Gyft and BitPay Open 50,000 Retail Locations to Bitcoins

[BitPay Business Solutions]

http://uptweet.com/viewStory?id=1253

Customers are now able to buy mobile gift cards using bitcoins and redeem them at over 50,000 physical retail locations across the USA including GAP, Lowes, Sephora, GameStop, American Eagle, Sports Authority, Nike, Marriott, Burger King, Fandango, Brookstone, and many more household brands.

Any shopper in a participating retail store, with bitcoins on their Android device, can easily convert bitcoins into a store gift card and pay for their purchase. The whole process takes less than one minute and can be done on a single mobile device.

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[Philj]

One step closer to being able to spend bitcoins anywhere.

[Technomage]

This is great. I will try this when I'm in the US for the conference.

[chriswilmer]

Just downloaded the app... I don't understand how to use it

When I go to "add giftcard" it asks me for the giftcard code... how do I use bitcoins with this?

[Philj]

so far I can see that you have to "send" a gift card to be able to buy, but I couldn't get my own email address to show up in the "friends" list of who I could send it to. I was able to select another contact then manually modify the email address, but then the app locked when I hit process order.

Seems like a great idea, if it works right. Really need to add the ability to "buy" a gift card for yourself, instead of having to send it.

[chriswilmer]

so far I can see that you have to "send" a gift card to be able to buy, but I couldn't get my own email address to show up in the "friends" list of who I could send it to. I was able to select another contact then manually modify the email address, but then the app locked when I hit process order.

Seems like a great idea, if it works right. Really need to add the ability to "buy" a gift card for yourself, instead of having to send it.

Argh, yes... Gyft!!! I want to buy a whopper at Burger King... I am HUNGRY!!! TELL ME HOW TO USE YOUR APP!!

[Technomage]

My problem with the app is that I can't normally install the app to any of my devices. The app is country locked. Sucks ass.

[Piper67]

My problem with the app is that I can't normally install the app to any of my devices. The app is country locked. Sucks ass.

Yup, no Gyft app in Canada it appears. Too bad. Nevertheless, great news for Bitcoin and, as usual, the bar rises again courtesy of BitPay.

[bennett616]

Makes my day hearing news like this

Andy B

[BitPay Business Solutions]

they just published an update to the App to allow self-purchases.

[Piper67]

they just published an update to the App to allow self-purchases.

I hope you guys at BitPay understand what you've just done... you sort of just turned Bitcoin into a currency, at least in the US 

[cypherdoc]

BitPay, one of the few bright stars of the Bitcoin community since day 1.

[Driice]

One step closer to being able to buy a cup of coffee with bitcoins, cheers BitPay!

[13Charlie]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

[Piper67]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

By the way... where was this app when the journalist was trying to live on Bitcoins for a week???

[Philj]

they just published an update to the App to allow self-purchases.

doesn't look like the one in the android play store has this newly added feature. Any idea the version umber that will have this, or when it should hit the play store?

[13Charlie]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

By the way... where was this app when the journalist was trying to live on Bitcoins for a week???

I know, Bitcoin would have received some GOOD press in that series instead of whiny complaints.

[jwzguy]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

By the way... where was this app when the journalist was trying to live on Bitcoins for a week???

I know, Bitcoin would have received some GOOD press in that series instead of whiny complaints.

She wouldn't have used it. She could have done the same thing with her Clipper card but considered it "cheating." It's ok, her article was still very interesting and got a grocery store to start accepting it, good job overall.

[jwzguy]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

Did you buy it for yourself or send it to someone else? If you bought it for yourself please explain how you did and what version of the app you're using. I don't see an update for 1.4 and also don't see a self-purchase option, only an option to purchase and send to someone else.

[13Charlie]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

Did you buy it for yourself or send it to someone else? If you bought it for yourself please explain how you did and what version of the app you're using. I don't see an update for 1.4 and also don't see a self-purchase option, only an option to purchase and send to someone else.

I didn't see the update that allows self purchase either.
I have a Sony Android phone and the current Gyft app in the Play Store for me is 1.4
I ended up sending it to a guy in my office then told him to send me the e-mail. From there it's pretty self explanatory.

[jwzguy]

I didn't see the update that allows self purchase either.
I have a Sony Android phone and the current Gyft app in the Play Store for me is 1.4
I ended up sending it to a guy in my office then told him to send me the e-mail. From there it's pretty self explanatory.

What was in the email? A gyft code or the actual giftcard code?

I am seeing on Reddit that people are using the "send to someone else" option, but selecting their own email from the contacts list. Hopefully they will update the app to make this easier.

