BTCinch Merchant Services and Wallet

[bearbones]

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I've been on the forum, but I wanted to publish a BTCinch update here. I'll answer the questions posed in the linked post, as well as provide a status update.

Congratulations Ira on the launch of your new site!  Excellent interview on OnlyOneTv.

1.  what bank do you plan on using for ACH?  
2.  when you say you don't charge merchants for converting btwn BTC and USD how can you profitably do this given your immediate need to buy/sell via the exchanges?  if BTC gets volatile again i would worry about you getting caught like the Madhatter did with eMansipator.   http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8258.0;all
3.  do you plan on offering an online widget?
4.  how can you legally act like a Dwolla or Paypal?
5.  doesn't ACH limit you to US tx's?
6.  how do you plan to transmit fiat cash to foreigners?  wire, check?

Fees and Services (Qs 2, 3)
BTCinch does not charge transaction fees, but does charge a small conversion fee. I said on the show that the only fee in our service is the conversion rate, but that is incorrect. We will charge monthly fees for premium services (better exchange rate, invoicing tools, etc.). Basic accounts will be free to use, and we will monetize by taking a small percentage for converting BTC to USD. If you are a store or an individual and never convert BTC to USD or opt for premium services, BTCinch will be entirely free to use.

We built a trade-bot which communicates and trades on multiple exchanges in near real-time. It is obviously impossible to always stay ahead of the market, but the bot has performed well for 7 weeks of testing. We'll continue to improve on it, and are confident that it will perform well. Through use of the BTCinch trade-bot, we manage our own market exposure, and protect against situations like Bitcoin4Cash encountered.

Withdrawal Methods (Qs 1, 5, 6)
BTCinch uses US Bank for our pooled USD account, and ACH transactions. We currently only send ACH transactions to the US, though I believe that Canadian banks also use ACH. We have plans to integrate withdrawal methods for other currencies, but are focusing on the US market for our launch.

Legal (Q 4)
BTCinch LLC is registered in Nevada, and we intend to follow all requirements to operate as a general money-services company. We have been assured that our current legal status is sufficient to operate as planned until we grow significantly larger. If you have any more legal questions about using BTCinch, PM me.

Current Status
We are pushing forward with live testing on a very aggressive schedule. The feedback and interest we received at the conference were incredible, and we're trying to take care of all of the requests before our new transaction server arrives in 2-3 weeks. Until the server is up, we are not recommending BTCinch for time-sensitive transactions, as there can be delays.

We're working with various merchants to test and improve a variety of core services. A brief status update follows for each.

In Person Checkout
Received a ton of interest in our In Person Checkout system, and are setting up a few stores to try it out. We're ordering personalized, We Accept Bitcoin QR codes for those merchants helping us test. Expect to see these pop up around Denver and NYC over the next few weeks.

osCommerce Plugin
Working perfectly, and currently in use on bitmunchies.com. If it continues to behave well in testing, we'll release the code publicly on Oct. 1, 2011.

Zen-cart Plugin
Completed, and undergoing unit tests. If you requested to test our zen-cart plugin, please be patient a little longer. We've been busy dealing with the transaction server and the conference, so it isn't quite ready. I expect to send the plugin to our beta testers this week, and release the code publicly on Oct. 1, 2011.

OpenCart Plugin
The OpenCart plugin is under development, and should be ready for testing by Sept. 2nd. OpenCart is the most requested plugin, so we're prioritizing it. Hopefully, the volume of OpenCart transactions should shorten the test schedule, but it may be the second or third week of Oct. before we're ready to release it to the public.

Magento Plugin
A Magento plugin is on the development schedule for next week. It should be ready for testing by Sept. 9th.

If you have a site and are interested in helping us test one of the above options, let me know, and I'll send you the respective plugin.

