Who is a Bitcoin consultant/business integrator/point of sale integrator ?

[franky1]

Do you communicate the exchange service fee/rake when signing them up?   Sounds like you have been doing is for a little while and this has been very informal. 

Cheers

the merchant pays NO FEE's

if the merchant is selling a $20 product he WILL get $20.
the commission comes from the customer side not the merchant side and as bitcoin varies between $497-$520 as long as the customer see's a bitcoin price that roughly equates to the something around that area and does not equate to lets say $590 today, then the customer would not really complain if they have to pay $520ish.

problems do arrise if you start mentioning which exchange you use, which price point and what percentages, and if it was just 20c innaccuracy they would moan and argue non-stop. so its normally best to just keep the bitcoin value within the 'acceptable variance' and not be quoting too much specifics as it just leads to arguments.

after all i know many businesses that quote the most expensive exchange but actually do business on the cheapest exchange. where its simpler to not quote any exchange and just have the prices in the 'fair' market range of all the exchanges.

now then how you would set up your own calculator will all depends on how you wish to obtain the FIAT to pay the merchant.

1) if you personally or a group of FIAT investors have lots of FIAT and they want bitcoin you can pretty much name your own value of bitcoin to ensure the merchant gets the $20 for a $20 product transaction. (within fair volatility range) and as you point out with your comments to the bitcoin co-op cavirtex price was $520, yet btc-e was $497-$510 within a couple of hours of your post which means an acceptable 1%-4% is acceptable by the CUSTOMER, due to their knowledge of volatility.

2) if your getting fiat by selling the bitcoin on an exchange to recoup a FIAT reserve for future transactions. not only are you going to want a couple percent commission to pay your own bills but you probably end up wanting an extra couple % ontop to personally hoard as coins.  so this model usually is more about pushing the limits of acceptable pricing for customers and also finding the right balance of getting the merchant the fiat they need and running a profitable business yourself.

i would advise you to think more along the private investment side as oppose to using exchanges to swap bitcoins. establish a good rapport with respected people on the bitcoin-otc/localbitcoins. even find some FIAT investors in your area that way you fully control the value and exchange, rather than using an 'centralized exchange'. also by not selling the coin on an 'centralized exchange' your not dumping coins to cause a price drop. and as i said not having to push the limits of the fair volatility pricing to squeeze in some commission and hoarding %

[The Bitcoin Co-op]

The Bitcoin Co-op has signed up dozens of brick & mortar businesses to accept Bitcoin. Restaurants, coffee shops, pubs and bars, hair stylists and eyeware retailers, and even university campuses.
We are a non-profit. Our purpose is not to make money. One of our founders had a lot of bitcoins, and he ordered several dozen tablets from China, which we give away for free. I or another Co-op member shows up at your brick & mortar and installs it with CoinOS, our POS system, and you have no fees and free fiat conversion. Thereafter, we use our PR power to market your business to the Bitcoin community and media partners, and we host popular events at your location if it is an event venue. We might give you a Bitcoin ATM and split the profit with you.

Getting merchants on board has been relatively easy--it became a cultural phenomenon in Vancouver at some point. I have admin power in several very large Meet Ups, and I refuse to host events at any venue that does not take Bitcoin, even for my non-Bitcoin Meet Up groups. I walk around with a Bitcoin tattoo and a Bitcoin shirt, which opens up natural opportunities to talk about Bitcoin to whomever I bump into. I talk about the revolutionary social aspects most of all, as people want to hear that's it's not just about money. I tell them it's because Bitcoin is so awesome that we're willing to do these things for free, which prevents me from coming across as a salesman.

You CANNOT force these things. It's all about social power, making friends, and looking for opportunities. Knocking door to door will be vastly less successful. In general, every method will be less successful than ours, because we charge nothing. In addition to talking about how Bitcoin is cheaper and better for society, I mention the way we do things, and the positive vibes from our grassroots approach put many vendors at ease. It would be impossible to accuse us of being a scam.

So I take it you are from Vancouver?  Cool.  How does CoinOS stack up in comparison to squirrel or micros pricing?  I am assuming this pos system does regular cc and interac payment processing?  Or will they use another device for that?   Would be interested in seeing the software layout and how it all works as I have a background in pos implementations and design.  Look forward to hearing more.   Cheers

CoinOS is open source and volunteer driven, and is really just a web app configured for brick & mortar merchants. Although it has reporting and such, we currently have to handle fiat conversion manually (although that will soon change). We are working to add a comprehensive version for online merchants, but credit cards and interac will go through traditional channels. We give them a free tablet to run the Bitcoin POS, so that's not asking them so much.

You can make a CoinOS page for yourself right now at coinos.io, but that website is about to undergo a massive upgrade. Stay tuned, if you're curious!

