Bitcoin Forum

I ask at every single store I visit - most people haven't a clue what I'm on about when I ask. Hopefully that encourages them to research later.

Of the people that knew of it - some said it's too low volume (1 in every 500 customers or smth asking to pay with crypto) and others say they would rather refer them to an ATM (or install one depending on how big demand is) and have them come back with cash.

Well that's not something enormous. WE know that but THEY may not, that cryptocurrencies are everywhere. It is just a matter of time until shops will accept BTC payment. There are some, but still just a few.

In my experience in our country none of them are accepting crypto as payment unless they are already into crypto community and know how to use it. One thing for sure is there will be time that banks will make a crypto atm and use it as debit/credit card to use in shop.

a few tips
dont just ask the cashier. try to find the superviser or the manager.
most cashiers just answer questions but dont feedback it up to their boss.

if there is a local bitcoin meetup. get together and ask which stores most people populate to and formalise a 'adoption campaign' for the most usd stores by bitcoinrs.


adoption campaign
the most successful tactic. find a local bitcoiner who likes to buy coins regularly. club together to have a upfront 'bar tab' of fiat and ask the bitcoin buyer to make a QR code for his address.
approach the store and ask them if they would trial something risk free.
tell them they will have $$ upfront (like a prepayment) to cover anyone asking to pay by btc.
then teach the store staff all they have to do is use a price calculator app and show the QR code. once a explorer app shows transaction received treat the purchase as a normal cash purchase and take the money out of the 'tab'
that way the store gets paid cash at no risk and the bitcoin buyer get the coin

if it gets used alot and the store needs regular 'tab' refills then it can become more official by making it a contracted service between the bitcoin buyer and the store. or signing th store upto a payment gateway

I once had a discussion with a pizza place employee about them accepting bitcoin--but it wasn't just out of the blue, it was because they had the BTC symbol on their menu.  So when I saw that, I was shocked and asked the guy if they really accepted bitcoin, and he basically said no they didn't.  The pizza place owner had wanted to but never set up a payment processor or something like that. 

However, I ended up talking to two guys who worked there, and they were both familiar with bitcoin and one of them even asked me if I was into altcoins and which ones were my favorites.  This must have been less than a year ago, and the pizza place was right near my house.  I thought it was pretty damn cool that I even had a chat with some real-life human beings about crypto.  I wouldn't have paid for my food with bitcoin anyway but I was shocked to see that bitcoin symbol on a menu for a restaurant so close to me.

That's the only experience I've had with merchants in real life accepting bitcoin.  I did have a short conversation with an employee of a business that had a bitcoin ATM in their establishment, but they didn't accept bitcoin for their goods.  Both experiences were very neat.  I don't live in a big city by any means and I didn't know there were so many people who even knew much about bitcoin.

That's actually a good idea. We can all contribute to the adoption of bitcoin by just asking for it in stores and showing there is demand for it. I haven't done that before lol just because I'm sure that they don't accept it, but if we don't ask for it we won't get it.

As a distribution to the crypto world, I am also asking my friends, sharing crypto news to my facebook newsfeed, I even sharing it on 'My day' at messenger and even in Instagram this is my way of informing people so that they can be curious and check out how they are going to do research about it and I am glad because there are few of my friends who got curious and some of them are now here, some has become trader.

I haven't tried asking some shops since obviously they are not accepting bitcoin or any other crypto. Also in my country, it's rare to find a shop that accepts bitcoin so I don't expect they will if ever I would ask them. Even though my country doesn't regulate crypto.
Even if I would do it, I don't think they will give attention to what I have asked since it's not in demand. Their customers don't ask for it so they will just ignore it. They will only notice when various of customer would ask the staff if they accept bitcoin.

I have a friend who owns a store and deals with crypto. Although they both are two separate things and he doesn't use crypto as a payment method in his store, he still trades crypto.
Crypto is kind of illegal (not officially announced though) to use in my country. So even if he does want to use crypto as payment source, he simply won't be able to because of regulatory issues.

