Bitcoin Forum

Hello,

i am currently trying to see if there are people interested in a service where you can send an SMS with a token,
to send bitcoins to a bitcoin address.

 :) Pro: This way even people with only a cellphone, can send bitcoins without bitcoin client or bitcoin wallet.
 :( Con: Half of the end customer SMS fee goes to the telecom operator.

Current beta setup only works for Belgium and The Netherlands.
Planning on adding UK, Australia and Ireland soon.

http://smsbitcoins.com (http://smsbitcoins.com)

Enjoy.

purplezky

Why use ‘GET’ as a keyword for sending bitcoins?  Why not ‘SEND’ — or even ‘PUT’?

Cheers,

Because GET is a free keyword and using the SEND keyword requires a monthly investment per shortcode.
I plan to add this service with as low profit margin as possible, just to get some experience with setting up a bitcoin service,
making bitcoin available to as much people as possible results in a flow of new bitcoin users.
Each intake of new bitcoin users seems to increase mtgox prices, thus increasing the value of our bitcoins.  ;D
Afterwards when i implement an exchange or other services, there might be enough income to buy into specific keywords.

purplezky

What about PAY?

PAY is also an expensive keyword,
i just added DONATE as an alternative option...

purplezky

I'm looking for third party payment processors that will take in payments and send me cash by mail. If you're interested send me a PM. Thanks!

ZayPay offers SMS and phonecall payments in 44 countries. They have an easy-to-use API. You could make a bitcoin selling service with a simple interface:

1. Choose your country (to show the available payment amounts and options)
2. Choose amount
3. Enter your Bitcoin address
4. Click the payment button provided by ZayPay.

This service would be a very easy and instant way to purchase small amounts of coins. It would probably be hugely popular. Feel free to implement :)

cool thanks,

Zaypay have better payouts and a huge coverage,
definitely going to implement this.  ;D

purplezky

I have thought about setting up a service like that and am still toying with the idea. I would, however, like to know more about what happens in case of fraud and Zaypay doesn't say much about that on their website. I haven't mailed them yet. Looking at the numerous attempts of fraud that Coinpal has to deal with, I wouldn't want to be left sitting on phone bills that won't actually be paid.

I also looked at Zong (www.zong.com) which provides similar services and from what I remember reading on their website would guarantee a payment to you once it passed their fraud control. That would be a hassle free way of doing things and simply letting Zong worry about fraud attempts. Unfortunately they didn't want anything to do with Bitcoin. A salesperson at Zong told me that their carriers won't allow anything where you can "cash out" later. So selling virtual currencies is fine, but only if the only thing you can do with them is spend them on some stuff (like virtual game addons or whatever). If there is an option to change them back to "real" currencies, then that would be against their agreement with the carriers. Since then I haven't looked further into the whole "buy Bitcoins with your phone" idea.

Since Zong claimed, that it's the carriers who wouldn't allow this type of stuff on their network, other providers like Zaypay should theoretically have the same problem. But maybe they have different agreements or simply don't care as much.