Bitcoin Forum

ok guys enough sitting on sofa's complaining of 51%ing

who seriously wants shops/businesses in their town to accept bitcoin and they want a job at the same time?

so here is the plan.
stage 1 if you are seriously interested, you know about bitcoin enough to know how to use bitpay, your good at sales pitches and you have lots of shops, stores, businesses and services near you that you simply wish would take bitcoin. keep reading.

what will happen is an IRC chat will be set up where those truly interested can come to talk and thrash out idea's.. but before that, here is the main idea.

2) we all collectively seek out tigerdirect/overstock and find the cheapest workable tablet PC that will run the bitpay app and maybe a exchange service. we then contact the supplier to see if they do any bulk discount.

3) next is to look at your area and see what is the average fair 'consultation fee' is.

4) then start going around to all of those businesses and tell them that for (consultation fee+tablet price) you can set them up with a working tablet PC that has been set up with bitpay for that business to start accepting bitcoin and includes X hours of consultation/training.

5) setup a meeting for the following week where you take the fee, buy the discounted tablet (week delay in meeting to get tablet prepped) and then set them up

there are no contracted employment, no boss, no upfront costs. no multi level bullshit. just direct marketing. simply put the merchant prepays your labour and the tablet costs.

its the simplest business model that the title describes.

i am not the boss of this, this is all for you lot to organise,

now, discuss

Than it's not a job, it's an entrepreneurial venture. You actually had me excited for a minute there, I could use a job to pass the time. Would help with my depression I'm sure.

i think its worth noting:
a job.. in reality, involves getting off the sofa and doing work to earn your income. .. just thought you should know that

but anyone that truly wants a job can do it, it does not have to be controlled by a central entity. but thats where my idea tails off. if you like the idea but prefer a contracted employee.. stick around, if others want it, you can all form your own business if you want.

i can offer my guideance and idea's and experiences of doing it myself (as i have done already), but i prefer to leave my idea's open for anyone else to grab and turn them into anything they please. whether self employed or forming your company to then have the comfort of red tape and other government hindrances.

so lets get to the crux of it.
how many coffee shops, restaurants, fastfood places, taxi firms, hotels, motels, grocery stores and other places you feel will benefit from bitcoins in YOUR town

I've actively been encouraging my fellow entrepreneurs in my area to adopt bitcoin. Many have and I believe the trend will continue.

If we arrange a meetup in an Indian city or a Bitcoin seminar in an Indian college, do u think tigerdirect/overstock/bitpay would be interested to sponsor that ?

before even thinking about grabbing free money just for you lot to sit on your ass talking which is a task that does nothing for the community, try talking for free and generate money from consulting with merchants and expanding bitcoin

i am sure businesses may sponsor actual expansion tasks.. but not just talking in a room over a beer.. the intent is to be talking to non bitcoin businesses. not to talk behind closed doors with each other.

but its all upto you

if you can get non bitcoin businesses to want to turn up to a meet up. go ahead

Well, that would be cool if you're a pretty good salesman and especially if you already kinda have a reputation for being a pretty good freelance IT person. Since you're working anyway, you might as well do some presentations and especially a demo on how easy accepting Bitcoin can be.

can you think of a few businesses in your town that can benefit from bitcoin?
do you know how to set up bitpay app/API?
to you know how to talk about bitcoin to a merchant?

do you think you can tell your local restaurant that for only $xxx (lets say $150) they can have their establishment set up for bitcoin, have full training and consultation, and a tablet PC to use for their customers payments?

remember guys YOU are the bitcoin community. if YOU want bitcoins expanded in YOUR town.. guess who should be inspired to do it.. YOU

Ive thought many times about doing this very thing. I just wish I was a salesman. I couldnt sell ice to a guy in hell. :(

I really like your idea and actually discussed this same thing with a friend last year. Why didn't we start? Well who knows, I've got lots of excuses lol.

