Got a discount for paying with Bitcoin. Are merchants waking up?

[Stalker22]

I think it is not just about saving credit card fees anymore.  Some businesses are now looking for other payment options because of how long it takes for card payments to go through and to avoid chargeback fraud.  When you pay with a credit card, the business might wait days or even weeks to actually see that money in their bank account.  And they are always worried about fraudulent chargebacks that can happen months later.  But with Bitcoin (especially over the Lightning Network) or stablecoins, the payment is instant, final, and cannot be reversed.

[abhiseshakana]

I always see discount as marketing and selling tools strategy, merchant who offered discount for payment with bitcoin or stablecoin, they share transaction cost saving and risk with customers, discount words encouraging customers to change payment habits which is for merchant more low cost, faster settlement and has bigger market access as payment efficiency.

From your case, merchat offered 3% discount for payment with bitcoin, can be seen as community based acquisition with long term purpose repeat order, buy more, and recommend their products to the community with consideration their customers mostly technology customer base such as developer, programmer, startup founder, web3 builder and crypto enthusiast. With renewed their positioning as inovatif, global and efficient merchant they create bigger branding effect which bring special marketing value itself.

As businessman, i see crypto as special economic community which is digitally active, relatively high purchasing power than other average internet user and mostly loyal to businesses that support their ecosystem. which accepting bitcoin and stable coin they confirmed serve crypto community. Even crypto market still small now but with expectation to grow large, entering early can provide advantages such as loyality and cheaper customer acquisition cost (business get exposure, publicity, forum discussions and preview without having to advertise). From my own experiences as digital business owner for online course and design service, payment through crypto easier than credit for some country, which mean opening up market which  previously difficult to reach. I see millions of bitcoin and stablecoin users are potential customers with different eceonomic behavior which should get special treatment.

[Alpen]

I recently renewed a domain and was pleasantly surprised to see that payments with Bitcoin got a 3% discount.

As 3% is a common credit card fee for merchants (in my country they charge up to 7-9% approx.), so this is only a logical consequence that a Bitcoin payments saves this fee for them. But it's the first time I saw that as long as I remember. To be fair, BTC was not the only option with a discount, stablecoins and bank transfers were rewarded too. Which is also understandable.

Did you folks get some sort of special offer for a Bitcoin payment? Poll is online

I could even imagine larger discounts in some cases if merchants realize that at least some tech-related merchants could attract a loyal customer base. Above all if they accept Lightning, Ark or any other layer-2.

Merchant adoption of Lightning and Bitcoin in general would be huge, I think. We can forget about Saylor if this type of adoption continues

Speaking from personal experience, using Lightning to accept payments isn't as simple and user-friendly as it seems. If you want to run a real business and accept crypto seamlessly, using a crypto gateway is the superior choice.

For instance, through a gateway like Cryptomus, I can easily set the Bitcoin billing rate slightly below the market price—and there's your discount. On top of that, gateways provide ready-to-use plugins and APIs, which is a major convenience boost for operations, alongside instant conversion features.

Ultimately, this allows any merchant to accept Bitcoin without needing any deep understanding of the crypto market

[FinneysTrueVision]

Recently, I paid for a proxy service and the amount I had to send in BTC was actually around 13% higher than the quoted fiat price. Having to pay a markup when using crypto is the more common experience for me. I have also been asked to do KYC to be able to pay in crypto with several merchants. This unnecessary friction makes it harder for Bitcoin and crypto to really gain adoption as a mainstream payment option.

[Fiatless]

In my country, depending on the state, you can find very few merchants who accept payment in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it is mostly merchants who sell tech devices, like mobile phones, laptops or Satellite Internet Services, like Starlink and other similar stuff. But i have seen a lot of their advertisements and they do not offer discounts on crypto payments, maybe that is what they need to do to encourage people that want to spend in bitcoin, because crypto is growing very fast in my country.

