Amazon and Bitcoin

[mopap]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Has anyone heard anything in this space?

[OmegaStarScream]

I doubt it will be happening anytime soon. For now, you could use Bitrefill to buy gift cards for Amazon and redeem them, or simply use Purse.io and get up to 20% off.

[Ailmand]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Has anyone heard anything in this space?

Nope, but it could be great if amazon starts accepting cryptocurrency since it can help boost the market demand of cryptocurrency and also can make payment easier for it's user.

I came accross this article and might be worth to read since this is somehow related to your post.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ethereumworldnews.com/rakuten-exchange-could-push-amazon-to-accept-cryptocurrency/amp/

[Kakmakr]

I doubt if Amazon would dip their payment feet into Bitcoin soon, because of two reasons. 1. They have a strong partnership with PayPal and Credit card companies and they will not jeopardize that relationship. 2. Bitcoin are not acknowledged as a "currency", but rather as a commodity, so the legal issues and accounting problems will be significant, if they experiment with payment options that are not defined as a currency.

We might see more merchants accepting Bitcoin as a payment option, as soon as regulators sort out the regulation regarding Crypto currencies and the definition of currencies.  

[Haunebu]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/ethereumworldnews.com/rakuten-exchange-could-push-amazon-to-accept-cryptocurrency/amp/

I have purchases stuff from Rakuten(Xbox gift cards etc) before successfully which is why it is good to see their positive stance towards crypto, but I don't think this will change Amazon's stance towards crypto anytime soon.

Am not expecting a big bull run in this case either.

[ChrisPop]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Has anyone heard anything in this space?

Amazon is one of the biggest retailers in the world. If they start accepting Bitcoin it would be huge for the adoption aspect. It would set the standard and the other big retail chains will surely follow their initiative. I hope this will happen sooner than later.

[Bitinity]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Has anyone heard anything in this space?

Amazon is one of the biggest retailers in the world. If they start accepting Bitcoin it would be huge for the adoption aspect. It would set the standard and the other big retail chains will surely follow their initiative. I hope this will happen sooner than later.

Obviously, but I doubt Amazon will accept bitcoin in the near future. There are some theories why Amazon wont accept bitcoin as payment method like what are mentioned by Kakmakr and some other possible reasons such as about its volatility that give some confusions on pricing products.
The best way to use bitcoin to buy something at amazon has been addressed by OmegaStarScream.

[CodyAlfaridzi]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Why, though?

I hope this will happen sooner than later.

I think it's very unlikely. Don't forget the transaction fee "issue" that Bitcoin is having some time. I mean except for crypto enthusiast, paying $5 dollar in fees and have to wait for an hour to get the transaction confirmed is not appealing. When there are other options like Paypal and credit cards, I doubt people would choose Bitcoin over them. If their current payment system is OK and there's not a big enough demand from the customer, what urges Amazon to implement Bitcoin payment?

[bittamak]

Well, Rakuten an e-commerce giant is in the process of implementing bitcoin to their platform. So, if its successful, may be others might follow.....

[squatter]

We really need Amazon to start accepting Bitcoin as payment again.

Has anyone heard anything in this space?

It's way too early to expect that. The market is not very liquid and with Amazon's volume, they risk not being able to easily settle to fiat currency without losses. I don't think a company of Amazon's size can just set up a Bitpay account, nor would they want to. Then there's the scalability aspect to consider.

I could see it years down the road if/when the markets are more liquid and Lightning is more ubiquitous and easy-to-use. Until then, you can buy Amazon gift cards with bitcoins. I buy them through the Bitpay wallet myself.

[stfN2128]

do we really need it? it would be a good sign for mass adoption but in my opinion its not really a need. rakuten is going to be accept bitcoin as far as i have noticed lately. as long as some other mid / big shops accept bitcoin we are on a good way. 

[LeGaulois]

Perhaps the community does but Amazon has no interest to accept BTC, whatever the Bitcoin's price is.
Bitrefill is a good option but the rate is not so good last time I checked. I used Purse.io before without a problem.

