1 year of accepting crypto payment in my fashion store

[amishmanish]

That is fantastic. I think many will be having a great time in spending their crypto and many customers would be getting the first lessons of what crypto at your store.  Many people are  willing to participate in crypto are not able to do so, due to lack of knowledge and guidance. I suggest you that please get some bitcoin related educative material printed and distribute it to your customers and store visitors. This will help customers to learn about bitcoin and how to use it.

[Bobrox]

I am glad when seeing with your fashion store accepted bitcoin as legal currency payment and other side you have been advertiser of bitcoin exactly to your environment and teach them about bitcoin as digital currency, but I want to know how you keep risk when accepting bitcoin as payment currency on your fashion store, keep holding when getting payment in daily day or you hold all payment did by bitcoin. We know bitcoin as speculative values where some time on the top and another day bitcoin will drop to lower price. Not really worth when trying hold bitcoin from your accepting store payment for long time and you need capital to restock again with your product.

[Nrcewker]

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.

Yes if few people are using Bitcoins to pay you, then I would also advice you to hold the Bitcoins.
No need of selling them instantly and waste the major portions in transaction and conversion fees.
And also glad to know that you have integrated Bitcoins payment in your store. It would be great if you can tell the  stats of how many people on an average use that and are you happy or not when people finds that they can pay you on your store through Bitcoins.

[GigaBit]

You can convert your Bitcoin to fiat or hold depending on the average amount of customers paying in bitcoin. If the customer average 10 percent then I would say you can hold it for a long time. You can take all the necessary steps to completing with the remaining 90%. But if you want to have a large number of customers, you can't do that. After all your initiative is really appreciable. I think you will get success faster than others. Because accepting payments in Bitcoin is also a form of promotion that will help expand your business.

[adzino]

-snip-
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.
-snip-

I was wondering why the confirmation time wasn't a challenge to you. Do you usually accept transactions without fee? What if someone makes a huge transaction, will you accept their payment with zero network confirmation? What about the fees? What if some customers pay very low fee causing longer confirmation time? Do you set the fee for them?

And since you keep the payment in USD, don't you have to pay a conversation fee and mark up fee for any kind of transactions? How does that affect your business?

[lovesmayfamilis]

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

You are generalizing a lot. Not all countries allow trading with bitcoin. The OP writes not about international payments, but about trading in his country.

I think OP's business would be more profitable if he made all the goods himself, not just prints. Purchasing fabrics and producing T-shirts (as shown in the example) will be much cheaper than buying a finished product. And subsequently, after the sale, the purchase of new materials from the profit, and leaving everything else to the holding without looking back at the price in the present moment. If we know that the growth of bitcoin in the future is mandatory, then the profit is guaranteed.

The only thing that confuses me is how many clients the OP has, because people who have bitcoins are also aware that bitcoin is profitable in storage. To do this, the OP must make the price of the product in bitcoins cheaper compared to the price in fiat.

[Lucius]

I was wondering why the confirmation time wasn't a challenge to you. Do you usually accept transactions without fee? What if someone makes a huge transaction, will you accept their payment with zero network confirmation? What about the fees? What if some customers pay very low fee causing longer confirmation time? Do you set the fee for them?

The OP wrote that he also uses LN so that he can partly bypass the problem with waiting for the first confirmation - but any on-chain transaction that is not marked as RBF can be accepted without confirmation because it should not be possible to double-spend. Fee-free transactions are not possible when it comes to Bitcoin anyway, and sometimes paying the minimum fee can result in a long wait for the first confirmation.

Personally, I would always have an open insight into the state of the mempool and advise customers on the optimal fee.

[usekevin]

It’s not easy to accept of cryptocurrency for the payments.Because the users and the workers should had a good knowledge on the crypto currency.Or else you may not received the payments for your goods.The training of the people with the crypto currency was essential one.Since you had using cryptocurrency as a mode of payments,you will have huge amount of cryptocurrency.Just hold the bitcoin till next halves to get bulk profit.

[Leviathan.007]

I would like to say congratulations to you for accepting bitcoin as a payment method for your customers for one year which is a long time compared to many platforms where that accept bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, I'm sure choosing to accept bitcoin and cryptocurrencies was because of interest you have in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies or this can be because of the demand from your clients. There are many other good points about your doing this for your clients because you are training your staff to use and know about cryptocurrencies and bitcoin which can be good for them in the future.

