Bitcoin Forum

Introducing the Bitcoin 100: A Kickstarter for Businesses

In an attempt to get more businesses to accept Bitcoins directly as payments,  
lets compile a list of people who will promise to make an initial purchase with Bitcoins.
It will be a kind of Bitcoin cash mob.
Once we have some decent numbers for a specific business, we will contact them directly about accepting Bitcoins.

Initial targets are:

1. BlueNile.com (http://BlueNile.com) Prices start at just $25 !!!
2. Newegg.com (http://Newegg.com)
3. Memoryx.net (http://Memoryx.net)
4. Your suggestion here

Please post your name,  and amount you pledge to buy and from which company

Pledges:

User Name         1. BlueNile.com (http://BlueNile.com)         2. Newegg.com (http://Newegg.com)         3. Memoryx.net (http://Memoryx.net)
MemoryDealers             $0                     $100                    $1,000
rjk                              $0                     $100                    $0
MelMan2002               $100                     $100                    $100
Daily Anarchist              $0                      $2000                  $0
CornedBeefHash            $0                      $100                    $0
Serge                          $0                      $200                    $0
Kluge                          $0                      $250                    $0
dollartrader                  $0                      $200                    $0
tysat                           $0                      $300                    $0
BusmasterDM               $0                      $250                    $0
Transisto                     $0                      $5000                    $0
trentzb                        $0                      $500                    $0
Troll Toll                      $500                   $1000                    $0
amencon                      $0                       $200                    $0
adamstg                      $0                       $100                    $0

Grand Total               $600                     $10,400                  $1,100

Newegg is an excellent target for accepting bitcoins. They have an large selection of cheap items as well as more expensive ones. I'd be down for at least $100 bucks worth of stuff if they added bitcoins as a payment option.

I'll pledge $100 to each of these.

Considering as how I am in need of building a new computer, I'll pledge $2,000 to newegg.com.

i constantly buy stuff on newegg, so that's a no-brainer, would definitely make at least $200 purchase in BTC

$250 on Newegg.

 $200 to newegg

obviously something with a very broad customer base like newegg is an optimal target. its easier to get pledges and its useful to more potential bitcoiners.
this is all very us-centered though. i wonder if we can get some good suggestions and possibly pledges for germany. it has a lot of bitcoins, so maybe a not-too-big online hardware store or supermarket might be convinced.

for hardware i would suggest notebooksbillger.de or mindfactory.de, for food and general goods i can only think of lebensmittel.de or gourmondo.de. if i get some good suggestions or pledges i think we can start a thread in the german forum.

i also wonder if there are any good targets, virtual goods stores or online shops that have, for some reason, an appeal to customers worldwide.

I'd spend at least $300 at newegg (new computer parts to buy), and I'd also suggest amazon as another target.

I pledge to spend at least $250/year at Newegg in Bitcoin.

This, via Googling News ("new online store"):


Doesn't Harry Potter have something to do with secrets. I'm not versed in HP, but felt a connection could be made nonetheless. At the very lease, do your own Google News using the the same, or similar, keywords (in quotes work best).

~Bruno~

that reminds me of something: i think cashmusic.org might be a good candidate. its a site providing free open source tools to help musicians setup their own business without paying cuts and fees to everyone and their little brother. right now they go with paypal - both for donations and also for helping the musicians setup payment options, but considering the whole project is pretty much about keeping the hard earned money where it belongs i think it might be easy to convince them to provide a basic bitcoin guide to their users as well.

btw: searching the web easy - when you know what you are looking for. "new online shop" doesnt really cut it.

You know what I like about this idea/thread? It's backed by Roger Ver, somebody who already has an established presence on the web, thus offering an official voice, of sorts, to other online entities, raising further awareness to Bitcoin.

~Bruno~

Memory Dealers - great idea but that is a slow road.

How bout expanding your operations to include more consumer items a la NewEgg? Granted you can't really compete on price but if things were within 5-10% I would certainly user your store.  I would commit to 500$+ in random gear (maybe hard drives, usb drives, memory, monitors, etc)

As it stands I have no real use for 5k+ Cisco gear but really want to support your business (And continued bitcoin evangelism:)

Thanks

Prove to the merchant there is a revenue stream by showing existing purchases made through another mechanism, like gift cards.

Consider yearly sales numbers that SpendBitcoins would show if lots of us bought only using Kroger (Ralphs supermarket, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's Marketplace, etc.) gift cards paid for using bitcoin.

Now if there was a similar option for buying gasoline.  Together those annual volumes might be attractive.  

And it is easy to onboard bitcoin if that transaction is simply to exchange BTCs for a prepaid debit product.  The ecommerce and in-store point of sale systems don't need to have any concept of bitcoins, just the special page for converting from BTCs to their prepaid USDs is all that is needed.

