Are you all idiots? ...or what?

[TheButterZone]

If Bitcoin is going to take off, you've got to use it.  I just talked to a customer service guy at Newegg.  He said 'hardly anyone' pays with bitcoin.  He said he's only dealt with two orders done in Bitcoin.  

So that means he's only dealt with two customers who need service. Last I checked, Newegg processes orders without any customer-to-employee contact, by default.

[iheartubuntu]

99.9% of the time, paying with bitcoin goes through a payment processor such as bitpay, bitpay instantly sells your bitcoins for FIAT hence putting sell pressure on the market. So basically if people take your advice right now and start buying products with bitcoins, the price will fall.

I'm using Bitpay and Im not cashing it all out. My BTC goes into cold storage and at the end of the week I reconcile my bills and cash out only whats needed to cover those bills. Any BTC left over I keep! So, its not instant by any means, although I could set it up as such.

I also mine BTC and Im not cashing them out either.

[bitnanigans]

Idiots for not spending? Ignoring the unwarranted namecalling, a probable reason people aren't spending Bitcoins is because it's not as easy to get into for the lay man. Once Bitcoin is as accessible as say, a credit card in the US, then there will be uptake. Remember, Bitcoin is still a young technology.

[lucasjkr]

I'm with OP here. Many (I won't even say most, because that might be stretching it) of us want to see bitxoin succeed. The way to do that is to demand to be able to spend the things. Who cares if the merchant converts to fiat afterwards? Give them enough transactions, maybe they'll start accepting it directly and cut out the coinbase/bitpay middleman. And who knows, maybe someone in their supply chain accepts it. All of a sudden, there's real transacting occurring.

Or is that not good enough, because the supply chain company will also convert to fiat?  

If you're waiting for a full, closed Bitcoin economy to blossom before you consider spending you coin, then that economy will never get here. You want vendors to accept it, you need to start offering it to them. Only then will it start bubbling through the wider Economy.

If you're not spending because you want to preserve your Bitcoin, simple - rebuy the Bitcoin you just spent. You end up with the same BTC you had before, you neutralize the effect of the vendor converting to fiat, and you increase their BTC denominated sales volume. That last part, especially for publicly traded companies, is something that get reported. Then other companies notice. Then analysts report it, and more people start hearing About it.

Or is the 1% transaction fee that you'll save by not having to rebuy an equivalent amount of BTC worth more to you than the appreciation you hope for when Bitcoin becomes a wider used currency?

It has to start somewhere, but it won't start anywhere until you start spending, rather than hoarding (I'm sorry, "hodling") yours while you tout its superiority to fiat currencies and wait for others to spend.

[TheButterZone]

tl;dr Spend at a loss!

No thanks;fuck off.

[tarmi]

funny, because I ordered and payed with btc one GTX 970 few days ago.

[juicyjuice87]

Bitcoin is only useful for illegal activity atm and it's not even great fot that! Btc us a shit coin and always will be. Can the real cryptos please step up

[franky1]

Bitcoin is only useful for illegal activity atm and it's not even great fot that! Btc us a shit coin and always will be. Can the real cryptos please step up

if bitcoin is so crap then please donate all your bitcoins to seans outpost or another worthwhile service. and go play on the altcoin sub forum. as for bitcoins usefulness, it covers atleast 100,000 legit merchants right now, but your assumption that its only useable for drugs might be more revealing of your personal spending habits, than the spending habits of others

[yvv]

If Bitcoin is going to take off, you've got to use it.  I just talked to a customer service guy at Newegg.  He said 'hardly anyone' pays with bitcoin.  He said he's only dealt with two orders done in Bitcoin. 

If you've got bitcoin, go spend some buying cool shit at Newegg or Overstock.  The whole thing will fall apart if Merchants start seeing it as a waste of time. 

Don't wait, buy some shit today!  What are you - an idiot?

No, I am not. You are. You are a fucking idiot. If you want to pay more or have a shity return policy, go ahead and pay with bitcoin on Newegg or Overstock.

[Eisenhower34]

I'm with OP here. Many (I won't even say most, because that might be stretching it) of us want to see bitxoin succeed. The way to do that is to demand to be able to spend the things. Who cares if the merchant converts to fiat afterwards? Give them enough transactions, maybe they'll start accepting it directly and cut out the coinbase/bitpay middleman. And who knows, maybe someone in their supply chain accepts it. All of a sudden, there's real transacting occurring.

Or is that not good enough, because the supply chain company will also convert to fiat?  

If you're waiting for a full, closed Bitcoin economy to blossom before you consider spending you coin, then that economy will never get here. You want vendors to accept it, you need to start offering it to them. Only then will it start bubbling through the wider Economy.

If you're not spending because you want to preserve your Bitcoin, simple - rebuy the Bitcoin you just spent. You end up with the same BTC you had before, you neutralize the effect of the vendor converting to fiat, and you increase their BTC denominated sales volume. That last part, especially for publicly traded companies, is something that get reported. Then other companies notice. Then analysts report it, and more people start hearing About it.

Or is the 1% transaction fee that you'll save by not having to rebuy an equivalent amount of BTC worth more to you than the appreciation you hope for when Bitcoin becomes a wider used currency?

It has to start somewhere, but it won't start anywhere until you start spending, rather than hoarding (I'm sorry, "hodling") yours while you tout its superiority to fiat currencies and wait for others to spend.

