Bitcoin Forum

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

I have used this, it is very very very easy to set up.

If you have a store or know someone who does, send them to http://www.bit-pay.com to sign up for a merchant account.

This is about to take off like a wildfire.

Neat idea, but I don't see it going anywhere until it's integrated with their cash registers.

It is easier than the cash register.

My wife has it set up in her store. She uses the cash register to get the price (actually she usually just uses a calculator because the cash register is too complicated for her), then puts the total into her phone app.

And that is it. The buyer pays and she gets the Bitcoins (or gets paid in dollars if she wants).

Even as a controlled demonstration, it took about 1 minute to handle the payment. There is room for improvement me thinks.

yeah one area would be an automated link between the merchant's existing price system, so that they don't have to manually type all that info in just to create the bill.

Indeed. For a funny comparison, this POS transaction took 30 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AT4ENn7Frw&feature=related

i wonder if i'm the only one that keeps reading 'POS' as 'piece of shit'.

Point Of Sale.

yes, thank you. still doesn't help the subconscious verbalizing it differently every time i see it :D

Bar Rescue has "Point of Sale" stuck in my head. Pre-watching that show, I may have read it out as "piece of shit" though. Lol  :D

That video is longer than it should be, which may leave the wrong impression. The bar girl doesn't need to touch the server selection and the other one didn't have to leave a tip.

In full, it took them 50 seconds with talking through the procedure and adding a tip.

Compare this to a credit card transaction.

Especially one that requires you give the server your card, they go back (having full access to make a copy) and run it, then come back with your receipt which you then add the tip and sign the receipt, then give it back to them so that they can go back and enter in the tip. Or heaven forbid it is one of those credit card machines that has to dial in.

I could see it being something worthwhile if it was easily attached to their existing registers. In small stores/bars/restaurants where you only have 2-3 employees max, I could see it being great. However in anything larger, it's quite a bit of overhead.

Are the employee's supposed to have their own smart phones? Alot of employees at places like restaurants, may not want to spend money on a smartphone because they make just over minimum wage. Most smartphones are going to be almost a full 2week paycheck. Alot of them have them, sure, but you're talking about a requirement now and that makes things different.

Is the business supposed to supply them? The store has to put up a huge investment in something that's not even stable yet when they already have a proven register system that works well and is widely used.

Once again, with alot of these new things with bitcoins:
Is it cool? Yes, absolutely.
Do I wish it would take off? Of course.
Is it going to happen, with the present implementation? Not a chance.

Now, one of the steps for bitcoin to succeed, is to be widely used and widely known. To be widely known, people have to know about it. If the small businesses out there, who are Bitcoin enthusiasts, start picking up these systems, then it could potentially lead to the spread of Bitcoin. If you're a small business and own a smartphone, then there is really no reason not to.

Excuse me where can i find the phone software not the merchant one the customer one.

I tried signing up for testing but it seems to be available to merchants in the USA only :(

Here: https://market.android.com/details?id=de.schildbach.wallet&hl=en
Or here: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.mtgoxlive.trader

Thank you how did you know i use Android? ;)

I didn't, but Apple forbids bitcoin wallet apps so there wasn't much choice left :P