[jwzguy]

A few of the places you can buy a giftcard from on the spot:

Walmart, Target, Amazon, CVS, KMart, Lowe's, Sears, Basspro

JCPenny, Old Navy, Gap, American Eagle, Footlocker, Nike

Chili's, Burger King, On The Border, Papa John's

This...is a big deal.

Edit: unfortunately, it doesn't look like you can buy from Walmart/Target. Only "add existing giftcards" to your e-wallet. However, plenty on the list that are still huge.

[13Charlie]

Earlier this morning, I sent an E-mail to Gyft Support that said
I just downloaded your Android app (1.4) to my Sony Xperia TL and can not seem to figure out how to purchase gift cards in the app.
What am I missing?

This was their reply a few minutes ago.

Thank you for using Gyft!
You have to purchase cards like you normally would in the app. (Click the airplane to send a gift card- it will take you though all the steps of who you want to purchase it for- then on the payment page, you should see 'pay with bitcoin' If you want to send one to your self, you have to add yourself as a contact in your phone first.
I can walk you thorough over the phone if you want too. 415-827-5966
Hope this helps!

Sidenote: I'm guessing that they are getting a ton of Bitcoin related e-mail questions today because my initial question said nothing about Bitcoin.

[FNG]

A few of the places you can buy a giftcard from on the spot:

Walmart, Target, Amazon, CVS, KMart, Lowe's, Sears, Basspro

JCPenny, Old Navy, Gap, American Eagle, Footlocker, Nike

Chili's, Burger King, On The Border, Papa John's

This...is a big deal.

 

Huge deal. You couldn't ask for a bigger lineup.

[BitChick]

Article about the Gyft deal:  (I posted it in the press section too)


http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/09/your-bitcoins-are-finally-worth-something/

[bassclef]

Beautiful. I see a lot of gift cards in my future.

[fitty]

Android only. Blahhhh! Does Apple hate Bitcoin? Wish you could use the gyft.com site.

[marcus_of_augustus]

This sounds like great news ... and the gift cards are transferrable? how many hops can they do?

Wonder they work ... are the gift cards encrypted bearer vouchers that get redeemed on Gyft's server's? What's the technology?

[hephaist0s]

It's too bad the cards you can buy within the app are a small subset of the cards that the app supports -- no Best Buy, for example. It's still a neat new option, though.

[toffoo]

Dammit .. I just did the whole download/install/sync/signup malarky only to realize I missed the crucial "Android only" bit.  No love for the iPhone here today.  Hopefully this isn't gaylord Apple cockblocking bitcoin again and it will be coming for us in a future update.  Otherwise this isn't very useful for me.

[wtman]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

This is great news

[melvster]

Android only. Blahhhh! Does Apple hate Bitcoin? Wish you could use the gyft.com site.

Yes apple block some bitcoin apps

[FatMagic]

This is fantastic news! Hooray!

[siggy]

Android only. Blahhhh! Does Apple hate Bitcoin? Wish you could use the gyft.com site.

NO KIDDING !!!  I downloaded the app and installed on IOS .. no bitcoin option to pay for gift cards... 

You'd think they would at least have the purchase cards with bitcoins option on their website..  I can't even find a purchase cards option on the site, much less pay with BTC 

Really bummed. 

Sigg

[Traktion]

Solution: Get an Android phone and embrace a more open platform!

[Traktion]

Great news though! I'm looking forward to seeing more terminals in shops that accept Bitcoins directly, but this is a good way to get the ball rolling!

[westkybitcoins]

Nice!

Used their service to send a last-minute mother's day gift. Bought the Gyft card with bitcoins.

Life is good. 

[just1nmc]

Here's a recent graph for the Gyft android app downloads

[marcus_of_augustus]

Here's a recent graph for the Gyft android app downloads

Wow, there's some consumer muscle getting flexed.

Has any body got any details on the inner workings of the crypto of these gift card apps? Transaction privacy and security specifically ... just to be sure this is not some kind of trojan to trawl lots of user data for free for example ... proprietary code I assume?

[Transisto]

Solution: Get an Android phone and embrace a more open platform!

Still have an iOS device? This ^ And stop complaining !

[ajk]

This service was so vital to bitcoin it hurts to see it come out as late as it did but happy to see it out

ive been using this app for a few days now and it is Awesome, I used to buy amazon GCs from bitmit and people on the forums but now I can buy them from Gyft and receive them instantly, Literally instant,

Please get these guys to add Prepaid phone minutes because there have been other services out there that offer Amazon GC as well as prepaid minutes and do not see why Gyft couldnt do this as well

So happy to see a real business fill this gap to bad this wasnt out during the forbes article cause the lady would have had no problems eating with this,

[Stunna]

Another step in the right direction for bitcoin :-).

