Earn 0BTC for getting shops/organisations to accept Bitcoin!

[molecular]

I'm going to contact the German Privacy Foundation (http://privacyfoundation.de)

They're selling a product, the cryptostick (smartcard on a usb stick), maybe I can get them to accept bitcoins in their shop or as donations.

Don't start buying cryptosticks yet wait for them to accept bitcoins. If you'd like to get a cryptostick, ask if they accept bitcoins :p

Don't know if they match the criteria, but will do anyways.

Ha! They answered and said they were now testing bitcoin donations.

They're even inclined to use it in their shop but have, of course, the exchange rate problem.

Does anyone have some sample code I could point them to that grabs the exchange rate from mtgox / google (they think in EUR) so they could implement a live BTC price in their shop?

Is there a good place to start for someone wanting to accept bitcoin in his shop and doesn't know where to start? A HowTo or something?

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I'm going to contact the German Privacy Foundation (http://privacyfoundation.de)

They're selling a product, the cryptostick (smartcard on a usb stick), maybe I can get them to accept bitcoins in their shop or as donations.

Don't start buying cryptosticks yet wait for them to accept bitcoins. If you'd like to get a cryptostick, ask if they accept bitcoins :p

Don't know if they match the criteria, but will do anyways.

Ha! They answered and said they were now testing bitcoin donations.

They're even inclined to use it in their shop but have, of course, the exchange rate problem.

Does anyone have some sample code I could point them to that grabs the exchange rate from mtgox / google (they think in EUR) so they could implement a live BTC price in their shop?

Is there a good place to start for someone wanting to accept bitcoin in his shop and doesn't know where to start? A HowTo or something?

I think MyBitcoin have currency conversion built in to their merchant services.
A few getting started guides for merchants have been written, for example this. There is some work to be done on making something more comprehensive. There's also this which has a different focus.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I like this idea! Could someone post a sample letter or a list of talking points for pitching the idea of Bitcoins?

See my earlier comment for how I think this should be done. Just for fun, here is what I think would be a very bad way to approach most shops, where actionable information is eschewed in favor of zealous ramblings of details which are irrelevant at best, suspicious at worst. (With some modifications, it could be a good pitch for organizations that already strongly believe in Bitcoin's values).

I have a great suggestion for you - you should start accepting Bitcoin payments! Bitcoin is a revolutionary new currency that will change commerce as we know it. By joining the Bitcoin community, you too can be a part of this revolution!

Bitcoin is a decentralized system, which means there is no single point of failure. There are no banks that can go bankrupt and lose their customers' savings, or governments to control it and print out new money on a whim. Anyone can take a look at the source code to see exactly how it works. Also, bitcoins are generated by dedicating CPU power to solve a cryptographic hashing problem. Anyone can create bitcoins on their computer at home!

So, it will be really great if you accept bitcoins. Thank you so much!!!

[molecular]

As said before, it looks like I have actually convinced the german privacy foundation to accept donations using bitcoins.

Can someone verify they are currently not doing so? Here's their donation page, as you can see, only bankwire, creditcard and paypal are accepted: http://www.privacyfoundation.de/verein/spenden/ because I'd like to offer them half of the bounty as a little incentive and just to be nice, so I'd like to be able to actually claim the bounty once they accept bitcoin donations.

Their google pagerank is 4, btw.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

As said before, it looks like I have actually convinced the german privacy foundation to accept donations using bitcoins.

Can someone verify they are currently not doing so?

I confirm that (but apparently they also accept cash). Also, for convenience of fellow non-German speakers who would also like to take a look, here's the Google Translate link.

[Mahkul]

As said before, it looks like I have actually convinced the german privacy foundation to accept donations using bitcoins.

Can someone verify they are currently not doing so?

I confirm that (but apparently they also accept cash). Also, for convenience of fellow non-German speakers who would also like to take a look, here's the Google Translate link.

Seems like they have a subsection called "anonymous donation" encouraging people to send cash by mail. Bitcoin would fit in that section I would imagine? Ideally if they put Bitcoin in both - anonymous and "mainstream".

[molecular]

As said before, it looks like I have actually convinced the german privacy foundation to accept donations using bitcoins.

Can someone verify they are currently not doing so?

