2013-09-16: BitPay surpasses 10,000 merchants, adds QuickBooks support

[jgarzik]

Press release URL: http://uptweet.com/viewStory?id=1519

Related stories:
http://gigaom.com/2013/09/16/more-merchants-using-bitcoin-payment-processor-bitpay-says-it-has-surpassed-10000-clients/
http://techcrunch.com/2013/09/16/bitpay-10000-merchants/
http://www.coindesk.com/bitpay-now-10000-merchants-payment-processor-network/
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bitpay-surpasses-10000-bitcoin-accepting-merchants-2013-09-16

ATLANTA -- September 16, 2013 -- BitPay Inc, the world leader in business solutions for virtual currencies, announces it has over 10,000 approved merchants in 164 countries using its service to accept bitcoin payments. This milestone was reached almost exactly one year after the company approved its 1,000th merchant.

The merchants in BitPay’s directory are diverse internationally, with approximately 50% located in North America, 25% in Europe, and 25% in the rest of the world. Ecommerce merchants account for over 90% of the business, including consumer electronics, precious metals and IT services. Bitcoin lowers the risk and cost of accepting payments in a card not-present situation, such as eCommerce.

BitPay’s merchant service continues to expand its feature set at a rapid pace. Merchants using the popular Quickbooks small business accounting software can now download and import their BitPay sales into Quickbooks.

“Our merchants are thrilled with this ability to import into Quickbooks,” says BitPay CFO Bryan Krohn. “It makes reporting their bitcoin sales just as frictionless as the payment itself.”

The month of August was another record month for BitPay, processing over 10,000 merchant transactions worth over $6.4 million. Year-to-date in 2013, over $34 million worth of bitcoins have been spent on goods and services through merchants using BitPay’s platform.

BitPay’s story is unique in the startup space. Founded by two graduates of Georgia Tech, the company built a working product, acquired customers, and achieved profitability with only the two founders.

After raising their round of seed capital, BitPay has chosen to establish their roots in Atlanta and build their company culture in a city known for innovation, but often overlooked by the SIlicon Valley insiders.

“Atlanta is a hub for financial technology, especially in the payment and merchant acquiring space,” states BitPay CEO Anthony Gallippi. “There’s a cluster of amazing companies here, focused on delivering real results through innovation.”

With pre-built plugins or embedded solutions for 20 of the most popular shopping cart platforms, adding bitcoin as a payment option to a merchant’s webstore can be done in a few minutes, without any programming code.

[BitCoiner2012]

Up up and away. BTC

[Stephen Gornick]

Ecommerce merchants account for over 90% of the business, including consumer electronics, precious metals and IT services.

When I make a purchase decision I will give preference to a vendor that accepts Bitcoin payment.  But I might not know which vendors accept bitcoins offhand and currently there is no directory of Bitcoin-accepting merchants that is anywhere near being comprehensive.   

When I use PayPal's new mobile app, for instance, I get a list of merchants nearby who accept PayPal for payment.  This same type of location-aware directory is provided when I use Square, and also with Dwolla (called Dwolla Spots).   There is no similar directory for Bitcoin (other than http://CoinMap.org which sources data from a small list of merchants added on OpenStreetmaps) -- something that is made even more complicated because there are multiple payment processors (BitPay's competitors) and also there's no requirement that a merchant even use a payment processor to accept Bitcoin for payment.

At a minimum, it would be good for BitPay to publish their merchant directory  (e.g., in a searchable directory, or an API accessible by mapping service even).  Of course, not ever merchant wants to be included but for those who do it would be a valuable added service that BitPay could offer.

[NewLiberty]

The Quickbooks support is the killer app here.  The articles almost bury the lead.

Along with Quickbooks integration you get the whole basket of compliance regimes that every small business needs in order to feel very confidant that they are going to be able to use Bitcoin just like all their other payment methods without any new headaches.

They get GAAP, they get clear unit of account, they get tax compliance, they get a way for their accounting to accommodate it without doing any extra technical stuff.
The merchants want to focus on the things that make their business a success.  Keeping their inventory fresh, providing great service, being awesome at what they do whatever that is.  This provides them the opportunity to do that rather than deal with the arcane ephemera of Bitcoin issues.

Well done BitPay!  Adding Quickbooks is going to make getting the next 10,000 a LOT easier than the first 10K.
I've been asking for this for quite a while and am delighted by it.

This is not a huge development, but the impact is GIANT.  Now with BitPay+Quickbooks, Bitcoin can accelerate and reach mainstream marketplace adoption among merchants.

There are going to be a lot more places to spend your coins.

[BitCoiner2012]

Ecommerce merchants account for over 90% of the business, including consumer electronics, precious metals and IT services.

When I make a purchase decision I will give preference to a vendor that accepts Bitcoin payment.  But I might not know which vendors accept bitcoins offhand and currently there is no directory of Bitcoin-accepting merchants that is anywhere near being comprehensive.  