I don't know how to setup the bitpay app, but I can definitely learn!

Do I know how to talk to a merchant? Maybe, but I could always learn MORE!

I don't think you necessarily have to be a sales person or have much experience even. If you are passionate about something (BTC in this case) and you enjoy talking about how great you think it is, then I think you can start there and just improve along the way. :)

This is a great way to become an expert, improve your people skills, learn about managing a business and do what you love!

I am going to really consider getting started on this, since I am kind of looking for something to do right now (along with trading shit-coins) :)

maybe you can stick around ('watch' this topic) as others who hav some true desire to get shops near their home to accept bitcoin can hlp you come up with some easy to use tips. even a few of you may wish to develop a leaflet that explains bitcoin. or even one of you be an all access skype/email consultant that businesses can go to where if it leads to a sale, that remote consultant gets a slice of your labour fee as a thanks.

take it any direction you please.

AmDD:
how many shops in your town do you personally have that you think will benefit from adopting bitcoin.
how many of those have you even asked if they accept bitcoin.
do you know enough about bitcoin to explain it man to man (dont think of it as a sales pitch)
do you know how bitpay works?

Anyone used Bitpay as a merchant? I am guessing a very basic android tablet would be fine, no?

For example here is a Lenovo for $99 currently with $20 rebate http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8563442&CatId=6845 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8563442&CatId=6845)

Or a nice new HP for $125 http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/HP-7-Plus-1301-8-GB-Tablet-7-In-plane-Switching-IPS-Technology/9040049/product.html?refccid=RIWF26JUQYGKT4SCA6TU6EPMZY&searchidx=0 (http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/HP-7-Plus-1301-8-GB-Tablet-7-In-plane-Switching-IPS-Technology/9040049/product.html?refccid=RIWF26JUQYGKT4SCA6TU6EPMZY&searchidx=0)

I'd probably stick with a brand name.

looking for the best tablet has to be functional

really good wifi/browser speeds and good touch/gesture sensitivity.. but ofcourse the more you go up the price the more it would eat into a 'reasonable' fee to charge the merchants, meaning less labour charge for you.

so keep searching.

their may come a point where there is enough interested people with x amount of semi interested merchants to get tiger/overstock to do some discount. maybe even get jgarzik (who works for bitpay) to program some ISO's with training video's and the bitpay app, to help make the consultation /training with merchant as easy as pie.

BitPay? They may or may not go for the pricing depending on whether it's cheaper than just them using credit cards. Is there some other way to do this that won't involve a monthly fee?

Oh damn really?! I had no idea, that sounds awful! Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely avoid jobs in that case!

Your title is still wrong by the way, this pursuit of yours still does not qualify as a job. Words have meanings, we ought to respect them else language becomes useless.

Now if you want to front me some money and offer a weekly or bi-weekly wage for doing this work, I would be interested and you could actually call it a job without misrepresenting yourself.

This is an awesome idea. Our farmers market is finally opening this week. Might be a good time to mention bit coin to some merchants I have befriended. 

thats called contracted employment. (like woring in mcdonalds or walmart)

a job is not limited to that.. self employed people have jobs, entrepreuners have jobs, zero-hour contractors hav jobs.. but each are not contracted employee's


secondly fronting you money!!! again you dont get what a job is..
try working in mcdonalds and ask for your wage upfront
try some freelance gardening, wash someone car and ask for money upfront.

seriously..
why do people think they can get money for nothing these days!!!

Err, no thanks! Wage slavery is not my style anymore, did that for about a decade and got bored.

