Accepting Bitcoin for sales in a volatile market.

[Baronets]

I'm going to revive my domain name sales business, and I want to offer Bitcoin as the primary payment method. I may expand this to allow some other altcoins in the future, but I want to stick with Bitcoin initially. The problem is pricing in a volatile market. I believe that Bitcoin is going through a correction at the moment, but will increase in value significantly towards the end of the year. Of course that is guesswork on my part, and it is subject to 20-30% volatility. So how so you decide on the price? If I believe a name is worth (say) £5,000, do I ask for 0.6 Bitcoin, or do I make an allowance for price drops or increases? I don't want to quote the price in US dollars or Sterling.

Another consideration is the fact that most buyers will not be experienced in Bitcoin. I'm thinking of suggesting that they join this forum so that they can ask any questions about Bitcoin, and I will give them my Jet Cash account name, so that they they can check on my credibility. So far I have only used Coinbase to buy Bitcoin, but I may provide another couple of exchanges to give them some choice. Do you think it is advisable to offer these recommendations, or should I let them find out for themselves on Bitcoin Talk?

I'm also a long term member of a domain dealers forum, but I don't want to suggest that as a source of information, as that tends to lead them into trying to buy names at trade prices, and I am not desperate to sell at the moment. I've also got a number of crypto names, and I'll probably offer those for sale in the market place here, although I haven't had much success there.

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[Mbitr]

In my opinion if you sell something in BTC, you have to accept that there is always a fluctuation. Sometimes you will gain a bit and sometimes lose a bit from the volatility.
I don’t know how long it takes for you to sell domains, ie, from the initial advertisement to final sale - is this likely to be 1 week, 1 month ?

[Charles-Tim]

I'm going to revive my domain name sales business, and I want to offer Bitcoin as the primary payment method.

This is great, it will be a way for people to also know about bitcoin. Imo, I like the idea.

So how so you decide on the price?

You are not new on the forum, and you know a lot about bitcoin, and how the price has been volatile and fluctuating since its adoption. I think you know better. But, imo, bitcoin is still in its early days of its adoption, you will not regret this. And it is the best cryptocurrencies  you can use for such as it is not a shitcoins like many altcoins.

do I ask for 0.6 Bitcoin, or do I make an allowance for price drops or increases? I don't want to quote the price in US dollars or Sterling.

I think both the ideas are good. Your experience will lead you to a way better. Trying the two is good.

Another consideration is the fact that most buyers will not be experienced in Bitcoin. I'm thinking of suggesting that they join this forum so that they can ask any questions about Bitcoin, and I will give them my Jet Cash account name, so that they they can check on my credibility. So far I have only used Coinbase to buy Bitcoin, but I may provide another couple of exchanges to give them some choice. Do you think it is advisable to offer these recommendations, or should I let them find out for themselves on Bitcoin Talk?

This forum is for learning, asking question about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, there is nothing bad to refer people to this forum to learn.

The more you are into it, the more experience about it.

[thesmallgod]

Volatility is one of the major drawback that makes it difficult to be used in accepting goods and services purchase. If you are accepting btc you will scare the customer away by quoting price higher just because you want to mitigate the price lost due to volatility. I will encourage you to make sure you only accepting certain percentage of the total cost in crypto while the customer can pay the rest using fiat currency. I believe anyone that want to use bitcoin to buy goods should have basic understanding of crypto. You may choose to redirect them to BTT in case you can't provide answer to their question

[Baronets]

I don’t know how long it takes for you to sell domains, ie, from the initial advertisement to final sale - is this likely to be 1 week, 1 month ?

Anything from 5 minutes to 5 years. I sold a name for Sterling in about 5 minutes over the phone. The buyer found my phone number through the registration information. That won't happen now, as names have privacy protection, but there is still a method of contact through emails. I've been negotiating the sale of another couple of names for over 3 years. I'm not to stressed about selling them, and the buyers don't want to pay my asking price. It costs less than $9 per year to keep them, so there is no pressure to sell.

