How would a (bicycle) merchant go about accepting bitcoin?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

I started a thread a while back asking if anyone knew of any bicycle retailers that accepted bitcoin--in particular, I was looking for someone who had a selection of e-bikes and would take bitcoin.  Unfortunately all the suggestions I got didn't help me much.

Right now I actually have enough bitcoin to buy the bike I was originally looking for, but I don't have a clue as to whether there's a retailer who sells the Turbo Vado and who accepts bitcoin.  But there are two local bike shops selling it, and I was thinking about going to one of them and asking if they'd accept bitcoin.

The issue is that I don't know what the bike shop would have to do in order to hook up with a payment processor, because I seriously doubt they'd take bitcoin outright.  Does anyone have any experience with processors like Bitpay?  Are there others?  Is it a pain in the ass for a merchant to use one?  Those are some of the questions I have, and I'm looking for answers from those who might know.  I don't want to make my request at the bike shop and then have no idea what I should suggest they do.

I was also thinking I could entice them by suggesting that I give them a little free advertising on bitcointalk by writing about my experience after the sale.  Heh heh.

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[AGD]

The easiest solution is to print out a sign "Accepting Bitcoins" and a QR of his Bitcoin wallet

[buwaytress]

I guess OP's trying to see if there's an easy way for merchants to accept Bitcoin AND have it all settle on his backend in normal fiat (which is highly likely for a bike shop unless they're prepared to do separate accounting for bitcoin payments.

I would say here BTCPay Server but this requires the merchant to get elbow deep in some learning curve first.

MisterTango has something similar to BTCPay and I know at least one other merchant using it well and easily (or as easily as BitPay).

In Netherlands, in Bitcoin City, they're all very happy with BitKassa -- it converts to Euros and onboarding's a snap. If I remember, you're in the UK OP?

[o_e_l_e_o]

First of all, I definitely wouldn't suggest BitPay. It has a well deserved reputation of being terrible. Roger Ver is a heavy investor in it, it supported Segwit2X and continues to support BTrash, and you won't be able to use it to buy your bike without completing KYC as the value is over their arbitrary limit.

BTCPay are a good payment processor, but still require the merchant to manually sell the bitcoin for fiat, if that's what they want to do. Others I've seen used in the past which support instant BTC-to-fiat conversion for the merchant are CoinGate and CoinPayments, but I don't have any experience of using these myself.

As AGD says, the simplest option would be to get him to set up his own wallet and accept bitcoin directly. If he wants to then register on an exchange to sell for fiat, then he can do that too.

[Lucius]

I think OP is asking for some the simplest solution for the seller when it comes to accepting BTC as a payment method. For start this include software which will be used for payments, that need to be easy for install and easy for use. Second thing is that seller is secured against sudden price changes in a way that procesor provider is making crypto-fiat transaction instantly at the time of payment or after 1 confirmation.

I use most of the payment processors, and I can comment some of them from the point of buyer. CoinPayments was very popular in past, they have a very good signature campaign here on forum, but then they are forced to restrict operations in some countries (list) which including New York (NY)&Washington (WA) in USA. I must say that after that many sellers stop to use them, and I did not using they service in last 12 months.

Regarding CoinGate, I use them a few times, and the only thing that may be a little strange about their service is the fact that the payment will not be completed until the transaction is received 6 confirmation. Absolutely unnecessary if you ask me, 2 confirmations would be enough.

What I would recommend to the OP (because he is from USA) is Commerce Coinbase, which I use many times as buyer without any problem, very easy and simple payment processor, at least for buyers. From what can be read integration for merchants can be done in just few simple clicks :

How can I sell something once I have signed up for an account?
-
Creating a hosted Checkout is the easiest way to get started selling your products. To do this:

    Click on the blue “Accept Payments” button on the bottom left of your Commerce dashboard and follow the on-screen instructions
    Within a couple of minutes, you will have a static link that you can share with customers to sell your product

[Artemis3]

Actually the simplest method (might not be legal in some countries) is for the shop owner to get his/her very own bitcoin wallet. As simple as that, a mere p2p transaction.

For legality maybe he/she could use his own fiat to make accounting happy, just make it look like he/she is giving a gift from his/her own pocket, no one really needs to know he actually got bitcoin.

To do it formally it depends on each country's regulation.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

If I remember, you're in the UK OP?

No, the US.  But I appreciate the suggestion and you're correct about what I was asking here.  It's not as simple as this:

The easiest solution is to print out a sign "Accepting Bitcoins" and a QR of his Bitcoin wallet

Lol, which isn't a solution to my problem at all.