I always do this, I even arranged with a local pub to host our weekly Bitcoin meetings and they started to accept Bitcoin as a result of that. We

invited the owner to sit in with these meetings and he is now a avid Bitcoin supporter. We even get discounts when we pay with Bitcoin and his

next plan is to accept Lighting Network payments. We helped him to setup his first wallet and we helped him to buy online with bitcoins. Now, a lot

of shops in that area accept Bitcoin, because the people attending the meetups also went to these shops to ask them if they would be willing to

accept Bitcoin as a payment option.  ;D

Likewise in my country there aren't many merchants which accept BTC as payment. Main reason is people dont know much about crypto and secondly due to government advisories on cryptocurrency.

Same problem in my country also they don't accept Bitcoin. Government has regularized Bitcoin. In future atleast if they accept Bitcoin it will be great.

I was looking for two holiday rentals in the USA. In the past it's been agonising sorting payments as they insisted on cheques for some reason and not bank transfers which would've been painful enough.

This time around I told both it was Bitcoin or the highway and directed them to Bitpay if need be. One is absolutely fine with it. The other started screaming 'drugs, paedophiles, rape' and couldn't get off the phone quick enough. Fuck 'em.

In my local, it's not much familiar to the public. They don't know what bitcoin is. Very few people know about it. I have once asked at one of the famous bar in Mumbai; they said they never heard about it. It's not much popular in the subcontinent area.
Some times ago, I have started writing a blog on crypto to create awareness in my local. I guess we first need to introduce what bitcoin is. If enough people do know about bitcoin, they will frequently look for crypto accepted shop which might increase the adoption.

I guess you asked people who are not  deep users of the internet or people who don't do alot of research online. Most of the people who are familiar with bitcoin where I live are people with computer-related or internet related businesses.
 I think Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is not available on platforms and in places with millions of people for huge visibility and usage. This one of the reasons it is not that popular in many places yet

I personally tried asking for BTC payments on certain hotels that I've stayed throughout the years. The conversation just usually goes like:

Me: Do you accept bitcoin for payments?
Front desk: pardon?
Me: Do you accept bitcoin for payments?
Front desk: I apologize I'm not familiar with bitcoin.
Me: Oh it's a digital currency that some people use to transact with.
Front desk: I'll suggest this to the managers :)

And years later, still no BTC payments. The chances of really convincing businesses is really low. My guess that they will voluntarily add BTC payments if they see it being adopted enough. But then again, it's the chicken vs the egg problem.

I used to pay in stores where they accept crypto and i have done that but i never asked any store where there is no sign board that they are accepting those as it will be hard for them to understand what i am talking about, they will rather think that i am talking about food coupons and they will respectfully say that they do not accept that and they might accept in the future  :D.

The percentage who ask this to a shopkeeper is less than 1 in thousand in my country. Some people are aware of some alts but dont know the main objective of it. The business owners dont wanna use it as a payment because of the volatility in the market. Its hard to convince people on this but I have tried and will be doing my bit.

I'm very sure if this continues, the shop owner will find out what cryptocurrency is..  the owner of the average store still doesn't have a deep understanding of cryptocurrencies and still afraid of government rules!!  I often buy car wash materials and often idly ask shop owners, whether they will accept payments with Bitcoin.  the response from the shop owner was very good, he did not refuse, he said if the government really authorized cryptocurrency, then they would receive payments in cryptocurrency.

Personally I don't think it is so important for now to pay with bitcoin in local stores. I would certainly ofc, especially when traveling abroad (using other fiat currency).

But for internet payments I think it is the safer and best method. After all, that is an internet money.

Few days ago I bought some games in Steam and a product from Microsoft. I missed the bitcoin payment option, for many reasons:
- safety (as I never like to insert my credit card details online)
- I was paying using another fiat currency, so I lose some money in taxes and fees
- I would like to spend some of my bitcoins lol

Well, I once went with my mom to help me choose a bed and she is so used to me working with and around bitcoin and other crypto she asked the guy there if they accept bitcoin. Of course, he has no control over that and they do not accept bitcoin but I think the more they hear about it the better the chance we have of it being accepted at more places.


