What is the reason behind the surge of merchants accepting Bitcoin in 2014?

[gentlemand]

I wonder how much longer many of those companies will continue accepting bitcoin for, actually.

A fair few have fallen by the wayside already. Wordpress seem to have quietly dropped it citing 'confusion' among too many payments options. I've read a few accounts on Reddit from mom and pop type operations who dropped it mainly because they were sick of explaining it to curious people.

I think it's going to be a top down deal. Merchants will have to compel people to use it rather than sit back and let them roll in and not many could be arsed to do that. Overstock seems to be the most committed by a long way but you had deep discounts from Newegg for a while.

[Gyfts]

Merchants just want more sales. If BTC can bring more business, it's good. Besides, I guess it's quite fashionable too, and it doesn't cost much to implement, so let's do it.

I would have to disagree. The companies mentioned above that began to take Bitcoin as payment probably had no interest in Bitcoin themselves nor did they particularly care about increasing their sales through the currency. Many of their customers I'm sure do not use Bitcoin as a payment option because paying in fiat is just as easy as paying in Bitcoin to major, secure, retailers. It probably did end up costing them some money to cut a deal with Bitpay or whoever their 3rd party exchange was. They may take a percentage of each sale, or something kind of fee. The reason I see many companies taking Bitcoin is for fraud. With Bitcoin, a company can't be held liable for fraud or chargebacks as often paying with fiat. That, or maybe it was a domino effect after Overstock.com started to accept Bitcoin.

[ajareselde]

I believe the reason for merchant growth is based on the fact that transactions made are cheaper for them than the other ones in play (credit card payments,checks etc)
there is almost no transfer fee, and the transactions are not reversible, its basically everything merchants want in their business.
The bitcoin merchant adoption is still quite low however, i believe it is yet to be spread out to the majority, and since good word goes long and fast, i believe its going to happen very soon.

cheers

[RTRC]

I would have to disagree. The companies mentioned above that began to take Bitcoin as payment probably had no interest in Bitcoin themselves nor did they particularly care about increasing their sales through the currency. Many of their customers I'm sure do not use Bitcoin as a payment option because paying in fiat is just as easy as paying in Bitcoin to major, secure, retailers. It probably did end up costing them some money to cut a deal with Bitpay or whoever their 3rd party exchange was. They may take a percentage of each sale, or something kind of fee. The reason I see many companies taking Bitcoin is for fraud. With Bitcoin, a company can't be held liable for fraud or chargebacks as often paying with fiat. That, or maybe it was a domino effect after Overstock.com started to accept Bitcoin.

Not true. The CEO of Overstock has millions invested into BTC.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/02/21/for-overstock-ceo-bitcoin-isnt-just-a-publicity-stunt/

Don't forget that paying in fiat online usually involves a credit/debit card. Visa/American express/exc charge fees everytime their card is used. Depending on which fee is greater, bitpay may be a cheaper option than accepting cards.

[Mr.K]

There are a lot of reasons that the big merchants and small stores integrated with Bitcoin,but i think the most important one might be accept Bitcoin helps to promote their businesses.

[kolloh]

I think it give the flexibility of additional payment methods which can be cheaper on fees. Its also a lot more secure than putting your credit card out online which is a great benefit for purchasers.

Though it is interesting how Mozilla was struggling to find how to add bitcoin as a payment method for donations on Mozilla without causing a negative effect: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2oofby/results_of_first_17_days_of_mozilla_bitcoin/

[Kprawn]

Most companies like BitPay and Coinbase only started to make serious transactions in early 2014. After they announced their first $1 million single transaction, some bigger companies sat up and took notice.

When Dell / NewEgg / Microsoft jumped on board the smaller merchants followed suit and things just grew from there. 

Coinbase & BitPay also actively recruited new merchants for Bitcoin adoption and made it easy for merchants to accept BTC and convert it to fiat. {The debate it open, if that is good or bad for BTC} 

[jbreher]

if you brought up Bitcoin to overstock in 2011, they likely would have expressed zero interest.

I don't think that is true. Patrick Byrne (CEO) has been highly critical of the legacy financial system for some time. I think if he were aware of Bitcoin earlier, he would have jumped in earlier. Yes, just MNSHO.

