CoinCard - Buying Amazon $ and gift cards with Bitcoin

[mndrix]

Update: the service is permanently closed

I've opened a new beta service, CoinCard, which lets you convert Bitcoins into automated PayPal Amazon payments or gift cards.  I've posted a 4 minute video showing how to use the service to buy a pizza with Bitcoins.

Basically, you send Bitcoins, wait for 2 confirmation blocks and then receive a PayPal Amazon payment or a gift card automatically.  The highest Mt Gox bid rate is used as the exchange rate.  The service currently charges a 1% convenience fee.  I picked that fee at random. It may change depending on supply and demand.

PayPal payments are sent using MassPay, so you pay no fees to receive the payment, however the convenience fee is a little higher to cover the costs on my side.

I'm interested in suggestions for improvement, especially other gift cards you'd like to buy.  PayPal and Domino's are the only options for now.  Amazon and New Egg might be possible.  I can also support Dwolla payments, if there's interest.

The service is open today for the first round of testing.  I'll close it over the weekend since I want to be around in case anything goes wrong.

[error]

It says the maximum amount for a PayPal payment is $50?

[mndrix]

It says the maximum amount for a PayPal payment is $50?

That's temporary for today's testing.  I'll remove the cap next week.

[error]

That's temporary for today's testing.  I'll remove the cap next week.

OK, well I tried it. Now waiting for block 110420...

[error]

I got the PayPal payment just fine, right after 110420. Thanks

[slush]

Waiting to the block 110424. In the meantime - is there any API to this service? Something like JSON-RPC, I'll send amount (in BTC) and paypal email, you sent me back final amount (in USD) and BTC address for the payment.

Edit: Paypal sent me notification about incoming TX almost immediately when the block 110424 was found. Good job!

[mndrix]

Waiting to the block 110424. In the meantime - is there any API to this service? Something like JSON-RPC, I'll send amount (in BTC) and paypal email, you sent me back final amount (in USD) and BTC address for the payment.

Hi slush.  I had you and your mining pool in mind while making this service.  Now that I have some of the mechanics figured out, I plan to add an API.  It will be nearly identical to what you describe.  I'll post here when it's ready for testing.

Edit: Paypal sent me notification about incoming TX almost immediately when the block 110424 was found. Good job!

Thanks

[Dude65535]

Have you done anything to make sure someone can not inflate the mtgox price by bidding just below the ask price for 1 BTC just before using your service?

[mndrix]

Have you done anything to make sure someone can not inflate the mtgox price by bidding just below the ask price for 1 BTC just before using your service?

Good question.  When I said, "highest bid on Mt Gox" above, that was an approximation.  It actually calculates the market clearing price on the bid side of the order book for the requested order size.  So placing a 1 BTC bid on Mt Gox before an order would change the exchange rate only slightly.

The clearing rate calculation is the one discussed here.

[burtyb]

Tried a BTC->Paypal earlier and had no problems - thanks

[Cusipzzz]

Very reasonable fees/prices ! Would use it but not a paypal fan, when you get some Amazon.com or other options will def use. Nice Work!

[BCEmporium]

Just made a small 50 BTC test, waiting for block 110457  

EDIT: Yep, got it right after 110457 was found too.

[Ryland R. Taylor-Almanza]

[...]I'm interested in suggestions for improvement, especially other gift cards you'd like to buy[...]

I don't know if you'd want to buy cards also, but if you do, I'll sell you two fry's gift cards. I believe the values are 50 USD and 15 USD, but if you were interested, I'd have to go to the store and double check.

[bitcool]

Incredibly easy to use. Great job.

[Quip]

Thank you. A lot.

[mndrix]

I don't know if you'd want to buy cards also, but if you do, I'll sell you two fry's gift cards. I believe the values are 50 USD and 15 USD, but if you were interested, I'd have to go to the store and double check.

Thanks for the offer.  I don't actually carry any gift card inventory since the cards are purchased for customers on-demand.  So I can't make use of those particular cards.

Incredibly easy to use. Great job.

Thanks.

Thank you. A lot.

You're welcome

[mndrix]

Today's test is finished.  Thanks to everyone for the feedback and orders.  I fixed a couple bugs that came up.  The service should be ready to stay open starting on Monday.  I'll also remove the $50 limit then.

[jgarzik]

I haven't used this yet, but...  kudos for filling a useful niche in the bitcoin community!

[Ryland R. Taylor-Almanza]

Yeah, this is really cool. Next time I order pizza, I'm definitely trying this out! Any chance you could add Papa Johns?

[Ricochet]

I have not yet used this, though I've used CoinPal 3 times by now.  Went ahead and looked at the going rates, and they're highly competitive against Bitcoin2CC which I see as the only real competitor at this point in time.  Looking good mndrix, hope this all works out well for you.