[ANN] BitcoinStore.com (Beta) - Electronics super store with over 500K items!

[MemoryDealers]

do you sell ubuntu laptops?  i get nothing when i search for "linux or ubuntu laptop".

Unfortunately none of the major manufacturers seem to support this kind of thing.
I think the best I can do at this point is recommend asking someone like www.system76.com to accept bitcoins,
or buy a standard laptop from bitcoinstore.com and install ubuntu on it once you receive it.

[1714119070]

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[1714119070]

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[BkkCoins]

Items I wanted but couldn't find: JLabs J3 ear buds, Eneloop 4xAAA batteries, any no-name silicone case for Sansa Fuze.

1. The Eneloop batteries should be listed on the site (but aren't)
I will look into what is causing them not to show up,  and should have the problem fixed soon.

2. Unfortunately Jlabs is not one of the brands carried by our current distributor, and they also don't have cases for the Sansa Fuze.
In the future we will add additional distributors but this is still at least a month or two out, and adds a significant amount of complexity to the import system.

The good news is that if you are in the market for the Sansa Fuze itself we are MUCH cheaper than Amazon!

SanDisk 8GB SANSA FUZE+ MP3 PLAYER:
Bitcoin store $76.99 
Amazon $122.72 

Thanks for your response. I'll check back later as if you have the Eneloops that, together with the charger would be enough to make an order.

As for the Fuze, I already have 2 and love them but wouldn't be looking for more now, especially at the price they seem to be going at now. I got mine for < $50 a few years back. I'm guessing this is because the newer models aren't as good as the old ones and are still in demand. I picked up some replacement batteries on ebay and when my current ones start to crap out I'll do surgery to keep them going.

As for JLabs - I think they may be worth contacting directly as it seems like they're the kind of small mfr. that can make deals. I know they also sell direct on Amazon. The off-colour J3 is a steal right now on Amazon at <$9 including a very nice case normally sold for $10 alone.

Thx again.

[Rygon]

First, this is a great website, and has the potential to be huge by leveraging the wholesaler discounts and bitcoins low transaction fees.

But (and I realize it has only been up and running for a month now), it really needs a more refined user interface. Several people have already pointed it out, but I think it's worth repeating. I think it's about 90% of the way there, but that last little bit of programming work would really make this website stand out and compare to the big boys (Newegg, Amazon, etc). With over 500K products, the search (or advanced search) interface could really use some improvement. Plus, for the life of me, I can't find a section with special deals or sales going on. I see some items are tagged as "Sale", but how does one look at only those products?

[Isokivi]

Im having trouble finding/figuring out how dynamic/up to date the pricing on the site is. The items I am looking at dont work out anywhere near the mtgox 24h average which I suspected to be the yardstick there. How and when do prices change in accordance to bitcoins exchange rate ?

[Kupsi]

Im having trouble finding/figuring out how dynamic/up to date the pricing on the site is. The items I am looking at dont work out anywhere near the mtgox 24h average which I suspected to be the yardstick there. How and when do prices change in accordance to bitcoins exchange rate ?

The exchange rate when calculating prices in USD seems a little low?

This displayed exchange rate has been fixed.
The exchange rate at checkout is always calculated by Bitpay via their formula: https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-exchange-rates
This way the customer is always guaranteed to get the very best rate possible for their Bitcoins.

Do you get lower prices in BTC when you get to the checkout?

[Isokivi]

Im having trouble finding/figuring out how dynamic/up to date the pricing on the site is. The items I am looking at dont work out anywhere near the mtgox 24h average which I suspected to be the yardstick there. How and when do prices change in accordance to bitcoins exchange rate ?

The exchange rate when calculating prices in USD seems a little low?

This displayed exchange rate has been fixed.
The exchange rate at checkout is always calculated by Bitpay via their formula: https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-exchange-rates
This way the customer is always guaranteed to get the very best rate possible for their Bitcoins.

Do you get lower prices in BTC when you get to the checkout?

Yes I do, much better.

[Spaceman_Spiff]

2 remarks, don't know if they have been addressed before:

1) I can't find the "comparison list" (easily, and it should be easy).  Does it exist already?  If so, you might want to make 'comparison list' clickable in the message you get after you click "Add to compare"

2) I believe you only accept payments in bitcoin.  While I think your website is great for the bitcoin community and its advancement of legal businesses, why not accept alternative (meaning the traditional) means of payment too, but give like a 5% reduction for using bitcoins.  That way your target audience grows substantially, and you'll have a better shot at becoming profitable, or am I overlooking some effects?

