Interesting conversation with a retailer who formerly accepted Bitcoin

[nmteaco]

I'll order from you to support you in accepting this currency.

Thanks for your order... I even got a text message from blockchain.info saying I got the payment.

[IveBeenBit]

Jasmine:
Similar quality cheaper price: http://www.nmteaco.com/Jasmine-Moli_p_168.html
A similar price, but a better tea:  http://www.nmteaco.com/Jasmine-Pearls_p_169.html

As promised, I just made my first order. Thanks for sticking with us.  I'll get 4 oz next time once I decide if the expensive one is worth the extra money.

I notice that your shopping cart asks "what bitcoin address will you use to send the coins?"

If your bitcoin volume grows, this is not going to be a reliable way to identify orders since with a lot of wallets, it's hard to tell which coins are being sent. You are probably better off relying on pricing things to the 3rd decimal like you do already and hoping that no two people are invoiced at the same price.

I'm not sure of the best way to do it, because the coding is over my head. But my guess is that your bitcoin volume is low enough that having 2 invoices that are identical to the 3rd decimal place is unlikely to happen.

For everyone else: Go support this company! Buy tea for yourself and for your grandmother! His shipping rates are extremely reasonable, so buy a bunch in small amounts and try them all!

[IveBeenBit]

Thanks for your order... I even got a text message from blockchain.info saying I got the payment.

No - Thank YOU for taking so much of your own time to help us understand the issues merchants face in real life.

Also, it feels good to do something with bitcoins aside from gamble on blackjack and poker!

[nmteaco]

I notice that your shopping cart asks "what bitcoin address will you use to send the coins?"

I did not make that form required, But I figured it would just be another bit of information that might be helpful. But in most cases I can use time and value to figure it out.

In your case the wallet ID you put in matched the one that I received the bitcoins from.

As you say I would have to get two orders at the same time with the same value to be confused, and if that happened, it would not really matter who's was who's anyway!

[myrkul]

Thanks for your order... I even got a text message from blockchain.info saying I got the payment.

No - Thank YOU for taking so much of your own time to help us understand the issues merchants face in real life.

Also, it feels good to do something with bitcoins aside from gamble on blackjack and poker!

And betting on bets on bets.

NMTeaCo, Thanks again for sticking it out.

[notme]

I notice that your shopping cart asks "what bitcoin address will you use to send the coins?"

I did not make that form required, But I figured it would just be another bit of information that might be helpful. But in most cases I can use time and value to figure it out.

In your case the wallet ID you put in matched the one that I received the bitcoins from.

As you say I would have to get two orders at the same time with the same value to be confused, and if that happened, it would not really matter who's was who's anyway!

It would if only one got paid, but yeah, very unlikely to be an issue at your scale.

[SMTB1963]

Thanks for the update, nmteaco.  I think your experiences with BTC so far should serve as a wake-up call to the BTC community.

Now that all the "he just didn't know what he was doing" and "it's really not that complicated" and "the merchant was uninformed" arguments have been silenced, maybe this community will start to recognize that merchant adoption is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the success of bitcoin.  If merchants can't adopt it, BTC will remain mired in all the piss-ant drama that comes with the value of a currency being based on speculation vs fiat gambling (financial scams, ponzis, thefts, and security fuckups notwithstanding).

To be certain, I reject the argument that "merchant adoption will magically happen on it's own, sometime in the future (we promise!)".

Merchant adoption?  That's hard work...isn't it?  Yeah, it is.  But the reward of the hard work is that when BTC is made valuable to merchants, all of the rediculous ongoing drama that BTC can't seem to shake disappears like a fart in a windstorm.

@nmteaco, gotta say it again: thanks for sharing your experiences - and more importantly thanks for being patient with the small-minded who would so easily dismiss your problems WITHOUT providing any solutions.

ps - nmteaco...you know Breaking Bad?  (ABQ, yo!)   

[finkleshnorts]

Thanks for the update, nmteaco.  I think your experiences with BTC so far should serve as a wake-up call to the BTC community.

Now that all the "he just didn't know what he was doing" and "it's really not that complicated" and "the merchant was uninformed" arguments have been silenced, maybe this community will start to recognize that merchant adoption is perhaps the biggest obstacle to the success of bitcoin.  If merchants can't adopt it, BTC will remain mired in all the piss-ant drama that comes with the value of a currency being based on speculation vs fiat gambling (financial scams, ponzis, thefts, and security fuckups notwithstanding).

To be certain, I reject the argument that "merchant adoption will magically happen on it's own, sometime in the future (we promise!)".

Merchant adoption?  That's hard work...isn't it?  Yeah, it is.  But the reward of the hard work is that when BTC is made valuable to merchants, all of the rediculous ongoing drama that BTC can't seem to shake disappears like a fart in a windstorm.

@nmteaco, gotta say it again: thanks for sharing your experiences - and more importantly thanks for being patient with the small-minded who would so easily dismiss your problems WITHOUT providing any solutions.

ps - nmteaco...you know Breaking Bad?  (ABQ, yo!)   

