New Bit-Pay Video! Alison and Ashly demonstrate Mobile Checkout

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Our newest video is now up.  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

(as always it is best viewed in 720p)

With Bit-Pay Mobile Checkout:
- customers get a real-time exchange rate
- merchants get a unique payment address for each transaction
- back-office reporting shows sales summary
- customers can use any bitcoin wallet (the video uses Mt.Gox Mobile on Android)

learn more at https://bit-pay.com/aboutMobile.html



Now here's a comparison.  If this PayPal mobile video with "Steve" and "Tom" can get over 260,000 views, surely we can beat that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCe4-SWsHo

[1715018611]

1715018611

[1715018611]

1715018611

[1715018611]

1715018611

[1715018611]

1715018611

[proudhon]

Nice!

[giszmo]

Now here's a comparison.  If this PayPal mobile video with "Steve" and "Tom" can get over 260,000 views, surely we can beat that!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCe4-SWsHo

Maybe not so easy with their marketing but I'm surprised how many "dislike" (hinthint) they got

[HostFat]

Our newest video is now up.  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

It can be even simpler.
The qrcode could link a btc-url with the amount already set, so the customer has only to accept the payment.

[stick_theman]

Great product.  A big move to the right direction.

[Technomage]

Very nice!! Services like these will take Bitcoin to the next level.

[kjj]

That's pretty slick.

[dancupid]

Your service suddenly makes sense to me - I didn't quite understand why it was necessary before.

Edit - as someone commented in youtube - where is this bar? Is it real?

[payb.tc]

Our newest video is now up.  Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

Now here's a comparison.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suCe4-SWsHo

would be funny if you put your video as a 'reply' to the paypal one

[MelMan2002]

I'm excited to see where bit-pay takes bitcoins!  This is great!

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Edit - as someone commented in youtube - where is this bar? Is it real?

Yes it's a real bar.  We are working to get it integrated with their POS before they go live with it.  I am still trying to convince them to just do it now.  Once they are accepting bitcoins I will announce it.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

would be funny if you put your video as a 'reply' to the paypal one

I just did.  let's see if they approve it.

[evoorhees]

Our newest video is now up.  Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-pqo0cLcE

It can be even simpler.
The qrcode could link a btc-url with the amount already set, so the customer has only to accept the payment.

That's what it did already. The customer chose to increase the amount for a tip, that's why she typed in a new number.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

The customer chose to increase the amount for a tip, that's why she typed in a new number.

Yeah, both these girls were moving pretty fast with the technology.  I had to slow them down!

[FreeMoney]

Very nice.

Have you thought about making a firstbits input option? The scan looked really easy and smooth, but might be good in case a scanner/camera was broken or just not working. What is the current back up plan? Typing the whole address? Send a text and copy/paste? Also with firstbits you could just have the server say it. You would then have to retype the amount, but since they are typing a tip anyway maybe not so terrible.

Anyway, this is really good stuff, congrats.

[Bitcoin Swami]

Where did you find allison? Do you pay her in bitcoins?

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Where did you find allison? Do you pay her in bitcoins?

I've known Alison for years.  Check out the other gig she has as a college football correspondent for Fox Sports:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl869x_campus-cutie-alison-visits-the-rose-bowl_sport

And yes, we paid her in bitcoins and she has started selling them to all of her friends.  She gets it!

[bitconformist]

So what is the advantage to using this over Visa/MC? No chargebacks?

[Anonymous]

So what is the advantage to using this over Visa/MC? No chargebacks?

Yep and you get geek/libertarian cred.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

What is the current back up plan? Typing the whole address? Send a text and copy/paste?

Firstbits may not be useful where we need a unique address for every sale.  But I do like the idea.

The invoice that the business creates has the QR code, but the merchant can click the "Email" button at the top and email the instructions to the customer, or copy and paste the address into a text message to the customer.  So there are 2 backups if the customer cannot scan.

Take a look at the Invoice screenshot here:

https://bit-pay.com/aboutMobile.html

[nmat]

Firstbits definitely won't work. Another alternative is to use something like payb.tc

[cypherdoc]

Awesome!

Not the girls; BitPay!

edit:  you gotta stop torturing us like this 

[nmat]

Do you check for possible double-spend attempts or is the transaction accepted right away? What happens if a double spend occurs using a Finney attack (I know this is highly unlikely, but I want to know if you have considered the situation)?

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Do you check for possible double-spend attempts or is the transaction accepted right away?

We accept the payment right away, but alert the merchant immediately if it becomes invalid.  We haven't seen one yet, but for such small dollar amounts, we don't foresee it being an issue.  The merchant always has the choice to wait a little longer for more confirmations.

From what we can tell, merchants probably have a higher risk of getting a stolen credit card than getting a double-spend of a bitcoin.

