who wants more bitcoin expansion locally + a job

[franky1]

Any success? So far I've contacted a few local businesses and 2 are looking into Bitcoin. Nothing set in stone yet but the ball is starting to roll (ever so slightly )

im having success, but then always have as i have had 2 years to develop objection handling of bitcoin.
if any questions such as objections that merchants commonly come back with dont be afraid to shout them out if you cant think of what to say, as i or we (the community) can help.

main objections
drugs propaganda -
Q "isnt bitcoin that drug money for the intrnet"
A "isnt dollars that drug money for street corners of detroit, but seriously bitcoins can b used for anything, yes there WAS silkroad, one website. but there are over 100,000 legitimate businesses accepting bitcoin direcly or indirectly. IRS has officially announced it as a legal asset for trading, barter. bloomberg are advertising it, etc"
Q "it isnt tangible/intrinsic"
A "those are two words of the commodities market, not the asset market. where things like copyright, intellectual property, art, music are not physical, but all have a asset value."
Q "bet its hard to set up."
A "nope, you can start with just displaying a basic QR code, and then convert the funds to money in your bank account later. or you can sign up to bitpay to do it automatically, to save any price changes that happen during the day. or lastly i can give you a QR code, and you can just use either my website or phone me for a price total and ill pay you cash in hand at the agreed amount.. want me to set it up here and now, it wont take long and wont cost you anything extra"

[Baitty]

That's the only major problem for me with Bitcoin. Nothing locally which is a bit of a pain. most things I'm interested in purchasing is across seas which means I get hit by import charges. I really do wish there was more Bitcoin services near me.

[franky1]

That's the only major problem for me with Bitcoin. Nothing locally which is a bit of a pain. most things I'm interested in purchasing is across seas which means I get hit by import charges. I really do wish there was more Bitcoin services near me.

think grocery stores, bars, restaurants, etc.. every day essentials. because when your living a bitcoin life you dont want to have to change it back to FIAt just to pay the bills and buy food

[commandrix]

Anyone used Bitpay as a merchant? I am guessing a very basic android tablet would be fine, no?

For example here is a Lenovo for $99 currently with $20 rebate http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8563442&CatId=6845

BitPay? They may or may not go for the pricing depending on whether it's cheaper than just them using credit cards. Is there some other way to do this that won't involve a monthly fee?

Would Mycelium work? Requires an Android tablet but need not be real expensive if all you're doing is running one single app on it.

[halfawake]

Huh, this is a good idea.  I'm tempted to try this with my local computer store.

[franky1]

Huh, this is a good idea.  I'm tempted to try this with my local computer store.

do you have a 'mom and pop' (independent) grocery store? try them too.

also ask the computer store if their supplier was something like overstock, tiger direct, aria.. and mention they accept bitcoin so resupplying stock is easy, without needing to convert to FIAT. most small independants dont have the confidence and prowess to get great deals direct from the manufacturer's in china etc. especially on small restock orders, the delivery is a killer. so they usually get stock from within country, via resellers/drop shippers/ online merchants.

[jonald_fyookball]

guys check out www.bitcoinadoption.org

im trying to organize incentives for this kind of thing.

[halfawake]

Huh, this is a good idea.  I'm tempted to try this with my local computer store.

do you have a 'mom and pop' (independent) grocery store? try them too.

also ask the computer store if their supplier was something like overstock, tiger direct, aria.. and mention they accept bitcoin so resupplying stock is easy, without needing to convert to FIAT. most small independants dont have the confidence and prowess to get great deals direct from the manufacturer's in china etc. especially on small restock orders, the delivery is a killer. so they usually get stock from within country, via resellers/drop shippers/ online merchants.

Most of the local grocery stores are major chains, but there is one independent grocery store.  Run by a chinese couple, I think.  I almost never shop there though, and I suspect I'd get blank stares if I mentioned bitcoin.

[acs267]

Too bad I live in a Major city in my state, but it's either 'dollars or scam'. Sigh. Going to be hard saying otherwise, however, I shall try.

[soñador]

i got merchandice to sell but i want to get paid with bitcoin

[ThomasCrowne]

Actually think the OP is a great idea.  There are several businesses in my area that I believe I could get to accept bitcoin.  Have even mentioned it to a couple of them but hadn't gotten around to doing any technical groundwork.  I was considering Coinbase for the brick-and-mortar's around town but I suppose BitPay would work just as well.  Or perhaps give the client the option of which gateway they would prefer (I'm sure most probably won't even have a preference).  'coinwhat' and 'bitwho'. 

Anyway, I'm thinking if something like this where to really get off the ground it should probably also have some sort of 'hot lead' site that is google-maps friendly perhaps with some sort of 'tagging' mechanism so individuals that have already landed mom-and-pops within a particular geography can take credit for such (if they choose).  I wonder if one of the major manufacturers accepting bitcoin currently (ie tigerdirect, newegg, or overstock) would offer some sort of bulk-purchase discount for a few hundred tablets?  I'm guessing CEO of overstock could probably easily be convinced

If something like this could be arranged I would certainly be on board for at least a couple to start and hopefully dozens more soon afterward.

[jonanon]

Interesting however this would only benefit people with a lot of BTC already (if we work on the fact that BTC will increase in value if more shops accept it).
This is not beneficial to the people trying to sell the idea of BTC to shops as there is nothing to say someone else can't do the same thing.