Great post, I agree with all of it.

[nmteaco]

ps - nmteaco...you know Breaking Bad?  (ABQ, yo!)   

I actually just eat at the Denny's that Walt was in at the start of this season about an hour ago. Its funny that in the show that Denny's is supposed to be in some other place, because its very recognizable as being in Albuquerque.

We really dont have that much meth in Albuquerque, and not nearly that many gang members! Also I have never seen a tented house in New Mexico! They did get a few things right though, lots of people do refer to the area as "the 505". I do enjoy the show though.

[SMTB1963]

Great post, I agree with all of it.

Thanks...nice to know there's a like-minded bitcoiner here.

ps - nmteaco...you know Breaking Bad?  (ABQ, yo!)  

I actually just eat at the Denny's that Walt was in at the start of this season about an hour ago. Its funny that in the show that Denny's is supposed to be in some other place, because its very recognizable as being in Albuquerque.

We really dont have that much meth in Albuquerque, and not nearly that many gang members! Also I have never seen a tented house in New Mexico! They did get a few things right though, lots of people do refer to the area as "the 505". I do enjoy the show though.

Yeah, I worry about the impression such a popular show might give to your city.  Hell, there is WAY more meth where I live, but you know TV...

The wife & I have spent a couple of weeks in Taos/Red River every summer for damn near the last 20 years, sometimes visiting close friends in ABQ on the way up/back from TX.  Beautiful place you live in.  (jealous)  I'll lobby for going thru ABQ next summer and look you up.  

Anyways  wish you continued success.  

EDIT:  Now back to drunken troll wars!

[julz]

My tea arrived here in Sydney Australia today - thanks nmteaco!

Customs opened the package to inspect - but apparently the inspection showed 'no items of quarantine concern'
I found this slip in the outer package:


The tea arrived in a vacuum sealed black package - which I assume is the original as it didn't look tampered with.
This surprised me a little, because I dont' see how they could actually examine it close enough to ensure it was what the label said it was....

Perhaps they were just ensuring it was properly sealed and professionally packaged?

[Evolvex]

There will be 21 million ever and he doesn't want any, better that other people have them then, nice of him to get out of the way.

This is a terrible way to think about it. If you do not address the issues merchants are seeing then it will be very hard for Bitcoin to have the wider adoption many hope for. Exchange risk *is* a real concern and you should not shrug it off. Instead we should think about how we can work with merchants and help them understand and manage this risk or even turn it into a non risk.

If you want Bitcoins to matter beyond a tiny sphere, then you have to be ready to solve the problems others are having and not just think about yourself.

I completely agree with all of this - I'm a geek and thus love bitcoins and accept the risks that come with it, how the average folk dont even understand it, they have had there fiat currency all there life, its what they know and trust - if bitcoin is to reach the mainstream, the risks that come with it need to be mitigated or removed completely - otherwise people wont trust it and will stay with what they know, shitty currency thats rigged.

[nmteaco]

My tea arrived here in Sydney Australia today - thanks nmteaco!

That's great news! And the bitfloor hacker thanks you for your order. 

[Keefe]

... I had not cashed out any of the sales yet ...

nmteaco: I haven't kept up with the BitFloor news lately, but I heard they were considering allowing withdrawal of USD, since only BTC was stolen. Was most of your money there in USD? I'm not sure if you meant you hadn't sold the BTC from recent sales yet, or hadn't withdrawn the USD yet.

[Stephen Gornick]

Many of the merchants that accept Square (using the dongle, possibly with Square register but mostly just the Android / iPhone mobile app) might also be willing to give Bitcoin a try.  This list of "bleeding edge" merchants is here:

 - https://squareup.com/directory  <--  Plug in your zip code (U.S.) and see what merchants you have nearby.

A good first step might be to visit one near you, and while swiping ask the merchant how much they are paying Square (answer 2.75%), if there have been any chargebacks, and then plant the bug in the person's ear about Bitcoin.  Having a mobile app (e.g., Bitcoin Spinner  or Blockchain for iOS / Android) handy and a QR code to scan (e.g., from a paper wallet - http://BitAddress.org ) lets you demonstrate right there how the merchant can accept bitcoins easily.  

(Notification to the merchant could come with SMS notification that Blockchain.info offers, for example, and there are other methods.)

[Stephen Gornick]

And the bitfloor hacker thanks you for your order.  

Ouch.

Well, fortunately now there is integration with your shopping cart provider (3DCart)  which works with BitPay so that you don't have to be exposed to counterparty risk of doing it yourself through an exchange.  Looks like you're already doing this:
 - http://forums.3dcart.com/27113-post5.html
 

[Stephen Gornick]

we are back in business accepting coin!

Any chance you'll be adding that capability for your visitors to your store as well?   I had pointed a Bitcoiner who was traveling through Albuquerque to stop in, but Bitcoin wasn't accepted for payment:
 - http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1ig126/im_working_in_santa_fe_nm_this_week_and_would_be/cb5d9wz