Time-line
Aug. 29th - Sept. 9th integrate requests from conference, continue testing In Person Checkout, Zen-cart plugin, and osCommerce plugin. Release OpenCart and Magento plugins for beta testing.
Sept. 12th - 23rd Set up production servers and cold-storage systems. Last stage required for launch.
Sept. 26th - 30th Finish beta test phase and assess launch readiness.
Oct. 1 Open registration to the public, and release plugin code.

That answers most of the questions we've been receiving, but please respond with anything I missed. I will follow this topic, and provide updates here.

Ira Miller
CTO - BTCinch LLC

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[evoorhees]

Awesome, great work! Thank you for the update.

[nanotube]

glad to see the good news, bearbones!

[cypherdoc]

thanks for the answers and i wish you the best of luck.   

[bearbones]

Another update:

BTCinch Zen-cart plugin is complete. Zen-cart store operators can try it out by PMing me, or emailing admin(at)btcinch.com.
OpenCart plugin should be ready tomorrow afternoon.

[bearbones]

Production server is up. So far, transactions are processing 27x faster. Anyone want to try the wallet service? Leave your email at btcinch.com.

Also, merchants can now generate printable QR registers by clicking on a QR code on the QR codes page of the Merchant menu. An example:



Coming soon: upload your logo for ^^^

Fallen a bit behind on OpenCart and Magento plugins, as we were working on getting the server up. Back to it tomorrow, so I should have something for the OpenCart users soon.

[Absentis]

I learned about BTCinch in another thread when Bearbones generously donated to TrueCrypt even though they don't currently accept Btc as a currency. When I tried it out I found the service to be fast and intuitive.

I posted what I found to be a unique aspect in another thread but I want to repeat it here. The menu has hotkeys so one can navigate using the keyboard. Since I almost always keep my left hand on the keyboard home row I can go through the website without having to use my mouse for everything. For instance, if I want to open up the account menu I just have to press "A" and the account menu opens up.

[cypherdoc]

Ira does seem like a great developer. 

[bearbones]

Thanks for the kind words, fellas! Glad you're enjoying the service.

I have another update on BTCinch progress.

Opencart plugin now available here: http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route=extension/extension/info&extension_id=3456
Zen-cart plugin: I submitted it, and they're reviewing. They say this can take over a week. :/
osCommerce plugin: http://addons.oscommerce.com/info/8176

Up to date API documentation is now published to the following location: https://btcinch.com/api/docs/BTCinch_Merch_API_doc.pdf.
This documentation is not 100% yet, but should be enough to get started. As always, I'm available to answer any questions regarding integration.

The wallet service updates (address book, tags, etc.) are a bit behind, but should be available by the end of the week. I may also knock out an Ubercart plugin this week.

[netrin]

Hi Ira,

Your service and open nature here in the forums seems positive. We all look forward to a reliable, trust worthy and free ewallet service. Considering a large email distribution using your service this week, I would like to get the community's feeling about your service and give you an opportunity to comment on a few constructive critiques.

Two of your pages return 404 (Privacy and Terms of service). Your forum and directories could use a some love. There is no identifying information on your site, though your whois appears to be legit: Irenaeus Miller (i...m... at gmail.com) Broomfield, CO, USA. No description of your security measures, insurance, nor legal/financial plans should you be successfully attacked.

Cheers.

EDIT: Ira responded to me directly and addressed my most pressing concerns to my satisfaction.

[repentance]

I think that a lot of people would like clarification of your association with Bruce Wagner before they'll even consider using your services.

[bearbones]

Hi Ira,

Your service and open nature here in the forums seems positive. We all look forward to a reliable, trust worthy and free ewallet service. Considering a large email distribution using your service this week, I would like to get the community's feeling about your service and give you an opportunity to comment on a few constructive critiques.

Two of your pages return 404 (Privacy and Terms of service). Your forum and directories could use a some love. There is no identifying information on your site, though your whois appears to be legit: Irenaeus Miller (i...m... at gmail.com) Broomfield, CO, USA. No description of your security measures, insurance, nor legal/financial plans should you be successfully attacked.