In my location, I have never seen discount offers for paying with Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. But you could find them in online shops where they advertise such offers. I got many of these offers when I was shopping for hardware wallets.

Bitcoin would not depend on influential individuals or big institutions to gain attention if we had small businesses accepting it as a means of payment. With such discounts, more people will be attracted to pay with Bitcoin.

[Suleiman the Magnificent]

I recently renewed a domain and was pleasantly surprised to see that payments with Bitcoin got a 3% discount.

As 3% is a common credit card fee for merchants (in my country they charge up to 7-9% approx.), so this is only a logical consequence that a Bitcoin payments saves this fee for them. But it's the first time I saw that as long as I remember. To be fair, BTC was not the only option with a discount, stablecoins and bank transfers were rewarded too. Which is also understandable.

Did you folks get some sort of special offer for a Bitcoin payment? Poll is online

I could even imagine larger discounts in some cases if merchants realize that at least some tech-related merchants could attract a loyal customer base. Above all if they accept Lightning, Ark or any other layer-2.

Merchant adoption of Lightning and Bitcoin in general would be huge, I think. We can forget about Saylor if this type of adoption continues

When payment is made with Bitcoin, it is absolutely necessary for merchants to offer discounts. However, in order to provide these discounts, they need their own payment infrastructure. If they use a third-party service, they still have to pay transaction fees, which leads them to increase prices rather than offer discounts. Of course, this applies to many online purchases made through websites. For physical sales or for those who manually receive Bitcoin directly to their own wallet despite selling online, discounts are still possible.

[Ceemv22]

I recently renewed a domain and was pleasantly surprised to see that payments with Bitcoin got a 3% discount.

As 3% is a common credit card fee for merchants (in my country they charge up to 7-9% approx.), so this is only a logical consequence that a Bitcoin payments saves this fee for them. But it's the first time I saw that as long as I remember. To be fair, BTC was not the only option with a discount, stablecoins and bank transfers were rewarded too. Which is also understandable.

Did you folks get some sort of special offer for a Bitcoin payment? Poll is online

I could even imagine larger discounts in some cases if merchants realize that at least some tech-related merchants could attract a loyal customer base. Above all if they accept Lightning, Ark or any other layer-2.

Merchant adoption of Lightning and Bitcoin in general would be huge, I think. We can forget about Saylor if this type of adoption continues

it probably depends from merchant to merchant. tbh, i recently purchased a new power suppply and paid for it with btc and got a 2.5% discount, but i've also come across other merchants in my country that don't reward crypto payments

[joniboini]

I have also been asked to do KYC to be able to pay in crypto with several merchants. This unnecessary friction makes it harder for Bitcoin and crypto to really gain adoption as a mainstream payment option.

So is there no other options to buy there? Sounds like a merchant issue or payment processor issue to be honest. Your experience is literally the exact opposite of me, who never did any KYC whatsoever until now to pay for the stuff that I need (VPN, etc). Not sure if it has to do with your laws too. I guess some of them don't ask for KYC if you're using fiat because they can simply ask your card details (which basically includes KYC details already), while they have to fill out some stuff if the user pick crypto. Can't imagine anti money laundering is really necessary for paying a $5/month service tho.

[bitbollo]

In all conventions or shops that sell products&services related to bitcoin, they offer discounts if you pay directly with bitcoin (and in most of cases its not just for marketing purpose )
The reason is simple.
There is a net advantage for some merchants in economic or all others involved aspects. The real problem arise with burocracy that creates burdens if you try to use those systems.

This is also part of the game since early times. Italians first meetups have hosted many applications or merchants ready to use/develop application for btc.

[Abelly]

i recently purchased a new power suppply and paid for it with btc and got a 2.5% discount, but i've also come across other merchants in my country that don't reward crypto payments

Many vendors are still accepting crypto, so acceptance is not yet widespread,
but if you see more businesses accepting Bitcoin as a payment method,
which could further strengthen its utility in the long run, your patience will pay off.