I feel that I am missing out by not selling the names that I don't need, and I should have sold for Bitcoin when the price was around $3,000 or less. I don't need the money at the moment, but I feel that Bitcoin could more than double in value over the next 12 months, and that could be a conservative estimate. The names may not have a comparable rise in value, so it makes sense to boost my wallet savings whilst Bitcoin is going through a correction.

The real quandary is the possible opinion of the buyer. They could reject the whole concept of Bitcoin, especially in view of the reported frauds. One possibility is the use of an escrow service by a forum member. He could accept payment in fiat, and pay me in Bitcoin when the name has been transferred. I haven't seen a member offering such a service though. A registrar push is immediate, but a registrar transfer can take a few days to confirm the receipt in a buyers account. If it takes a week, that is a long time in crypto, and one would need to consider the possibility of price movements in Bitcoin during that period.

[Charles-Tim]

Volatility is one of the major drawback that makes it difficult to be used in accepting goods and services purchase. If you are accepting btc you will scare the customer away by quoting price higher just because you want to mitigate the price lost due to volatility. I will encourage you to make sure you only accepting certain percentage of the total cost in crypto while the customer can pay the rest using fiat currency.

Nice idea. But bitcoin only want to be the primary payment method, not the whole payment method. Normally, Jet Cash should include fiat as it is normal. Also, he wants to include altcoins later. But, it will be good if bitcoin is the primary payment method, others should be alternatives.

[The Cryptovator]

The problem is you don't want quote price with USD, so most probably you have to update product price in bitcoin within a specific time. Setting auto integration would problem during checkout. So you have to set an algorithm with a time limit of like 6 hours. Means if the price of Bitcoin falls within 6 hours then your product price will be increased, if the bitcoin price raise then the product price will be a drop in bitcoin. For that, you should mention your website for transparent deals. It would be automatically or manually as well. The idea of referring to this forum to know more about bitcoin is great. So your clients would learn more about bitcoin.

[Josefjix]

Things worthy of note.

• Your customers
• Their Ability to adapt to volatility of Bitcoin price.
• Their Age grade
• The places they live in ( Would they be able to buy Bitcoin whenever they need your services?)
• Their security in your market place


Once these things are guaranteed, transacting with you upon launch of your sales website wouldn't be a herculean task to them. I would also suggest you add an automated BTC/USD conversions to enable them understand what and how much in fiat they are paying.

[Mbitr]

I don’t know how long it takes for you to sell domains, ie, from the initial advertisement to final sale - is this likely to be 1 week, 1 month ?

Anything from 5 minutes to 5 years. I sold a name for Sterling in about 5 minutes over the phone. The buyer found my phone number through the registration information. That won't happen now, as names have privacy protection, but there is still a method of contact through emails. I've been negotiating the sale of another couple of names for over 3 years. I'm not to stressed about selling them, and the buyers don't want to pay my asking price. It costs less than $9 per year to keep them, so there is no pressure to sell.

I feel that I am missing out by not selling the names that I don't need, and I should have sold for Bitcoin when the price was around $3,000 or less. I don't need the money at the moment, but I feel that Bitcoin could more than double in value over the next 12 months, and that could be a conservative estimate. The names may not have a comparable rise in value, so it makes sense to boost my wallet savings whilst Bitcoin is going through a correction.

The real quandary is the possible opinion of the buyer. They could reject the whole concept of Bitcoin, especially in view of the reported frauds. One possibility is the use of an escrow service by a forum member. He could accept payment in fiat, and pay me in Bitcoin when the name has been transferred. I haven't seen a member offering such a service though. A registrar push is immediate, but a registrar transfer can take a few days to confirm the receipt in a buyers account. If it takes a week, that is a long time in crypto, and one would need to consider the possibility of price movements in Bitcoin during that period.

