need info plz on best way to accept bitcoin.

[stsbrad]

so one of my co workers has seen the success I've been having mining bitcoin lately and loves the concept. he owns a bar in new orleans and thinks it would be great to start accepting bitcoin for all drinks and dart supplies he sells at the store. then advertise it around the city and LSU/UNO campus for the tech savvy cats that love to drink. his biggest concern in speaking with him is how to get someone to pay their tab quickly, with a decent price closely related to the daily market price. is there nothing out there yet that can make this easier on merchants? to be honest having some drunk bartender calculate exchange rates and swap long bitcoin addresses quickly seems very inefficient. plus won't there be time where the customer has to wait for a few confirmations to come through? wish there was a quicker way with this stuff. thanks for any info it's much appreciated. forgive any misspellings. I'm iphoning from muh sofa.

[1715183609]

1715183609

[1715183609]

1715183609

[1715183609]

1715183609

[swusc2]

You should dig around the forums. I think there is some info about this in some of the Sticked Threads in "Bitcoin Discussion, Project Development, etc." Also you should see if you can get in touch with the owner of Meze Grill in NYC by email/skype/phone.

There isn't an iPhone Bitcoin Wallet App yet so I doubt you can do it with the iPhone. I believe there is one from Android. If you had a program (or by hand) that did real-time conversion of USD to BTC and had the customer show you his transaction to the merchants address by phone or if anything laptop.

Also you probably should relocate this thread to Bitcoin Discussion. I don't think you will find much helpful information is Marketplace->Goods

[stsbrad]

thx so much. I will contact him just wish it was easier. I know I should look around forums it's just inundating looking through a well established forum when you're new.

[sunnankar]

One easy way for instant payments is to use MyBitCoin. Then you do not have to wait for the network to clear the transactions. Another way would be to use something like BitBills. Or he could reward loyal customers if they buy gift certificates or some other type of stored value by purchasing it in advance using bitcoins and then having it deducted from their balance to pay their tab on the next visits, etc.

If he gets creative with his accounting (if his USD margins start getting squeezed) it might even be worth his while to give them 10% extra on a gift certificate, etc. to incentivize the customers to use it. To not pay credit card fees, have the increased privacy, ability to be more creative with accounting, etc. then it may be worth it to him.

[swusc2]

You should dig around the forums. I think there is some info about this in some of the Sticked Threads in "Bitcoin Discussion, Project Development, etc." Also you should see if you can get in touch with the owner of Meze Grill in NYC by email/skype/phone.

There isn't an iPhone Bitcoin Wallet App yet so I doubt you can do it with the iPhone. I believe there is one from Android. If you had a program (or by hand) that did real-time conversion of USD to BTC and had the customer show you his transaction to the merchants address by phone or if anything laptop.

Also you probably should relocate this thread to Bitcoin Discussion. I don't think you will find much helpful information is Marketplace->Goods

Actually there are lot of Apps on the Android Marketplace that work for brick and mortar payments. Just search it in the forum or android marketplace.

Well I don't believe using a third party is the way to go with brick and mortar stores. If anything yes it takes about an hour to fully confirm a transaction. But as long as a legitimate portable wallet such as ones on the android marketplace you can pretty much take his word for it after he shows you that he initiated the transaction and it says 0/blocks confirmed since he can't take back a transaction.

[error]

so one of my co workers has seen the success I've been having mining bitcoin lately and loves the concept. he owns a bar in new orleans and thinks it would be great to start accepting bitcoin for all drinks and dart supplies he sells at the store. then advertise it around the city and LSU/UNO campus for the tech savvy cats that love to drink. his biggest concern in speaking with him is how to get someone to pay their tab quickly, with a decent price closely related to the daily market price. is there nothing out there yet that can make this easier on merchants? to be honest having some drunk bartender calculate exchange rates and swap long bitcoin addresses quickly seems very inefficient. plus won't there be time where the customer has to wait for a few confirmations to come through? wish there was a quicker way with this stuff. thanks for any info it's much appreciated. forgive any misspellings. I'm iphoning from muh sofa.

There are a couple of Android apps already; there's an iPhone app also but it's only for jailbroken iPhones right now (since Apple keeps rejecting it for no apparent reason).

What's really needed, as you might guess, is a cash register that is already set up to accept Bitcoins. The problem is 95% of the cash register solutions out there are not at all extensible in the way open source stuff is, so it would be hard for anyone but the original vendor to do a complete integration. That said, it wouldn't be that difficult to set up a little netbook or something to generate QR codes and do currency conversion for those who want to pay in Bitcoins.

This is an active research topic for me, and I'm definitely interested in learning more about the existing setups that merchants have. One thing that your bar owner can do now is to have a chat with the sales rep for his cash register/point of sale equipment and let him know that he would like to have Bitcoin integration in the cash registers. It won't happen immediately, of course, but if the vendors hear it enough, they will see the demand and cater to it.

[stsbrad]

Thanks for all the info guys it's good stuff. Accepting bitcoins HAS to start getting easier.

[kgo]

Another alternative would be to sell gift certificates ahead of time.  That way someone doesn't need to bring their laptop to the bar.

[Hollie]

i use a App called "BitPay" on my Android phone and i can check the Exchange rate using a App called "Bitcoin Currency Converter"

With these two apps, i can make payment to someone with a phone.

[edd]

Another alternative would be to sell gift certificates ahead of time.  That way someone doesn't need to bring their laptop to the bar.

I believe someone mentioned BitBills earlier and they have the added bonus of being accepted by other merchants.