Hmm perhaps because our government oligarchs do it daily with no repercussions? We slaves just want in on the action...

http://dissociatedpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/bernanke-it-prints-money-375.gif

Have you seen how much the US pays out in earned income credit each year? Money for nothing is an institution in the US now.

i too hate that about bitpay. they with one hand try to say they search round for the best possible exchanges for the lowest price(so they say), and then with the other hand charge merchants a premium.

id far prefer bitpay to just use average price (knowing they can skim a little off the top for their own costs) and make it so that when merchants want $10, the btc price shows an amount that will ensure the merchant gets the whole $10, and not $9.90.

after all thats how circle intends to do things. they dont get fee's from the merchant, they profit on the price differences of the average, vs the lowest priced exchange they have access to. customers/merchants just wont see that part

EG
Bitcoin average $595

BTC-E $588
Rock Trading 599.80 USD
Vircurex 625.00 USD
Crypto-Trade 611.82 USD
Vault of Satoshi    605.00 USD

say they used the average and a merchant had a customers basket total of $595 (coincidence for no-math-required-example)
bitpay shows 1BTC price.. customer is happy as thats the average.

then bitpay behind the scenes sold the BTC on vircurex and got $625 (5% profit) and ensured the merchant got all $595 in their bank.

Money has been nothing for many years just paper with a King or queen on it and most banks are running out of it quicker than they can print it. Come 10 years money will be worthless and cryptos will create the way of taking place of normal fiat. And banks are already considering to stop printing money and just have accounts with Finger print access and token access and use to pay for stuff and one corporate company already coming up with the equipment to make this happen and have shops with no money in only other than machines that use finger print and other tec in a way like the contract-less debit cards

another option, is to be the payment processor for your town.

if you have access to some nice prices. you put on your own payment tool onto the tablet that when a merchant shows a FIAT total, your reply to the App is a btc price (you calculated in a profit margin) and customers deposit their bitcoins.
you sell the bitcoin you then pay the merchant the exact FIAT they requested (you keeping the profit margin)

Threw the question out there: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=658623.0 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=658623.0)

According to these guys the Nexus 7 is the best budget: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/tablets/3412038/10-best-budget-tablets-2014/ (http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/test-centre/tablets/3412038/10-best-budget-tablets-2014/)

Reasonable price at Tigerdirect $179.99 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9083380&CatId=6957 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=9083380&CatId=6957)

4/5 review at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Google-7-Inch-Black-Tablet/dp/B00DVFLJKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403222498&sr=8-1&keywords=nexus+7 (http://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Google-7-Inch-Black-Tablet/dp/B00DVFLJKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403222498&sr=8-1&keywords=nexus+7)

Had a simliar idea except that instead of selling them a tablet, you let them use their own machine.
You act as a bitcoin consultant , get them setup and maybe submit their name to the local press,etc.
Maybe a website listing, but you can package it as "pr" + consulting and get paid to just introduce btc.

I have too many other projects going on but would be good opportunity for someone.

Ahh, fingerprint-verified wealth-based valuation of human beings, the true pathway to corporate neo-fascism. A world where your worth is determined entirely by your corporate owner. Combine with RFID implants at birth so they can track your location globally, finally they'll get slavery back.

in my original brainfart i was thinking just a basic unbranded $50 tablet with $50(few hours)-$100(day) consultation/training fee, but i left it open for anyoneto use their own towns economic status to decide the costs.

EG beverly hills, nexus 7/ipad + $500 consultation
standard mundane boring town.. my price example :D
 

most grocery stores dont have an inhouse (store use) tablet. and some of the objections i had was "so we have to buy our own phone/tablet"

hense my brainfart included a tablet as a "essential-gimmick"

but each to their own, you can start with the setup package of a basic tablet+halfday consult. then offer downgrade if tablet not required or upgrade for extra training/support/better brand tablet..

and ofcourse each package has free PR coverage from local news (if media find it interesting/newsworthy)

franky1, Thanks for the effort, and accuracy matters:
+ a job
Calling "+ extra income" or several other options would be much more accurate than "a job".

saying extra income to me is like saying here have free money, stay sat on your ass.  ;D

but when people have to actually walk to businesses and actually do some work.. i call that a job

job=work..

