Why are merchants not serious about the advantages of Bitcoin?

[tins]

You would rather call it a gamblers fallacy, that the price can't go lower . Thats what most of the people holding bitcoin have the mindset about .

You're missing the point. In both strategies I suggested, Joe is essentially keeping his Bitcoin. Except with number 2, he is actively helping to raise the price level, on two ends (bitcoin economy, and market demand).

If Joe does think the price will go lower, then he's better off spending his BTC anyway (now that it still buys him $200 worth of stuff), rather than spending $200 and keeping his BTC.

Or, better yet, he buys more- thereby decreases his cost per Bitcoin.
He bought one for $450.
Goes out and buys 4 more @ $200/each. Essentially, he bought each coin for $250/each (1250/5).
BTC could make that kind of value back at some point on any given day.

[CoinCidental]

You would rather call it a gamblers fallacy, that the price can't go lower . Thats what most of the people holding bitcoin have the mindset about .

You're missing the point. In both strategies I suggested, Joe is essentially keeping his Bitcoin. Except with number 2, he is actively helping to raise the price level, on two ends (bitcoin economy, and market demand).

If Joe does think the price will go lower, then he's better off spending his BTC anyway (now that it still buys him $200 worth of stuff), rather than spending $200 and keeping his BTC.

Or, better yet, he buys more- thereby decreases his cost per Bitcoin.
He bought one for $450.
Goes out and buys 4 more @ $200/each. Essentially, he bought each coin for $250/each (1250/5).
BTC could make that kind of value back at some point on any given day.

it still doesnt make sense to pay $450 for a btc and spend it on a hookers and blow  a month later when its worth $200 ,
if you have $200 in cash use that to pay  the hookers and blow and hopefully the btc will go back to $450+
most people are not interested in taking a personal loss just  to stimulate the bitcoin economy ,thats the reality

[turvarya]

Just ran across this article on how Overstock is not getting as much revenue as they expected with bitcoin:

http://www.coindesk.com/overstocks-2014-bitcoin-sales-miss-projections-3-million/

No one should be surprised. Merchants have been loudly announcing they accept bitcoin all year. And it makes sense for them to accept bitcoin. No chargebacks, forgeries, counterfeiting, no chasing after customers with collections agencies, etc., etc.

But they can't answer one stupid question: Why should I pay them with my bitcoin when I can pay them the same price with a credit card that gives me 2% (or 3% or 5% with my 2nd and 3rd cards right now in certain categories) cash back and allows me to defer payment ~45 days?

Merchants need to get serious if they expect to pick up actual revenue in bitcoin and gain a real advantage against the competition. Offer something like a 5% discount on BTC purchases, sharing the savings they enjoy using BTC. That would give people an actual incentive to accumulate and use BTC. Instead they are treating it like a short-sighted marketing gimmick.

I'm a merchant. It's been over a year since I started offering 15% off any order paid for with Bitcoin.

Not a single customer has paid with BTC - everyone just uses PayPal/Credit card. Several people have said they will check out BTC, but then they always pay using a traditional method. It's important to note however that my customer base is niche, middle aged and affuent.

But then I remember when McDonald's didn't take credit cards. I was a teenager I think before they started doing that, and they'd been in business since the 1950's.

What kind of business do you have?
If I would get 15% discount, I would definitly look into it, regardless of what it is.

[tins]

You would rather call it a gamblers fallacy, that the price can't go lower . Thats what most of the people holding bitcoin have the mindset about .

You're missing the point. In both strategies I suggested, Joe is essentially keeping his Bitcoin. Except with number 2, he is actively helping to raise the price level, on two ends (bitcoin economy, and market demand).

If Joe does think the price will go lower, then he's better off spending his BTC anyway (now that it still buys him $200 worth of stuff), rather than spending $200 and keeping his BTC.

Or, better yet, he buys more- thereby decreases his cost per Bitcoin.
He bought one for $450.
Goes out and buys 4 more @ $200/each. Essentially, he bought each coin for $250/each (1250/5).
BTC could make that kind of value back at some point on any given day.

it still doesnt make sense to pay $450 for a btc and spend it on a hookers and blow  a month later when its worth $200 ,
if you have $200 in cash use that to pay  the hookers and blow and hopefully the btc will go back to $450+
most people are not interested in taking a personal loss just  to stimulate the bitcoin economy ,thats the reality

But had they bought at $450, then BTC goes up to $700, he's in a better spot....doesn't matter.
You missed the point that if an individual buys in at a price point and valuation drops, they have an opportunity to buy more at the lower valuation, bringing down the overall price per eact BTC that they had purchased.

[cheekychap]

I am sure one reason why merchants aren't so serious about bitcoin is because they probably don't have lot of people using bitcoin to make purchases, and their main aim is to make money, not promote bitcoin.

[Jace]

if you have $200 in cash use that to pay  the hookers and blow and hopefully the btc will go back to $450+
most people are not interested in taking a personal loss just  to stimulate the bitcoin economy ,thats the reality

Again, by spending 1 BTC on hookers and buying one back right away (at $200), rather than just spending the $200 on hookers, you are:

1. NOT taking any personal loss whatsoever (you already took that loss when buying 1 BTC at $450 and it dropped to $200)
2. Actually helping to recover your loss by stimulating the Bitcoin economy, rather than hodling and merely "hoping" the price will somehow magically rise to $450

Remember: by just sitting on your coins, instead of using them, Bitcoin won't grow! Spend them, and buy back at the same time.

