[ANN] Introducing LoveBitcoins.org – Driving 1 MILLION Bitcoin Users in 2012

[julz]

Thank you for your contribution to the bitcoin community.

+1 
I love where they're trying to head with this - I'm just wary of touting it as a replacement for PayPal at this stage.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

+1 
I love where they're trying to head with this - I'm just wary of touting it as a replacement for PayPal at this stage.

In many countries, it is.  I think the $15 fee from Crypto is for wire transfers.  Ask them about cash bank deposits.  I can't imagine them charging $15 if you bring $100 to a bank teller to deposit into their account.

[julz]

+1 
I love where they're trying to head with this - I'm just wary of touting it as a replacement for PayPal at this stage.

In many countries, it is.  I think the $15 fee from Crypto is for wire transfers.  Ask them about cash bank deposits.  I can't imagine them charging $15 if you bring $100 to a bank teller to deposit into their account.

If it doesn't apply to cash bank deposits - they've done a terrible job at explaining this on their site.

$15 Flat Fee – For all deposits and withdrawals from Crypto X Change

I've tried using their online support to ask about this fee, which included entering my email address - but I got no response.
I'm willing to put this down to teething problems.. but so far it's not looking like a cheap option.


It would be interesting to see a survey of what people in the bitcoin community do pay on average for depositing funds into Bitcoin exchanges.  I'm skeptical that anywhere near a majority are getting it less than around 5% by the time they use one intermediary or another.

[gnar1ta$]

Like the site, will be sending interested people there instead of sending them a bunch of links.  I didn't see Flexcoin on there, are they not an online wallet?  I use the client only so I don't know where to send new people.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Like the site, will be sending interested people there instead of sending them a bunch of links.  I didn't see Flexcoin on there, are they not an online wallet?  I use the client only so I don't know where to send new people.

hmmm, I'm not sure where to put flexcoin.  they aren't really used as a wallet because they charge you for every withdrawal.  It's more for cold storage.  I don't know if the new PayPal type users are ready for that yet.

[cunicula]

But if I lose 5% for my initial Bitcoin purchase (I've paid more than that in the past by the way!) - what's the difference between being hit up front like that, or getting free initial deposit with PayPal and then hit with a fee for every purchase?  Actually.. the difference is you come out ahead with paypal because it's less than 5% right?

I also pay another 5% or more if I want to get my Bitcoins out.

You could use an exchange called https://intersango.com which has zero fees to buy or sell.  and deposits and withdrawals are also free, unless its a wire transfer.  there is no need to pay 5% in or out.

Even if you don't pay an explicit fee, there is a large implicit fee (transaction cost) due to the huge bid-ask spread. Bitcoin will not be competitive with paypal in the near future (next three years at least).
Your business model is not credible.

Bitcoin has some unique advantages:
1) Quick, irreversible trades at any distance
2) Consumer Privacy when selling services and digital goods at a distance.
3) Low fees for micropayments
4) Facilitation of trade in illicit goods (gambling, drugs)

The correct strategy is to develop businesses around these competitive niche(s). Once these are developed, bitcoin's use can be extended into mainstream areas.

Instead of highlighting bitcoin's advantages, you plan to slingshot bitcoin into the mainstream consumer payments arena directly. Why do you think that has any chance of succeeding?

Anyways, I'll stop hijacking your thread with unwanted (and unheeded) criticism. Best of luck with your endeavors.

[gigabytecoin]

No mention of remittance on the website?

Remittance is a massive money transfer business here in Canada and the United States. Millions of immigrants who speak poor english walk into a remittance shop once a week to pay ridiculous fees to transfer money to their loved ones back home.

If you could target them, and somehow get across that the fees were much lower...!!!

[BitPay Business Solutions]

No mention of remittance on the website?

Remittance is a massive money transfer business here in Canada and the United States. Millions of immigrants who speak poor english walk into a remittance shop once a week to pay ridiculous fees to transfer money to their loved ones back home.

If you could target them, and somehow get across that the fees were much lower...!!!

YES!!  We have that in the US also.  Western Union.  I will add it to the site, as these are perfect groups to target.

