1 year of accepting crypto payment in my fashion store

[Pokapoka124]

It's a year since I started accepting crypto as payment . I will show you how I operate and also how you can accept crypto payments as a small business owner. I run a fashion store, we make African prints, suits, shirts and trousers. This is a popular business in Nigeria, I needed a edge in the market to better my competitors. A greater percentage of my customers are within the age of 20 - 47, this category are people who are tech savvy and open-minded. Nigeria is one of the biggest markets for Bitcoin. This survey led me to make the decision of accepting Bitcoin payments in my business to serve the increasing number of crypto-paying customers.  I recently made a catalog of Bitcoin wears available for preorders https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5121680.msg60641685#msg60641685. It's been a one hell of a journey and I would like to share with y'all.
 
How to Get Started

Step 1

Choose a good wallet
Use a wallet you're familiar with. Do not be experimental with wallets, use a highly secured wallet and keep your keys close to your heart.

Step 2

Training my staff

Keeping in mind I can't be everywhere at once, my staff needed to have basic knowledge about crypto. So they can offer assistance to  customers when they need it and also show the newbies how to buy Bitcoin and make payment. Quality customer service is important, you don't want your staff to look confused on the job. That’s poor customer service.  Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, you can't afford to make mistakes.

Step 3

Advertising & Promotions

Getting word out that you now accept crypto payment is important. I rebranded my shopping bags to include crypto images. Also I had a the billboard in front replaced with an new one that says we accept crypto.   Discounts on certain items were given to encourage more customers to use crypto as payment. When a customer buys goods worth more than $100 worth of Bitcoin, they are given a free voucher to shop $10 free.

A typical crypto transaction at my store look like this:

1.The cashier gives the customers a Bitcoin QR code to make payment

2. The QR code is customized to tell customer’s crypto wallet where to send the bitcoins and how much to send.

3. The Bitcoin payment is confirmed by the cashier.

Challenges

The only down side I have experienced is the price volatility of Bitcoin. This has a huge effect on the business, because you need cash to run the business. Do you convert to fiat immediately or do you hodl the crypto payments you receive? If you choose the latter, how do you keep record of your actual profits? For me, I save my money in USD because of the unstableness of the naira. Accepting crypto payments has been of great benefit to me, crypto doesn't have an off-day like the banks do not work on weekends and the network on weekends are usually terrible, crypto payments saves me the bank trouble.

Advice

You don't have to know everything to begin, just start. When I started, I used electrum wallet to receive payments. Then I got to know about lightning network, which I adopted. I have recently become acquainted with a crypto exchange in Nigeria. I'm considering a deal to create a merchant account with them as a payment gateway.

[dkbit98]

The only down side I have experienced is the price volatility of Bitcoin. This has a huge effect on the business, because you need cash to run the business. Do you convert to fiat immediately or do you hodl the crypto payments you receive? If you choose the latter, how do you keep record of your actual profits?

What is the average percentage of customers you have that pay with Bitcoin, LN and other cryptocurrencies?
If that number is significant you could convert one part of your coins to fiat currency, but you keep other part in Bitcoin.
This way you could save a lot on fees that could be much higher if you constantly convert BTC to Fiat.
In case if only small percentage of your customers pays with Bitcoin, than I would just hold Bitcoin at least few years before selling.

[Stalker22]

It is always a pleasure to read such positive examples about using bitcoin and crypto currencies. I fully support you in your campaign. Have you had any positive reactions from customers? I didn't see anything about your satisfaction with the response.

Whatever the case may be, this is an outstanding article that will surely get attention. Keep up the good work and I will make sure to share this article with anyone who are interested in following in your footsteps.

[Charles-Tim]

The only down side I have experienced is the price volatility of Bitcoin. This has a huge effect on the business, because you need cash to run the business. Do you convert to fiat immediately or do you hodl the crypto payments you receive? If you choose the latter, how do you keep record of your actual profits? For me, I save my money in USD because of the unstableness of the naira.

You can decide to convert your coins to fiat at anytime that you want, but holding your money in bitcoin during bull run would be very profitable.

The problem I noticed yet in Nigeria is that most people prefer to buy and just hold bitcoin, instead of using it for buying. Hope people using bitcoin to buy from your store are many? I would like to know about this.

Accepting crypto payments has been of great benefit to me, crypto doesn't have an off-day like the banks do not work on weekends and the network on weekends are usually terrible, crypto payments saves me the bank trouble.

Accepting bitcoin payment is good. And as more people accept it, the more the adoption. But which bank are you using? I have been using some banks in Nigeria and no problem even during the weekends. But normally there could be bank service problem which can also occur during the weekdays. And with banks, you do not full control over your money, the reason bitcoin would be better.