[AmDD]

Actually think the OP is a great idea.  There are several businesses in my area that I believe I could get to accept bitcoin.  Have even mentioned it to a couple of them but hadn't gotten around to doing any technical groundwork.  I was considering Coinbase for the brick-and-mortar's around town but I suppose BitPay would work just as well.  Or perhaps give the client the option of which gateway they would prefer (I'm sure most probably won't even have a preference).  'coinwhat' and 'bitwho'. 

Anyway, I'm thinking if something like this where to really get off the ground it should probably also have some sort of 'hot lead' site that is google-maps friendly perhaps with some sort of 'tagging' mechanism so individuals that have already landed mom-and-pops within a particular geography can take credit for such (if they choose).  I wonder if one of the major manufacturers accepting bitcoin currently (ie tigerdirect, newegg, or overstock) would offer some sort of bulk-purchase discount for a few hundred tablets?  I'm guessing CEO of overstock could probably easily be convinced

If something like this could be arranged I would certainly be on board for at least a couple to start and hopefully dozens more soon afterward.

Maybe coinmap.org or https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Real_world_shops would help?

[franky1]

Most of the local grocery stores are major chains, but there is one independent grocery store.  Run by a chinese couple, I think.  I almost never shop there though, and I suspect I'd get blank stares if I mentioned bitcoin.

1, guess you missed all the hype about bitcoin over the winter period
2, great an independant that can make decisions
3, their chinese so they probably send money to china to relatives..

3 reasons why you SHOULD atleast ask them. dont be shy, they are only human. imagine them naked.... if that helps at all

[giveBTCpls]

Most people around here that have business are of certain age (40+) these guys have a hard time understanding what the fuck im talking about when I try to get em on Bitcoin. On my dorm tho we are like 50 students on the building and i've gotten a lot into bitcoin, this forum and some of them even are trying to buy some machines to mine, even tho I told them it's pretty pointless at this point. It's really hard for most people tho, to grasp the concept of Bitcoin unless they are somewhat familiar with technology. For some reasons they just cant get it, and think they'd rather stick to fiat.

[franky1]

Most people around here that have business are of certain age (40+) these guys have a hard time understanding what the fuck im talking about when I try to get em on Bitcoin. On my dorm tho we are like 50 students on the building and i've gotten a lot into bitcoin, this forum and some of them even are trying to buy some machines to mine, even tho I told them it's pretty pointless at this point. It's really hard for most people tho, to grasp the concept of Bitcoin unless they are somewhat familiar with technology. For some reasons they just cant get it, and think they'd rather stick to fiat.

i bet you say this to merchants
"bitcoin is a peer-to-peer cryptographically secured and decentralised ledger"

instead of saying
"bitcoin is not secured by one company, but by anyone and everyone. even hackers cant break it because its everywhere, making it more secure money than banking".

i bet you even spend more time talking about mining, and not the purchase/sell aspects of bitcoin

[Eotnak]

I love this idea with the tablet and such.  I would be interested in being a local payment processor instead of relying on bitpay, however, I'm not a developer.  I'm in IT and I can get something very clunky and ugly working full of bugs and exploits.  Do you guys think getacoder.com would be a good route or am I begging for back doors?

Also, whether I'm the payment processor or bitpay is, are there any additional bookkeeping responsibilities that the merchants have as far as IRS compliance?  Does bitpay provide enough historical transaction info?

[franky1]

Interesting. Just a thought, if a very small commission was charged then they can be given the tablet at no charge, when tablet and consultation are paid for its all theirs with nothing hidden. Its a no-brainer then, they've no losses if there's not much business in btc and the commission can still be lower than card fees, it could also be an opportunity to show off a really simple example of smart contracts.

hide the commission. if the merchant has a sale total of $100 then he should get $100, put the commission as the bitcoin rate after all there is a big difference between bitstamp and lets say btc-e's bitcoin prices so bitcoiners know that the bitcoin price is variable. as long as the merchant gets what he would have if he just asked for cash.

also if you dont offer upfront fee's or get him to buy a tablet, to then take the costs out in this hidden commission. your 1% turns into alot less,
so lets say bitcoin average is $650 and the transaction is $65, show a price of 0.101 (0.001 is the commission paid by the cstomer) meaning you can cash out $65 to give to merchant, you dont want then to have to se the 0.001 commissions for stock as you will b waiting along time before ROI to get another tablet for next merchant.

imagine it average merchant sale is $65= 0.001 commission.. the merchant has to do atleast 80 transactions like that just to cover the costs of cheapest tablet PC you can find(~$50). so the effort of you handing him his FIAT (costing you time) wont make you profit until atleast the 80th transaction.

now ask yourself, how many people in your town know of bitcoin, use bitcoin to go to that merchants shop.. is it maybe 1 person a day, a week. now calculate how long you will be waiting while just to break even. and then due to him not owning the tablet as its part of some commissions contract, you either have to insure it for damage or expect the possibility of having to be around for the repairs/replacements of that tablet.

so its better to simply get him to get his own tablet, or pre purchase one rather then it being paid off slowly..

[oceans]

This is a really cool idea, I'm no salesman or I would jump on something like this. I think there are many Bitcoin related services that haven't gone mainstream yet.
It will be cool to see how things turn out. It does look promising tho.

[franky1]

jeff garzik (one of the bitcoin-core devs) works for bitpay. if your looking for a software solution, seek him out.

as for the tablet. it doesnt have to be a big deal. if the merchant already has a smart phone then he can just book mark a website that API calls bitpay. or buy a cheapy $50 item himself. i even have merchants that just show a single QR code that is laminated to customers.. so the upfront costs are not as critical as you may think.. but trying to add product costs into the small commissions is not really good for your profit line nor the amount of work you are technically doing before it ROI's.