whether it is freelance, employed, contracted or not. its still a job..
i did not say i wanted to EMPLOYE anyone (me manager, you slave by contract)

for instance, a handy man that works for himself, recently done a job at my neighbours house to fix up her garden
for instance, i asked the handy man what else he does, he said "well i do an odd job here, an odd job there, i keep busy"

a job is a task that generally receives an agreed payment.

contracted employment. can be a job, but a job is not limited to contracted employment

just for laughs and giggles:
but if you really want a contract job with targets and set income.. here:
contract: if you sell a setup package and consult with a merchant to completion, your set wage is the consultation fee. there is no minimum target, you are free to do as much as you like or as little. but by doing nothing you get no wage. making the contract null and void. now id like your left hand to sign one line as being your manager, and your right hand to sign the other line as the employee. and ill leave your left hand to tell your right hand what it should do next

Interesting.

you want over-generalize the word "job" here... but when it comes
to other things like "goxing" you want to over-specify
and say it only applies to the actual Mt gox.

I guess that's what happens when you have too many Bitcoins...
you get bored and start becoming the language police  :P

nah its just when people start getting to working age they start to know that a job is not limited to employee contracts.

EG DPR: "i have a little job for you" .. Hitman: "who, when and how do you want it done"

as for goxxing..
a goxxing is not a zhuo tong, nor is it a pirate theft.. if i went around the community and asked who got goxxed, everyone will instantly refer to the mtgox debacle.. trying to generalise something specific, and trying to specify something generalised is not my problem.. its common sense, and a problem for others if they cant deal with common sense

So anyway, back on topic....


There are quite a few here that could benefit from Bitcoin. There is one restaurant who recently started accepting Dogecoin, actually.
I have personally asked very few if they accept it.
Yes, I understand it enough to explain it to someone else.
I know the principle but Ive never been on the merchant side of it to know all the details.

Im a pretty quiet and shy person which makes selling anything tough. I did email one of the local shops yesterday, explaining Bitcoin and why they should adopt it. The reply was better than I expected but nothing for sure yet. They are interested in learning about it so thats   a plus. I also foundout a friends uncle owns a bar and grill in town. Im going to see if I can have my buddy talk to him about Bitcoin.


A thought I had about the tablet thing, you can find used smart phones for pretty cheap here. The screen isnt as big but it could work just the same. They could either get a data plan for it or just setup wifi in the shop and not have a monthly fee. Something like a GS3 is probably $30 used...

thats all good.

my inspiration was funnily enough reading and rebuttling some weed smokers utopian dream of asking for $4.5 billion from th community to build his bitcoin town... yea over half the current market cap.. for one town.

and i calculated that if it cost $200 per business to set them up. it only cost $100k to set up 500 businesses, making several towns bitcoin friendly for a decimal amount 0.0025% of what that crazy guy was dreaming of

in some cases if you organise a training day/setup/consult with a business they usually can pre-pay and then that gives you the funds to get the tablet. you can even make it so that the merchant buys $50-$100 of bitcoins and uses them to order the tablet themselves thus introducing them to bitcoins. then you just turn up a few days later to do the setup / training. and get the labour fee..

it all depends on how your area deals with consultations, some countries naturally pre-pay. some post-pay.

This would help.  I would think that Coinbase, Bitpay, and a few others are already out there doing this...  As much as most people like to hate on the Bitcoin Foundation, I feel like they should be approaching the larger companies in the world to encourage them to adopt BTC

Excellent.

Nothing like good old fashioned Capitalism to move things forward. :-)

good stuff this is what i want the community to be doing, getting involved and doing stuff

Any success? So far I've contacted a few local businesses and 2 are looking into Bitcoin. Nothing set in stone yet but the ball is starting to roll (ever so slightly :))

EXECELLENT!