I confirm that (but apparently they also accept cash). Also, for convenience of fellow non-German speakers who would also like to take a look, here's the Google Translate link.

Thanks for confirming.

I overlooked they're accepting cash in the mail, too, yes. Is that a no-go for the bounty?

[slush]

Is that a no-go for the bounty?

I like GPF, they have strong voice in Germany and they're supporting Tor. I'm also using their privacybox. When they publish bitcoin address as standard donation method, I'll send you my (3BTC) bounty even this is not an eshop.

[Mahkul]

I overlooked they're accepting cash in the mail, too, yes. Is that a no-go for the bounty?

This doesn't make any difference.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I overlooked they're accepting cash in the mail, too, yes. Is that a no-go for the bounty?

This doesn't make any difference.

Right, sorry if I made it seem like it does. I just wanted to note that your (molecular) list of currently accepted methods was incomplete.

[detcader]

I am going to contact http://geekycookies.com/ about it (pagerank: 4).

[tiberiandusk]

I run two websites. One is an atheism blog collective and one is a Nanotechnology news site. I now have pages accepting Bitcoin donations to help cover hosting costs.

http://thedamned.iansbrain.com/donate-bitcoins-to-support-the-damned

http://quandu.pieceoftheworld.org/donate-bitcoins-to-quandu

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I think the "Google Page rank" part of the rules needs to be more technically specific; Pretty much any site on the net can have page rank 3, if you use the right key words.

Google PageRank is a perfectly technical term which does not mean "position in Google search results". You can find the PageRank of a site here, for example, and there are also browser addons for that.

[eMansipater]

I'm asking thejuicemedia.com, a.k.a. www.youtube.com/thejuicemedia.

[joepie91]

I'm going to contact Heihachi (that Russian hosting company) and ask them if they would accept BTC... currently they only do PSC, Ukash, WebMoney, and LR... so Bitcoin would probably be a good addition. I'll let you guys know.

[river]

This so called reward is not exactly a good means of motivation, especially for those of us who are trying to do this for hour own sites ... like mine www.thefiatfreezone.com .. I'm calling so many business and companies is tiring, but I'm sure NOT going to tell you EVERY single time I want contact someone.  I just put them on my site, that's it ...

So, if you guys want to run this contest, it's not going to be so easy for some people to get 'their reward' since they are not going to phone you EVERY time they contact others.

I'll settle with just making a good living from my mall / zone / store.

Good journey all.

[Mahkul]

This so called reward is not exactly a good means of motivation, especially for those of us who are trying to do this for hour own sites ... like mine www.thefiatfreezone.com ..

Looking at the amount of responses to this thread it seems like a good enough motivation factor for some people.

I'm calling so many business and companies is tiring, but I'm sure NOT going to tell you EVERY single time I want contact someone.  I just put them on my site, that's it ...

So, if you guys want to run this contest, it's not going to be so easy for some people to get 'their reward' since they are not going to phone you EVERY time they contact others.

Nobody forces anyone to participate. I think it's nice to get rewarded for the work one does for making Bitcoin more popular.

[Jered Kenna (TradeHill)]

This so called reward is not exactly a good means of motivation, especially for those of us who are trying to do this for hour own sites ... like mine www.thefiatfreezone.com ..

Looking at the amount of responses to this thread it seems like a good enough motivation factor for some people.

I'm calling so many business and companies is tiring, but I'm sure NOT going to tell you EVERY single time I want contact someone.  I just put them on my site, that's it ...

So, if you guys want to run this contest, it's not going to be so easy for some people to get 'their reward' since they are not going to phone you EVERY time they contact others.

Nobody forces anyone to participate. I think it's nice to get rewarded for the work one does for making Bitcoin more popular.

It's hard to know if these people would have done it anyways and they're just posting it here because of the reward but this thread has plenty of views and even if it's not increasing (or not drastically) the number of sites accepting btc it's increasing the perception which should help too.

[benjamindees]

I have contacted a small shop that I think would offer a useful addition to the Bitcoin economy.  Unfortunately their pagerank is zero.  So maybe if they accept, someone can help them improve that.

[Mahkul]

I have contacted a small shop that I think would offer a useful addition to the Bitcoin economy.  Unfortunately their pagerank is zero.  So maybe if they accept, someone can help them improve that.

What's the name of it?