[BubbleBoy]

As much as I like the 2girls1coin video, this product does not have a place in the market. PayPal barely scratched the surface of retail with millions of invested dollars. Credit cards are the IPv4 of retail, the industry workhorse that's always "just about" to be replaced.

[Bitcoin Swami]

As much as I like the 2girls1coin video, this product does not have a place in the market. PayPal barely scratched the surface of retail with millions of invested dollars. Credit cards are the IPv4 of retail, the industry workhorse that's always "just about" to be replaced.

I think its a little early to make that statement. 

[evoorhees]

As much as I like the 2girls1coin video, this product does not have a place in the market. PayPal barely scratched the surface of retail with millions of invested dollars. Credit cards are the IPv4 of retail, the industry workhorse that's always "just about" to be replaced.

It has a place in the market to the extent that people are using Bitcoins. If Bitcoin doesn't have a place in the market, then your statement is correct.

Your comparison with Paypal isn't quite valid. The Bitpay solution is more like a way for a bar to accept euros or yen, and will be in demand to the extent that euros or yen (or Bitcoins) are present in the economy.

And credit cards, as a medium (a plastic rectangle piece in your wallet) will be gone soon. See Google Wallet.

[jimbobway]

Some people like grandmas might be intimidated by the QR Code and camera concept.  Have you guys looked into http://bu.mp?

See this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45315.0

[bitconformist]

So what is the advantage to using this over Visa/MC? No chargebacks?

Yep and you get geek/libertarian cred.

Geeks don't go to bars.
Libertarians don't go to bars with other people because they're goddamn insufferable.

Not a big market.

[BubbleBoy]

As much as I like the 2girls1coin video, this product does not have a place in the market. PayPal barely scratched the surface of retail with millions of invested dollars. Credit cards are the IPv4 of retail, the industry workhorse that's always "just about" to be replaced.

It has a place in the market to the extent that people are using Bitcoins. If Bitcoin doesn't have a place in the market, then your statement is correct.

Your comparison with Paypal isn't quite valid. The Bitpay solution is more like a way for a bar to accept euros or yen, and will be in demand to the extent that euros or yen (or Bitcoins) are present in the economy.

And credit cards, as a medium (a plastic rectangle piece in your wallet) will be gone soon. See Google Wallet.

The comparison with PayPal is entirely relevant: here we have a massive company with 100 million of active customers and 70 billion annual turnover. They could easily build a mobile application that enables the bar to accept euros or yens from the user's PayPal account. Such an application would be thousands of times more interesting to the bar than Bit-Pay mobile, since thousands times more people have non-zero PayPal accounts than bitcoin balances. Yet what does PayPal do ? They issue their own credit card - they want a piece of the credit card action ! That's because even for PayPal the network effect is too faint for retailers to bother implementing their system.

Online and e-commerce is where ecurrency works. If it succeeds there, maybe, just maybe there's a chance in the retail world, but this product does not have, at the moment, any place in the market.

As for credit cards going away, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The physical aspect changed from carbon copy to magstripe to chip and now to NFC. But the same old credit card cartel gets to steal 3% of your purchase, represented by MasterCard in the case of Google Wallet.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Have you guys looked into http://bu.mp?

Yes we've looked at their API.  It's a neat concept, but it does not work as well as it should.  It's on our list to implement, but not a top priority.  We'd rather work on integrating with the restaurant POS.

Also - grandma's arthritis might not be good for bumping. 

[BitPay Business Solutions]

But the same old credit card cartel gets to steal 3% of your purchase, represented by MasterCard in the case of Google Wallet.

Bitcoin will do to the banking cartel what email did to the post office, and what internet did to newspapers, then travel agents, then media companies.  It will cannibalize their fees and profits and they either need to adapt or die.  It may not really take off for another year or two, but that's fine.  That gives us more time to write more software and fill out our product line.  And make more videos with the Bit-Pay Babes.

[jimbobway]

+1

But the same old credit card cartel gets to steal 3% of your purchase, represented by MasterCard in the case of Google Wallet.

Bitcoin will do to the banking cartel what email did to the post office, and what internet did to newspapers, then travel agents, then media companies.  It will cannibalize their fees and profits and they either need to adapt or die.  It may not really take off for another year or two, but that's fine.  That gives us more time to write more software and fill out our product line.  And make more videos with the Bit-Pay Babes.

[FreeMoney]

What is the current back up plan? Typing the whole address? Send a text and copy/paste?

Firstbits may not be useful where we need a unique address for every sale.  But I do like the idea.

The invoice that the business creates has the QR code, but the merchant can click the "Email" button at the top and email the instructions to the customer, or copy and paste the address into a text message to the customer.  So there are 2 backups if the customer cannot scan.