[redhawk979]

I wonder how much longer many of those companies will continue accepting bitcoin for, actually.

A fair few have fallen by the wayside already. Wordpress seem to have quietly dropped it citing 'confusion' among too many payments options. I've read a few accounts on Reddit from mom and pop type operations who dropped it mainly because they were sick of explaining it to curious people.

I think it's going to be a top down deal. Merchants will have to compel people to use it rather than sit back and let them roll in and not many could be arsed to do that. Overstock seems to be the most committed by a long way but you had deep discounts from Newegg for a while.

If you use the Internet wayback machine on Bitpays website, you'll see that like 50% of the merchants they had partnered with over their inception no longer take Bitcoin.

[BillyBobZorton]

All the forward-thinking merchants of all sizes around the world are gloaming onto the hot Bitcoin payments trend, many of them to cut costs and boost their bottom line.

[NUFCrichard]

There are regulated exchanges meaning that your average person on the street can buy bitcoin without needing to meet anyone to exchange cash for bitcoin! 
A lot of money is being invested into legitimate bitcoin businesses too, I think they all see that bitcoin adoption is inevitable and they will be ahead of the curve getting in now.

[Stuff4Bitcoin]

It was all about free marketing. They dont really care about Bitcoin, and i dont blame them. But if putting a "hey we will take your bitcoin" sign up gets them more sales and they only have to pay a minimal fee why wouldnt they. It only makes sense to accept bitcoin from a marketing perspective. You wont see the same in 2015.

[acquafredda]

It was all about free marketing. They dont really care about Bitcoin, and i dont blame them. But if putting a "hey we will take your bitcoin" sign up gets them more sales and they only have to pay a minimal fee why wouldnt they. It only makes sense to accept bitcoin from a marketing perspective. You wont see the same in 2015.

you sound a bit cynical but I do agree with you.
Some of the players just think in terms of profit.
Which, I mean, it's not bad. But it's not really about what bitcoin was for.
Or not?

[Stuff4Bitcoin]

you sound a bit cynical but I do agree with you.
Some of the players just think in terms of profit.
Which, I mean, it's not bad. But it's not really about what bitcoin was for.
Or not?

No, your 100% right. Bitcoin was never intended to be an investment or for profit. 2014 turned Bitcoin into everyones want to get rich quick scheme. and next to 1% of them succeeded. 2015 will be the year of the "exit strategy" for bitcoin. where all the cry babies who bought in above $500 will start unloading and turning their back on bitcoin, which will be great as they are a plague and kill the bitcoin social sphere. Look at this forum for example. take a browse through the reputation section. 400 kids all crying about something, and every once in a while one of them jumps in on something in the marketplace or something like their opinion is gods gift. 2016 will be the year of the infrastructure, once all the kids have bailed out of bitcoin the guys who made the money in bitcoin will start to launch the products which will be the true infrastructure of bitcoins future. 2017 will be the year of adoption in the common place. You will be able to pay for your big mac and fries in bitcoin by the end of 2017, and bitcoins price will still be hovering around $300.

TL;DR

Bitcoin is not about "exchange value" or "investment" nor was it ever suppose to be, a bunch of succers got lead to believe it was, they got taken, and now their butt hurt.

Bitcoin is about revising the financial infrastructure of the world, thats all it was ever about, thats all it will ever be about. If 1BTC is worth $0.10 or $1Million dollars it does not matter. It's what you can do with it that is important.



Que the suckers who got taken and their rant about how i'm wrong in 3......2........1.......... Go for suckers

[gentlemand]

If 1BTC is worth $0.10 or $1Million dollars it does not matter. It's what you can do with it that is important.

And you can't pay for a house in a faraway country or flee a warzone with your net worth in your head if that one person's action swallows the entire market cap.

It wouldn't be very convenient for the rest of the planet to wait around for one individual to cash out so everyone else can get moving again. A larger market cap makes for more widespread usability. End of.