[fornit]

No mention of remittance on the website?

Remittance is a massive money transfer business here in Canada and the United States. Millions of immigrants who speak poor english walk into a remittance shop once a week to pay ridiculous fees to transfer money to their loved ones back home.

If you could target them, and somehow get across that the fees were much lower...!!!

YES!!  We have that in the US also.  Western Union.  I will add it to the site, as these are perfect groups to target.

they are only a target group if you can gurantee low fees and fast transactions for deposit/withdrawal in both countries. therefore, the best approach would be to target one specific country pair at first, make sure the currency conversion and money transaction is vastly superior to the current popular solution and try to replace it completly within that specific immigrant community. immigrants are often highly connected among each other, so once you set up and introduce your solution, it might spread on its own if its really that good.

[CoinLab]

- # votes towards Director candidates and any project referendums

Can you explain this?

[BitPay Business Solutions]

- # votes towards Director candidates and any project referendums

Can you explain this?

once we get 50 members we will form a Chamber of Commerce type business model, with Directors to plan the marketing roadmap.  We are quite a ways away from that though.

[LoupGaroux]

Ouch! Western Union???

Steer very clear of that on anything that you are doing to promote bitcoin. Western Union screams scam, thanks to the enterprising lads in Nigeria at the internet cafes, who use it as their preferred remittance source for ill-gotten gains. Even mentioning WU will create all kinds of negative press both with users (the more savvy greens, and all of the blues) and with media and the authorities.

Please don't add the taint of a criminal facilitator to this world, it is exactly the kind of message we need to avoid.

[bbit]

Ouch! Western Union???

Steer very clear of that on anything that you are doing to promote bitcoin. Western Union screams scam, thanks to the enterprising lads in Nigeria at the internet cafes, who use it as their preferred remittance source for ill-gotten gains. Even mentioning WU will create all kinds of negative press both with users (the more savvy greens, and all of the blues) and with media and the authorities.

Please don't add the taint of a criminal facilitator to this world, it is exactly the kind of message we need to avoid.

My last scam was through Western Union I fell for it   lost $2,900 that I would love to have back ugghh....

[BitcoinRedLight]

Ouch! Western Union???

Steer very clear of that on anything that you are doing to promote bitcoin. Western Union screams scam, thanks to the enterprising lads in Nigeria at the internet cafes, who use it as their preferred remittance source for ill-gotten gains. Even mentioning WU will create all kinds of negative press both with users (the more savvy greens, and all of the blues) and with media and the authorities.

Please don't add the taint of a criminal facilitator to this world, it is exactly the kind of message we need to avoid.

Western Union goes well beyond 'scams' in terms of market penetration.

Perhaps it would be equally accurate to blame the USD (or whatever currency is the scam du jour) or bank wire transfers.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Western Union goes well beyond 'scams' in terms of market penetration.

Perhaps it would be equally accurate to blame the USD (or whatever currency is the scam du jour) or bank wire transfers.

Or perhaps the criminal on the other end of the transaction?  People use Western Union all the time to send money to their friends and relatives.  and it's very expensive.

[damnek]

Perhaps remove the "become a member" button from the top menu and add it to the bottom About us etc. options, or place it somewhere in the member listing page. I don't think it's relevant to most visitors.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

Perhaps remove the "become a member" button from the top menu and add it to the bottom About us etc. options, or place it somewhere in the member listing page. I don't think it's relevant to most visitors.

Good idea, this is changed on the site now.

[Vandroiy]

It's evolving, yay!

I like how this project will reward its makers through Bitcoin businesses paying to get linked.

Are there any traffic stats directly from the site, to see whether it's working? Might also be interesting to analyze just what visitors click.

[BitPay Business Solutions]

we do have site stats installed.  In the first day, we have had 544 visits from 49 countries.  As we get this rolled out we can publish the stats, yes.

[damnek]

It seems that some similar-sounding domain names have already been parked.

lovebitcoin.com
lovebitcoin.org
lovebitcoins.com

It took me several attempts before I ended up on the real page