[kjlimo]

2 remarks, don't know if they have been addressed before:

1) I can't find the "comparison list" (easily, and it should be easy).  Does it exist already?  If so, you might want to make 'comparison list' clickable in the message you get after you click "Add to compare"

2) I believe you only accept payments in bitcoin.  While I think your website is great for the bitcoin community and its advancement of legal businesses, why not accept alternative (meaning the traditional) means of payment too, but give like a 5% reduction for using bitcoins.  That way your target audience grows substantially, and you'll have a better shot at becoming profitable, or am I overlooking some effects?

Put another way, you could have a "Credit card fee" but I think that goes against the credit card companies TOS, so that's probably why.  Not sure if Dwolla would let you include a surcharge (probably somewhere in their TOS that doesn't allow it), but then we'd be promoting Dwolla and not bitcoin...
 
Might just be easier to leave it the way it is...

[Isokivi]

I made an order of ~400$, shipping to europe was very reasonable 1.112btc for two ssd hard drives. Im fairly certain that the delivery time will work out to be roughly a month, there were several different delivery options available, I would of have guesstimated the fastest ones to reach me in two weeks at most vie FedEx, but I was not in a hurry so I went with the cheapest one. i know I'll be paying 24% ontop of that in import taxes, the bottom line is that the service in it's current state works for Eu customers... but we do need a bitcoin retailer within the Eu.

[Benatar]

Stop lying about amazon prices.

[giszmo]

I would like to buy a raspberry pi for bitcoins

[Benatar]

SanDisk 8GB SANSA FUZE+ MP3 PLAYER:
Bitcoin store $76.99 
Amazon $122.72 

Amazon Price: $62.99

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Fuze-Player-White/dp/B0041G62V0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1358469318&sr=1-2&keywords=SDMX20R-008GW-A57

[kjlimo]

SanDisk 8GB SANSA FUZE+ MP3 PLAYER:
Bitcoin store $76.99 
Amazon $122.72 

Amazon Price: $62.99

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Fuze-Player-White/dp/B0041G62V0/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1358469318&sr=1-2&keywords=SDMX20R-008GW-A57

A) amazon prices change daily, possibly by the minute.

B) Amazon prices change by IP address/ location.  - tried to find a link to the Wallstreet Journal article I read a couple weeks ago, but failed.  Sorry.

[Benatar]

They don't change vastly enough for his earlier claim to be true.  He wasn't even quoting the actual amazon price, just one of the third party dealers that go through amazon, and the most expensive of those third party dealers at that.

[kjlimo]

They don't change vastly enough for his earlier claim to be true.  He wasn't even quoting the actual amazon price, just one of the third party dealers that go through amazon, and the most expensive of those third party dealers at that.

That's fair, I'm ok with just expecting my 3% discount on the site (credit card transaction fee eliminated).

I agree that trying to be more aggressive on price competition doesn't really seem valid or possible since I don't understand where the money would be coming from.

[Benatar]

http://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-Sansa-Fuze-Player-White/product/B0041G62V0

The highest it's been in the last 6 months on  Amazon (as in being sold directly by amazon and not a 3rd party vendor) was $69.99 btw.

If you want to buy/sell directly in BTC, yeah, hype up the reasons for doing that.

Lying about easily checkable Amazon prices just makes it look shady.

[Herodes]

You may have your dev to look into validation of your web form. Seems like they take all kinds of input.

Apart from that, a great great idea, and I wish you the best of luck!

[twix]

I would really love to buy SD cards or CPU coolers, but I've checked the shipping costs for France, and they are equal or more expensive than the product, so I can't buy them...

Have you planned a solution to this ?

[MemoryDealers]

Stop lying about amazon prices.

Bentar,

Stop spreading FUD.

Here are some current examples as of Jan 18th 2013 in which Bitcoinstore.com is clearly cheaper than Amazon.com

Adtran Bluesocket 1840 - Wireless access point 
BitcoinStore $454
Amazon  $471


HP LASERJET PRO 400 M451DN CLR
BitcoinStore $494
Amazon  $509


Wine Enthusiast Silent 12 Bottle Wine Refrigerator
BitcoinStore $124
Amazon  $145


Mitsubishi DLP Projector - 1080p - HDTV - 16:10 (UD8350U)
BitcoinStore $9,022
Amazon  $11,719



Bitcoin store is not cheaper than Amazon for every item,  but it certainly is for at least tens of thousands of items,  and possibly for more than one hundred thousand items.
For just about everything else, Bitcoinstore will certainly be competitive with Amazon.
You also seem to be forgetting the very best part,  you can pay with Bitcoin!
Three people are working on the site full time,  and it will only get better with time.

[fornit]

Stop lying about amazon prices.

Bentar,

Stop spreading FUD.

Here are some current examples as of Jan 18th 2013

to be fair, your initial example didnt compare the exact same products and all your new example compare your prices with prices from a 3rd party selling on amazon, not amazon itself. that might not be lying but it leaves enough room for a little of the U and D in FUD.