Keep up the solid work bitpay

[etotheipi]

I just investigated this myself on my Android device.  I'll give it a 5/5 once you get it set up, but I had a little difficulty with that part.  You must add yourself as a contact for it to work.  It somehow auto-detected me, but the wrong email address, and my gift card was sent to the wrong one.  Once that happened, it was a total mess.  My android device was already linked to the correct address and I couldn't switch logins.  And I couldn't access the gift card without signing up with the other email address.  And even when I did, the web version of it didn't let me return or re-gift my card, and I couldn't switch the user login on my phone to do it.  I finally figured out how to add my alternate email to my Gyft app, but it didn't see previously sent gift cards.  Ugh!

In the end I gave up and used the web interface to redeem it on the Amazon website.  I then removed the bogus contact and now all gift cards end up at the right place.  That would've been super annoying if it was one of those gift cards that you scan at the store, but luckily I picked Amazon which is stupid simple to redeem from a code.

After that, I tried again and it worked fine.  In fact, too well.  I had the gift card in a couple minutes and used it successfully for my next Amazon purchase.  It almost feels dirty... it feels like money laundering.  If this gets big, I'm curious how that will play out. 

Until then, it does seem to give you another option for paying regular people with BTC:  if they have the Gyft app, and you owe them a nice round number of USD (multiple of $5 or $25), then you can instantaneously buy them an Amazon gift card and send it to their phone.  That's something most people can use, and you (as the consumer) basically take no hit on conversion.  Nice.

[Philj]

1.4.3 just became available on the play store, and there is now a "Buy" button so you don't have to jump through hoops to send it to yourself. Makes the app perfect, now if only there were a few more gift certificates you could buy. Target would be great, then you could buy groceries.

[Elwar]

Would there be a way to set up an android emulator on my PC and send a gift card to my mother for mother's day on her iPhone?

I am in Afghanistan so no phone (well, I have a cheap Nokia for emergencies).

[foggyb]

Would there be a way to set up an android emulator on my PC and send a gift card to my mother for mother's day on her iPhone?

I am in Afghanistan so no phone (well, I have a cheap Nokia for emergencies).

http://bluestacks.com/

[BitJohn]

Gyft looks great still have yet to b e able to use bitcoins though.......

[BitPay Business Solutions]

I can tell you that the guys from GYFT are very happy with the sales they are getting from bitcoin!  I will have some stats from the first week of launch for my presentation at the Bitcoin Conference.  

if you continue to find bugs please let them know.  They have been extremely responsive to adding the "buy a card (for yourself)" option and other fixes.

[mjosephs]

My problem with the app is that I can't normally install the app to any of my devices. The app is country locked. Sucks ass.

Yup, no Gyft app in Canada it appears.

Um, of course.... gyft is a tracking and de-anonymization scheme.  Letting you use non-USA mobile phones would defeat the whole purpose.

You didn't actually expect that to work, did you?

[mjosephs]

This sounds like great news ... and the gift cards are transferrable?

Of course not.  Gyft is a spyware tool used by the IRS to stop financial privacy.

Why else do you think they insist on tying your purchase to a facebook account and a USA-registered mobile phone number?  Or block web browsers with private browsing enabled?

[BTC Books]

My problem with the app is that I can't normally install the app to any of my devices. The app is country locked. Sucks ass.

Yup, no Gyft app in Canada it appears.

Um, of course.... gyft is a tracking and de-anonymization scheme.  Letting you use non-USA mobile phones would defeat the whole purpose.

You didn't actually expect that to work, did you?

I need to try this on an old smart phone I have:  a phone without a phone number, but with wireless networking.  Does your phone have to be connected to a cell network in order to redeem?  It doesn't look like it - it looks like the merchants are the ones who keep track of a gift card balance.

So if you pull the SIM from a phone, reset the phone to all defaults to remove any old identifying information, download the app over wireless networking, set up a fresh anonymous gmail address over wireless networking, buy a gift card for yourself, then take it in to the store and redeem it - does that work?

Anybody try this yet?

[kokojie]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

I don't understand, why would people pay $25.02 for a $25.00 giftcard (that possibly will expire)? why not just use your credit card, which probably give you 1% or more cashback on your purchase?

[BTC Books]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

I don't understand, why would people pay $25.02 for a $25.00 giftcard (that possibly will expire)? why not just use your credit card, which probably give you 1% or more cashback on your purchase?

Because you don't pay a minimum of 20% tax on the income if you bought your coins for less than the current exchange rate?  In the U.S. anyway, which is the only place Gyft is valid.

[Elwar]

Nice ! - I just bought a $25.00 GC for .2222 BTC
At the current exchange rate, that cost me $25.02
This is MAGICAL!
I'm going to eat lunch everyday for the next month using only Bitcoin!

