Gyft and BitPay Open 50,000 Retail Locations to Bitcoins

[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.