Take a look at the Invoice screenshot here:

https://bit-pay.com/aboutMobile.html

It's a little bit extra work, but it isn't expensive to prepare thousands or hundreds of thousands. Use SendMany to do a few thousand at a time sending 1 satoshi. Someone was even saying that you can prepare to have addresses with 0 output, but it hardly matters.

Maybe this is anti social behavior though since those get logged forever.

[btcbaby]

Congrats guys!

[Elwar]

This system is very easy to use.

It is implemented at my wife's boutique in Tarpon Springs, FL.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=44468.0

Hopefully I can get enough merchants interested to the point that you can take a Bitcoin vacation in Tarpon Springs.

[MemoryDealers]

So what is the advantage to using this over Visa/MC? No chargebacks?

Yep and you get geek/libertarian cred.

And save thousands of dollars a month in credit card fees depending on the sales volume.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

And save thousands of dollars a month in credit card fees depending on the sales volume.

I'm looking forward to the day I can fly to Tokyo, Dubai, and all over the world, and NEVER have to change my money every time I get off the plane.  Just load up bitcoins on my phone, and go.

[infofront]

As much as I like the 2girls1coin video, this product does not have a place in the market. PayPal barely scratched the surface of retail with millions of invested dollars. Credit cards are the IPv4 of retail, the industry workhorse that's always "just about" to be replaced.

It has a place in the market to the extent that people are using Bitcoins. If Bitcoin doesn't have a place in the market, then your statement is correct.

Your comparison with Paypal isn't quite valid. The Bitpay solution is more like a way for a bar to accept euros or yen, and will be in demand to the extent that euros or yen (or Bitcoins) are present in the economy.

And credit cards, as a medium (a plastic rectangle piece in your wallet) will be gone soon. See Google Wallet.

The comparison with PayPal is entirely relevant: here we have a massive company with 100 million of active customers and 70 billion annual turnover. They could easily build a mobile application that enables the bar to accept euros or yens from the user's PayPal account. Such an application would be thousands of times more interesting to the bar than Bit-Pay mobile, since thousands times more people have non-zero PayPal accounts than bitcoin balances. Yet what does PayPal do ? They issue their own credit card - they want a piece of the credit card action ! That's because even for PayPal the network effect is too faint for retailers to bother implementing their system.

Online and e-commerce is where ecurrency works. If it succeeds there, maybe, just maybe there's a chance in the retail world, but this product does not have, at the moment, any place in the market.

As for credit cards going away, let's not get ahead of ourselves. The physical aspect changed from carbon copy to magstripe to chip and now to NFC. But the same old credit card cartel gets to steal 3% of your purchase, represented by MasterCard in the case of Google Wallet.

I wouldn't want to use paypal through my cellphone at a bar because it would be much less cumbersome to whip out a card. Also, whether a bar accepts paypal or a credit card, they're going to have to pay high fees. Essentially then, accepting paypal would provide no advantage whatsoever.

Bitcoin payments may be as cumbersome as paypal, but they have the advantage of not having fees (or a low fee, like bit-pay's).

[BubbleBoy]

The advantage of not having fees does not materialize for the client, so he's unlikely to care that the shop is saving money. The customer drives the demand for a payment method - the shops are forced to follow or loose market share. The shops would get rid of credit cards in a hart beat if they could get the customers to pay with cash.

So aside of the phony geek appeal, what does this system offer to the customer ? Credit cards offer interest free loans for up to 2 months, emergency funding past that period, and money back guarantee. Bitcoin offers final indisputable transactions  - why do you think customers will prefer it ? Don't even get me started on the clunky desktop client that kills your harddrive.

[evoorhees]

The advantage of not having fees does not materialize for the client, so he's unlikely to care that the shop is saving money. The customer drives the demand for a payment method - the shops are forced to follow or loose market share. The shops would get rid of credit cards in a hart beat if they could get the customers to pay with cash.

If a merchant can save X% by accepting Bitcoin instead of Visa (due to combined CC fees plus chargeback fraud), then one might imagine merchants will lower their prices by X-Y% to anyone paying in Bitcoin. Thus, the savings for the merchant will start being split between the merchant and the customer. A customer may get to pay 1-2% less for products when using Bitcoin.

So aside of the phony geek appeal, what does this system offer to the customer ? Credit cards offer interest free loans for up to 2 months, emergency funding past that period, and money back guarantee. Bitcoin offers final indisputable transactions  - why do you think customers will prefer it ?

Status Quo: A world where every time you shop with a vendor, you expose your financial and identity information. You must trust their systems, staff, and intentions. Sony customers have been enjoying this risk. In 2009 there were over 10 million US adults who were victims of identity theft...