[kryptqnick]

Given the volatility of Bitcoin, I totally understand that thew op prefers to keep the money for business in the USD instead. Hopefully, high volatility won't always be there, and at some point the risk of not selling for fiat will be lower. I'm also happy to see this story of an inspiring small-business Bitcoin adoption.
My question is about the policies: is accepting Bitcoin as payment legal in Nigeria, and if not, can there actually be troubles with the law enforcement for this? Or is it one of those things which are never enforced, so it's all good?

[The Cryptovator]

A good initiative so far. Even though it's a little crypto adaption but I appreciate this little try. It's easy to accept Bitcoin payment for a shop by simply using a QR code. It doesn't require too much technical knowledge. Just you need a basic idea of how to verify a transaction whether received or not. Yea, challenging things are volatility. It's better if you can hold if you can afford other stuff. Otherwise, you may use the exchange to convert it instantly. So you will not have to encounter volatility. Hope more shops will inspire by you.

[tjtonmoy]

Dude, this is awesome. People with futuristic mind can easily understand this. Also with a little bit of effort we can also encourage those who have no idea about this kinda thing. This small steps will lead us towards the future where crypto will be the major currency throughout the world. Best wishes that you will grow more brother.

[m2017]

Given the volatility of Bitcoin, I totally understand that thew op prefers to keep the money for business in the USD instead. Hopefully, high volatility won't always be there, and at some point the risk of not selling for fiat will be lower. I'm also happy to see this story of an inspiring small-business Bitcoin adoption.
My question is about the policies: is accepting Bitcoin as payment legal in Nigeria, and if not, can there actually be troubles with the law enforcement for this? Or is it one of those things which are never enforced, so it's all good?

I would also like to ask a number of questions regarding accounting:
How do you pay taxes on bitcoin you receive for paying for your goods? Of course, if you pay. Bitcoin is not fixed in value, which means that due to volatility it has significant price fluctuations. How do you solve this moment when paying taxes? Do you generally indicate btc in the income item or do you hold btcfor yourself, and on papers in the tax return indicate dollars (or local currency) as income?

I am not a representative of the tax service, but I would just like to know how you solve these issues from a business standpoint.

[stomachgrowls]

Given the volatility of Bitcoin, I totally understand that thew op prefers to keep the money for business in the USD instead. Hopefully, high volatility won't always be there, and at some point the risk of not selling for fiat will be lower. I'm also happy to see this story of an inspiring small-business Bitcoin adoption.
My question is about the policies: is accepting Bitcoin as payment legal in Nigeria, and if not, can there actually be troubles with the law enforcement for this? Or is it one of those things which are never enforced, so it's all good?

I would also like to ask a number of questions regarding accounting:
How do you pay taxes on bitcoin you receive for paying for your goods? Of course, if you pay. Bitcoin is not fixed in value, which means that due to volatility it has significant price fluctuations. How do you solve this moment when paying taxes? Do you generally indicate btc in the income item or do you hold btcfor yourself, and on papers in the tax return indicate dollars (or local currency) as income?

I am not a representative of the tax service, but I would just like to know how you solve these issues from a business standpoint.

A valid kind of query which it would be good if he would really be giving out at least some ideas on how he do pay up taxes considering  that businesses like these do really have permits or simply means

that it is really that regulated or abiding laws and tax payors which means that they would need up to pay tax but since he had accepted bitcoin or crypto payment then he do have the option to ignore

other sales numbers and profits which might result into lesser tax payment? I dont think that everybody would really be considering this one but its plausible but since taxes arent
really that big in some countries then it wont really be that much of an issue imho.

[inthelongrun]

So far it is only Central African Republic and El Salvador that consider bitcoin as legal tender. So I assume that it is not strict there in Nigeria with regards to tax enforcement. I remember when a friend of mine considered bitcoin in his business. Our tax bureau ordered a heavy penalty since bitcoin is not a legal tender in my country. My friend's lawyer said that it was better to close the business rather than pay the penalties. So the business was closed. Then after nearly a year, my friend started the same type of business but with a different registered name.

Though taxation systems may vary depending on certain countries' laws, and considering its volatility, the easiest way is to indicate bitcoin payments but it should be always accompanied by fiat conversion. This way, accounting reports are easier to be made and all will be based on the local currency including its tax dues.

