How can we encourage local businesses to accept BTC?

[kevin go]

not easy i think, not many people know btc
first thing we must get them to know what is btc, especially in my country alot of people still confusing what is bitcoin
we need more promotion like putting bitcoin billboard, sticker and etc so they will wondering what is btc?and then try to research it..
hopefully they will know

[bitlancr]

not easy i think, not many people know btc
first thing we must get them to know what is btc, especially in my country alot of people still confusing what is bitcoin
we need more promotion like putting bitcoin billboard, sticker and etc so they will wondering what is btc?and then try to research it..
hopefully they will know

Yes promotions are mandatory for bitcoin to succeed.

To succeed we need merchants, and we have to reach out to them.

[Astargath]

not easy i think, not many people know btc
first thing we must get them to know what is btc, especially in my country alot of people still confusing what is bitcoin
we need more promotion like putting bitcoin billboard, sticker and etc so they will wondering what is btc?and then try to research it..
hopefully they will know

Yes promotions are mandatory for bitcoin to succeed.

To succeed we need merchants, and we have to reach out to them.

Telling them about bitcoin won't do anything. No one would start accepting bitcoins because they know they are too volatile, there is no point in using bitcoins for an average merchant or shop or business. Unless bitcoin can stabilize I don't see why would any of them use it, do you?

[Windpower]

Local businesses are scared of accepting Bitcoin because the price is too volatile. We need to fix that first.

[smith coins]

I am looking to help move BTC forward into our economy more and would like to get some suggestions on how we can get more retailers to accept BTC as a payment.  The best part about accepting BTC is that they do not have any threat of charge-back from the customer.  I am just looking for some more input before I start approaching some of these local retailers.

It's really hard to encourage local businesses to accept btc now, because when you show to them the recent price chart they will be afraid because if they sell something they can not make profit if the price decreases.

[sishendaoye]

Local businesses are scared of accepting Bitcoin because the price is too volatile. We need to fix that first.

I agree with you, but this can't be fixed.
It's how this market is working and I don't see it changing.
Too many people are just making too many profit out of it.

[pinoycash]

I ask one of my co business owners they can add BTC if the confirmation is instant. 

[MaritiJames3]

I ask one of my co business owners they can add BTC if the confirmation is instant. 

Why the confirmation. The transfer is instant they can look it up right away. It's very uncommon for a transfer not to go true.
So they should add it, if that's their only problem with bitcoin.

[Anegg]

not easy i think, not many people know btc
first thing we must get them to know what is btc, especially in my country alot of people still confusing what is bitcoin
we need more promotion like putting bitcoin billboard, sticker and etc so they will wondering what is btc?and then try to research it..
hopefully they will know

Thats the same with my country. There are no stores that accept Bitcoin. It really sucks.

[jt byte]

The problem with local businesses is that they are not owned by techie people.
Explaining them how bitcoin works will be a big challenge.

An ever big challenge will be to learn them how they can accept bitcoin.
Proper documentation and guides are key to achieve such a thing.

[Pasnik]

not easy i think, not many people know btc
first thing we must get them to know what is btc, especially in my country alot of people still confusing what is bitcoin
we need more promotion like putting bitcoin billboard, sticker and etc so they will wondering what is btc?and then try to research it..
hopefully they will know

Thats the same with my country. There are no stores that accept Bitcoin. It really sucks.

Just be patient. In a few years, there will be numerous stores in every country to accept bitcoin.

[TheButterZone]

Yelp has an "Accepts Bitcoin" flag: http://officialblog.yelp.com/2014/04/now-on-yelp-businesses-that-accept-bitcoin.html

Unfortunately when I type "bitcoin" and "accepts bitcoin" in the search, it doesn't filter to only bitcoin-accepting businesses.

[vrm86]

Price volatility is the major problem here - If you are running online store, you could have prices changing dynamically according to the BTC/USD rate. But what if you are running brick and mortar shop, where every product has it's own paper price label?

Moreover, there is general factor of insecurity related to the price fluctuations, what could discourage people to adopt BTC.

[jackg]

Larger companies like Tesco, Morrisons and Argos in the UK could use a clic-and-collect style system with people already in ther store. This wouldmean that their system could detect payments as fast as normal ordering systems and a user would be able to order with Bitcoin. Even if they were to use a large company like Coinbase to make their transactions directly converted from BTC to £.

[krishna1]

we should show them how the bitcoin works. we have to prove its existence and the big question ia that bitcoin price is so voilent

[Riricos]

Get some fair points out there

Money is getting more Digital nowadays
Less physical currency in the stores will make robbers less to rob stores

Phones being used to pay in certain stores now

But inform them about the virtual safety i guess

[Kelarid]

we should show them how the bitcoin works. we have to prove its existence and the big question ia that bitcoin price is so voilent

With the violent bitcoin price, it means the local business will not keep the bitcoin they receive. So they will have to sell straight away.

[valta4065]

In my experience, if your going to go one by one and try to introduce them to BTCitcoin and explain how it works in order for them to accept payments of BTC , it would be really a lengthy process and you'll stop doing it before you start so the best suggestion I could make is either by making a mini seminar wherein you invite them altogether and talk about it and even show some of the YouTube videos that well known speakers of community are in and they cover almost everything... And in cases of online local businesses, you could try to send them a support ticket regarding the matter and I've had luck that they answered, "were already reviewing BTCitcoin payments and will consider it for the future" .

Well, the main point to make businesses accept bitcoin is coming and say:

"hey! You know how you pay 3 taxes each time you sell something? And you know how less and less people use cash so you have to pay taxes on it too?
Well good news! On bitcoin the only tax you pay is the fee to send the money in your pocket! And it's around half a cent each time!"

[Kprawn]

We did a little experiment today with one of the smaller merchants in our city. We {7 people} went there at different times of the day, and we thanked the merchant for

accepting Bitcoin payment. He obviously did not know what we were talking about, and we told him that a speaker at one of our Bitcoin meetups, told us that they were

accepting Bitcoins. This was obviously not true and just part of the experiment... He quickly got intrigued and wanted to know more... We re-directed him to a Bitcoin

payment processor. In a week we will go back and see if they accept Bitcoins now.  

[virtualdn]

Promote BTC to your friends who own businesses... it's a great way to make them accept BTC in their stores...