why big companies like amazon don't accept bitcoin?

[Elwar]

btw, had a great meal in a Milan pizza place this weekend. Paid for with bitcoin.
Paid for the plane ticket to Milan...bitcoin.
Car parking at the airport...bitcoin.
Tour of the Last Supper....bitcoin.

Hotel? Yep, you guessed it. Bitcoin.

You traveling through Europe? As a Bitcoin fan, you can't miss Arnhem (Netherlands), Bitcoin Captical of the world! If you go there, drop us a note, and we'll have a beer.. paid with- you know

I currently work in Germany but am making sure I visit one new place each month at least while I'm here. I've been to Amsterdam and enjoyed the Netherlands, I would definitely like to visit Arnhem at some point.

[Q7]

my take on why established businesses will never accept bitcoin:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_fS4C7Cot8

because they have to pay their taxes and their "raw materials" in FIAT and are highly regulated. Bitcoin is designed for "private business use"

This is not a valid argument not to accept Bitcoin.

There are plenty of Bitcoin payment processors, through which companies like Amazon can very easily accept Bitcoin, yet they receive their sales directly in EUR or USD (the payment processor converts it to fiat). In fact they never even have to deal with or own any bitcoins at any point, nor are they exposed to any volatility risk. Company charges €50, customer pays in Bitcoin, company receives exactly €50. Period. No fees, no delay, no volatility, no chargeback risk, no restrictions or limitations (unlike any other payment method, Bitcoin is available worldwide), no nothing.

They use product pricing in euros, they receive euros, they pay tax in euros, done. In this sense, they're just using Bitcoin as a more efficient, faster, safer, better, and cheaper payment method (compared to credit cards, paypal, etc) rather than an actual currency, but that's fine.

So, what are they waiting for?

I suppose what you mean here is something similar like what bitpay has to offer. I'm just wondering since they act as intermediate party who absorbs all the risk on behalf of the merchant using their service, then how do they make money based on their business plan? I supposed there must a fee involved or the additional fee is passed on to the customer. Since the merchant here sells 1usd gets 1usd so the variable here must be the btc selling price customer has to pay for the product.

Bitpay doesn't absorb any risk. They check the orderbook and sell immediately. Whatever little fluctuation that can happen is averaged out.

The risk is on currency fluctuation. If amazon accepts bitcoin directly, exchanging back to fiat has to be done by themselves so they are exposed to the risk. Since bitpay undertakes it on behalf of amazon, the risk of currency fluctuation is transferred to bitpay. Since bitpay offers such service, in which part do they earn their money from?

[Brooker]

amazon's payment processing fees cost them 3 billion per year  (btc marketcap size lol) why don't they accept bitcoin? they could save a lot of money not to mention that they will get a lot of new customers

We all know the benefits of bitcoin but it doesn't look like the corporations do.

does anyone know where i can buy an iphone 4 (new) with bitcoin?

http://coinsfortech.com/product-category/mobile-phones/apple-phones/ or ask on the Goods section in the Marketplace here.

They are in bed with PayPal and more people currently use PayPal than BTC. So PayPal will have leverage with them to not accept BTC.

Really? Last time I checked Amazon didn't even accept paypal.

because BTC is not stable it can cost them huge loss or even huge profit in daily basis i bealive once betcoins will stable it self most of the websites will start using it and for the iphonr search in google

That's what payment processors are for. Amazon could also just build their own system that exchanges the coins on an exchange for them.

[Quartx]

Dell, Expedia, Microsoft, and Time, Inc. don’t actually “accept” bitcoins, per se. They accept U.S. dollars. It’s their bitcoin processing partners who accept bitcoin. They, in turn, make money on transaction fees (in the case of Coinbase), or by selling their software and services as a subscription (in the case of BitPay).