[Whitehouse]

Not sure if they are allowed to treat credit card customer's differently, there must be some policy that says you can't charge extra if your customer is paying by credit cards.

Where I live certain places charge more depending on certain cards because of credit card fees. I've even seen some online shops charge more for people to pay via Paypal because their fees are so steep. Bitcoin's small fee are a major advantage to retailers but it's just educating them about it.

[Balls]

Merchants likely aren't serious purely down to ignorance, though there needs to be a big demand from the public also and there's only a tiny minority using bitcoin at the moment so there's not too much advantage for them. Hopefully this will change overtime, though.

[Kazimir]

Merchants likely aren't serious purely down to ignorance, though there needs to be a big demand from the public also and there's only a tiny minority using bitcoin at the moment so there's not too much advantage for them. Hopefully this will change overtime, though.

But any advantage they do get from it is free. Publicity, new customers (even though it probably won't be much yet, depending on area and type of business), for free.

There isn't a single disadvantage in using Bitcoin for merchants: no investment, no costs, no chargebacks, no volatility, no fraud risk, nothing!

[CoinCidental]

if you have $200 in cash use that to pay  the hookers and blow and hopefully the btc will go back to $450+
most people are not interested in taking a personal loss just  to stimulate the bitcoin economy ,thats the reality

Again, by spending 1 BTC on hookers and buying one back right away (at $200), rather than just spending the $200 on hookers, you are:

1. NOT taking any personal loss whatsoever (you already took that loss when buying 1 BTC at $450 and it dropped to $200)
2. Actually helping to recover your loss by stimulating the Bitcoin economy, rather than hodling and merely "hoping" the price will somehow magically rise to $450

Remember: by just sitting on your coins, instead of using them, Bitcoin won't grow! Spend them, and buy back at the same time.

i understand what you are  saying but i am already a bitcoin enthusiast
people who are not converted yet think its a $450- $200 is $250 lost + exchange fees as its not always free to use banks to credit exchange and  get bitcoins , charges vary depending on what country you live in and which exchange you need to use for whatever reason

[thejaytiesto]

Merchants are scared of Bitcoin's extreme volatility plus its still too experimental for them to massively adopt, slowly they willget it tho.

[autodiv]

The simple answer is that they have yet to be provided the proper motivation to seriously consider BTC.

That is more or less a failure of marketing.

[Daniel91]

Merchants are scared of Bitcoin's extreme volatility plus its still too experimental for them to massively adopt, slowly they willget it tho.

Very good point.
If I will be merchant, right now I will be very scared to accept bitcoin as payment tool for my services/products.
For example, if I sell something for 10 btc and 1 btc is let's say 200 usd, and value of btc suddenly drop to 150 usd, I will loose 500 usd because of this value instability.
Very bad for any business.

[BTCat]

In the end it's all about fiat money. Most crypto investors want to make a profit and when the price is high enough they turn their back and exchange for fiat. 

[leex1528]

Lots of reasons that are mentioned here are great why merchants are not serious. 

I really like the comment about all about Fiat for these business, it is, they can't hold onto Bitcoin and hope that the value goes up.  They can probably keep a small amount of coins but they need the money to pay for their crap

[tatu]

Merchants are scared of Bitcoin's extreme volatility plus its still too experimental for them to massively adopt, slowly they willget it tho.

Very good point.
If I will be merchant, right now I will be very scared to accept bitcoin as payment tool for my services/products.
For example, if I sell something for 10 btc and 1 btc is let's say 200 usd, and value of btc suddenly drop to 150 usd, I will loose 500 usd because of this value instability.
Very bad for any business.

But if they're scared of this they can use a payment processor which automatically converts the coins to cash and deposits it into their bank account. This isn't an excuse really for this exact reason.

[tss]

Not sure if they are allowed to treat credit card customer's differently, there must be some policy that says you can't charge extra if your customer is paying by credit cards.

actually quite the opposite.  some states have passed legislation that allows merchants like restaurants to charge up to 5% more for buyers using credit cards.

[Sindelar1938]

Why would you think that?
I think merchant adoption has been stellar, if you consider the vol we have had

[leex1528]

Why would you think that?
I think merchant adoption has been stellar, if you consider the vol we have had

Yes, but is that what is killing the value of Bitcoins?  I think it might be because I think they are selling right now.

[CoinCidental]

Why would you think that?
I think merchant adoption has been stellar, if you consider the vol we have had

the problem with microsoft ,dell ,overstock ,newegg etc is they sell a lot of equipment people dont buy often
i have dell laptops that are years old running 24/7 and i buy an up to date new one every 3 years or so

its things i buy everyday or every month  that are not accepting bitcoin yet ,like fast food ,gas/diesel  ,coffee ,
groceries ,bus ,train tickets,taxis  ,phone ,utility bills

i think when these places catch on we will see a lot more adoption  but in turn these places will have to give something back
to the customer for using btc or they will just use simple cash

discount or reward points of some incentive to buy btc and spend them is what they need ,at least in the beginning they should
give back whatever % saved by not using credit cards and not having to worry about charge backs etc

sales will be final and fraud from stolen credit cards  and chargebacks etc will be zero so there is good incentive for the merchant if they can be bothered
to learn about btc and use it  ....