When I use PayPal's new mobile app, for instance, I get a list of merchants nearby who accept PayPal for payment.  This same type of location-aware directory is provided when I use Square, and also with Dwolla (called Dwolla Spots).   There is no similar directory for Bitcoin (other than http://CoinMap.org which sources data from a small list of merchants added on OpenStreetmaps) -- something that is made even more complicated because there are multiple payment processors (BitPay's competitors) and also there's no requirement that a merchant even use a payment processor to accept Bitcoin for payment.

At a minimum, it would be good for BitPay to publish their merchant directory  (e.g., in a searchable directory, or an API accessible by mapping service even).  Of course, not ever merchant wants to be included but for those who do it would be a valuable added service that BitPay could offer.

Maybe you're familiar with this site, but I wasn't until I located it on accident:

http://www.coinmap.org/

I had no idea I could get dental work with BTC five minutes from where I'm sitting now.

[Bitcopia]

Congrats BitPay! You guys are an asset to the continuing growth of the Bitcoin ecosystem.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

The Quickbooks support is the killer app here.  The articles almost bury the lead.

Along with Quickbooks integration you get the whole basket of compliance regimes that every small business needs in order to feel very confidant that they are going to be able to use Bitcoin just like all their other payment methods without any new headaches.

They get GAAP, they get clear unit of account, they get tax compliance, they get a way for their accounting to accommodate it without doing any extra technical stuff.
The merchants want to focus on the things that make their business a success.  Keeping their inventory fresh, providing great service, being awesome at what they do whatever that is.  This provides them the opportunity to do that rather than deal with the arcane ephemera of Bitcoin issues.

Thanks!  We will be promoting this very shortly.  But yes, making the merchant's accountant happy with Bitcoin will  make things much easier for businesses looking to accept bitcoin.

[NewLiberty]

The Quickbooks support is the killer app here.  The articles almost bury the lead.

Along with Quickbooks integration you get the whole basket of compliance regimes that every small business needs in order to feel very confidant that they are going to be able to use Bitcoin just like all their other payment methods without any new headaches.

They get GAAP, they get clear unit of account, they get tax compliance, they get a way for their accounting to accommodate it without doing any extra technical stuff.
The merchants want to focus on the things that make their business a success.  Keeping their inventory fresh, providing great service, being awesome at what they do whatever that is.  This provides them the opportunity to do that rather than deal with the arcane ephemera of Bitcoin issues.

Thanks!  We will be promoting this very shortly.  But yes, making the merchant's accountant happy with Bitcoin will  make things much easier for businesses looking to accept bitcoin.

I hope you don't mind some of us spreading the word ahead of that promotion... 

This is pretty important, and I've been asking for it for longer than you might imagine...

[prophetx]

The month of August was another record month for BitPay, processing over 10,000 merchant transactions worth over $6.4 million.

----

woah great news

[minimalB]

At a minimum, it would be good for BitPay to publish their merchant directory  (e.g., in a searchable directory, or an API accessible by mapping service even).  Of course, not ever merchant wants to be included but for those who do it would be a valuable added service that BitPay could offer.

+1

It would be really really useful if bitpay would publish the merchant directory. Several users were asking for this months ago, but AFAIK bitpay did not respond with a reason why they do not have a public list. I guess at least 40-60% of merchants wouldn't mind being on the public list.

[jgarzik]

It would be really really useful if bitpay would publish the merchant directory. Several users were asking for this months ago, but AFAIK bitpay did not respond with a reason why they do not have a public list. I guess at least 40-60% of merchants wouldn't mind being on the public list.

As BitPay strongly believes in customer privacy, we would at a minimum have to ask each individual merchant, and record their response.

Cannot just flip a switch and publish that sort of data...

I, too, have longed for a "Bitcoin Business Directory."  BBD would be a great resource for users, and need not be limited to BitPay customers.

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

Congratulations! BitPay is the most trustworthy Bitcoin merchant service, hands down.

[leemar]

It would be really really useful if bitpay would publish the merchant directory. Several users were asking for this months ago, but AFAIK bitpay did not respond with a reason why they do not have a public list. I guess at least 40-60% of merchants wouldn't mind being on the public list.

As BitPay strongly believes in customer privacy, we would at a minimum have to ask each individual merchant, and record their response.

Cannot just flip a switch and publish that sort of data...

I, too, have longed for a "Bitcoin Business Directory."  BBD would be a great resource for users, and need not be limited to BitPay customers.

Is there a decent online directory that Merchants can register with if they wish?

[dserrano5]

It would be really really useful if bitpay would publish the merchant directory.

As BitPay strongly believes in customer privacy, we would at a minimum have to ask each individual merchant, and record their response.

For new merchants, this could be done as part of the application.

[TheButterZone]

It would be really really useful if bitpay would publish the merchant directory.

As BitPay strongly believes in customer privacy, we would at a minimum have to ask each individual merchant, and record their response.

For new merchants, this could be done as part of the application.

And for everyone else, a mass email or message in the control panel pointing to a page where that checkbox can be filled.