Wow, this seems great. No names I assume? Fee from Visa for using?
To offer this service, I'm basically buying the cards from a bank and selling them to you for bitcoin. The bank charges me a set fee per card, and the same set fee for each refill. To offer this service, I'll have to charge additional bitcoin to cover the bank charges and for me to make a little money.
The bank is offering the cards to entice people to open accounts with them to use the card. If you don't want to open an account, you can still use the card. However, you can only add $200 at a time to your card, and you will not be able to check your card balance online. I'm not sure if there is another way to check your balance.
Does "an additional percent" mean 1%? That's pretty good for this service imo. Do you have to pay a fixed fee per card?
Hmm... I think I gave you the wrong impression. I'm going to charge what ever the market can bear which is likely more than 1%. The most similar service to this one is bitcoin2cc.com. I'll probably charge something similar to that service. You'll have to pm or email me for details.
Is there some minimum you want for the initial fill?
I'm setting the lower limit at $50 per initial fill or refill. Any less and the ratio of the fees to the value of the card itself would be absurd.
This feels too good to be true, can I fire my bank now?
Yes!
Is there a max that can be on the card?
If you don't open an account with the issuing bank, the max seems to be $200 (though I'm not positive and will have to look that up). Otherwise, I think the max is $10,000.
I suppose I could have a few cards, right?
Yes, please do. When you want to add money to a card, you send bitcoin to me, and I'll send a code which will reload any card with the cash you purchased. If you have a PGP key, I can send the code encrypted in an email.
Basically, you would just buy a reload code from me when you need it. I would have no idea how many cards you have.
Is a lost card like lost cash?
Yes and no. The bank does offer to replace lost or stolen cards for a fee, but you may need to be a member of the bank. Otherwise, it's just like losing cash and you may not want to keep too much money on the card.
Is it possibly to get a replacement, or two identical cards to start so my wife and I can share?
As above, you can purchase as many cards as you want, and as many refills as you want. Apply the refills to any card you want.
Do you plan to automate refills?
Eventually, I'll automate refills. If this service is really popular, I will automate it as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'll refill them manually until I get too annoyed at refilling them and either pay someone to automate it for me, or find some time to do it myself.
How long does it take from when you get the coins until the dollars are on the card?
First you would have to get the card, which would take a few days to arrive in the mail. Since I'm refilling them manually, it could take as much as a day to refill. If there is enough demand, I'll keep some refills on me at all times, and send them as they are bought.