BitPay, which has partnered with Microsoft, Newegg, and other merchants, confirmed to MONEY that the majority of its major clients ask that their bitcoins be instantly converted to cash. “I would say as a general trend most of our larger business do choose a settlement in 100% U.S. dollars because that’s how they do their accounting and finance,” said Tony Gallippi, co-founder and executive chairman of BitPay.


http://time.com/money/3658361/dell-microsoft-expedia-bitcoin/

[kori]

Btc is more like a share,
And moreover there is no one who is handling its economy and prices chnge evry day!

[Brooker]

Amazon most certainly do no accept Paypal, very likely because of the high fees they charge and how easy it is to get your money back from them. They have no excuse to not accept bitcoin IMO.

Dell, Expedia, Microsoft, and Time, Inc. don’t actually “accept” bitcoins, per se. They accept U.S. dollars. It’s their bitcoin processing partners who accept bitcoin. They, in turn, make money on transaction fees (in the case of Coinbase), or by selling their software and services as a subscription (in the case of BitPay).

BitPay, which has partnered with Microsoft, Newegg, and other merchants, confirmed to MONEY that the majority of its major clients ask that their bitcoins be instantly converted to cash. “I would say as a general trend most of our larger business do choose a settlement in 100% U.S. dollars because that’s how they do their accounting and finance,” said Tony Gallippi, co-founder and executive chairman of BitPay.


http://time.com/money/3658361/dell-microsoft-expedia-bitcoin/

Semantics. They still accept bitcoins in exchnage for goods/services regardless of payment processors. If someone accepts bitcoins but immediately exchanges them to fiat they still accept bitcoin.

[Jace]

You traveling through Europe? As a Bitcoin fan, you can't miss Arnhem (Netherlands), Bitcoin Captical of the world! If you go there, drop us a note, and we'll have a beer.. paid with- you know

I currently work in Germany but am making sure I visit one new place each month at least while I'm here. I've been to Amsterdam and enjoyed the Netherlands, I would definitely like to visit Arnhem at some point.

Cool! Just in case, you may be aware of CoinFest taking place this Friday (February 20), an initiative to have Bitcoin-oriented meetups in cities all over the world. Of course, we're participating in Arnhem as well. See the meetup event if you want to check it out.

Whether be it this Friday or another time, you'll definitely enjoy spending some bitcoins here! As it happens, last week there was German couple spending two days in Arnhem on bitcoins alone (of course including hotel, dinner, shopping, etc). They had a great time

[Kazimir]

Dell, Expedia, Microsoft, and Time, Inc. don’t actually “accept” bitcoins, per se. They accept U.S. dollars. It’s their bitcoin processing partners who accept bitcoin. They, in turn, make money on transaction fees (in the case of Coinbase), or by selling their software and services as a subscription (in the case of BitPay).

BitPay, which has partnered with Microsoft, Newegg, and other merchants, confirmed to MONEY that the majority of its major clients ask that their bitcoins be instantly converted to cash. “I would say as a general trend most of our larger business do choose a settlement in 100% U.S. dollars because that’s how they do their accounting and finance,” said Tony Gallippi, co-founder and executive chairman of BitPay.


http://time.com/money/3658361/dell-microsoft-expedia-bitcoin/

They use Bitcoin mainly as a payment system, rather than using it as an actual currency. Doesn't matter, makes perfect sense from their perspective, and it's just a matter of time before larger companies will actually take Bitcoin directly.

[sifter]

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

[Brooker]

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

Why not? If Overstock can implement btc why can't Amazon? If my local coffeeshop can accept btc why not any other small business. Accepting bitcoin is simple and easy and you can either choose to keep the bitcoins yourself and hold or exchange when you wish or use a payment processor to exchange for cash. No business should have these excuses.

[Jace]

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

Exactly how is accepting Bitcoin 'not feasible' for big companies? There is literally no single payment system on the planet that is safer, cheaper, faster and easier to implement than Bitcoin.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

Tell that to the 50+ local businesses here in Arnhem (The Netherlands) that accept Bitcoin. I'm talking physical, point of sale, brick and mortar businesses here. Sure, the Bitcoin consumption volume isn't huge yet, but publicity, promotion, and attracting tourists and new customers all for free never hurts any business. And I mean 'all for free' as in, they don't have to invest anything (unliky any other payment method they're accepting).