[Gyfts]

I would have to disagree. The companies mentioned above that began to take Bitcoin as payment probably had no interest in Bitcoin themselves nor did they particularly care about increasing their sales through the currency. Many of their customers I'm sure do not use Bitcoin as a payment option because paying in fiat is just as easy as paying in Bitcoin to major, secure, retailers. It probably did end up costing them some money to cut a deal with Bitpay or whoever their 3rd party exchange was. They may take a percentage of each sale, or something kind of fee. The reason I see many companies taking Bitcoin is for fraud. With Bitcoin, a company can't be held liable for fraud or chargebacks as often paying with fiat. That, or maybe it was a domino effect after Overstock.com started to accept Bitcoin.

Not true. The CEO of Overstock has millions invested into BTC.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2014/02/21/for-overstock-ceo-bitcoin-isnt-just-a-publicity-stunt/

Don't forget that paying in fiat online usually involves a credit/debit card. Visa/American express/exc charge fees everytime their card is used. Depending on which fee is greater, bitpay may be a cheaper option than accepting cards.

I can see Overstock having a huge part in Bitcoin as they were the first company to start taking it that's mainstream. Should have specified. I can only assume the other companies that followed didn't have an interest in BTC. Could be wrong though.

[maku]

There are regulated exchanges meaning that your average person on the street can buy bitcoin without needing to meet anyone to exchange cash for bitcoin! 
A lot of money is being invested into legitimate bitcoin businesses too, I think they all see that bitcoin adoption is inevitable and they will be ahead of the curve getting in now.

That are some solid points and logical arguments. But I'm wondering how people may think that 'surge of merchants accepting bitcoin is something unwanted and unfavorable. It is just a part of bitcoin evolution if that is happening we should be only happy because we are on a good way to mass adoption.

[countryfree]

Merchants just want more sales. If BTC can bring more business, it's good. Besides, I guess it's quite fashionable too, and it doesn't cost much to implement, so let's do it.

I would have to disagree. The companies mentioned above that began to take Bitcoin as payment probably had no interest in Bitcoin themselves nor did they particularly care about increasing their sales through the currency. Many of their customers I'm sure do not use Bitcoin as a payment option because paying in fiat is just as easy as paying in Bitcoin to major, secure, retailers. It probably did end up costing them some money to cut a deal with Bitpay or whoever their 3rd party exchange was. They may take a percentage of each sale, or something kind of fee. The reason I see many companies taking Bitcoin is for fraud. With Bitcoin, a company can't be held liable for fraud or chargebacks as often paying with fiat. That, or maybe it was a domino effect after Overstock.com started to accept Bitcoin.

For fraud? Are you serious? Do you really believe companies like Microsoft or Dell are trying to hide a few sales? If they do, they would be hugely stupid.

[Gyfts]

Merchants just want more sales. If BTC can bring more business, it's good. Besides, I guess it's quite fashionable too, and it doesn't cost much to implement, so let's do it.

I would have to disagree. The companies mentioned above that began to take Bitcoin as payment probably had no interest in Bitcoin themselves nor did they particularly care about increasing their sales through the currency. Many of their customers I'm sure do not use Bitcoin as a payment option because paying in fiat is just as easy as paying in Bitcoin to major, secure, retailers. It probably did end up costing them some money to cut a deal with Bitpay or whoever their 3rd party exchange was. They may take a percentage of each sale, or something kind of fee. The reason I see many companies taking Bitcoin is for fraud. With Bitcoin, a company can't be held liable for fraud or chargebacks as often paying with fiat. That, or maybe it was a domino effect after Overstock.com started to accept Bitcoin.

For fraud? Are you serious? Do you really believe companies like Microsoft or Dell are trying to hide a few sales? If they do, they would be hugely stupid.

Hide what? I'm saying using Bitcoin would reduce the chance of fraud because it's an easy system to use. I can't see Bitcoin increasing their sales hugely because anyone who was going to buy something through the company was probably going to do so before Bitcoin was ever implemented. Reading on Dell's website, they said they started to accept Bitcoin due to few processing charges. Fraud may or may not be included in their reason for accepting it, but of course that would never be told to its customers.

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/campaigns/bitcoin-marketing

[needFREElunch]

I think that bitcoin was starting to be accepted as a hype thing to create a rush of sales from bitcoin users to make a quick buck. It is sad but true. If the companies were actually invested in the future of bitcoin then they would hold them rather than cashing out right away.