I have a big announcement coming soon about organizational efforts.

im having success, but then always have as i have had 2 years to develop objection handling of bitcoin.
if any questions such as objections that merchants commonly come back with dont be afraid to shout them out if you cant think of what to say, as i or we (the community) can help.

main objections
drugs propaganda -
Q "isnt bitcoin that drug money for the intrnet"
A "isnt dollars that drug money for street corners of detroit, but seriously bitcoins can b used for anything, yes there WAS silkroad, one website. but there are over 100,000 legitimate businesses accepting bitcoin direcly or indirectly. IRS has officially announced it as a legal asset for trading, barter. bloomberg are advertising it, etc"
Q "it isnt tangible/intrinsic"
A "those are two words of the commodities market, not the asset market. where things like copyright, intellectual property, art, music are not physical, but all have a asset value."
Q "bet its hard to set up."
A "nope, you can start with just displaying a basic QR code, and then convert the funds to money in your bank account later. or you can sign up to bitpay to do it automatically, to save any price changes that happen during the day. or lastly i can give you a QR code, and you can just use either my website or phone me for a price total and ill pay you cash in hand at the agreed amount.. want me to set it up here and now, it wont take long and wont cost you anything extra"

That's the only major problem for me with Bitcoin. Nothing locally which is a bit of a pain. most things I'm interested in purchasing is across seas which means I get hit by import charges. I really do wish there was more Bitcoin services near me.

think grocery stores, bars, restaurants, etc.. every day essentials. because when your living a bitcoin life you dont want to have to change it back to FIAt just to pay the bills and buy food

Would Mycelium (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mycelium.wallet&hl=en) work? Requires an Android tablet but need not be real expensive if all you're doing is running one single app on it.

Huh, this is a good idea.  I'm tempted to try this with my local computer store.

do you have a 'mom and pop' (independent) grocery store? try them too.

also ask the computer store if their supplier was something like overstock, tiger direct, aria.. and mention they accept bitcoin so resupplying stock is easy, without needing to convert to FIAT. most small independants dont have the confidence and prowess to get great deals direct from the manufacturer's in china etc. especially on small restock orders, the delivery is a killer. so they usually get stock from within country, via resellers/drop shippers/ online merchants.

guys check out www.bitcoinadoption.org

im trying to organize incentives for this kind of thing.

Most of the local grocery stores are major chains, but there is one independent grocery store.  Run by a chinese couple, I think.  I almost never shop there though, and I suspect I'd get blank stares if I mentioned bitcoin.

Too bad I live in a Major city in my state, but it's either 'dollars or scam'. Sigh. Going to be hard saying otherwise, however, I shall try.

i got merchandice to sell but i want to get paid with bitcoin

Actually think the OP is a great idea.  There are several businesses in my area that I believe I could get to accept bitcoin.  Have even mentioned it to a couple of them but hadn't gotten around to doing any technical groundwork.  I was considering Coinbase for the brick-and-mortar's around town but I suppose BitPay would work just as well.  Or perhaps give the client the option of which gateway they would prefer (I'm sure most probably won't even have a preference).  'coinwhat' and 'bitwho'. 

Anyway, I'm thinking if something like this where to really get off the ground it should probably also have some sort of 'hot lead' site that is google-maps friendly perhaps with some sort of 'tagging' mechanism so individuals that have already landed mom-and-pops within a particular geography can take credit for such (if they choose).  I wonder if one of the major manufacturers accepting bitcoin currently (ie tigerdirect, newegg, or overstock) would offer some sort of bulk-purchase discount for a few hundred tablets?  I'm guessing CEO of overstock could probably easily be convinced ;)

If something like this could be arranged I would certainly be on board for at least a couple to start and hopefully dozens more soon afterward.

Interesting however this would only benefit people with a lot of BTC already (if we work on the fact that BTC will increase in value if more shops accept it).
This is not beneficial to the people trying to sell the idea of BTC to shops as there is nothing to say someone else can't do the same thing.