[ololajulo]

Now that most volatile coins has dumped massively, how do you preserve the value of your coin?
Do you consider stable coin for payment as well?
Cryptocurrency make provision for fast payment everywhere in the world. How have you gotten customers outside Nigeria?
How do also cope customers with previous bad experience with cryptocurrency?

[Rruchi man]

I will show you how I operate and also how you can accept crypto payments as a small business owner.

Thank you so much for sharing, this is definitely a useful information for all those vendors here who have been considering implementing crypto payments into their business but didn't know exactly how to run it effectively. it's very nice of you to share, you will be surprised how helpful this information you may consider little can go in increasing the amount of business owners that will add crypto as a form of payment. It all starts from one person here and then that one person tells another who in turn tells another person who maybe is not a member of forum. Nice one OP.

[Russlenat]

It is always a pleasure to read such positive examples about using bitcoin and crypto currencies. I fully support you in your campaign. Have you had any positive reactions from customers? I didn't see anything about your satisfaction with the response.

Whatever the case may be, this is an outstanding article that will surely get attention. Keep up the good work and I will make sure to share this article with anyone who are interested in following in your footsteps.

This serves as an inspiration to those who are also planning to accept bitcoin or any form of crypto in their local stores or small business. I think it’s a great advantage for OP because his own country has a good market for bitcoin and crypto, so might as well take advantage on it. However, for those countries who are not more open to crypto, accepting it as a payment method is also a good start because it will create noise in the long run and who knows, you will discover lot of crypto owners secretly residing in your own country too.

[minime0105]

I have noticed that many people is using cryptocurrency as a means of payment in their various companies and department because cryptocurrency is what people is using as means of making intercontinental payment with a speed. I believe that cryptocurrency the more is getting old the more people is using it to make payments for different business establishment. Mate the ideas of bitcoin been used in your store is nice ideas

[Detritus]

You must really be a creative thinker to have come up with this great idea of accepting crypto as a means of payment for your business, taking a business to a Blockchain level is a very good 👌 idea that some average business men/women in Nigeria have not considerd. Is better to keep creative ideas in oder to beat competitors because I know fashion designing is really a competitive business in Nigeria, I saw one of your design through the link on your post and is really actractive.

[Slow death]

I keep wondering how it is when someone, for example, buys something that costs 100$, that person pays 100$ in bitcoin and hours later the price of bitcoin drops a lot and you get 97$ in bitcoin, then you take the 97$ in bitcoin and will buy the thing for 98$ and then sell it for 100$. in this scenario you are at a loss and how will you deal with this situation for a long time? And if you accept bitcoin as a payment method, but when people pay and convert in USD right away, I wonder: what would be the point of accepting bitcoin as a payment method in this scenario?

Now that most volatile coins has dumped massively, how do you preserve the value of your coin?

I want to know that too

[Davidvictorson]

This is good. I remember speaking to a friend who owns a fashion brand in Nigeria if she accepts BTC as a payment option .See the chat below. I am glad that you are already at the frontier. So, I am curious to know, do you accept payment in bitcoin for an item as low as $10? or does the worth of the item(s) would determine if customer will be allowed to pay in for an item in bitcoin or naira?

[Yogee]

.....Do you convert to fiat immediately or do you hodl the crypto payments you receive? If you choose the latter, how do you keep record of your actual profits?

You don't present your financial transaction in crypto so profit or loss computation should be the value of BTC in USD at the time you received it less the current USD value or the time you converted it to fiat. This will entail a lot of work if you're going to do this manually.

I keep wondering how it is when someone, for example, buys something that costs 100$, that person pays 100$ in bitcoin and hours later the price of bitcoin drops a lot and you get 97$ in bitcoin, then you take the 97$ in bitcoin and will buy the thing for 98$ and then sell it for 100$. in this scenario you are at a loss and how will you deal with this situation for a long time?

He's already thinking of a payment gateway deal with an exchange.

And if you accept bitcoin as a payment method, but when people pay and convert in USD right away, I wonder: what would be the point of accepting bitcoin as a payment method in this scenario?

He said online banking payments are terrible during weekends according to his post so accepting crypto makes complete sense.

[Die_empty]

Its great to hear that Bitcoin is used in Nigeria in such an innovative way. I am sure your customer base would keep increasing if you keep advertising your payment options on social media because that is the best communication channel to meet the youths. And advertising on billboards might be very expensive which might affect your profit margin. Nevertheless, I congratulate you for you courage and creative thinking.

[KennyR]

Its great to hear that Bitcoin is used in Nigeria in such an innovative way. I am sure your customer base would keep increasing if you keep advertising your payment options on social media because that is the best communication channel to meet the youths. And advertising on billboards might be very expensive which might affect your profit margin. Nevertheless, I congratulate you for you courage and creative thinking.