So this is almost identical to what Franky1 is talking about what he does for his customers with a company web portal where they key in their dollar amount + his commission for being the exchange/etc....  

I think your cavirtex pricing is out of wack though... it says its $560 and its actually $520.

I'm the PR Director for the Bitcoin Co-op and CoinOS, so I'm less up to date on the technical/financial side--I specialize in making people adopt Bitcoin. However, my current understanding is that our entire pricing system is undergoing an overhaul. We are establishing partnerships with various exchanges, particularly in Canada (QuadrigaCX, CAVirtEx). Whatever it says now, it probably won't say that in a couple of weeks. I'll report back as soon as I can with specific information on why you're seeing that discrepancy right now, but my guess is that you just witnessed a temporary lag in price adjustment or a mild glitch that arose in the development process.

EDIT: I just did a bit of checking, and it appears that CAVirtEx has hovered around $550 CAD all day. I think it hit $560 but it never came close to $520. Could it be you're somehow saying the USD rate, instead? $560 in CAD is fairly close to $520 USD, at the time of this writing.

[PalmerLaura]

One time I received a participant ribbon. I am far from a champion.

[promojo]

the merchant pays NO FEE's

if the merchant is selling a $20 product he WILL get $20.
the commission comes from the customer side not the merchant side and as bitcoin varies between $497-$520 as long as the customer see's a bitcoin price that roughly equates to the something around that area and does not equate to lets say $590 today, then the customer would not really complain if they have to pay $520ish.

problems do arrise if you start mentioning which exchange you use, which price point and what percentages, and if it was just 20c innaccuracy they would moan and argue non-stop. so its normally best to just keep the bitcoin value within the 'acceptable variance' and not be quoting too much specifics as it just leads to arguments.

after all i know many businesses that quote the most expensive exchange but actually do business on the cheapest exchange. where its simpler to not quote any exchange and just have the prices in the 'fair' market range of all the exchanges.

now then how you would set up your own calculator will all depends on how you wish to obtain the FIAT to pay the merchant.

1) if you personally or a group of FIAT investors have lots of FIAT and they want bitcoin you can pretty much name your own value of bitcoin to ensure the merchant gets the $20 for a $20 product transaction. (within fair volatility range) and as you point out with your comments to the bitcoin co-op cavirtex price was $520, yet btc-e was $497-$510 within a couple of hours of your post which means an acceptable 1%-4% is acceptable by the CUSTOMER, due to their knowledge of volatility.

2) if your getting fiat by selling the bitcoin on an exchange to recoup a FIAT reserve for future transactions. not only are you going to want a couple percent commission to pay your own bills but you probably end up wanting an extra couple % ontop to personally hoard as coins.  so this model usually is more about pushing the limits of acceptable pricing for customers and also finding the right balance of getting the merchant the fiat they need and running a profitable business yourself.

i would advise you to think more along the private investment side as oppose to using exchanges to swap bitcoins. establish a good rapport with respected people on the bitcoin-otc/localbitcoins. even find some FIAT investors in your area that way you fully control the value and exchange, rather than using an 'centralized exchange'. also by not selling the coin on an 'centralized exchange' your not dumping coins to cause a price drop. and as i said not having to push the limits of the fair volatility pricing to squeeze in some commission and hoarding %

Thanks for the input - this is valuable to know.   I am sure it will take some trial and error to find the sweet spot where the location or customer won't question it at all...

Question - what happens when the location has no cash float (ie. the $200 you were talking about earlier).  What sort of commitment or service level are you agreeing with the location to pay them the fiat?   Do you interact e-transfer it or bank transfer or send cheque/etc?  Same day or at end of month or bi weekly?

I do like this whole concept of the model and hoarding aspect.   Interesting.


   

[promojo]

I'm the PR Director for the Bitcoin Co-op and CoinOS, so I'm less up to date on the technical/financial side--I specialize in making people adopt Bitcoin. However, my current understanding is that our entire pricing system is undergoing an overhaul. We are establishing partnerships with various exchanges, particularly in Canada (QuadrigaCX, CAVirtEx). Whatever it says now, it probably won't say that in a couple of weeks. I'll report back as soon as I can with specific information on why you're seeing that discrepancy right now, but my guess is that you just witnessed a temporary lag in price adjustment or a mild glitch that arose in the development process.

EDIT: I just did a bit of checking, and it appears that CAVirtEx has hovered around $550 CAD all day. I think it hit $560 but it never came close to $520. Could it be you're somehow saying the USD rate, instead? $560 in CAD is fairly close to $520 USD, at the time of this writing.

Good to know - at the end of the day I am assuming this service essentially costs nothing.  Either way it looks nice and I like the functionality.