I agree with you, I don't think we need bitcoin in shops just yet. Honestly, I want to build up my bitcoin before adoption like that happens. Everything today ic conducted online anyway. I barely ever go into stores unless it is something you need to physcially look at before choosing to make a purchase or not. (think shoes and clothing for example)

that might sound crazy for a shop owner hearing something like virtual money may seem scam to them. if you happen to meet some ass kicking merchant and hear something like digital money, he's probably gong to call a cop friend. i wouldn't do that unless i find a logo "accepts bitcoin" within his shop.

merchants who accepts BTC or any other kind of crypto, would be proud to display crypto friendly signs. these guys like s to meet crypto users as well.

I wouldn't wander from random shop to shop asking any old asshole and most of the time I would have little interest in paying in BTC.

If it was going to be much more convenient for me to pay in BTC then I would suggest it and explain why. Anything abroad that won't do cards is just flat out painful so that would be the most likely scenario.

in my country Indonesia bitcoin is still not legalized to be used as a substitute for official currency transactions.
Cryptocurrency is still not well known among offline stores and even online stores.
Only crypto communities and people in the bitcoin world know about cryptocurrency digital currencies.
At present people in my country still use official currency as the main transaction and still cannot be replaced.

Of course cashier will know at first hand if they do have a method of payment that you are asking for. Wouldn't it be too rude to ask for their manager or higher officer about this? I mean sometimes they were not the store owners. Aside, you would just look like a trying hard advanced person to them.

Adoption campaign looks so positive to me however what you have given as an example looks terrible and made by deeply imaginative person. A campaign with social media seems fine since it is free and covers the whole world that have accessed the internet. As I see the society now, we are more open with digital currencies than the previous years looks like we're getting near of what we are dreaming of.

exactly. not sure if it helps spread the word about bitcoin if you ask random shop owner if they accept BTC when you are about to pay. they all expect fiat and probably even expect you to pay more than the amount of the item you are about to buy.
 
if i want to spend my btc to buy stuff, i'd probably just buy from an online store that accepts BTC. have already done so and they are happy to make friends to some crypto users.

The problem with cards in developing countries are the taxes and fees and the exchange rate.

In Brazil the usd/brl pair is very volatile (about 20-30% this year only), and you won't know which rate you are paying until you pay the credit card invoice, which is available only in about 30 after you use the card.

Additionally, there are 1-5% card fees and 6% taxes
So, it is way better to just bitcoin anywhere if you are Brazilian or if you live in any other fuked country

The experience is sort of opposite to me. Most of the shops that I have asked have heard the term Bitcoins and they want to know more but soon as I start explaining to them, they seem to not get it and sort of start to think it's too technical for them. Before accepting the cryptos, it will be a good idea to conduct free workshops and teach masses about the cryptos in the way they understand. Once they understand how easy it is, they might start adapting.

I think that is one major hurdle in shop or merchants adoption. Those small merchants heard already about crypto or bitcoin and even if they wanted to get on board, they don't know where to start. Somebody or someone should have life long commitment in making sure that somebody is learning how crypto/bitcoin works. For those who are interested and no one can assist them, they can always use the internet to search for every detail they want in terms of crypto market.

I don't know why the big names in the game aren't making an effort to start a venture to educate people about bitcoins. There are similar ventures for computer education, programming and some diseases. It would be so effective if someone starts like an NGO which gets funded by the donations or sponsors and their job is to go to malls and educate shop owners about bitcoins. I'd honestly do this on the weekend if I had a team of people.

personally, I have never tried that because in my country, just a hand full of people are aware of the existence of bitcoin and the entire crypto space and they are either investors or are daily traders. So why waste my time asking shops whether they accept bitcoin. Bitcoin is really not known by a lot of people around the world as you may think. The entire crypto ecosystem and cryptocurrencies need to be promoted to help create massive awareness all around the entire globe. 

I've found that most receptionists/cashiers at the front of the desk will either say a straight no, be confused and ask what it is, or just refer to BTC atms to withdraw cash from, in order to pay for the item/meal.

I've had a pretty interesting conversation with someone from that question though, and it was basically a 2 minute convo about BTC adoption, as he ran a couple mining rigs a couple months back. He even offers to buy my BTC to pay for the item, which was pretty cool!