[jak3]

just wait till the facebook coin is launched. Amazon and other competing rivals will also see this act and start taking actions on crypto technologies. till then just keep spreading everyone information about bitcoin, because bitcoin community is very large and big companies like Amazon are not going to ignore that, Have faith and patience they will surely accept it as payment soon.

[gentlemand]

I have no idea why people have such a boner about this. It's irrelevant. If people wanted to spend their BTC we'd see ever expanding merchant adoption but it's been consistently falling.

The only incentive is on the merchant side. It's superb for them. For the customer there's no reason for them to use it. Since most merchants don't make enough profit to be able to offer the discounts that might draw people in it's a dead end.

If I were Amazon I might go as far as officially sanctioning one of the places that does gift cards for BTC. There's no need for them to go any further.

[erikalui]

Why do we need Amazon accepting crypto? They would charge heavy fees and plus we would end up paying more for a product when we can easily buy gift cards at 15-30% discount from many websites with bitcoins. The volatile price doesn't make crypto a feasible option.

[AdolfinWolf]

Why do we need Amazon accepting crypto? They would charge heavy fees and plus we would end up paying more for a product when we can easily buy gift cards at 15-30% discount from many websites with bitcoins. The volatile price doesn't make crypto a feasible option.

Just curious, where do you buy giftcards for 15-30% off?

Sites like bitrefill (which i consider to be the really the only legit supplier for amazon GC), charges an 8% premium...?
https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/amazon_de-germany/?hl=en

I doubt Amazon natively accepting bitcoin would incur fees that high.

The volatile price doesn't make crypto a feasible option.

Why not? Funds can instantly be liquidated.
Especially with a market as big as amazon, i'm sure there are tons of exchanges who are willing to offer specific services to instantly liquidate funds at spot price etc.

[gentlemand]

Just curious, where do you buy giftcards for 15-30% off?

Sites like bitrefill (which i consider to be the really the only legit supplier for amazon GC), charges an 8% premium...?
https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/amazon_de-germany/?hl=en

Purse.io but I've never been inclined to try them myself.

I've no idea why anyone would pay a premium. For Amazon.de stuff you can buy at face value through Bitpanda. For Amazon.co.uk there's Giftoff.com. For Amazon.com you can buy inside the Copay wallet.

[AdolfinWolf]

Purse.io but I've never been inclined to try them myself.

Yeah, but you'll have to essentially dox yourself (shipping info) to an unknown individual, and hope that the user paying for your stuff isn't carding/chargebacking/doing other shady stuff, right?

I'm not too keen on opening myself up to that, no matter how big the % off.

[gentlemand]

Yeah, but you'll have to essentially dox yourself (shipping info), and hope that the user paying for your stuff isn't carding/chargebacking/doing other shady stuff, right?

Not sure about the shipping. There's a guaranteed 5% rate bought through Purse directly. The individual discounters do it through the wishlist so they don't see your address.

Carding is the most obvious turn off and I'm sure there is a mountain of it going on. They don't release the BTC until the item is received so there's some protection, but the buyer might be caught out later on.

[erikalui]

Just curious, where do you buy giftcards for 15-30% off?

Sites like bitrefill (which i consider to be the really the only legit supplier for amazon GC), charges an 8% premium...?
https://www.bitrefill.com/buy/amazon_de-germany/?hl=en

I doubt Amazon natively accepting bitcoin would incur fees that high.

https://purse.io/shop is the website that gets you 15% discount on Amazon website. If you buy from local sellers, you can easily get even more discount.

Why not? Funds can instantly be liquidated.
Especially with a market as big as amazon, i'm sure there are tons of exchanges who are willing to offer specific services to instantly liquidate funds at spot price etc.

It's not easy as you think. Converting to fiat from Amazon's end involves sending fee, conversion fee, withdrawal fee etc. Amazon will all impose it on the buyer and we already know how they treat their sellers by making them pay high fee for everything. You can easily end up paying min 10% more than now.