I completely understand your quandary . I’ve been in similar situations myself and I don’t think there is a simple answer.
On a business level - do what you do best and what works for the business and your profits. Sell in FIAT , then convert to BTC here with a reputable member or on an exchange.
On the bitcoin side - we all want promotion of BTC to as many people as possible , but in the large scheme of things- bitcoin is a very small market and I do think you will alienate the majority of your clients. Sad but true.
Anyway, I’ll be watching this thread closely to see if a suitable solution arises. Thanks for starting this thread

[davis196]

Why should volatility be problem?If you are so afraid of the Bitcoin price fluctuations,than why not just sell your bitcoins for fiat,right after the buyer pays you with BTC for the domain name(after 3 confirmations).
If you ask me,BTC price volatility won't be your main problem.Your main problem will be finding buyers that are willing to pay for a domain name by using Bitcoin.
By the way,do you plan to use a crypto payment processor,like Bitpay or Coinpayments?

[Baronets]

I'm not bothered by volatility on my own account. I value the domain name on my anticipation of the Bitcoin value in six months time. That is completely speculative and very subjective, and I wouldn't want to enter into discussions about that with people other than long term Bitcoiners.

I want to completely avoid any contact with fiat for tax purposes. Tax will be paid when I dispose of my Bitcoin. I believe that I am able to obtain roll over relief for virtual asset exchanges, but don't trust me with this opinion, you should seek your own tax advice for the laws in your country.

My ideal sale would be the receipt of a Bitcoin payment directly into the wallet associated with my node. This would be followed by a registrar push with Name Silo. This may be an optimistic ambition, and there could be a number of variations on this. I'm a senior member on a variety of forums - I'm a VIP and a domain insider on Name Pros, and I have over 5,000 likes, and I've been a member since 2016. I've been here for several years, and my Jet Cash profile is available for all to see. I'm a legendary, a DT1, and a merit source, and I hope that this will generate dome trust. Either forum account is probably worth more than most individual names that I will be selling.

The volatility is probably of more importance to a buyer, and I toyed with the idea of explaining how he could reduce his costs by riding the wicks on Coinbase pro, but that may create more confusion for a newcomer to Bitcoin.

Domain names are unique, and they seem to be increasing in value. This is so as a result of the lockdowns, and the housing repossessions, and my RV and campervan names seem to have increased in value, as more people seek to purchase these vehicles as homes or alternative holiday accommodation. This makes them a sellers market if they are decent names.

[Yaunfitda]

Why should volatility be problem?If you are so afraid of the Bitcoin price fluctuations,than why not just sell your bitcoins for fiat,right after the buyer pays you with BTC for the domain name(after 3 confirmations).
If you ask me,BTC price volatility won't be your main problem.Your main problem will be finding buyers that are willing to pay for a domain name by using Bitcoin.
By the way,do you plan to use a crypto payment processor,like Bitpay or Coinpayments?

I think the best option is to have a crypto payment processor. There is one good thread about it that maybe can help the OP to decided in the future, Bitcoin Payment Processors. Volatility will also be present in crypto, it's just how you are going to manage or mitigate it.

[stompix]

If I believe a name is worth (say) £5,000, do I ask for 0.6 Bitcoin, or do I make an allowance for price drops or increases? I don't want to quote the price in US dollars or Sterling.

If you don't want to mention fiat at all, nor do you want a thrid party payments gateway, then set up a small website and put the price though blockchain's API:
https://www.blockchain.com/api/exchange_rates_api
For example:
https://blockchain.info/tobtc?currency=GBP&value=5000

Even if the price goes from 0.6 to 1.2 or 0.3 you can be sure that the buyer will always make the BTC<>fiat math in is head, we all do
This is for the case you want that person to know at each time what the value of the website is in BTC without you having to do the maths each day, but if you're negotiating through email for weeks, maybe months, what you're planning on doing will turn into a headache for the customer, and maybe for you too.