I think the point that you are missing is that transacting in bitcoin is generally more cost efficient then transacting with the traditional fiat based banking system (especially credit cards). As more of the economy adopts to bitcoin they will realize these cost savings, which will cause more of the economy to use bitcoin, and this positive feedback loop will continue

[gogxmagog]

might be more effective to do give aways. they would have to be face to face transactions (nobody to trust in this forum) and small amounts. you'd have to actually invest more time than money here because you would prolly need to walk your new friend through the basic stuff, wallets security etc.
I would rather (and have actually) give away 1 btc split amongst 10 friends to introduce them to the economy in a small but tangible way than waste 1 btc on some garbage I neither want nor need from New Egg.

If you are ready to stand by your convictions, which I will take as not entirely self serving, you will agree and distribute what you can in the name of fostering awareness.

[ebliever]

The key for us consumers is to be spending bitcoins where we can, but then replenish our bitcoins by purchasing a similar amount so that we don't put net selling pressure on the price of bitcoin. Then the merchants see the interest without any harm done.

But the real key is for merchants who are enjoying the substantial benefits of bitcoin (no credit card fees, no credit card fraud/chargebacks, counterfeiting, forged and bounced checks and so forth) to get serious and start offering some fixed discounts for people buying with bitcoin. I figure a 5% discount would be reasonable for them, and would match or beat any rewards people get from using rewards credit card programs.

For example, I get 2% cash towards my children's education fund with my main credit card, 3% off restaurant, gas and hotel spending with a 2nd credit card, and 5% off a "special deal" that changes quarterly with my 3rd card. I don't  have a rational case to use bitcoin if there is no discount offered, when I can get those discounts instead.

[btc-facebook]

If Bitcoin is going to take off, you've got to use it.  I just talked to a customer service guy at Newegg.  He said 'hardly anyone' pays with bitcoin.  He said he's only dealt with two orders done in Bitcoin. 

If you've got bitcoin, go spend some buying cool shit at Newegg or Overstock.  The whole thing will fall apart if Merchants start seeing it as a waste of time. 

You are trolling. Bitcoin provides value because it is cost efficient, and instant.

Don't wait, buy some shit today!  What are you - an idiot?

This is actually true. When people hoard bitcoin they are actually harming the overall bitcoin economy because they are preventing more commerce from taking place. I am not saying that the price of bitcoin will decrease, but that not spending the bitcoin that you have does no good to the overall bitcoin economy

[bigbadwolf111]

Bitcoin is only useful for illegal activity...

.. And so is dollar.

[devphp]

Unique use cases is the key word.
What can Bitcoin buy that you can't buy with other currencies?
The more unique use cases, the more demand for a currency.

[Q7]

Lol why buy when i don't need the item. Anyway, i do exchange or rather say pay with bitcoin to individuals for some offline products.

[fa]

I'm hoarding my coins at the moment, if that helps.... you know, all 2 of them       .....I really should sell though  

Yeah, way to go.
I'm hoarding too. We will see BTC rise again. Next time maybe $10000 

[MadGamer]

I'm hoarding my coins at the moment, if that helps.... you know, all 2 of them       .....I really should sell though  

Yeah, way to go.
I'm hoarding too. We will see BTC rise again. Next time maybe $10000 

I only have 0.1 BTC at the moment lol should I buy more and hold them ? Would be nice to see 1 BTC = 10k $

[qwk]

unlike credit cards that have large equipment costs or subscription costs.. accepting bitcoin is cheap and free of contracts, thus even if they dont see customers use it for months, the business can still offer bitcoins without any worry about costs...

Unfortunately, that's not true.
There's a cost that comes with accepting Bitcoin, and that's mainly education, maintenance, controlling, bookkeeping. Those can easily add up to an amount where it's no longer justified to process Bitcoin payments below a certain threshold.
Also, under specific circumstances, where e.g. an online shop wants to offer a lot of different payment methods, the sheer amount of alternative payment methods may in fact lower the conversion rate of said shop. That's why shop designers usually don't want to clutter their shopping cart checkout with loads of rarely used payment methods.

[ruggedman_dan]

If Bitcoin is going to take off, you've got to use it.  I just talked to a customer service guy at Newegg.  He said 'hardly anyone' pays with bitcoin.  He said he's only dealt with two orders done in Bitcoin.  

If you've got bitcoin, go spend some buying cool shit at Newegg or Overstock.  The whole thing will fall apart if Merchants start seeing it as a waste of time.  

Don't wait, buy some shit today!  What are you - an idiot?

The usefulness of Bitcoin in retail transaction, is doubtful at best. I don't see any benefit in using Bitcoin in a domestic retail transaction, other than for some reason you need to be anonymous when buying a legal product.

The true power of Bitcoin is in a international cross-border transaction:
* US credit cards/banks bans online Casinos? no problem, we could fund gambling account using Bitcoin.
* darknet transactions
* open bazaar style markets
* international remittance
* true global commodity/stock market

Also the Bitcoin blockchain is useful for a variety of other applications.

Bingo. I agree with everything here. Why would anyone go through the hassle of acquiring coins to buy something they can easily buy with the swipe of a debit card? Bitcoin's true usefulness is in these areas in which fiat falls short.

As a former low-stakes online poker player and current sports betting enthusiast, I can say without any doubt that bitcoins are FAR superior methods of funding and withdrawing for these activities.

International remittance is another big one. Anyone use Western Union or MoneyGram lately? In the US, unless you are sending to a Spanish-speaking country, be prepared to pony up big fees.

Lastly, Open Bazaar is going to be big one day. Huge even. For all the people that say it is too difficult for the average Joe to use, trust me, the average Joe will figure it out if he wants to use it badly enough. Average Joes figured out Bitcoin when they realized they could use it to buy their favorite drugs on SR.