have is, I'd love to see the actual total and not the subtotal from amazon so I can figure in shipping to my price.  Any way around this?

Don't know if this helps, but you can get an order total using a fake credit card number (as long as the first 4 digits are real?). I just tested it using 4640 9999 9999 9999 and an expiration of 1/12. Don't know what happens after you apply the gift card, though. If anyone tries it, let us know.

Happy spending!

Orders are processed at least twice a day 7 days per week. This means the maximum wait time to receive a gift code or receipt is twelve hours.

Question/request: can you display on the website the exchange rates for other currencies other than USD? Fake-ordering something just to get an email with the price is hard and a misuse of the system (and I only did it once, I promise! :) ).

You read my mind! This is exactly what I have my coders working on at the moment. No ETA on when it will be done though :(.

In the meantime, fake-order as often as you like to get a quote. That is not a misuse of the system. While we are able to look up the quotes if we are interested, it is the actual payments we look up to fulfill orders.

Looking clean, nice job.

Done! Mouseover the USD rate to get other rates.

Happy spending!

Really cool! Thank you (for the service and for the changes).

Hi Kirian!

Anywhere amazon will ship to. Happy shopping!

Cheers,
Jeremy West

Nope.

Yes. Everything is the same on Amazon for you. Just that by using my affiliate link Amazon knows I sent them the business and gives me a percentage.

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Go Daddy & Fishpond pay us affiliate commissions for sending them business, so we are able to offer them at the actual exchange rate with no fees.

The "anything" page uses an exchange rate that covers our costs plus a profit.

Yes, this is not a problem at all. Just order the amount you have in bitcoins on our site and then when you check out with the gift code you get from us, it will just ask you for a credit card to pay the balance.

I placed my first order today and it was amazingly easy.  Haven't received my gift code yet but it's only been four hours.  If everything continues this easy, and I'm sure it will, you can expect I'll use it often as I order from Amazon 3-4 times a month on the average.

Thanks...

Hi payb.tc,

Not a problem. We will set up some fields on the site for that ASAP. For now, just fit the info in the form as is and email us with any additional info we will need.

Cheers!
Jeremy

Not a problem.

Happy spending!

I've used your service four times now and it's real easy. 

I'm wondering how it's working for you? Are you having enough volume to make it worth wile. 

It'd be fun to know....

Thanks for asking. It's working quite well. The volume was quite high when I started out, but has dropped back a bit as bitcoin value has decreased. It is still enough to make it worthwhile. Here's to another meteoric rise in bitcoin value!

whered the adult section go, i cant find it anymore and you never posted an update such as "there is no more adult section" anywhere even in the "spend bitcoins on porn" post you made in the marketplace.

When we started the Sponsorship Section (http://sponsor.spendbitcoins.com) we removed sites for which we had never been paid. You can still find those sites here on the forums if you search.

It would really help to do a more detailed description of how it works and who is behind it.

I didn't find any personal or company information on this yet. Contact doesn't even tell an address! Chances are the moment I order anything expensive, the coins just vanish on me.

Very interesting though. If it turns out there's a safe way to use this: I got some coins to spend! :)

http://feedback.spendbitcoins.com

Hey Jeremy, I noticed that for a while you were using the daily low as your exchange rate.  That was a bit inconvenient and now it seems like you've changed this.  I'm even embarrassed to place an order since your rate is higher than both the Mt Gox and Tradehill bid prices.  Are you simply using the most recent trade as a reference? 

I'm just worried for you that you won't be able to sell the BTC at a high enough price to get your money back.  I would maybe suggest using the Bid down to a certain depth (as in the price you would get if you sold x number of coins right now).  EG: http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/mtgoxUSD_depth.html there's a "calculator" utility there that does just that.

I don't mean to criticize.  You're offering such a great service that I just don't want you to get burned somehow and no longer be able to provide the service in the future.