Not irl shops, since I live in kinda rural area, but have asked some online service offering websites, they usually say they will think about it lol

First time that I did that was at a 711 store in Taipei lol. Though they don't accept bitcoin or any crypto at that certain store, I was surprised that the crew did know about it. I realized then that bitcoin is already widely known all over the world. Awareness about what it is is already there though it usage still needs a lot of work to give people confidence to use it.

for my situation, is i ask the bank if they already accept bitcoin deposit, and everyone ask me what is that it was a few years a go
and i walkout of the bank like a was the one who is stupid, although they were already accepting or converting it online, but from a third party
then after a a year i then ask them, and their answer was currently was not, but they are now aware what it is some teller or like a chain ask me
me they can invest on it and i was happy to share their experience, from that on some invest, some lost but some gain but i explain to them what
is the risk so they are ready

i have a funny experience wayback when i am new in crypto and starting to accumulate.

one time i was in a shopping center and in the cashier i i saw a QR code while i am a noob and forgot to bring much money then i proceed to pick up my items and go to the cashier and offer to pay for bitcoin and the cashier says "Whats that Sir'? i insist that the QR code is about bitcoin  payment lol.very embarrassing but at least i have gave the cashier idea of what is bitcoin all about .

anyway about OP?yeah i am asking some shops now and if not?i am lecturing them to have idea of the advantage of crypto for them.

Only really done it with electronic/computer stores, there are a couple local computer stores around that I often visit, and since I was quite friendly with the owner and he was also into crypto-currencies, he now allows me to spend BTC and ETH whenever I walk in. Great guy!

I'm a bit too self-conscious to actually walk into any other stores (especially when the amounts are below 100 bucks) and ask them to accept BTC, quite happy with using google pay, and it would be a bit too much of a hassle for me.

maybe some people in this world don't know what crypto is, so it's only natural that they don't like to make payments with crypto.
but I think in the future it is very possible that some shops or other shopping places will adopt bitcoin or other altcoin to be used as their payment channel like in some cryptocurrency-friendly countries like Japan where almost all of their stores use bitcoin as payment, and now we seeing cryptocurrency is very growing among people to adopt cryptocurrency of course this is very lucky for us crypto users.

Im not really doing this regularly if I am buying something from the store here in our location. I've just tried it when I buy an item then I figured out I have insufficient funds in my wallet. So, as a result, I've tried to ask the store if they accept Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Of course, their response is no. I'm quite disappointed with this outcome but atleast I've tried to ask them knowing that they will soon try to figure out what bitcoin and cryptocurrency is whenever other people ask them about it as well.

I don't ask such questions when I know for sure that they are not going to accept cryptocurrency. It's not every business that accepts businesses, especially local or offline businesses. But, I have gone to a shop a few times and made payments using Bitcoin, but that was a shop that is dedicated to just that, an exchange shop and they are only buying and selling Bitcoin there and nothing else.

But, I have once done a business transaction with someone online and they didn't say they were accepting Bitcoin, but I asked him whether he's accepting Bitcoin and he told me that he just installed a Bitcoin wallet and is still new to it. So, I told where he can copy his address and he did and I sent him payment through Bitcoin. The next time I did business with him he asked for Bitcoin himself and I wasn't the one that mentioned it lol. It's only online that I see people using Bitcoin.

I have never tried. I live in a small town that regards cryptocurrency as a taboo subject. Even if there are, there are only certain communities whose members are not many. I also feel that due to the influence of the media, what was reported on the television were cases of hacking and loss as well as fraudulent actions under the guise of cryptocurrency, making the public's views worse and seemed to avoid cryptocurrency. Ironic indeed. There's not much I can do besides educating my immediate family, and proving that cryptocurrency is not as scary as that.

Not me. I don't do much evangelizing these days. I applaud people who are willing to do that, though. Usually it's cashiers who are asking me why I'm always paying with gift cards. (Answer: I'm buying them with bitcoins.)