[Q7]

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

The question on whether it is feasible or useful depends on how you decide to implement it. If currency fluctuation is a main concern, payment processor will be able to help. Most businesses i believe are just basically using the wait and see approach to learn on how the others are doing. Like Microsoft for example are still testing the water using a small portion of their business.

[allthingsluxury]

re iphone: checkout overstock.com, tigerdirect.com, newegg.com if in US. i bought new samsung galaxy at overstock once they started accepting btc a while ago

Exactly, slowly but surely big businesses are making the switch. Meanwhile, small to medium size businesses like mine have been accepting since the early days 

[RodeoX]

Microsoft is the second largest company on Earth and they take BTC.  

yet bitcoin adoption is growing at a very slow pace because there is a need for shops that people uses regularly everyday to accept bitcoin, for example a food company like tesco in the UK or walmart in the US or amazon / ebay etc...

microsoft is a big company but their product are designed for only a small % of the population

Sure. We will be growing for years still. But it is easier than ever for me to find what I want in BTC. And actually, some Ebay retailers do take bitcoin.

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

I disagree. I set up bitcoin for businesses and they are shocked at how easy it is. There is zero barrier to entry and it is free to use. Using a service like bitpay the business faces no market volitility and in fact companies big and small make about 3% more in profit than if the customer uses a credit card. There is NO downside, no risk. All you have to do is say "we take bitcoin".

[baby222]

Be thankful they don't. While adoption is needed in the long run, right now we need less avenues for holders to sell their Bitcoins.

I would disagree with this. If more merchants were to accept bitcoin then people who are not already involved (and own) in bitcoin would get involved and buy bitcoin which in turn would drive prices up

As it is now the holding of bitcoin are very concentrated which in itself makes people not want to buy it because so many people could potentially crash the price.

[turvarya]

re iphone: checkout overstock.com, tigerdirect.com, newegg.com if in US. i bought new samsung galaxy at overstock once they started accepting btc a while ago

Exactly, slowly but surely big businesses are making the switch. Meanwhile, small to medium size businesses like mine have been accepting since the early days 

Innovation mostly comes from small businesses. Big businesses already have their user bases and every big change is just a risk for them to lose their users.

[oblivi]

amazon's payment processing fees cost them 3 billion per year  (btc marketcap size lol) why don't they accept bitcoin? they could save a lot of money not to mention that they will get a lot of new customers


does anyone know where i can buy an iphone 4 (new) with bitcoin?

Microsoft and Paypal arent big? lol
most are waiting for each other to do the first step.

[dKingston]

amazon doesnt accept btc because they're stupid

[Kprawn]

Microsoft is the second largest company on Earth and they take BTC.  

yet bitcoin adoption is growing at a very slow pace because there is a need for shops that people uses regularly everyday to accept bitcoin, for example a food company like tesco in the UK or walmart in the US or amazon / ebay etc...

microsoft is a big company but their product are designed for only a small % of the population

Sure. We will be growing for years still. But it is easier than ever for me to find what I want in BTC. And actually, some Ebay retailers do take bitcoin.

It's sometimes not feasible for big companies.

And it's sometimes not useful to small local businesses.

I disagree. I set up bitcoin for businesses and they are shocked at how easy it is. There is zero barrier to entry and it is free to use. Using a service like bitpay the business faces no market volitility and in fact companies big and small make about 3% more in profit than if the customer uses a credit card. There is NO downside, no risk. All you have to do is say "we take bitcoin".

How do Bitpay handle the BTC volitility? It could be that the competitor payment processors are using the BTC volitility as leverage to discourage companies to accept BTC

Most people do not even know about Bitpay and with all the negativity surrounding BTC, people could easily be convinced that volitility is too big a barrier to accept BTC as a payment option.

Can Bitpay handle the volume of transactions coming from a big company like Amazon? {If you add it to what they currently have on their books}

Last I have seen, they posted that the biggest single transactions they processed, was for $ 1 000 000... but that was a while ago, things might have grown since.