Hi there,

Thanks for the concern. I change the way the exchange rate is calculated based on supply and demand. At the moment I am selling far more bitcoins at au.spendbitcoins.com than I am taking in at spendbitcoins.com so I'm encouraging more orders by following the last trade on tradehill.

Hi there,

Sorry, we aren't able to offer a further discount for buying bulk.

A (hopefully simple) explanation: By buying in bulk at our set rate you are essentially already getting a discount because the more you buy at an exchange (which is what we do to fulfill your order) the higher the price climbs, while with us the amount you buy does not drive the price up for your order (though it might drive the price up for the next guy ;)).

Hope that makes sense.

in other words...

By buying in bulk you are essentially already getting a discount because your order won't suffer from slippage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippage_(finance)), unlike at an exchange.

There is no longer a charge for PayPal USD. When you send us bitcoins, you become our friend, and we send you a personal gift of PayPal USD, so you would receive 100 USD. :)

Only for 15 minutes. Please get a new quote before sending bitcoins if it has been more than 15 minutes since getting your quote.

if i want to buy something on ebay with paypal money,

you would send me paypal money with a 2.9% +0.30$ fee

then i would send my money to the seller, again another 2.9% +0.30$ fee?

When you send me bitcoins, you become my friend and I send you a personal gift of PayPal USD (no fee). :)

Then, on eBay, the seller generally covers the fee.

EDIT: PayPal was very selectively allowing us to send as gift, so the 2.9% + 0.30 is now being charged by PayPal for all orders. The seller still covers the fee when you send it to them.

your a good friend  :D

Who says you can't buy friendship?

Yes they have, for orders over 100 AUD. Our old rates were based on the 24h high x retail USD->AUD exchange rate + 5%, which equaled about 10% on top of the wholesale exchange rate.

Our new rate is 24h high x wholesale USD->AUD exchange rate + $10, so on orders of more than $100 it is now a lower rate... much lower the more you order!

We just thought it was unfair to make a higher profit on people buying more bitcoins when it was the exact same amount of work for us.

Happy spending!

EDIT: We have had to go back to the old system where a percentage is added on to the 24h high as our oversupply of bitcoins has ended and the $10 per order was not enough to cover our costs, let alone turning a profit for us. The percentage will be based on whether or not we are in oversupply of bitcoins.

are their no limits at all?

is their a limit to the number of transaction we can do per day?

There are no hard limits. $5000 would be a good guide. There is no limit to the number of transactions.

If you happen to make an order for more than I have on hand for the particular method you have chosen, I reserve the right to give you the option of waiting a day or two or taking a bitcoin refund. This has happened 1 or 2 times in the 8 months I've been running the service.

There's some talk over here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=56942.msg678864#msg678864) about doing some Bitcoin integration with Amazon via userscripts.  Would you be interested in providing an API to facilitate this?  Even if the purchaser has to wait on a manual fulfillment from you, it would be nice to have near-seamless integration.

As for your affiliate accounts, is there a way to link the order to you even if it is almost finished?

I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I like your spendbitcoins site; thanks for your work!

Hey there,

We're working on a browser extension that does just that, and uses a pull-down menu to go to Spend Bitcoins affiliate links for all your bitcoin spending needs.

Your script may be a big help in getting the extension done. Thanks!

We're looking for a web developer to get this going ASAP. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=57275.0

Because bitcoin transactions are non-reversible and bank transfers are reversible. Technocash was previously doing bank transfers to Mt Gox for Australians and had their accounts frozen by NAB due to fraud complaints. By only allowing cash deposits, we are protecting ourselves from having the same thing happen to us, which means we can stay in business. We realise this is a lot less convenient, but unfortunately it is necessary to keep the business running.

Okay, I want to give this a try. So ive put a cheapo phone headset thingy in my amazon.uk shopping basket.

Items:    GBP 4.99
Postage & Packing:    GBP 2.99

Do I order a gift code for 5 or 8 pound on your site? Or can I order a bigger one and spend the amount on more than one purchase at amazon?

