How can bitcoin be used in shops, if payments take so long to process?

[woodsandhillsplc]

One thing I'm still not sure I understand about bitcoin's viability to work in real world stores - is how long it takes for payments to process.

How does this work from a store owner's perspective? How can you be sure you will get your money if someone walks in and offers to pay via bitcoin?

Would the customer not have to wait there with you until the transaction is confirmed to avoid the possibility of being scammed somehow?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

[dogecoinshop]

Thats vendors discretion. But we and the other shops in 18b Las vegas just need to see that its sent to chain and sale is finalized then.Like the BTMs same instant blockchain sees it they pay out.

[woodsandhillsplc]

Thats vendors discretion. But we and the other shops in 18b Las vegas just need to see that its sent to chain and sale is finalized then.Like the BTMs same instant blockchain sees it they pay out.

Ahah that is interesting. Thanks for the information. Would you say there is any risk for vendors or is it rare to have problems?

[dogecoinshop]

2 years ,76 local stores never 1 bad transaction

 Edit alot of the stores take many other coins beside bitcoin and all as soon as the chain sees the trans . it is yours and that has been always within seconds.

[woodsandhillsplc]

2 years ,76 local stores never 1 bad transaction

 Edit alot of the stores take many other coins beside bitcoin and all as soon as the chain sees the trans . it is yours and that has been always within seconds.

That counts as rare! Right that has really cleared that up for me - thanks so much for the advice chief!

[dogecoinshop]

Anytime! and now the plug When In las Vegas 18b The Arts District where Vegas and crypto meet .lol

[dogecoinshop]

If your store/shop is going crypto . 1. have a sign up sheet get their twitter,FB and social media links .So you can send enticing product pics with a crypto only price and that gets their friends and family involved.

[woodsandhillsplc]

Anytime! and now the plug When In las Vegas 18b The Arts District where Vegas and crypto meet .lol

Looks like an interesting place!

[woodsandhillsplc]

If your store/shop is going crypto . 1. have a sign up sheet get their twitter,FB and social media links .So you can send enticing product pics with a crypto only price and that gets their friends and family involved.

Really cool tip, thanks! I am still in really early stages but useful to know, cheers! Have a great weekend

[dogecoinshop]

Good luck and Welcome aboard.

[PenguinFire]

It is always good to see a member here interesting in investing in a shop that accepting BTC as payment.  I would accept most other forms of payment as well.  Welcome to the forum and good luck with your business idea.

[DannyHamilton]

Would you say there is any risk for vendors or is it rare to have problems?

There is ALWAYS risk with ANY form of payment.

If you are accepting U.S. dollars, there is a risk that you will accidentally accept high quality counterfeit bills. You may not know this has happened for a day or so until you try to deposit the bill at the bank.  By then, it may be difficult to recall many details about the person that gave you the counterfeit when you talk to the police and they attempt to track down the criminal.

If you are accepting credit cards, there is a risk that a chargeback may occur against your business for a variety of reasons.  If it is due to credit card fraud, you may not know this has happened for several weeks (or even months). By then, it may be difficult to recall many details about the person that used the credit card when you talk to the police and they attempt to track down the criminal.

If you are accepting bitcoins, there is a risk that they will successfully get a replacement transaction confirmed before the transaction that you see is confirmed.  You may not know that this has happened for an hour or so.  Of the three situations we've discussed here, you have the best chance of recalling some details about the thief when you contact the police in this situation.

Furthermore you can create software that checks some very simple details that will drastically reduce the risk when accepting bitcoin transactions.

If you verify that:

• Your wallet is well connected to multiple geographically distributed peers (or directly connected to several large mining pools)
• The transaction has been well propagated (especially if your software has heard about the transaction from several large mining pools)
• The transaction includes a reasonable fee per kilobyte
• All inputs to the transaction are already confirmed

Then you can be VERY confident that the transaction will confirm.  It would be extremely difficult (nearly impossible) to reverse such a transaction.  I'd personally feel comfortable accepting a transaction worth hundreds of dollars without confirmation if it met the criteria above.
  

[Rmcdermott927]

One thing I'm still not sure I understand about bitcoin's viability to work in real world stores - is how long it takes for payments to process.

How does this work from a store owner's perspective? How can you be sure you will get your money if someone walks in and offers to pay via bitcoin?

Would the customer not have to wait there with you until the transaction is confirmed to avoid the possibility of being scammed somehow?

Thanks in advance for any answers.

If a transaction has the appropriate fees attached, there is little risk.  However that does not mean that there is no risk.   Use you judgement.   If it's for more than a few dollars, I think most people won't mind waiting 10-20 minutes for a confirmation or two.