Cheers.

EDIT: Ira responded to me directly and addressed my most pressing concerns to my satisfaction.

Thanks for the feedback, netrin. We're definitely still working on a lot of this, so it is greatly appreciated! I'm looking forward to addressing some of your other concerns, particularly the forum and directory.

I think that a lot of people would like clarification of your association with Bruce Wagner before they'll even consider using your services.

BTCinch has no formal association with Bruce Wagner. I have been on his show a couple of times, and don't believe what has libelously been written about him. I intend to continue to assist Bruce in his efforts to educate the public about Bitcoin. I will extend my help to anyone who can constructively use it for that goal.

[netrin]

I'd suggest flattening the directory. Just one page of logos, short descriptions, and links. You could have ten times as many associated merchants and I'd still think the flat presentation would be cleaner.

I just made a donation by way of your service. After I sent coins to the address provide your service states: "This bitcoin address can be reused as you like." I think that's a little ambiguous. Perhaps you should instead state: "This bitcoin address can be reused to send to the same entity as you like."

Minor UX: A user can click on the "about" menu to see a page (with no links), but that same menu title displays a sub-menu of two entries. That's a no-no. Either the top menu links to a section page which contains links (and description) to the sub-items, or the "menu" button does nothing and only the sub-menu items are active.

Anyway, your changes today give me confidence, even if your legalese makes no liability guarantees, at least you're up front about it. I wish you the best of luck, security, and look forward to seeing your new features and inevitable success.

[BTCcommodities]

hi, loving the service.
still, would like to be able to work the currencies and the cart callbacks from outside of my system, ie without a cron service on my side (if you remember, we went on about this in great length via email).

if you could just give me an iddy-biddy update, that'd be grand.

[2weiX]

is this still being developed / maintained / watched / replied?

[edd]

is this still being developed / maintained / watched / replied?

Still working for me.

Or were you referring to the thread?

[2weiX]

is this still being developed / maintained / watched / replied?

Still working for me.

Or were you referring to the thread?

I am using BTCinch without any troubles, just couldnt get ahold of anyone recently.

[THCGroup]

Been trying to get in touch with them for a couple weeks and then got this today.

THCGroup,

We are sorry to say that we will be shutting down our service immediately. It has been a good run, but BTCinch is simply not a viable business in the US.

All customer deposits will be distributed via a third party, in the coming days.
In the meanwhile, outgoing transactions will continue to be processed.
Registration and deposits will be disabled immediately. We are working out a transition plan for Merchants, who will be emailed specifics later today.

Your account has the following balance:

0.000000BTC - 0.000000USD

Thank you all for using our service, and we wish you the best in your future Bitcoin endeavors. If you have any questions, please contact Ira Miller at imiller@btcinch.com.

BTCinch Admin Dept.
admin@btcinch.com

[2weiX]

I got this afterwards, tho:

As noted in my earlier email, BTCinch will be closing down. I hope to make this
a pretty smooth transition. Rest assured that you will be able to continue
accepting payments through BTCinch, while I work with each of you to get
alternate solutions in place.

For the immediate future (2 weeks), the BTCinch payment gateway will continue to
operate with a different transaction server. Withdrawals and conversions will
continue to process as usual. By the end of the month, however, I will have
replacement plugins for every cart that BTCinch supported. I will be happy to
assist the new plugin installation in any way possible.

I believe strongly in Bitcoin, and am not leaving the community. On the
contrary, I see this is an opportunity to strengthen my software offerings. Look
forward to stronger, better tools to replace everything you liked about BTCinch
and more.

If you have any questions or concerns, do not hesitate to email, phone or skype
me. Thank you for all of the support.

[THCGroup]

Hmm, I never got that email.

I have been trying to sign up for a couple weeks to be able to use their oscommerce plugin to accept BTC.

That was the only plugin I heard was working.