What the street corner vendor does is irrelevant, he does not need to convert his money from one currency to another at the end of the work day. His costs are in USD, his revenue is in USD and his profits are in USD.

If I accept bitcoins, my costs are in USD, my revenue is in BTC, and my profits are in USD. The conversion rate matters to me.

Wow thank you for all the responses.


So I am seriously considering accepting bitcoins for virtual goods in my companies upcoming Free2Play shooter/RPG. So assuming from a financial perspective that bitcoins are dependable, is it LEGAL to support bitcoins? (Keeping in mind that the game is not a gambling game, and the virtual products are bought and then kept by the user)

I know that bitcoins themselves are not illegal, but in the depths of US law I am concerned that there is some vague all encompassing restriction that bitcoins may fall under. Now I understand that the question itself is somewhat speculative, since we don't really know how the government will react to bitcoins when it grows out of its niche, but is there any legal concerns I should be aware of?

I have been somewhat fascinated with bitcoins, and while understanding the basics I feel as if everyone else is FAR more informed than me on the economy and utility of bitcoins. So bear with me if I am missing some obvious explanations here.



But anyways, I have a product I am currently selling online, why should I accept bitcoins as a method of payment? What advantages would I see, besides indulging in a personal curiosity?

The rate that bitcoins can change value is staggering, which for me is not good, because my COSTS are constant. It takes X amount USD to make the product I am selling, and until the material and labor can be bought and paid in bitcoin, the USD conversion value of bitcoin is a very real concern. If someone bought my product 2 days ago during the 30 dollar spike, I am now left holding the same bitcoins which are going for half that price now, and may no longer cover my manufacture costs when they are converted to USD. Am I missing something? Is there some way vendors can normalize the shifting value of bitcoins to ensure they are never left holding the hot potato?



Now on the other hand, I also sell virtual products for an online videogame. Virtual products cost only as much as the labor to make its "gold version", and can be duplicated and sold at no additional cost to me. In this situation, there is no cost of manufacturing the product so there is no chance that I will be left in the hole. And in this case, it could be argued that the fluctuating value would either

A) normalize over time from consumers buying my product both when the value was high and when the value was low
or
B) Be beneficial, by letting me "cash out" my companies bitcoins when the value is high and sit on them when the value is low.



From a business perpective, I suspect the current vendors that accept bitcoins do so because it is in the geek spotlight right now and gets them connected to new consumers simply because the list of vendors that actually accept bitcoins is so small. When that list grows, and the signal to noise ratio prevents vendors from getting decent exposure to the bitcoin community, why should they continue to use it?


Bitcoins future outside the e-blackmarket depends entirely on whether or not vendors want to use it, so convince me. Why should I sell my tangible products, and/or my virtual products for bitcoin? (I feel my company and what I sell should remain nameless to prevent thread derailment, but the tangible goods go for $50 - $150, and virtual goods go for $2 - $8)