to be honest i do not like this bar tab idea much. here is why.
you play the man in the middle. you are handling other peoples money.
this means you run a business and need to pay taxes, most likely some kind of licence and also receipts.
then there is also the risk, that the owner will just keep your money, because what do you want to do about it.
i do not see an incentive to go solo. the owner could just stop using bitcoin if you stop the risk free middleman service.
if you want people using bitcoin, then let them use it, do not do it for them.
and there is the problem
people want their own local store to accept bitcoin but are too scared to stand with their own local store and help them set it up. they think "someone else should do it" (quoting many other people from the past)
you do realise that although bitpay and coinbase are a 'someone else', but training a retailer about bitcoin, satisfying their questions and aversion to try something new that has negative press isnt going to magic itself away simply because your sitting in your house wishing your local corner store would take bitcoin. if you want your local store to accept bitcoin, you need to be involved with helping them out. not crying from a sofa.
as for needing to be a business. my idea is not a permanent solution and not a solution for national chains. its just a few week introduction which due to not every customer being a bitcoin holder, wont involve much cashflow. and because of this. that small amount of support you offer to introduce them to bitcoin, wont meet the financial thresholds to consider you as a business, nor a MSB in most countries(pretty much all, but i havnt checked them all)
like i said its just a bar tab.
just like prepaying anything.. drinks in a pub, wedding planning, cinema bookings, pre-release video games,
your just prepaying for future customer and accepting bitcoin as a 'ticket' that the business has processed a cash transaction.
if you think a local store is going to do over a few thousand $$ in bitcoin transaction in just a few weeks, then you are mistaken.
in most cases the money you will use as a bar tab is no different then buying a round of drinks for a group of 6 people.
this topic is about local stores.. not international corporations afterall.
the way i see it is this
if you live in a small town in england. and you know a shop in YOUR town that YOU wish would accept bitcoin. dont sit on your sofa crying about how some corporation in america hasnt spent thousands of dollars to travel to your small town to train the small shop about bitcoin, offering their services as a middleman. do what i did and help the shop understand what bitcoin is and how easy it is to accept bitcoin just using basically a calculator and a piece of paper with a QR code on it. once they are happy then they can decide how popular it is to go it alone, or not bother after a while.