Nigeria is one of the country where people are much into making bitcoin on real-time usage. Though the usage of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were not regulated. There is increased usage among the common people. Recently saw about a petrol station accepting bitcoin as payments amidst the governments opposition to use it. The usage is increasing regularly and here the fashion store accepting bitcoin is an addition to it.

[uneng]

You seem to have a very smart approach on bitcoin adoption for your business. I like you worry about having a professional staff, which is familiar with cryptocurrency and is able to introduce new customers, if necessary and if they wish, to bitcoin and its basics concepts to learn how to deal with.

I also like the fact you offer promotions and addtional benefits for customers who finish their purchases withbitcoin. In my opinion that is an essential feature to be introduced by business' owners when offering bitcoin as payment method.

[Jating]

This is a good move to begin with, I'm not really sure, maybe this is the first time that I heard a real life story of a business person accepting crypto in this community (I might be wrong).

And then you proved that it's really the volatility that shun away many online stores to accept crypto. And even those early stores that accepts crypto in early 2017 or even much earlier, have close the door on bitcoin and the rest of the crypto because of the same reason. But at least in your rest, you try your best not to be affected and you are one crypto enthusiast. It's not just how the price is going down or up, but keeping it and making people or your customers aware of it. Good job.

[Flyingjack123]

Well kudos to you.. you are a motivation for many.
I guess more businesses should follow your model.
Is there a service which helps buisness in making transition from Fiat to crypto. I believe such services can be helpful for businesses that want to make the transition.

[Poker Player]

A typical crypto transaction at my store look like this:

1.The cashier gives the customers a Bitcoin QR code to make payment

2. The QR code is customized to tell customer’s crypto wallet where to send the bitcoins and how much to send.

3. The Bitcoin payment is confirmed by the cashier.

It is similar to some Bitcoin ATM transactions, as far as I can see.

I keep wondering how it is when someone, for example, buys something that costs 100$, that person pays 100$ in bitcoin and hours later the price of bitcoin drops a lot and you get 97$ in bitcoin, then you take the 97$ in bitcoin and will buy the thing for 98$ and then sell it for 100$. in this scenario you are at a loss and how will you deal with this situation for a long time?

He's already thinking of a payment gateway deal with an exchange.

I'm curious about this too. I would imagine that because of the volatility the most logical thing to do is to automatically convert to USD or some stable currency. Unless you want to HODL part of your profit automatically, but somehow you have to convert it fast to avoid downside volatility. If it's upside it's not a problem but you never know what's going to happen.

[Biscutard]

A typical crypto transaction at my store look like this:

1.The cashier gives the customers a Bitcoin QR code to make payment

2. The QR code is customized to tell customer’s crypto wallet where to send the bitcoins and how much to send.

3. The Bitcoin payment is confirmed by the cashier.

It is similar to some Bitcoin ATM transactions, as far as I can see.

I keep wondering how it is when someone, for example, buys something that costs 100$, that person pays 100$ in bitcoin and hours later the price of bitcoin drops a lot and you get 97$ in bitcoin, then you take the 97$ in bitcoin and will buy the thing for 98$ and then sell it for 100$. in this scenario you are at a loss and how will you deal with this situation for a long time?

He's already thinking of a payment gateway deal with an exchange.

I'm curious about this too. I would imagine that because of the volatility the most logical thing to do is to automatically convert to USD or some stable currency. Unless you want to HODL part of your profit automatically, but somehow you have to convert it fast to avoid downside volatility. If it's upside it's not a problem but you never know what's going to happen.

A store who accepts bitcoin knows what they are doing, it is their responsibility to accept either it will drop or not. As long as they’ve established their mode of payment and accepting bitcoins gives you an opportunity to make a fast transaction. By using bitcoin as payment also gives the store an attraction to the consumers who holds bitcoin because they will think they can save more just by using bitcoin.

[ethereumhunter]

A store who accepts bitcoin knows what they are doing, it is their responsibility to accept either it will drop or not. As long as they’ve established their mode of payment and accepting bitcoins gives you an opportunity to make a fast transaction. By using bitcoin as payment also gives the store an attraction to the consumers who holds bitcoin because they will think they can save more just by using bitcoin.

Hopefully, the story from @OP can inspire other shops to start accepting payments using bitcoin so that it will make the spread of bitcoin even better. And hopefully, the government can see this so they won't think that bitcoin is just a tool for illegal activities. Maybe @OP can convert right away after receiving his bitcoins so he can still make a profit. Or if @OP can hold his bitcoin for a while until the price goes up again, he will sell his bitcoin so that the profit can be bigger.