[Announcement] - MetaCo.in, group buying deals from the bitcoin world!

[Gabriel Beal]

I'd like to announce that MetaCo.in is launching in a little under one week.  MetaCoin is going to be a group buying site in the vein of Groupon, Living Social, and other similar sites.  MetaCoin will focus on Bitcoin accepting businesses.  Some are bitcoin businesses you've already grown to love, some are businesses that may be new to you.  

If you're not familiar with how this works, it's like this.  A business will offer a ridiculously good deal, like 40% off some item or something like a 1.5 bitcoin voucher for only 1 bitcoin.  The business sets a minimum number of purchases and then as long as that many deals have been bought, the deal goes through.  Should the deal fail, the individuals who had purchased it get their bitcoins refunded (to the address of their choice) or can opt for MetaCo.in credits.

We're going to be doing promotions all week leading up to our first deal (next Saturday).  The first promotion is for anyone who goes to MetaCo.in and signs up for updates.  You can sign up with your email or you can click on the link to our twitter account.  On Monday night we'll choose 4 random people (2 from email, 2 from twitter followers) and ship them a bitQuarter each.  We'd like to offer more, but I sense a market rebound on Monday.  So stay tuned for more promotions and the best deals you've seen in the bitcoin universe.

[1714108900]

1714108900

[Gabriel Beal]

Okay, let's modify things just slightly.  Instead of picking 4 winners, we're going to just pick 2, but we're going to quadruple the winnings to 1 BTC per person.  Just go to the site and sign up with your email or follow us on our twitter account to be eligible.

[epii]

I'd just like to pipe in to say I think this is pretty brilliant.  The biggest barriers, as I see it, to Bitcoin being used as a currency rather than just an investment (and pretty much everyone agrees that this is a good thing) are the various anxieties keeping people from wanting to spend their bitcoins once they buy them.  This has been talked to death in threads claiming that Bitcoin needs to be inflationary rather than deflationary (which clearly ain't gonna happen).  While inflation is a nifty way to build "willingness to part with one's savings" directly into an economic system, MetaCo.in is poised to show that this can be achieved just as effectively through inventive business models, to the benefit of everyone.  If huge discounts + time-limited deals don't make people want to spend, I don't know what would.

[edd]

I can testify to the effectiveness of the Metaco.in campaign. True, things might have gone better if the dominant Bitcoin exchange hadn't gotten hacked almost immediately following their launch, but traffic to my site and sales definitely increased. Hopefully, once things settle down people will be more willing to actually use their bitcoins.

[Gabriel Beal]

I love the new logo for the bitcoin list Ed.

[edd]

Me too!

It also gives me a great excuse for fraternizing with Bitcoin Porn. "Honest, Honey, I was only there to get a banner done."