[Amph]

with small transaction there should be any problem in accepting them with no confirmation, for large transaction it would be a problem if the shop require you to wait for one confirmation, worst case you can more fee to speed it up in the queue

but I always thought that bitcoin is more of an online for of payment, where the waiting isn't that important and will not cause discomfort like in real life payments

[Herbert2020]

i think it can depend on the payment size. for example if it is only 1-2 dollars it is ok to accept it without any waiting and just knowing that it was sent to you.but for bigger purchases i think you have to wait for at least one confirmation to be sure.

also you might be able to use off-chain wallets like coinbase or xapo since they are not using blockchain to confirm it is done right away so you dont have to wait.

[hanomnom]

I suppose they would have to order in advance and collect their product once the transaction processes. Would work better if the shop had a website or online presence of some kind

[RealBitcoin]

A payment takes 10 min to process. In what store can you buy something under 10 minute really?

Sometimes you have to wait 15 min at the tilt because the employee is a moron, if you could do that in 10 min i`d be very happy.

You just buy the stuff quick, pay for it, then put the bought stuff in a safe storage inside the magazine, and go looking at the other products until you wait for verification. Then after the verification is done, pickup your bought goods and leave.

It would change shopping habits, but whatever.

[dogecoinshop]

A payment takes 10 min to process. In what store can you buy something under 10 minute really?

Sometimes you have to wait 15 min at the tilt because the employee is a moron, if you could do that in 10 min i`d be very happy.

You just buy the stuff quick, pay for it, then put the bought stuff in a safe storage inside the magazine, and go looking at the other products until you wait for verification. Then after the verification is done, pickup your bought goods and leave.

It would change shopping habits, but whatever.

 No ,that would make people leave..Really once blockchain see's the transaction you are good .i have stood their and tried to double spend and never succeeded(Testing) So , if you really want bitcoin to be used by the masses . Maybe try going to a real store and spending some ?

[twister]

A payment takes 10 min to process. In what store can you buy something under 10 minute really?

Sometimes you have to wait 15 min at the tilt because the employee is a moron, if you could do that in 10 min i`d be very happy.

You just buy the stuff quick, pay for it, then put the bought stuff in a safe storage inside the magazine, and go looking at the other products until you wait for verification. Then after the verification is done, pickup your bought goods and leave.

It would change shopping habits, but whatever.

Not all blocks take 10 minutes, that's the average time but some of them I have seen to take more than an hour. It is a minor problem and it has been discussed before but if any store does starts to accept BTC as a payment method then the person paying with bitcoin has to wait until the Tx has received 1 confirmation because the shop owner won't accept payment until it has 1 confirmation and for now this is how it is.

[RealBitcoin]

A payment takes 10 min to process. In what store can you buy something under 10 minute really?

Sometimes you have to wait 15 min at the tilt because the employee is a moron, if you could do that in 10 min i`d be very happy.

You just buy the stuff quick, pay for it, then put the bought stuff in a safe storage inside the magazine, and go looking at the other products until you wait for verification. Then after the verification is done, pickup your bought goods and leave.

It would change shopping habits, but whatever.

 No ,that would make people leave..Really once blockchain see's the transaction you are good .i have stood their and tried to double spend and never succeeded(Testing) So , if you really want bitcoin to be used by the masses . Maybe try going to a real store and spending some ?

A payment takes 10 min to process. In what store can you buy something under 10 minute really?

Sometimes you have to wait 15 min at the tilt because the employee is a moron, if you could do that in 10 min i`d be very happy.

You just buy the stuff quick, pay for it, then put the bought stuff in a safe storage inside the magazine, and go looking at the other products until you wait for verification. Then after the verification is done, pickup your bought goods and leave.

It would change shopping habits, but whatever.

Not all blocks take 10 minutes, that's the average time but some of them I have seen to take more than an hour. It is a minor problem and it has been discussed before but if any store does starts to accept BTC as a payment method then the person paying with bitcoin has to wait until the Tx has received 1 confirmation because the shop owner won't accept payment until it has 1 confirmation and for now this is how it is.

Ok plan B

Have an offchain  bitcoin based payment processor designed solely for shop purchases.

You sign up to this payment processor, deposit like 2 bitcoins, and then go on shopping. When you pay for the goods & services you pay directly from the PP's account you hold with them, which would take 15 sec perhaps like if you would buy with credit/debit cards

This would be an easy off-chain solution, and would need a bit of technical integration from the vendor's part.

But i`m sure something like XAPO or similar could come up with an offchain system like this.

plan c

The shop itself should have an internal account with you. Most shops already give out fidelity cards, perhaps they can give out debit cards now and you can have an accoutn with them.

Especially big hypermarkets and plaza's so you just make an account there deposit 2-3 bitcoins when you enter, buy it off and then you leave you can take out the change.