Most people would do 8. But if you don't have enough bitcoins you can do less, if you want to save it for more than one purchase you can do more. We're working on an extension which will automate all of this. Hopefully it's out soon!

Thanks. I was unsure if you could use giftcodes to pay shipping fees or how you can use gift codes in general I suppose.

On a side note, its a bitch to find out shipping fees before selecting and confirming your paying method. IE, you cant see them until after you have entered the gift code (or selected visa/paypal..). Makes it difficult to know how big a gift certificate you have to buy on your site.

I know. You can use a fake credit card number to get past that screen, but it is definitely a pain. That's why we're working on an extension that will do that bit for you. I hope we can get it to work the way we want it to.

Well, that went fast and painless!

I think the website could use a bit of work, as it looks more complicated than it really is, but I will be using this again!

Agreed. It's all getting a major overhaul very soon which will actually make it easier than using a credit card on Amazon! :)

Also, out of curiosity, where is your profit coming from? Is it from amazon affiliate programs or something? I was (pleasantly) surprised to find your BTC exchange rate exactly matched that of Mt Gox, and there were no other fees or anything. I didnt pay a satoshi extra to use bitcoins.

Yes. Our profits come from the affiliate programs, so please make sure you start your shopping from our links at http://links.spendbitcoins.com. You can even do so when using fiat money if you want to help support us! Thanks!

Hi there,

Unfortunately, due to fraud to previous bitcoin exchangers who accepted internet deposits and had the deposits reversed after sending the irreversible bitcoin payments, we are unable to accept any form of deposit apart from cash over the counter at the branch.

We know this makes things more inconvenient and apologise for this, but hope you understand it is what we must do to manage our risk.

Happy spending!

They should be in your wallet by 10pm QLD time on the day you send a scanned or photographed copy of your deposit receipt. We have one unclaimed deposit from yesterday. If that is yours, please reply to the quote email with a scanned or photographed copy of your receipt as per the directions on the website and the quote email. If you have already done so, please forward it again, as we have not received it. Thanks!

It is encouraging to hear that you are making it easier to integrate into Amazon but I have a few questions:

1. When is the approximate timeline of this to be completed? If it is in the near future I will probably wait until it is implemented.
2. I notice that CAD is lower than USD even though the market is about the same price. CAD is currently worth less than USD in real life so would it not make more sense to sell at US price and pay a currency conversion charge (usually 2.5%)? As far as I know MTGox can do this.
3. Do you have any plans for adding newegg as a website? I will probably order from Amazon since you have the best gift card deals but usually newegg has better prices (Newegg.ca would be best for me)
4. If my order is say $250.00 and i have $215.xx in bitcoins can I put in the request for 250 and send all the bitcoins I have to make as close as possible to this amount? I say this because I will probably suppliment my order with a rebate credit card I received from OCZ and will be spending every bitcent for the card when I buy it which is very soon (Near $200 atm).
5. Would it be possible to put it a section to place orders for BTC amounts if #4 isn't possible. I know how many bitcoin I have but it might be hard to time with the market to fully complete my order in bitcoin alone.

Thank you

1. It will probably be about a month.
2. We use a US credit card and charge the exchange rate that our credit card charges us for other currencies.
3. Newegg is already listed on our page at http://links.spendbitcoins.com. You must use a PayPal account to pay for Newegg purchases as Newegg does not allow us to order Newegg gift codes from our Australian IP address.
4/5. You just put in the request for the amount of bitcoins you want to send. It is pretty easy to figure out how much your bitcoins are worth. Just multiply the number of bitcoins you have by the CAD or USD rate listed on our front page (hover over the USD rate to get the CAD rate).

Hope this answers all your questions satisfactorily.

Happy spending!

Why does the Amazon Payments option take 5-7 days? I'm beginning to believe there really is a conspiracy by the fiat currency banking cartel to limit the uptake of bitcoin related businesses.

