Consumer's view of BitPay and bitcoin transaction "costs"

[Minor Miner]

I have not purchased anything with bitcoin through a intermediary/shopping cart that did instant F/X exchange, until last week when I used a website that used bitpay for conversion.  It had always been a sent number of coins I needed to pay.  Last week, I purchased some miners and paid Bitpay and thought the price did not seem near market.   It was off by 3%.
Then I tried to buy from the same company on the weekend.   The market was $324 at Bitstamp and $323 at Bitpay's own API, when the payment window came up the US dollar amount divided by the bitcoins calculated to a $304 exchange rate.
I did not do the transaction because I felt like I was being ripped off.    Not a "cheap and easy" transaction in any stretch of the imagination. 

[Minor Miner]

Not a "cheap and easy" transaction in any stretch of the imagination. 

Well, you are using a middleman. Did you expect them to provide the service for free?
Bitcoin is still a baby. BitPay builds bridges to the fiat economy. That bridge will never be as smooth as a pure bitcoin economy, but a pure bitcoin economy doesn't exist yet.

Re-read CAREFULLY or ask me to explain more clearly.   The price was OFF their own STATED API price which is already set so they make a PROFIT plus they charge the seller 1%.
What do you not understand about this?

[Minor Miner]

Not a "cheap and easy" transaction in any stretch of the imagination. 

Well, you are using a middleman. Did you expect them to provide the service for free?
Bitcoin is still a baby. BitPay builds bridges to the fiat economy. That bridge will never be as smooth as a pure bitcoin economy, but a pure bitcoin economy doesn't exist yet.

Re-read CAREFULLY or ask me to explain more clearly.   The price was OFF their own STATED API price which is already set so they make a PROFIT plus they charge the seller 1%.
What do you not understand about this?

If this is a discussion about the service of a single company and not a general bitcoin discussion, what I do not understand is why you are complaining here: Bitcoin Discussion.

Because issues like this WILL slow the general adoption and acceptance of bitcoin.  It is likely NOT company specific.   I would assume that Bitpay looked at my order and then figured out how many bids they would have to smack down in order to exchange it all, and USED that as their clearing price.   But, I do not know.   If so, then before we could ever implement bitcoin in any serious way, there would need to be the type of liquidity that we see in F/X markets (or you would have to have companies that have huge capital) because a lot of consumer transactions are going to happen when liquidity is the LOWEST on the exchanges (hoildays and weekends). 
So, my simple question would be:  how do I know how many bitcoins I need to have when I know both the US $ price and the bitpay API (up to the minute) exchange rate? 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I would assume that Bitpay looked at my order and then figured out how many bids they would have to smack down in order to exchange it all, and USED that as their clearing price.

I'm almost 100% sure that the above is not the case having tracked several BitPay payments in the past via BlockChain. The overall gist expressed in the OP may have merit and, if such is the case, I'm sure a BitPay principle will be here shortly to address said concerns.

I suggest you, or somebody else, kindly PM them, asking them nicely and pointing to this thread, whereupon probably Tony will arrive on the scene and address the issues, as he's done so in the past concerning like, and dissimilar issues related to BitPay.

Tony's a cool dude, and Team BitPay does its best to make sure that all their loyal customers are well-served.

~TMIBTCITW

[Minor Miner]

I would assume that Bitpay looked at my order and then figured out how many bids they would have to smack down in order to exchange it all, and USED that as their clearing price.

I'm almost 100% sure that the above is not the case having tracked several BitPay payments in the past via BlockChain. The overall gist expressed in the OP may have merit and, if such is the case, I'm sure a BitPay principle will be here shortly to address said concerns.
I suggest you, or somebody else, kindly PM them, asking them nicely and pointing to this thread, whereupon probably Tony will arrive on the scene and address the issues, as he's done so in the past concerning like, and dissimilar issues related to BitPay.
Tony's a cool dude, and Team BitPay does its best to make sure that all their loyal customers are well-served.
~TMIBTCITW

I think you are incorrect.   I just used the other person's suggestion of market depth and it gets me a 3% spread over spot on the same order.   I would think with the lighter weekend volume that on the weekend, this could explain the 7-10% that I saw.   
If this is the explanation, it is not a "bitpay" problem, it is a bitcoin problem that is exasperated by the dilution of volume of having many exchanges.   But, as a consumer (and most consumers are NOT going to understand this) all you see is a transaction that should cost XX bitcoins costing 107% of XX.
I would think the only solution will be when the exchanges are gone/transformed and bitcoins are traded as either a currency or commodity on the established exchanges.
It is a liquidity problem I am almost sure.   But, I am open to other solutions because when you buy miners and they are priced in US $ and you want to use a certain number of coins, how are you to know how many you can buy?