New on LowEndTalk? Please Register and read our Community Rules.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
All new Registrations are manually reviewed and approved, so a short delay after registration may occur before your account becomes active.
Accepting Bitcoins?
What's your take or experience on accepting bitcoins for hosting services?
I've asked this question several times already on other forums, and continuously receive mixed responses. Some say that's unnecessary because a very small number of people use Bitcoin, while others say a lot of their clients switched to Bitcoin after the option was available.
I've also heard that by accepting Bitcoins, you attract clients that often times busy with illegal activities.
Of course, every web hosting provider will have a different experience with Bitcoin, so what's yours?
Comments
I love bitcoins
I find bitcoin clients to be well behaved, even more so that normal payment methods such as PayPal.
There is no such thing as chargebacks or dispute process, so users know they can't get their money back if they misbehave!
We have few customers using BTC as a payment method. So far, no service abuse or anything like that. Also, with BTC you will avoid scams like PayPal stolen account usage.
BTC usage are not indicator of "illegal activities" for sure.
Haha, that's a promising start to this discussion.
This is definitely a plus. We've had several fraudulent chargebacks that we would prefer to avoid in the future.
OK!
And what gateway are you guys using for Bitcoin?
Bitpay - all the way
Some use Bitpay
A thing I've seen in other, similar threads is that those who claim "Bitcoin brings in the abusers" do not actually accept Bitcoin, and do not have first-hand experience - they're simply going off assumptions and jumps in logic. If somebody claims that it has brings trouble, make sure to verify that they are actually basing that on real experiences.
Another question to consider is, do/will you use bitcoin?
BitPay indeed. Very good solution.
If that's a question to us, then yes, we will. Going to register Bitpay today.
Thanks for all the feedbacks, guys. Appreciate it a lot.
Cant go wrong with bitpay, coinbase also offer this type of service
We have a lot of users using bitcoin, it also allows us to deliver services faster since we can be confident that the transaction won't be reversed.
As a user/customer - yes, I pay my server bills using Bitcoin with some regularity, where possible. It has always worked reliably for me (both Coinbase and BitPay), and it's a good bit faster than PayPal.
Bitcoin is a very good way if you want to avoid abusers. It's fast and reliable.
No transaction fee & No conversion rates to my local currency.
Bitpay is best .
Sounds great. And how about from the client's perspective. How does the process go? How easy is it from to add funds, stuff like that.
it's very simple.
Signup with Bitpay & get verified your account.
Add your Bank account / Bitcoin address for withdrawal @ Bitpay.
Add Bitcoin modules in your billing system. that's it.
Once customer paid through bitcoin, you will get notification from Bitpay about your order. You could withdraw as local currency (Equal value of current Bitcoin price) or Bitcoin.
Hope it helps
So the client must register first at Bitpay in order to use our payment gateway on the website? Aren't there other possibilities? Also, it only works with a bank account? Not with credit cards or anything else?
No, only your company, not your client.
No, customers no need to register with bitpay. they can send Bitcoin from any of their Bitcoin wallet. i wrote for company to get started with Bitcoin.
From Customer Point:
They will get Invoice from Bitpay once they placed an order. They could pay to the Bitcoin address mentioned in invoice. That's it.
Yes, I understand. But I'm wondering how they can get Bitcoins in the first place. What are the 'add funds' options.
LOL bitpay doesn't sell bitcoins. Bitcoins are sold on exchanges and OTC markets. They are a pain to buy which is one reason why they haven't taken off with consumers yet.
Bitcoin is decentralized and p2p. There is no one company in charge like you have with other payment methods.
Once you have bitcoins in your wallet buying stuff with them is very easy. Just send to the address bitpay gives you on checkout and right away you get confirmation of payment.
There is no real advantage to be honest. Converting the BTC back to normal currency has a fee in most cases (take a look over at LBC) sometimes as much as merchant fees comparable to the giant PayPal -- furthermore, if you're worrying about clients charging back on their services, you're doing it wrong.
This is no different for any other payment gateway.
Bitcoin is decentralized - there is not one 'provider' that lets you 'add funds'. There are many - centralized exchanges like Bitstamp, "direct exchanges" like Bitonic and Bittiraha.fi, decentralized exchanges like Bitcoin-OTC, and even 'Bitcoin ATMs' from various operators. I'm sure there are more methods I didn't think of.
It depends on whatever the user prefers and where they live, really. Anybody can exchange BTC for something else - it's just another currency.
EDIT: And for completeness' sake, the network of Bitcoin is decentralized also - there are "web wallets" like Coinbase that manage your BTC for you (like a bank would), but you can just as easily run a local client like Bitcoin-QT or Electrum, and never have to deal with a third party.
That entirely depends on where you live.
Speaking of bitcoins, does anyone know where to buy a small amount of them, around $20 worth.
As @joepie91 said it depends on where you live. If you are in the US you can try circle.com . That's the only reputable site that will take a reversible payment method like cc for bitcoin.