Don't we live in the 21st century and have computers that can move quadrillions of bits of data around the globe in an instant. Annoying.

It is usually out within 12 hours, but we put 5-7 days on the website as they will sometimes delay payment 5-7 days when we have hit certain monthly limits, so we would rather impress by being 5 days early than depress by being 7 days late.



Agreed. But I guess that's why we want to replace the centralised systems with decentralised ones. Here's to the day when we can pay & be paid in bitcoin and not worry about transferring into and out of traditional currencies. :)

Yes, we support any store that accepts PayPal plus others listed at http://links.spendbitcoins.com.

"PayPal will charge you $0.30 + 2.9%"

has your paypal policy changed ? no more free personal transfers  :(

i kinda saw that coming  :P

Yeah. They keep randomly only allowing credit card (with charge) payments or echeck (takes forever) payments and then I have to get back to the customer and ask whether they want one of these two options or a bitcoin refund.

So, just to keep things consistent, I've decided to just go back to all payments being by credit card with PayPal's charge. I do apologize profusely for PayPal sucking. :)

Do you offer Amazon payments for addresses outside the US (Mexico in this case)?

I don't believe Amazon payments currently works outside the US. If it does work in Mexico, please let me know.

can you let us know a bit about the new 'tool'? eg. is it portable?
can i use your new website at a public internet cafe?

does the ordering process still require an email address?

All will become clear soon enough. :)

You did a great job with the site, I really like the new look.

that's not soon enough!

Agreed! Why does it take so much longer to program an idea than it does to come up with it?

Dear Jeremy,


What is up with the voluntary 1 btc fee for using the site vs the "free" tool? I used your service before and this wasn't a part of the original site.

Hi there,

The fee allows people to cash out who are not actually spending through our affiliate links while still resulting in a profit for us.

It is voluntary at the moment since the tool is not yet available and the whole point of Spend Bitcoins is to make a way to spend them fee free. The tool will automatically use our affiliate links whenever you choose to spend bitcoins, so there will not be a fee for using it.

Hope that clears things up.

Something seems to be up with the site, everytime i hit submit for a paypal convert, it just sends me back a page.

Thanks for alerting us. I've submitted a bug report to our web developer.

I purchased an amazon code yesterday and still have not received an update. Can you tell me what the status is?

Sure. Can you please email me the order details?

I just found spendbitcoins.com but I'm still a bit unclear about how the bitcoin to anything service works. Is the basic idea we tell you what we want to order we send you the bitcoins to make the purchase on our behalf based on current exchange rate and you order it for us?

I'm looking to buy an album but the vendor only accepts paypal as method of payment. Can I use bitcoin anything to make this purchase with bitcoins? How would the process work?

Thanks

Hi there,

You do understand the "anything" service properly, but the best way to do this with a merchant that accepts paypal is to use the "Convert bitcoins to paypal" page and just put the paypal address, order # etc in the notes field.

Happy Spending!
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy, just sent you an email.

somthing wrong with the site it seems when i submit a amazon gift card order just takes me to a cant view page.

Hi there,

This should be fixed now. If not, please let me know.

Hi Jeremy,

The convert to AUD bank account cart seems to be broken. Just getting a blank page.

Hi there,

We're working on it. :(

Send me your details manually and I'll set up an order for you.

Yea its working just placed a order.

Hi Jeremey (awesome site),

Your paypal page seems to be broken currently, I click submit and chrome tells me the page failed to load.
It was working earlier today without issue.

Will check back in a few hours (need to cash btc -> paypal to pay for my FPGA's).

Hi there,

We are having intermittent server issues that prevent calling a bitcoin addresses and give you that white screen. Please try again and if it doesn't work please send your order details to jeremyATspendbitcoins.com and I'll put through an order for you manually.

this is actually still not clear. for a 200 card, should i type 200 or should i type 205.5?

i thought the former, but the bitcoin amount charged didn't seem to include a charge for the 5.5

Whoops! My bad. I changed the description when the programmer added the ability to add a fee but didn't change it back when it turned out the fee caused errors. I'll change that back now (it's the latter).