Maybe coinmap.org or https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Real_world_shops would help?

1, guess you missed all the hype about bitcoin over the winter period :D :D
2, great an independant that can make decisions
3, their chinese so they probably send money to china to relatives..

3 reasons why you SHOULD atleast ask them. dont be shy, they are only human. imagine them naked.... if that helps at all :D

Most people around here that have business are of certain age (40+) these guys have a hard time understanding what the fuck im talking about when I try to get em on Bitcoin. On my dorm tho we are like 50 students on the building and i've gotten a lot into bitcoin, this forum and some of them even are trying to buy some machines to mine, even tho I told them it's pretty pointless at this point. It's really hard for most people tho, to grasp the concept of Bitcoin unless they are somewhat familiar with technology. For some reasons they just cant get it, and think they'd rather stick to fiat.

i bet you say this to merchants
"bitcoin is a peer-to-peer cryptographically secured and decentralised ledger"

instead of saying
"bitcoin is not secured by one company, but by anyone and everyone. even hackers cant break it because its everywhere, making it more secure money than banking".

i bet you even spend more time talking about mining, and not the purchase/sell aspects of bitcoin

I love this idea with the tablet and such.  I would be interested in being a local payment processor instead of relying on bitpay, however, I'm not a developer.  I'm in IT and I can get something very clunky and ugly working full of bugs and exploits.  Do you guys think getacoder.com would be a good route or am I begging for back doors?

Also, whether I'm the payment processor or bitpay is, are there any additional bookkeeping responsibilities that the merchants have as far as IRS compliance?  Does bitpay provide enough historical transaction info?

hide the commission. if the merchant has a sale total of $100 then he should get $100, put the commission as the bitcoin rate after all there is a big difference between bitstamp and lets say btc-e's bitcoin prices so bitcoiners know that the bitcoin price is variable. as long as the merchant gets what he would have if he just asked for cash.

also if you dont offer upfront fee's or get him to buy a tablet, to then take the costs out in this hidden commission. your 1% turns into alot less,
so lets say bitcoin average is $650 and the transaction is $65, show a price of 0.101 (0.001 is the commission paid by the cstomer) meaning you can cash out $65 to give to merchant, you dont want then to have to se the 0.001 commissions for stock as you will b waiting along time before ROI to get another tablet for next merchant.

imagine it average merchant sale is $65= 0.001 commission.. the merchant has to do atleast 80 transactions like that just to cover the costs of cheapest tablet PC you can find(~$50). so the effort of you handing him his FIAT (costing you time) wont make you profit until atleast the 80th transaction.

now ask yourself, how many people in your town know of bitcoin, use bitcoin to go to that merchants shop.. is it maybe 1 person a day, a week. now calculate how long you will be waiting while just to break even. and then due to him not owning the tablet as its part of some commissions contract, you either have to insure it for damage or expect the possibility of having to be around for the repairs/replacements of that tablet.

so its better to simply get him to get his own tablet, or pre purchase one rather then it being paid off slowly..

This is a really cool idea, I'm no salesman or I would jump on something like this. I think there are many Bitcoin related services that haven't gone mainstream yet.
It will be cool to see how things turn out. It does look promising tho.

jeff garzik (one of the bitcoin-core devs) works for bitpay. if your looking for a software solution, seek him out.

as for the tablet. it doesnt have to be a big deal. if the merchant already has a smart phone then he can just book mark a website that API calls bitpay. or buy a cheapy $50 item himself. i even have merchants that just show a single QR code that is laminated to customers.. so the upfront costs are not as critical as you may think.. but trying to add product costs into the small commissions is not really good for your profit line nor the amount of work you are technically doing before it ROI's.