Why should volatility be problem?If you are so afraid of the Bitcoin price fluctuations,than why not just sell your bitcoins for fiat,right after the buyer pays you with BTC for the domain name(after 3 confirmations).

He is concerned that he will start negotiation at 1 BTC for example as he values the domain at 11k and by the time all the deal is getting done which might take a few weeks the prices would have changed and he needs to tell the client the prices has gone up to 2 BTC as BTC dropped to 5k or the client will get out of the deal since 1 BTC is worth now 50k.

[Baronets]

I don't want to use a payment processor, as I'm a Bitcoin purist, and I belive it is a P2P settlement system. I don't believe it will become a currency, and this is why I hope it doesn't debase itself by becoming a supermarket payment option.  Gold Britannias and Sovereigns are legal tender in Britain, but I've never heard of anyone trying to spend one in a supermarket. Bitcoin is money and a medium of exchange, and it is also a virtual asset. This means it is ideal for settlement in the purchase of virtual assets, and should not require the intervention of banks or quasi-banks. I don't care how the purchaser acquired his coins, he could be a miner, a HODLer, and inheritor. or have earnt or purchased the coins.

I've got several trading sites on my own domains, and one even has a ticketing system and an out of date blog. I use xe.com to show current exchange rates. I use this as it is a more general forex site, and possibly more trusted by the public than a crypto site.

[20kevin20]

Apologies in advance for the length of my post.

If you believe the negotiation will take a long time, you either accept the price no matter what the USD pair is or you have to link the BTC price to USD one way or another. I get what you're trying to do, and I admire you for it, but this is your profit and credibility at stake. While I might not want to negotiate a price of 0.6BTC in a matter of months when BTC/USD could be growing at a fast pace, you wouldn't want that to happen to you either. As stompix said, this is a situation where both parties risk having the other back out from the deal.

That's where I guess you want to decide what you want more: BTC or fiat value? The thing is, it's quite risky to have a 0.6BTC customer back out .. if say Bitcoin's USD value doubles, then you would have to put the domain on sale again, this time for half the price.. and that is 0.3BTC.

So yeah, this is a very sensitive subject.. and a double edged sword. You should also consider the other side of the story, as to me it seems like you're thinking one step ahead: you're missing the first step.. finding a customer. You might not have a customer at all for a matter of months or years. In that case, if Bitcoin doubles in the meantime, are you going to keep the same 0.6BTC price or will you cut it in half? This is where we go back to the bolded question above..

Now about recommending wallets/exchanges or giving information about BTC, it depends. If you start giving out information, the customer might expect you to explain and answer questions they may have. Not giving any kind of info may also be wrong, as you might have a customer who really wants to pay you and get the domain but backs out because they're uncertain about using BTC. So it might be the best to go right in between the two.. find some handy links that explain any questions they may have (say a BTC F.A.Q. or a how-to for Electrum, etc) and hand them out whenever a customer is in doubts.

Again, sorry for the length of my post. I really hope I have helped with your concerns; anyway, best of luck with your business.

[Natalim]

Why should volatility be problem?If you are so afraid of the Bitcoin price fluctuations,than why not just sell your bitcoins for fiat,right after the buyer pays you with BTC for the domain name(after 3 confirmations).
If you ask me,BTC price volatility won't be your main problem.Your main problem will be finding buyers that are willing to pay for a domain name by using Bitcoin.
By the way,do you plan to use a crypto payment processor,like Bitpay or Coinpayments?

I think the best option is to have a crypto payment processor. There is one good thread about it that maybe can help the OP to decided in the future, Bitcoin Payment Processors. Volatility will also be present in crypto, it's just how you are going to manage or mitigate it.

The link might be broken, won't direct me to the thread.

