[2015-08-22] Lack Of Bitcoin Customers Worries Merchants

randy8777

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Quote from: Stargazer on August 23, 2015, 08:23:40 AM

Quote from: tyz on August 22, 2015, 07:05:36 AM

Made the same experience. A friend of mine sold wine for Bitcoins. At the beginning there was some interest because many Bitcoiners wanted to try the service. But from time to time the volume of purchases with Bitcoins declined more and more.

This is natural. There's not many people who actually own Bitcoins and nobody will buy it just to later buy wine or anything else. The process of buying coins is quite difficult for the average client, so if you're starting to sell for Bitcoin you are aiming at people who already have it.

beside that, people are not likely going to spend a bitcoin that they bought for $290 when the price like now has fallen to $230 which is quite a significant price drop. they either wait for the price to go back up or simply just holding the coins for a long period of time.

Stargazer

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▰▰▰ Global Cryptocurrency Paymen

Quote from: tyz on August 22, 2015, 07:05:36 AM

Made the same experience. A friend of mine sold wine for Bitcoins. At the beginning there was some interest because many Bitcoiners wanted to try the service. But from time to time the volume of purchases with Bitcoins declined more and more.

This is natural. There's not many people who actually own Bitcoins and nobody will buy it just to later buy wine or anything else. The process of buying coins is quite difficult for the average client, so if you're starting to sell for Bitcoin you are aiming at people who already have it.

Denker

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Quote from: Kprawn on August 23, 2015, 03:28:32 AM

Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 03:52:18 PM

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 22, 2015, 03:30:34 PM

Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 02:57:48 PM

Bitcoin wasn't made for shopping. There are bigger steps it can take. Reaching people who have no access to bank accounts and foreign remittances is way more important.

Aren't you contradicting yourself? What is the use if the unbanked take up bitcoin but they cannot use it for daily shopping and the like?

'Shopping' is important whether online or not. Without that there is no incentive to hold bitcoin in the first place unless you only use it for the 'bigger' or more important things like remittances but if that is the case then bitcoin is not really anything better than Western Union etc... even though it might be cheaper.

Shopping right down to the grassroots is very important in my opinion. That is what is needed to drive mass adoption. Bitcoin needs to become as prevalent and easy to use as cash.

When we are speaking from todays merchants it is to 90% all about online shopping. Furthermore I was pointing to the actual situation and not what will be in 5-10 years.Jesus...

And you are 100% correct... but Bitcoin is just another source of income for them from another payment method. They can still use the other payment methods if that

float their boat. They lose nothing while supporting Bitcoin in periods when sales are low due to the price... BUT they have everything to lose when they dump Bitcoin payment

and their competitors grab the sales when it increase again. Wink

Too many of them think Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme... where people flock to your service when you

accept Bitcoin as a payment method and you would not have periods where the sales would drop.

You are correct here as well. Many merchants seem to missinterpret their acceptance of Bitcoin as a payment method. Bitcoin still is very very tiny in usage. Sometimes I ask myself how they could think to get loads of new customers coming in and buy their goodies by just adding a third, fourth or fifth payment method.That is ridicolous.

For Bitcoin being succesful as a payment method, if it is online or not, the network needs real mass adoption.As long as this does not happen it will be more useful in other cases like foreign remittances for instances.

Furthermore as some other above mentioned it is kind of weird that merchants complain that just a few might use Bitcoin to buy but at the same time they are converting it back to fiat.

The whole thing needs way more time.Simple is that.

Kprawn

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Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 03:52:18 PM

Quote from: RustyNomad on August 22, 2015, 03:30:34 PM

Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 02:57:48 PM

Bitcoin wasn't made for shopping. There are bigger steps it can take. Reaching people who have no access to bank accounts and foreign remittances is way more important.

Aren't you contradicting yourself? What is the use if the unbanked take up bitcoin but they cannot use it for daily shopping and the like?

'Shopping' is important whether online or not. Without that there is no incentive to hold bitcoin in the first place unless you only use it for the 'bigger' or more important things like remittances but if that is the case then bitcoin is not really anything better than Western Union etc... even though it might be cheaper.

Shopping right down to the grassroots is very important in my opinion. That is what is needed to drive mass adoption. Bitcoin needs to become as prevalent and easy to use as cash.

When we are speaking from todays merchants it is to 90% all about online shopping. Furthermore I was pointing to the actual situation and not what will be in 5-10 years.Jesus...

And you are 100% correct... but Bitcoin is just another source of income for them from another payment method. They can still use the other payment methods if that

float their boat. They lose nothing while supporting Bitcoin in periods when sales are low due to the price... BUT they have everything to lose when they dump Bitcoin payment

and their competitors grab the sales when it increase again. Wink

Too many of them think Bitcoin is a get rich quick scheme... where people flock to your service when you

accept Bitcoin as a payment method and you would not have periods where the sales would drop.