As AGD says, the simplest option would be to get him to set up his own wallet and accept bitcoin directly. If he wants to then register on an exchange to sell for fiat, then he can do that too.

That would be true for any merchant that didn't already accept bitcoin, but I don't suspect it would be easy to convince a business to start doing so if they're either unfamiliar with what bitcoin is all about or perhaps have a bias against it.  I might be inclined to sweeten the deal for the bike shop, however. 

I don't think any business is going to want to accept bitcoin outright because of the volatility--that's what makes payment processors so important for merchants. 

[gentlemand]

I think people need to let their spiritual beliefs go with this particular subject. All the merchant wants is dollars in their bank. They do not give a fuck about S2X or whatever.

For better or worse that's all Bitpay do and they must have held thousands of hands by this point. There's Coinbase too but I think they make merchants handle their own seeds now which is why their processing business has collapsed, probably intentionally.

[avikz]

I started a thread a while back asking if anyone knew of any bicycle retailers that accepted bitcoin--in particular, I was looking for someone who had a selection of e-bikes and would take bitcoin.  Unfortunately all the suggestions I got didn't help me much.

Right now I actually have enough bitcoin to buy the bike I was originally looking for, but I don't have a clue as to whether there's a retailer who sells the Turbo Vado and who accepts bitcoin.  But there are two local bike shops selling it, and I was thinking about going to one of them and asking if they'd accept bitcoin.

The issue is that I don't know what the bike shop would have to do in order to hook up with a payment processor, because I seriously doubt they'd take bitcoin outright.  Does anyone have any experience with processors like Bitpay?  Are there others?  Is it a pain in the ass for a merchant to use one?  Those are some of the questions I have, and I'm looking for answers from those who might know.  I don't want to make my request at the bike shop and then have no idea what I should suggest they do.

I was also thinking I could entice them by suggesting that I give them a little free advertising on bitcointalk by writing about my experience after the sale.  Heh heh.

Expensive choice man! In this price, I can get a quarter liter motorcycle from Honda in my country! I am sure something must be special about this bicycle since the price is so high! Anyway, coming back to your concern!

At this stage, it is better to get a visa prepaid card from Bitpay and load that card with required amount of bitcoins. You can simply swipe a visa card at any POS that accepts Visa - the merchants doesn't need to accept bitcoin there. It serves two purposes - you get your bike using bitcoin and merchant gets their money without using bitcoin. Hope this helps and congratulation in advance!

[The Sceptical Chymist]

GET OVER YOURSELF,  you are not special

OK, then.  I don't think that my quest to buy a bike with bitcoin is ego-driven, but who knows.  However, you're correct that I'd have to spend way more bitcoin right now than I would have a month ago.  I don't think my purchase is going to happen in the immediate future, so maybe we'll see bitcoin rebound and I won't have to shell out as much for a bike--if it ever happens.

All the merchant wants is dollars in their bank. <snip>

For better or worse that's all Bitpay do and they must have held thousands of hands by this point.

I think it's for the better, as they allow people to pay for stuff with bitcoin if that's what they have, and it doesn't really matter to me if a merchant is a bitcoin supporter or not.  Besides, I think processors like Bitpay are necessary to mitigate the volatility risk on the merchant's side.  If businesses had to accept bitcoin outright and then do whatever they're going to do with it, I don't think there would be nearly as many accepting bitcoin--and there really aren't a lot to begin with.

[HardFacts]

I think it's for the better, as they allow people to pay for stuff with bitcoin if that's what they have, and it doesn't really matter to me if a merchant is a bitcoin supporter or not. 

There are NOT enough people that want to pay in Bitcoin to make it worth the TIME, MONEY, and effort for a business to learn how to accept and deal with BitCoin.   They are far better off using that time and effort into other areas of the business.

ALSO, there is a huge DOWNSIDE and risk to using bitcoin, since its price can collapse in ONE BUSINESS DAY.   Even if there were a way to hedge against this, it would BE EXPENSIVE, another reason for a business NOT to use bitcoin.

This is one reason why BitCoin has FAILED in its initial promises,  as a way to pay for ordinary transactions.   Now bitcoin has FAILED as a safe haven asset " Digital Gold " the moment an economic crisis hit, and there is a long way to go down from here.  Dump that BitCoin, and buy that bike quickly 

Hard Facts

[gentlemand]

Hard, why not go posture somewhere else?