Otherwise, in a perfect bitcoin-accepted nation, there will be 2 financial recordings and 2 accounting reports, 1 from local fiat and the other 1 from bitcoin payments that should be also payable by bitcoin. But I doubt this will happen even when the bitcoin price becomes stable because it will take time, effort, and resources when it can be simplified. Governments might allow businesses to pay their taxes either by their local fiat or bitcoin. But bitcoin payments will always be recorded with matching fiat conversion just like a foreign currency.

[Anonylz]

It’s not easy to accept of cryptocurrency for the payments.Because the users and the workers should had a good knowledge on the crypto currency.Or else you may not received the payments for your goods.The training of the people with the crypto currency was essential one.Since you had using cryptocurrency as a mode of payments,you will have huge amount of cryptocurrency.Just hold the bitcoin till next halves to get bulk profit.

Agreed, an inexperienced seller should not start accepting btc for payment until he/she acquire the right knowledge to operate btc payment otherwise problems of not receiving payment will arise a lot. This is something both buyer and seller should understand. Since it is a personal business (I assume) op can decide to hold all payment received through btc otherwise a quick conversion will be made for appropriate record keeping.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

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.

First, I would like to say a big congratulations to you for successfully accepting Bitcoin payments for your fashion business and also have not given up along the way.
It is important to note that nothing created by man is totally and completely perfect, they all have their pros and cons, and ones we should always go for are ones with more pros than cons.

I will offer a small tip to you that will maybe help reduce the effect of Bitcoin's price volatility on you and your business.
This is what I've noticed some big business do but they won't let the customers know about it.
Let's say an item cost #5000, and 0.0001 BTC is equivalent to #5000 based on the NGN/BTC exchange rate at that moment, if the customer decides to pay in Bitcoin, you can charge the customer 0.00013 BTC as payment, you will discover that most Bitcoin paying customers won't even ask or notice the extra charge, but if they notice and ask, you can just tell the customer that the extra charge is to cover the exchange and withdrawal fees since you will still have to exchange and withdraw the money to be able to replace the item(s) you sold.
This way, you have an edge at beating price volatility, even if bitcoin price was going down at the time of that transaction, you discover you won't be greatly affected, and also if you decide to exchange and withdraw the money, you discover you won't loose part of your business profit on exchange transaction and withdrawal fees since the small extra charge the customer paid have covered that.

[darkangel11]

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?

Many businesses have accounts on exchanges and make customers pay directly to their account. 10 minutes later you can sell it at the exchange and avoid any volatility. Sure, the rate can change by 1%, but that's not a big deal, sometimes it will be 1% up, sometimes 1% down, but in the end you'll do fine.

Let's say an item cost #5000, and 0.0001 BTC is equivalent to #5000 based on the NGN/BTC exchange rate at that moment, if the customer decides to pay in Bitcoin, you can charge the customer 0.00013 BTC as payment, you will discover that most Bitcoin paying customers won't even ask or notice the extra charge, but if they notice and ask, you can just tell the customer that the extra charge is to cover the exchange and withdrawal fees

Are you telling him to lie to his customers and charge them more than the current exchange rate if they choose to pay in BTC?

Hidden fees and higher end price are the shortest way to making people avoid paying with cryptocurrencies.

[Cling18]

Many businesses have accounts on exchanges and make customers pay directly to their account. 10 minutes later you can sell it at the exchange and avoid any volatility. Sure, the rate can change by 1%, but that's not a big deal, sometimes it will be 1% up, sometimes 1% down, but in the end, you'll do fine.

Holding your Bitcoin sales will surely affect your business earnings negatively, especially if the volatility of BTC is too high. Selling it right away will be the best thing to do so you won't be hit hard if the price strikes down. It isn't ideal to hold your Bitcoin payments if you still need the funds rotating as your business capital. However, it's a nice move that you're able to accept Bitcoin payments in your area. It will surely be beneficial to crypto users who want to purchase your product. I hope more businesses would do the same thing.

[wallet4bitcoin]

Nice to see another live use of Bitcoin. Hope other sellers will be inspired by this. I think, shopping with BTC from almost every shop is not far. Some big US companies have already started accepting Bitcoin. Even some governments started holding BTC.