Ideally the merchants accept bitcoin at the point of sale, but those kinds of changes are more radical.  When they see that there is a respectable volume using BTCs, and they have a chance to be the first to offer it (gives a competitive advantage), that's the type of persuasive argument that is needed

 

Newegg ? as in ; maybe too big a target ?

What 100$ ?? I'd pledge 5k to Newegg,,,  u know those ATI cards ?

This is something I can do and can surely come within 10% of NewEgg's prices,  and likely much closer.

I will report back when I have an update.

Wow - just like that MD can become the new NewEgg?  Sweet!

Have you done business/trades with Roger? If so, and a success then great for you. I tried recently and it failed miserably. I recovered my funds fortunately, never thought Roger would keep them and he didn't, but the experience definitively turned my wife off to Bitcoin trades. Now I have to do it without her permission.

Roger has done much for the Bitcoin community and I applaud that, however MD needs some massaging with regard to how they treat customers...and not just for Bitcoin trades, I have pointed several California and US based educational institutions to buy fiber/other products from MD for years, they have reported satisfaction in most but not all transactions.

Keep up the Bitcoin support Roger, but massage Bitcoin physical trade TXs and customer experience a bit. I think it would prove itself on your bottom line.

Trent,
Thank you so much for your past referrals. 
From what I recall of your specific order, you were trying to buy Bitcoins from me via credit card.
The card and information you were using set off just about every red flag possible indicating credit card fraud.
I am not saying that I think you actually were trying to commit CC fraud,  but it didn't look safe enough from my end to justify the risk.
I don't think I even billed your CC,  so I never even had your money.
Unfortunately we have had to reject between 1/3 to 1/2 of our Bitcoin orders due to the high risk of fraud, 
but I am glad to say after selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoins by CC and Paypal,  I have not had a single fraudulent order slip through. 
If anyone else is ever unhappy with an order,  they are welcome to contact me about it directly at any time.   
I will personally work to take care of any problem.
roger@memorydealers.com

This is a great idea / thread and should definitely be expanded on. I would like to see a forum where users could submit ideas for target businesses and then 'vote up' other to form consensus. Maybe i could create it on reddit if people are interested...

I will continue to push business MD's way. In my book, Roger still rocks, although my wife (whose CC it is) vowed I would not have sex until I sent Roger a nasty email. Roger, I have to PM you something nasty, sorry.

The only reason I know this was a fudge on MD/Roger's part (or likely his processor, somebody perhaps in TO or Vallejo?) is because in the late 90's I wrote much of the pattern match code that FD used for AVS (the backend that Visa/MC used/uses). Granted, they may not still use that today but I feel confident I know how they work. They do put the fear of God in merchants. Roger, get to know (personally) some of the folks here. I am in your neighborhood in a month for a convention.

On Topic: I pledge $500 to NewEgg and $500 to MD, oh wait, MD accepts BTC? Expect some orders... :)

done http://redd.it/rjejo

Glad to see this getting legs.

~Bruno~

I pledge $500 to bluenile and $1000 to newegg

Maybe add Crucial to the list?

I only say this because I was considering buying their solid state cache product (http://www.techspot.com/review/515-crucial-adrenaline-ssd/) since I'm too lazy to clone my drive to a full SSD.

I'm on the fence for getting this but I'd grab it if it was available in bitcoins, so ~$100.

You can also put me down for around another $100 to anyone I can get 2x8GB (DDR3-SDRAM PC3-10700 (667MHz)  -  [DDR3-1333] ) ram sticks from in the near future.

Everything you have asked for is available at www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com) so I put you down for $200 at Newegg.

Sweet thanks!

by god this is the most innovative way to get Bitcoins accepted on a massive scale (but obviously not going to happen over night, i still have realistic expectations of the progress timeline)

shapeways.com!

custom, 3d-printed jewelry and other items!
100$

(edit: Among hunders of cool things there is a bitcoin ring there to buy!  ;D)

I'll pledge $100 to Newegg.com

When I went to Battle Creek, MI (totally random-looking city -- I'm guessing there are no zoning laws) for a funeral, I stopped by a place called Horrock's (http://www.shophorrocks.com/). Most amazing place I've ever been. I saw their selection of cheeses and almost cried. They have a live pianist, a large selection of plants, gift shop, pharmacy, ridiculous selection of wines, cheeses, and meats - crackers, spices, flour, bird feed, even batteries -- just about everything.


I'd have no problem at all honoring a $500/year pledge at that place. They have another location in Lansing, MI which my uncle told me is similar in selection and entertainment.

I pledge $20 to http://www.humblebundle.com/.

Hey Roger.