OP is asking for a simple answer to a simple question.

You can harangue your loved ones about Bitcoin's shortcomings over dinner tonight instead.

[o_e_l_e_o]

There are NOT enough people that want to pay in Bitcoin to make it worth the TIME, MONEY, and effort for a business to learn how to accept and deal with BitCoin.

Well, shoot. Can you not tell the multiple various businesses I shop at every week whom I pay in bitcoin? They've been happy to accept bitcoin for several years, they've been paying some of their staff with bitcoin, and I know at least one of them pays a supplier in bitcoin, but now they are going to find out its not worth their effort? It'll be a real hassle for them if you tell them they have to stop. </s>

Even if there were a way to hedge against this, it would BE EXPENSIVE, another reason for a business NOT to use bitcoin.

A way to hedge against it, such as using a payment processor to convert the bitcoin you receive in to fiat? And they charge significantly less fees to do so than the fees you pay when you accept credit cards? If only there were multiple different companies offering exactly this! </s again>

Look, we all know you are 100% in gold and will say anything to try to push your false agenda, but at least try to make sensible arguments? Saying things which are provably and demonstrably false just makes you look silly.

[AGD]

If I remember, you're in the UK OP?

No, the US.  But I appreciate the suggestion and you're correct about what I was asking here.  It's not as simple as this:

The easiest solution is to print out a sign "Accepting Bitcoins" and a QR of his Bitcoin wallet

Lol, which isn't a solution to my problem at all.

As AGD says, the simplest option would be to get him to set up his own wallet and accept bitcoin directly. If he wants to then register on an exchange to sell for fiat, then he can do that too.

That would be true for any merchant that didn't already accept bitcoin, but I don't suspect it would be easy to convince a business to start doing so if they're either unfamiliar with what bitcoin is all about or perhaps have a bias against it.  I might be inclined to sweeten the deal for the bike shop, however. 

I don't think any business is going to want to accept bitcoin outright because of the volatility--that's what makes payment processors so important for merchants. 

If you don't think the merchant wants to simply accept Bitcoin, then why don't you exchange your Bitcoins for cash and pay that bike? If he uses BitPay or something similar your fees will be way too high and the merchant won't see any of the Bitcoins anyway.

[coolcoinz]

If I were a merchant and someone gave me this idea, I'd probably add bitpay or something like that. Personally, I think accepting BTC has a lot of advantages and brings more traffic to your site. Opens you up to a new group of clients and the costs are very small.

As for the bike, do you really prefer this type with a motor integrated into the crankset, instead of the rear wheel? Wheel integrated drives have much more power.
I thought about buying an e-bike, but rather something like this: https://lunacycle.com/sur-ron-x-bike-black-edition/
 

[squatter]

There's Coinbase too but I think they make merchants handle their own seeds now which is why their processing business has collapsed, probably intentionally.

I remember that, but they seem to have made a resurgence recently:

Likewise, a Coinbase spokesperson said Coinbase Commerce processed $135 million worth of cryptocurrency payments for thousands of merchants in 2019, which represents a 600 percent increase in the number of unique transactions via Coinbase Commerce since 2018.

Apparently, they don't even charge merchants to use Coinbase Commerce. It's sort of a convenience. I'm sure most of their merchants send the cryptocurrency straight to Coinbase to cash out, which is why they offer the service.

[FanatMonet]

If they do not accept bitcoins, then it would be possible to sell bitcoins and pay them for a bicycle, this is a fairly reasonable step. Or is it extremely important for you that you buy a bike directly using bitcoins without the help of third parties?

[thirdprize]

Easiest way, change your BTC for cash and give that to him.  Certainly in the current climate no one is going to want to accept bitcoin for goods. 

[gentlemand]

Easiest way, change your BTC for cash and give that to him.  Certainly in the current climate no one is going to want to accept bitcoin for goods. 

They're not accepting Bitcoin if they use a payment processor. They're receiving dollars sent using BTC as a payment rail. In quite a few places people would rather stay away from banks and let a payment processor handle the conversion. Less potential for the bank getting arsey.

[thirdprize]

Easiest way, change your BTC for cash and give that to him.  Certainly in the current climate no one is going to want to accept bitcoin for goods. 

They're not accepting Bitcoin if they use a payment processor. They're receiving dollars sent using BTC as a payment rail. In quite a few places people would rather stay away from banks and let a payment processor handle the conversion. Less potential for the bank getting arsey.

Most shops will just change it to fiat straight away.