Why is Amazon suspended?

What bad timing, I finally wanted to test this service, and just now it's offline. :(

Any chance of it coming online again in the next days? I'd need the order rather soon.

Edit: specifically amazon.de. I found another shop that's close by and has it -- but no Bitcoin spending then. :-\

About Amazon: is it just the .com one that's suspended and the .fr one still works?

I guess I should have asked that before placing my order, heh.

Hi there,

Sorry. The form actually should have been disabled, but was left working by accident. None of the Amazons are working at the moment. Please forward your order details and a bitcoin refund address to jeremyATspendbitcoins.com and I'll refund your bitcoins.

Sorry for the inconvenience!
Jeremy

Aww ok, I hope you get it fixed soon :)

Me too!

What's the ETA on the current Paypal suspension? I want to sell a few BTC and wonder whether to hold on or look for an alternative.

Hi there,

I've just got back online from a one week vacation where I had limited internet access & no phone access. Our CTO was handling orders.

I'm calling PayPal tomorrow and will hopefully have an ETA then.

Hi Jeremy,

Stick me in the same boat, you're the only person/service ive used for BTC :D So im really hopeful that the PayPal payment comes back as theres obviously more risk on the receiving end of PP to BTC, and finding someone new to trust with an irreversible transaction is tough, and i can happily say i trust SpendBitCoins (admittedly only around 10BTC at a time), so it will just be a pain in the backside checking out the rest, its time i'd rather use elsewhere.

If it cant be done, thanks for everything at least, finding your site made joining the bitcoin community easier.

Paul

Hi there,

Unfortunately we are no longer supporting PayPal (https://spendbitcoins.zendesk.com/entries/21806042-spend-bitcoins-out-of-the-us-market). Check out bitinstant. They payout via PayPal. Don't take only my word for it, but I've dealt extensively with one of the owners (Roger Ver) and have had nothing but the best experiences.

Jeremy,

You mentioned problems in the US. Is there any chance you will reenable amazon.uk vouchers? Pretty please ? :)

Hi there,

Unfortunately we do not plan to bring this service back. I believe many of our ordering issues on Amazon had to do with the sheer number of orders we did from a foreign IP. Perhaps someone in the UK should start this. Perhaps you? :)

I dont live in the UK either, and I am about the last person to start a venture like this.
But if the problem is merely one of IPs, then a VPS or UK based proxy should take care of that, no?

IPs, billing addresses, customer service nightmares, and little profit to compensate. It just didn't fit in with the direction we're headed unfortunately. Again, I hope someone else picks up the ball though because the whole reason I started Spend Bitcoins was for that service to exist, and it saddened me to let it go.

Hi!

why were the Auspost Load& Go suspended?


very bad ;(

I'm wondering the same thing. Jeremy said the money got sent back, but when I called auspost up (and paid $4 for the pleasure of talking to them!) they said there is no problem with my card. I then sent funds to it myself to test, and it worked.

What's going on Jeremy?

Hi there,

I don't know. A majority of reloads were getting returned and the refunds were becoming very labour intensive. Some people's reloads through us have never been returned while others have been. The bank doesn't provide us the reason but there are lots of little rules that trip people up such as maximum $999 on the card at any one time, maximum $5k loaded in a month, and one customer was told that his reloads were being denied because he had multiple cards linked to the same mobile # at the same time, which I haven't even seen as a rule in their literature.

At any rate it has just become too much of a hassle to continue promoting to new customers, but anyone who was already using it successfully can feel free to continue reloading, just use the AUD bank balance form on our website with your LoadNGo details. Please keep in mind that if it is returned to us, as we will have already converted your bitcoins to AUD, we'll have to convert them back to bitcoins at THE CURRENT RATE when the refund happens and pass on our bank's $2.50 return fee.

We do apologise for the inconvenience.

Happy spending,
Jeremy