I suggest adding dealextreme.com (http://dealextreme.com) to the list. These guys are based en Hong Kong, sell geek gear and have an Alexa rating of 1276.
See this thead:
http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=96393.0

I'd pledge $200 to get things going.

Dealextreme basically finished up all the electronics for my solar array, they are a good target. 100 bucks at Dealextreme.

I pledge to spend at least $200/year there as I usually do with paypal. I'm lowballing the number, ofcourse lol

I'll pledge AUD3K to BlueNile in next 12 months and AUD500 to NewEgg (but I might need a middle man since I'm in Australia :-/).

Great idea by the way, encourage large companies through committed purchasing.

Stu

I'm actually getting pretty close to launching my newegg.com competitor.
It will be Bitcoin only,  and competitive with newegg on just about everything.
It will have over 500,000 items available with real time inventory checks.

Here is a sneak preview:

http://i48.tinypic.com/2lcr7ye.png

 :o :o :o

MD, any chance you're going to have HP N40L Microservers? That'd be most ideal..

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/au/en/sm/WF25a/15351-15351-4237916-4237917-4237917-4248009.html?dnr=1

I sure will.


http://i47.tinypic.com/4r9mab.png

I pledge $100 to newegg. Not sure what I'll buy yet though.

I'm repledging AUD3K to BlueNile in next 12 months and AUD500 to MD/NewEgg.

MD, I'll buy from your store but I'm hoping we can return to ontopic, maybe put yourself in the list options. Amazon is another worthy addition.

Stu

Put me down for:
$500 on NewEgg
$250 on DealExtreme

$2k for Newegg :)

Really cool man...

oh my god that looks GREAT

This looked really exciting to me until I visited the shipping methods page of Memory Dealers http://memorydealers.com/shipping-rates/ (http://memorydealers.com/shipping-rates/) when it becomes a clear no deal for me. The reason is you do not offer and advertise the US Postal Service as a shipping option to your customers. Let me explain:

When it comes to international and residential package delivery the private shipping companies simply do not get it here in Canada. I have seen UPS charge a $50 brokerage fee to broker a $3.50 GST charge at the border on an Item that cost $50. This got so bad the there was a class action lawsuit in Canada against UPS over this. http://www.classaction.ca/actions/Consumer-Protection/Current-Actions/United-Parcel-Service-Canada-Ltd-%28-UPS-%29.aspx (http://www.classaction.ca/actions/Consumer-Protection/Current-Actions/United-Parcel-Service-Canada-Ltd-%28-UPS-%29.aspx). They have now changed their fees somewhat after the litigation but they are sill far to high. Canada Post charges a flat fee of $8.50 for brokerage. http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGcustoms-e.asp#1382719 (http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGcustoms-e.asp#1382719). That is it

Then there is the issue of delivery to a residential address especially in the smaller centers. With Canada Post if I am not home I get a notice in my mailbox and I can go to a retail outlet in my neighborhood to pick up my package. This is simple and very convenient as these outlets are typically open evenings and weekends.  With private couriers I may get a phone call or in some cases I have to contact them using the tracking information provided by the shipper. Then to arrange for delivery I have to either spend all day waiting of the courier to arrive or drive to some office in the outskirts of town, or in some cases in another community a few hundred miles away, open only from 8:30 to 4:30 on weekdays to pick up my package. Private couriers are very good at delivering documents to a business that has a reception. They fail very badly with delivering packages to residential addresses, and are even worse with international shipments.

This may sound like a real hearsay to many in this community, but it must be said: When it comes to shipping items purchased with Bitcoin to residential customers the "State Postal Monopoly"  here in Canada http://www.canadapost.ca (http://www.canadapost.ca) does an excellent job, while the private sector fails miserably.

For me as a customer purchasing online it is very simple: Deliver using the Post Office or no sale.

Here are some examples regarding residential deliveries by private sector companies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Sb_r7BKTc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Sb_r7BKTc)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikanns26nDA (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikanns26nDA)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APqvq0Kn55o (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APqvq0Kn55o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1qUd9na_PQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1qUd9na_PQ)

Great work!
This, again, has the potential to make Bitcoin instantly big!

What I would strongly suggest:
Chinese "Dollarstores", or whatever you call them:
Dealextreme http://dx.com <-- probably the largest one
kaidomain, buyincoins etc are competitors, which might be interested to have a great advantage over the others with accepting bitcoins.

Why should they accept bitcoins?
-they operate worldwide, so they reach billions of people which can't use paypal
-paypal fees, obviously, as they are working with really low margins
-I guess payment frauds are high, with international customers

Those are a huge market, one of them accepting bitcoins would already have a huge influence.. and the others would follow soon!

Ente