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.
~TMI
BTCITW
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?