I know the OP is about keeping it simple, but is it possible that we could do a small crowd source thing to develop a solution to bypass bitpay?  It would be our responsibilty to find out about fincen rules and state laws, but some software solution that allows us to plug in account credentials for exchanges and merchant bank accounts?  Eventually making it a free solution?  Feel free to tell me I'm dreaming.

agreed owning the exchange rate of your town is a solution, but when you start getting to country size level and lots of money transfers, you better have the paperwork ready. but there is nothing stopping you, your not dreaming.

The problem I have is in my area, all the independent bookstores, coffee shops, pet stores, etc. are vanishing to corporate mega-stores with managers who can't make this kind of decision.

And I don't like bitpay. Maybe they fixed some issues since I last looked, but 15 minutes to pay? And if you miss the window, you have to ask for a refund? And QR codes without showing the address in text?

I don't like bitpay, I don't think it is the right solution. It is a solution but I don't think the right one.

I also don't trust the android client enough to use it, not after they trusted the flawed Android random number generator. So paying local vendors with bitcoin isn't something I can recommend until the bitcoin foundation (or someone) pays for a serious third party audit of the android wallet(s).

1) yes that is a problem, walmart at the moment with all the conversations i have had, are very tight lipped and not rally showing that loving feeling.. if any feeling at all.. but if we can get the independents in first, even if thy are few and far between, then that is then ammo to use on their corporate competitors.

2a) the only way to avoid the 15minute burden but still have atleast confirmed coins. is a pre payment wallet. if any of you have used mtgox or btc-e, where they have 'btc-e codes' and 'mtgox codes' you would understand this. basically people put in their $50 of bitcoins at the start of the week into the service, this gets confirmed, then when customers 'spend' bitcoins the system just moves funds from customers account to the merchants account using codes.. (kind of paypal-esq idea)(research offchain transaction)

2b) well you are the bitcoin representatives, if you want to start your own exchange, or tally the prices to localbitcoins, coinbase or anything else, take it on.. its all your project, your own service and its all your own profit to play with.

3) the QR codes would be generated on webservers so the flaw of android wont be usd.. all the android would be ultimately used just for merchants to send a dollar amount to the web service, and then display the QR code.. the android wont do any calculations or anything, its just a display terminal in essence.

Well I assume if I am paying at a local vendor I am paying from an Android wallet, I don't lug my laptop around everywhere.

I have the android app installed but I won't fund or use it until it has had a quality code review, and I don't think anyone should.

Using bitcoins for local purchases is not an option until we have a mobile wallet with a proper quality code audit.

EDIT

I know this is bitcoin forum, but maybe with 10 minute confirm times, bitcoin isn't the best for local purchases.

This is a very interesting idea. Being an entrepreneur I will be doing some brainstorming with this. There are not many ppl that even know what bitcoin is in my little town, but many could benefit from it, especially business owners who are tired of sending a % of their earnings to visa everytime someone swipes a card.

as a customer the wallet can be HTML5 based(website based suitable for any smartphone)

but the android tablet part most of us are talking about is a simple display terminal for merchant to show customer a QR code that is generated by bitpay/coinbase/wherever

Yes, but they are worried that the taking bitcoins will cost them more if the value against USD drops before exchange.
So that's why they want to work with instant transfer to USD which I think bitpay offers, but that only results in an illusion of using BTC - it's still fiat based (and bitpay isn't free to them either)

So to buy I have to keep my funds in a web wallet where it's really someone else who owns the coins and all I have is an IOU?
No, too many people have been burned.

Too many web wallets keep private keys on publicly accessible servers and there is no way for me to know until they say "sorry, all your coins are gone"

p only ever recommend people putting pocket money amounts into webwallets for temporary measure.. like the example given here, but i understand your point about theft risks. thats why i thought for the local stores that a person of that town manages, it would be easy for merchants and customers to slap them with a wet fish if they did steal it... by living in the same town..

but that was just one option, i did mention others

Small businesses stand to profit the most from accepting bitcoin as they have the least negotiating power with credit card processors and as a result tend to pay the most to have credit card payments processed.