Come to think of it, I've been pestering my weed dealer to start taking bitcoins for years. He seems to be coming around to the idea. Last time I saw him, he said he was going to set up a wallet. Progress! :D

Do not ask them what to do if the store receives Bitcoin or crypto, they will post a large plate of their QR code in front of the cashier.  And above all the cashier only does what the payment system is arranged, they do not have the right to decide what they will receive other than the payment system of the store.

A lot of times for me when i try to use my bitcoin to buy something from real life stores i look them up, i get there but they tell me that they have no idea what i am talking about, but one time i did the same thing but after the owner told me the usual answer a guy heard me and came up and said yes we do, and it turns out that he is the son of the owner and i paid him to his wallet and he gave me my order, and think makes me happy and hopeful knowing that it might not be today or tomorrow but in the few next years we will have these kind of people who will become shop owners and managers that know the value of crypto and bitcoin, and for sure we will see more of them in the future.

I have not seen in any grocery shop or supplies shop that accept bitcoin in my community but i remember about 3 weeks ago i run short of fiat currency and i asked the shopkeeper if he accepts bitcoin. To my amazement, he said he has no clue about what that is and i was quite shocked. I think we all have a part to play in spreading news about bitcoin as another mode of payment. I explained things to him later and he said he would read more about it and let me know if he would add BTC as another form of payment.

yes you are right op it is quite difficult to find a store that is willing to accept crypto as a means of payment. mostly because they / the shop owner don't know about cryptocurrency. or some shop owners already know about cryptocurrency but according to them making payments using crypto is more complicated more practical using fiat money or debit cards. and crypto users are currently few and some crypto holders also save coins not using coins to shop. they only use crypto for investment.

I don't think i would do that or want to do that, as long as they didn't indicate that btc or crypto is accepted here, there is no need for me to start asking why or if they accept btc, @op now you can see that not many still have the knowledge of btc despite being widely known, there is still much to be done interms of visibility before this can happen, it is not easy to engage in crypto conversation.

Last January I discussed it directly with the shop owner who happened to be a friend, actually he understood, and at that time we discussed the potential of online payment integration that was often used by their customers (go-pay) who had just acquired the coins.ph company

But finally he did not dare to speculate anymore because it was related to government regulations. is still a high-risk decision if he decides to use crypto.

Maybe it depends on the location, as I have tried asking people here in Urban areas and there were few of them who knows Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, but they thought it was a big scam, so I just told them to do their research about it, and to keep in touch with me if they do have questions, and for those who are in Rural areas, they don't have any idea at all what really it is.

Bitcoin has not been applied as an alternative payment widely, because most people do not know about crypto. Here our role as crypto users is required. We must spread and continue to introduce crypto to the general public, so that they are interested and adopt crypto. Certainly not as easy as imagined, but with hard work, it can be realized.

I did this three years ago and I got rejected so many times trying to pay them with my bitcoin. As if now, most of the countries don't accept cryptocurrency as a payment because as what you've said l, they aren't knowledgeable enough.

But for me, i think the reason is that they think of something hassle converting those currency in to fiat currency. I also think that they want a direct payment in such that you pay them with their country's own currency. For example, in the Philippines they aren't familiar with that so, if you want to pay in transactions, you should pay them Philippine Peso because that's what they used to do.

It is difficult to convince them to accept what's effectively a never-seen-before mode of payment (even payment via phone is rare in some locations)..
Nice to see some good replies - and good to know some of us are trying to market this (not just market the spec. aspect mind you!) - I'll be reading through/replying asap :)

NO SHOP, ZERO, NONE:  Price products in Bitcoin.    If you find the very rare place that will " accept " your bitcoin, what they have done is facilitate a way for you to convert your bitcoin and pay them in US DOLLARS.   

GET REAL...    This kind of thinking confirms that some Bitcoin people are so blinded by greed, that they are unable and refuse to see reality.   This kind of denial should raise a serious red flag for any intelligent, rational person that is not Blinded by greed.

Hard Facts.

