This seems to be a perpetual problem with the site. If I try to leave the main page, to log in, I get sent to https://btc-e.com/login and the screen is white/blank. This happens frequently/daily.

Great company!

I've completed 5 transactions with FC4B and I am very pleased with the service. I received a company check from FC4B as payment for BTCs sold. My bank rejected the check for some reason. When I contacted FC4B about the issue, they were already aware of it and had already sent a new check to replace the "bad" one and included additional funds to cover the returned-check fee my bank charged me. I didn't have to do anything except re-deposit the check. Well done!!!
 

Just conducted my first transaction with FastCash4Bitcoins and it was as advertised...fast cash. Brilliant work. I only wish BUYING Bitcoin was as simple and smooth...

Hi All,

I'm announcing my new webstore Agora Cordage where I sell handwoven paracord bracelets, key-chains, and neck lanyards. I am in the process of updating the product offerings. I am offering a 10% savings to anyone who wishes to pay using Bitcoin. Currently, I'm only accepting Bitcoin manually via the contact page, until I can figure out something more formal (I don't think I can use Bit-pay or anything like that). 

Please visit my site, and by all means PLEASE offer suggestions and ideas on improving the Bitcoin process.

http://goo.gl/8C7WQ

I look forward to receiving your business!!

Of course, but what can be done to change this? Perhaps, I'm unintentionally exaggerating the difficulty, but not everyone "just gets it". Some people need to have their hand held throughout the process (not that nmteaco does, but some do) and/or are not "brave" enough to venture into something so new on their own, but really want to be involved. What can the community do to make this process, from beginning-to-end, easier for the least technical among us? If we want this Bitcoin project to move beyond a project and into wide-spread acceptance then something must be done to make it stupid-simple.

Maybe it can never be stupid-simple, I don't know.

Am I expecting too much, too soon?

This is exactly why I started this thread. I really want Bitcoin to succeed for many reasons. But, I think NMTEACO's concerns are completely valid and the wider Bitcoin community should have a common, well informed, rebuttal for these types of concerns. I'm not a merchant and don't understand merchant issues or concerns, but I do know that things have to be relatively easy before people will adopt new technology for wider use.

I just visited NM Tea Company in Albuquerque, NM. I chose this particular tea store specifically because I found him listed as accepting Bitcoin and I want to support the Bitcoin community. However, when I inquired about it, the owner stated that he no longer accepts Bitcoin because, while the idea and principles are great, the volatility scared him. He explained that if he sold 2BTC worth of tea today, which might equal $17, it could be worth only $8 tomorrow which would cause him to have lost roughly 50% of his revenue from the sale.

I'm not versed enough the retail aspects of Bitcoin so I didn't have a rebuttal. I am interested in what this community has to say about his concerns, which can help me to engage next time.

Thanks.

I'm extremely new to the whole Bitcoin world. I first started hearing of it and learning about it two weeks ago, and bought my first Bitcoins two days ago. I'm completely absorbed with the whole idea and desperately want to see it succeed. That being read, where can I find Bitcoin startups and send some BTC their way to help with their success?

IMHO we (Americans) compare it to the dollar because that's how we make value comparisons. We think of commercial goods/activities in the sense of dollars and cents. Before "money" each person had to make a comparison respective of their own goods. A chicken farmer looked at a cow and thought to himself, "that's a 30-chicken cow, right there!" A cattle rancher, might've thought, "that acre of land is worth 15-cows." I'm currently job hunting and I look at each potential new job as a value comparison: how much am I willing to accept to do the work required and start there as the negotiating point with the employer.

This concept doesn't change for anyone, except for the particular currency being specified. Europeans might make the comparison to the Euro instead of the dollar. Everything else, above and beyond the simple value comparison is socio-political icing on the cake.

I am interested in buying a sheet of the stickers if anyone has any to sell.

Because the address can be derived via the private key as demo'd on the bitaddress.org website?

How is it determined that a specific Bitcoin is or is not stolen?

Ok, this has created more questions:
1) Bitcoins exist in reference to a specific address?
2) Wallets are merely a collection of address(es)?
3) A page of addresses printed from bitaddress.org is a paper version of a wallet?
4) This paper wallet exists independently of any other wallet and is hack/theft proof, unless someone steals the paper?
5) Is a casascius coin essentially a physical wallet?

Casascius,
So, you create a new paper wallet every time following a transaction? I've got to read up on this idea.

P.s. your physical Bitcoins are fantastic, I love the idea!

Curious, how large are the wallet files when backing them up?

Well, it's a balance between convenience and trust, as in I don't trust myself to get the whole wallet-security procedure done correctly every time. I'm more afraid I will somehow screw up my own wallet than I am an e-wallet company screwing up my e-wallet.

Excellent. Thanks for the quick replies; this really cleared things up for me.

So, essentially, backing-up my wallet only protects me from my own mistakes. It serves no protection for me against the mistakes of the e-wallet service?

Hi,
I've been reading the forum posts about the issues with Bitcoinica today and it is raising some questions for me:

1) I currently do not have any BTC, but I am planning to purchase some and I am interested in keeping it in an e-wallet. Are all e-wallets susceptible to the same problem that Bitcoinica faced today?

2) The e-wallet service I use allows me to back-up my wallet to dropbox or google drive; would doing so save me from an event like Bitcoinica experienced today?

I'm still learning to understand this stuff and I am interested in detailed explanations if anyone is willing to take the time to explain it as it relates to the current Bitcoinica problems.

Thanks,
Jugg