Anyway, I think OP's business is not big enough to use a payment processor or a third party service, enough knowledge on bitcoin volatility would probably make him minimize the risk, and of course he can do it manually by trading on stable coins at the end of the day, or any period he likes too, besides volatility does not only mean you lose, you could also win on it, especially if the market is bullish.

[Baronets]

The unsold name price is an interesting one. My first reaction is to state that prices will be reviewed on the first of the month, and may increase with a drop in the value of Bitcoin. That leaves me with an unstated option to decrease the priceif Bitcoin drops. It couls also provide a stimulus for a potential customer to arrive at an early buy decision. There is also the problem of holding a price for a few days whilst the transfer is completed. If Bitcoin makes a hockey stick movement, this could be a problem. Maybe I should restrict the offer to 3 days maximum. If the price drops, then I don't mind taking the notional loss, as I believe that Bitcoin will soon recover after such a drop. The bigger risk is the buyer dropping out if he hasn't picked up the Bitcoin in time. There isn't much I can do about that though. The margins are brilliant, and give a lot f room for negotiation. If you pick up a name for $8, and renew it a couple of times, then you are in the hole for less than $25. Selling it for $2,500 gives you a comfortable cushion.

[tbterryboy]

I think if you can get a system that will automatically be converting the amount of dollars in USD to BTC, that will be better. And you shouldn’t be listing the prices in BTC, example: 0.6 BTC like you have said, it would be better that you just list the prices in USD as that is what people will understand better than the BTC. And like I have said at first, if there can be a system or way that you can configure your website to convert those amounts to BTC so that your buyers will know how much of BTC they are meant to be sending to your address. I have seen sites that are doing that, you should do research.

I have also heard about Blockchain merchant app, but I don’t know how it works, you should probably look into it and other crypto merchant apps, they might have what you need.

[audaciousbeing]

Your dilemma is the same with all entrepreneurs across the globe. For me, if you are service provider, then billing in btc should not be a problem because so far you can factor in the volatility to the price but be also careful not to drive your clients away because of the risk you want to take and they can get it elsewhere. For an entrepreneur who sells physical goods, the only way you tend to make headway is if you buy your goods in btc and the price is fixed in btc irrespective of the equivalent in $.

[adzino]

I'm going to revive my domain name sales business, and I want to offer Bitcoin as the primary payment method. I may expand this to allow some other altcoins in the future, but I want to stick with Bitcoin initially. The problem is pricing in a volatile market. I believe that Bitcoin is going through a correction at the moment, but will increase in value significantly towards the end of the year. Of course that is guesswork on my part, and it is subject to 20-30% volatility. So how so you decide on the price? If I believe a name is worth (say) £5,000, do I ask for 0.6 Bitcoin, or do I make an allowance for price drops or increases? I don't want to quote the price in US dollars or Sterling.

Another consideration is the fact that most buyers will not be experienced in Bitcoin. I'm thinking of suggesting that they join this forum so that they can ask any questions about Bitcoin, and I will give them my Jet Cash account name, so that they they can check on my credibility. So far I have only used Coinbase to buy Bitcoin, but I may provide another couple of exchanges to give them some choice. Do you think it is advisable to offer these recommendations, or should I let them find out for themselves on Bitcoin Talk?

I'm also a long term member of a domain dealers forum, but I don't want to suggest that as a source of information, as that tends to lead them into trying to buy names at trade prices, and I am not desperate to sell at the moment. I've also got a number of crypto names, and I'll probably offer those for sale in the market place here, although I haven't had much success there.

You will have to deal with the risk. You can't charge users extra because they are paying in bitcoin and the price is volatile. You will instead lose users and others won't be willing to pay you with bitcoin when see the price difference when paying with fiat.
You can use payment gateways that will allow users to pay with bitcoin but you will receive in fiat (you have to pay a small fee), since you don't want to take risks with volatility. But, if you don't want to convert it into fiat, then you can update price in realtime.
You can suggest them where to buy but make sure you tell them there might be better places to buy from.