Actually I have also tried it and it doesn't went well because they said that it is quite impossible since they don't have enough knowledge about it, they are not even familiar with it and it's kind of weird to see that they don't know that there is a digital currency that existed. I've told them hat there will be some advantages on using it and it can be beneficial to them and to their business, I just hope they will realized it's capabilities because it can help them too but i'm not forcing them I just share my own experience and give them short explanation because I also know that it will also be difficult for them since they don't have an idea about how a cryptocurrency works.

BTC is open secret thing in many countries those are not crypto regulated countries in the modern world. In my country some of the people know about Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin is well known popular currency there. But most of the people don't know about it. They just something heard blessing of television media report.

My friend has a business stall in a popular commercial building in my community. I influence him to use bitcoin and now he is accepting it as a mode of payment. His customers are amazing and have good feedback to his business because there are only few merchants who are accepting bitcoins.

Sometime I had a habbit like this, asking a store if they accept cryptocurrency.  Majority of them have no idea what cryptocurrency is and we end up chatting about it discussing about the possible positive outcome if they integrate it to their store. 

I also refer accepting BTC in my friends business especially if it's selling items since they have their own store. I sometimes also ask some store that accepts PayPal or Gcash in my area if they also consider accepting BTC apparently all that I ask is not yet interested, definitely in my plan business I will display that we accept crypto payments

I have also asked the shop owners about them accepting bitcoins or crypto payments but only a few of them know about it and others don't even know what it is. The owners are interested in more institutional payment methods like PayPal or credit and debit cards as they are convenient to use for them and are Hassel free as compared to bitcoin payments.

Only tried it once, before there are regulation in my country where only fiat that can be used as payment. But no one know what is bitcoin. In past, i can ask for it but now maybe i wouldn't waste my time to ask it because even in online shop, their own currency can't be used anymore. So, bitcoin can't be too in real shop in my country.

I indeed entered a shop and ask jokingly whether bitcoin is accepted as a means of payment the response was no that they (shop owner) don't know much about bitcoin in fact they don't have knowledge of any of the digital payment currencies like paypal, skrill, webmoney etc this is indeed very disappointing that in this digital or jet age some shop owners wouldn't want to upgrade to the latest means of payment well I am very optimistic that with wider orientation and research more people would be engaged in bitcoin related stuffs.

Mine was a terrible experience when I thought of experimenting I just asked if they accept crypto and the people around there turned towards me as If I have committed some crime wherein some of them said it's illegal and some were curious to know about it but the shop keeper had no idea about it.

You gave me an idea what to do... But the only problem I have is that I am shy to ask that question in the counter. Not because I am shy about Bitcoin, but because I am normally shy even ordering at unfamiliar shops. So it's a challenge for me to do it. Though it's already a challenge to find a shop that actually accept crypto for payments. In my country, it is not restricted but it's still not popular.

And I wrote in my store that payment in bitcoins is a priority, many say that they heard, but do not know how to use it. they say on this forum: “Come out, this is not a place to trade) I have a different question for everyone - When will Bitcoin become a popular means of payment?

I did once to check the scenario regarding crypto knowledge. We few friends went to a restaurant which accepted all kind of online/digital payment methods. But there was no sign of crypto, I thought the owner must know about digital payments noticing his option of payments, so I went ahead and asked the guy.

To my surprise and happiness, the guy did had well knowledge about cryptos. The only thing that is stopping him from accepting them is the time to get the transaction confirmed, the fluctuation and very few users for this payment method.

He also told me, he has his own investment over the market. But he is unable to accept cryptos as of now. Hope the day will come soon.

Has it happened that they in the end accept BTC because you have introduced them to BTC after asking them about accepting crypto?

I'm curious what you did say in case I will also be doing this. I haven't asked a store where I have been. There is store in a town having a BTC logo with them but weren't actually accepting which is weird. The people there doesn't even knew what BTC is.

Is possible to use bitcoin with woocomerce? Thank you!

That's actually pretty cool. Is he accepting Bitcoin directly or through a payment processor? In case he is accepting payments directly, does he accept the transactions without confirmations? When it comes to low value items the risk is pretty low, but that risk exponentially increases when the value of the items increases.

I'm curious to find out because it's kinda hard to think of people willing to wait for that one confirmation to come through to walk away with their item.