I don't understand, why would people pay $25.02 for a $25.00 giftcard (that possibly will expire)? why not just use your credit card, which probably give you 1% or more cashback on your purchase?

Paycheck: $1,000
Bank Account to Dwolla: $1,000
Dwolla to MtGox: $999.75
MtGox $ to BTC: $994.75 worth of BTC

Average daily increase in Bitcoin value for the past two years: 8%
Day 1: $25 gift card: $25.16 worth of BTC
Day 2: $25 gift card: $23.16 worth of BTC
Day 3: $25 gift card: $21.33 worth of BTC
Day 4: $25 gift card: $19.64 worth of BTC
Day 5: $25 gift card: $18.09 worth of BTC
Day 6: $25 gift card: $16.66 worth of BTC
Day 7: $25 gift card: $15.35 worth of BTC

A conservative estimate where the Bitcoin value only doubles over the next year: .25% increase per day.
Day 1: $25 gift card: $25.16 worth of BTC
Day 2: $25 gift card: $25.11 worth of BTC
Day 3: $25 gift card: $25.07 worth of BTC
Day 4: $25 gift card: $25.03 worth of BTC
Day 5: $25 gift card: $24.98 worth of BTC
Day 6: $25 gift card: $24.94 worth of BTC
Day 7: $25 gift card: $24.90 worth of BTC

So, if you do not blow your paycheck right away and spend throughout the week, the benefit of using BTC goes up every day.

Volatility? Through dollar cost averaging the more often you invest equal amounts the closer you will be over time to the average rate of increase.

That 1% you get back at the end of the year on your credit card is denominated in a currency that has over 10% yearly loss in value.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

That 1% you get back at the end of the year on your credit card is denominated in a currency that has over 10% yearly loss in value.

 ^THIS

[westkybitcoins]

My problem with the app is that I can't normally install the app to any of my devices. The app is country locked. Sucks ass.

Yup, no Gyft app in Canada it appears.

Um, of course.... gyft is a tracking and de-anonymization scheme.  Letting you use non-USA mobile phones would defeat the whole purpose.

You didn't actually expect that to work, did you?

While I don't automatically think every attempt to make spending bitcoins convenient is a tracking scheme of some sort...

It's a scheme for spying on bitcoin users.

Notice how these "gyft cards" must be linked to a facebook or google account and must be spent on a US-based (aka trackable/traceable) cellular phone.

And their website blocks tor.

And their website also blocks any users with private browsing enabled.

Yeah, this is pretty much worthless.

...all those unnecessary anti-privacy measures are definitely a cause for concern. At the very least, my expected usage of the service has dropped dramatically.

[westkybitcoins]

Hmm. Actually just visited their site both with private browsing, and via Tor. Worked just fine.

If they aren't going to such ridiculous extremes, then they're no worse than Facebook and company (meaning, measured use is reasonable.)

BTC Books, if you do try it on a phone w/o service and have issues, it would be good to know. I suspect you won't though.

[13Charlie]

Yesterday my Gyft app updated and I got a new icon on the main screen of the app that says "Buy"
Super easy to buy gift cards for myself now.

--Sony Xperia TL on AT&T--

I used it for buying a Mothers Day gift yesterday.
I just wanted to show my mom that I could use Bitcoin in the real world.

[Jakewell]

Good to see the market is growing so good.

[BTCLuke]

I don't understand, why would people pay $25.02 for a $25.00 giftcard (that possibly will expire)? why not just use your credit card, which probably give you 1% or more cashback on your purchase?

Really? Welcome to the concept of using money, where everything is free.*



*Hidden fees may apply.

[farfiman]

This sounds like great news and the gift cards are transferrable? how many hops can they do?

go away scammer

[BTC Books]

Hmm. Actually just visited their site both with private browsing, and via Tor. Worked just fine.

If they aren't going to such ridiculous extremes, then they're no worse than Facebook and company (meaning, measured use is reasonable.)

BTC Books, if you do try it on a phone w/o service and have issues, it would be good to know. I suspect you won't though.

Well, I got it onto an Android tablet without any trouble - no 3G and I disabled GPS.  It's Android 2.3 though, so I can't get the 'send to yourself' option that I'm told is in Gyft's latest upgrade.  So two users, two Facebook accounts (the new version of Google+ doesn't work on 2.3; it needs the Google Play Store (instead of the Market), which also doesn't work on 2.3), and two email accounts.

Yucch.

So my old smartphone is dead, but I'm getting a newer HTC  in a couple of days from a friend for free.  Runs Android 4 point something - ICS.  We'll see if that's simpler, and if it works.  I'll let you know.