Bitcoin Alternative: A world where every time you shop, exactly zero of your financial and identity information is exposed. Vendor doesn't even need to know your name, let alone address, CC number, etc.

I prefer the Bitcoin Alternative to the Status Quo. Why don't you?

Don't even get me started on the clunky desktop client that kills your harddrive.

Few people will use desktop clients for day-to-day Bitcoin use. Ewallet and online banks will serve that purpose on a PC and mobile apps serve the purpose on handheld devices.

[MemoryDealers]

The advantage of not having fees does not materialize for the client, so he's unlikely to care that the shop is saving money. The customer drives the demand for a payment method - the shops are forced to follow or loose market share. The shops would get rid of credit cards in a hart beat if they could get the customers to pay with cash.

So aside of the phony geek appeal, what does this system offer to the customer ? Credit cards offer interest free loans for up to 2 months, emergency funding past that period, and money back guarantee. Bitcoin offers final indisputable transactions  - why do you think customers will prefer it ? Don't even get me started on the clunky desktop client that kills your harddrive.

I can tell you exactly why customers AND merchants will prefer it for online payments.

I've spent the last 10 days trying to order two Android tablets from Alibaba express with my credit card that has a California billing address.
I'm trying to have one tablet shipped to myself in Tokyo,  and another to a developer in New York.
Alibaba seems to think that my order is CC fraud in action.   I've submitted copies of my Passport,  my local government ID,  photos of the Credit card itself,  photocopies of the Credit card statement that was sent through the mail, and more.   All of these have been submitted multiple times,  yet they still keep canceling my order due to fraud concerns!  I've wasted several hours of my life trying to convince them that I am not a scammer with a stolen credit card.  
If I had been allowed to pay with Bitcoins,   none of these problems would have existed.   I would already have my tablets,   and Alibaba and myself would have saved hours of time!  Instead,  I am still waiting to see if they will accept the last batch of documents I submitted.

[evoorhees]

The advantage of not having fees does not materialize for the client, so he's unlikely to care that the shop is saving money. The customer drives the demand for a payment method - the shops are forced to follow or loose market share. The shops would get rid of credit cards in a hart beat if they could get the customers to pay with cash.

So aside of the phony geek appeal, what does this system offer to the customer ? Credit cards offer interest free loans for up to 2 months, emergency funding past that period, and money back guarantee. Bitcoin offers final indisputable transactions  - why do you think customers will prefer it ? Don't even get me started on the clunky desktop client that kills your harddrive.

I can tell you exactly why customers AND merchants will prefer it for online payments.

I've spent the last 10 days trying to order two Android tablets from Alibaba express with my credit card that has a California billing address.
I'm trying to have one tablet shipped to myself in Tokyo,  and another to a developer in New York.
Alibaba seems to think that my order is CC fraud in action.   I've submitted copies of my Passport,  my local government ID,  photos of the Credit card itself,  photocopies of the Credit card statement that was sent through the mail, and more.   All of these have been submitted multiple times,  yet they still keep canceling my order due to fraud concerns!  I've wasted several hours of my life trying to convince them that I am not a scammer with a stolen credit card.  
If I had been allowed to pay with Bitcoins,   none of these problems would have existed.   I would already have my tablets,   and Alibaba and myself would have saved hours of time!  Instead,  I am still waiting to see if they will accept the last batch of documents I submitted.

On résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées.

[ahbritto]

So aside of the phony geek appeal, what does this system offer to the customer ? Credit cards offer interest free loans for up to 2 months, emergency funding past that period, and money back guarantee. Bitcoin offers final indisputable transactions  - why do you think customers will prefer it ? Don't even get me started on the clunky desktop client that kills your harddrive.

This is from the next version of our Introduction to Bitcoin:

Consumers Love Bitcoin
There are lots of reasons for consumers love Bitcoin:

• Easier Checkout
  Paying with Bitcoins is easier than using a credit card at check out. Unlike a credit card, with Bitcoins, you don’t need to fill out a credit card number, an expiration date, a card holder name, or a CCV.
• Cheaper Prices
  Merchants typically pay from 2% to 3% in credit card transaction fees. Merchants who accept Bitcoins will be able to avoid credit card fees and can pass these savings on to consumers.
  
• Increased Privacy
  With Bitcoin, you only provide the necessary information to the merchant. For example, if the product is not being shipped to you, you don’t need to give the merchant your address.
  
• Increased Security
  With Bitcoin, you directly pay merchants and just like with cash there is no need to give them any payment information that can be lost, stolen, or used to make unauthorized charges.
• Using Bitcoins Increases their Value
  If you have some Bitcoin saved, you can make them more valuable by using Bitcoins. Using Bitcoins increases their demand which in turn increases the value of your saved Bitcoins.