Denker

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Quote from: RustyNomad on August 22, 2015, 03:30:34 PM

Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 02:57:48 PM

Bitcoin wasn't made for shopping. There are bigger steps it can take. Reaching people who have no access to bank accounts and foreign remittances is way more important.

Aren't you contradicting yourself? What is the use if the unbanked take up bitcoin but they cannot use it for daily shopping and the like?

'Shopping' is important whether online or not. Without that there is no incentive to hold bitcoin in the first place unless you only use it for the 'bigger' or more important things like remittances but if that is the case then bitcoin is not really anything better than Western Union etc... even though it might be cheaper.

Shopping right down to the grassroots is very important in my opinion. That is what is needed to drive mass adoption. Bitcoin needs to become as prevalent and easy to use as cash.

When we are speaking from todays merchants it is to 90% all about online shopping. Furthermore I was pointing to the actual situation and not what will be in 5-10 years.Jesus...

Mickeyb

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Move On !!!!!!

Bitcoin can cover so many use cases. Online shopping is just one of them and in my opinion it's not even the most important one. I bet that Satoshi didn't envision to replace a Visa or Mastercard for online paying when he sat at the drawing board and decided to create Bitcoin.

Even though for some, news like this can seem troublesome, I see this as only small bump in the road. Bitcoin can and will so much more!

RustyNomad

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Quote from: Denker on August 22, 2015, 02:57:48 PM

Bitcoin wasn't made for shopping. There are bigger steps it can take. Reaching people who have no access to bank accounts and foreign remittances is way more important.

Aren't you contradicting yourself? What is the use if the unbanked take up bitcoin but they cannot use it for daily shopping and the like?

'Shopping' is important whether online or not. Without that there is no incentive to hold bitcoin in the first place unless you only use it for the 'bigger' or more important things like remittances but if that is the case then bitcoin is not really anything better than Western Union etc... even though it might be cheaper.

Shopping right down to the grassroots is very important in my opinion. That is what is needed to drive mass adoption. Bitcoin needs to become as prevalent and easy to use as cash.

PolarPoint

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This is expected. Bitcoin price is low now, it's a time to buy for holders. They will be spending when bitcoin price is high. It is cyclical.

Denker

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Bitcoin wasn't made for shopping. There are bigger steps it can take. Reaching people who have no access to bank accounts and foreign remittances is way more important.
Online shopping is done in the western world. And people have several options for paying here. And as long as the other options work and people feel comfortable with it Bitcoin will have no chance to get a bite from the cake in a short period of time.

Bitcoin will have several other possible applications.Futhermore we are still in bear market or moving sideways regarding prize.
We need a trigger to get next wave of user adoption.

Kprawn

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You could say, nobody wants to spend Bitcoins now, while the price is so low. When the price increase, Bitcoiners get more for their money and their spending increase.

I would rather be ready for a spending spree, when the price is high and a lot of people start spending Bitcoin, than not doing it, and being left out when the big spending starts.

We have seen a much higher spending pattern, when the price was between $600 to $1000 per Bitcoin. Roll Eyes

TheButterZone

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RIP Mommy

Good. Let them be worried. So worried that they stop instantly converting to fiat. There's no incentive to spend BTC if your BTC is worth less due to instant fiat-converting assholes.

tiggytomb

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I was wondering how many people paid using Bitcoin with some of the larger retailers, I always imagined the numbers would not be huge, as mentioned by others the numbers will increase but it will take a long time before the everyday person will choose to make payment with Bitcoin.

The good thing is that as more retailers start accepting Bitcoin, the exposure is there and the more people that see Bitcoin as a payment option the more interest in Bitcoin there will be.

Carlton Banks

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If they were that worried, they'd stop accepting it, instead of the numbers increasing. And if they were worried in a way whereby they wanted to attract bitcoin paying customers, they would come up with a way to incentivise that. Neither of those thing are happening on any perceptible scale, which implies merchants are not worried at all.

pedrog

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Also, a great percentage of bitcoiners just don't spend their coins, or just spend when price increases a lot, we are waiting for it to go to the moon and cash out till next time.

RustyNomad

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This is to be expected as there is no incentive to use bitcoin. I know, there are many reasons why bitcoin should be used and where it's actually better but think of the average Joe in the street.

Why should he/she change their fiat to bitcoin just to spend it at the local merchant and still pay the same price for the same item? Why incur the cost of the conversion and the hassle of keeping a wallet if they can just pay in fiat? Where is the incentive?

I'm speaking about the millions/billions of average Joe's out there.

Most people involved in bitcoin, and this is just my opinion, came to bitcoin trying to make a killing on the moon trip everybody is expecting bitcoin to take. A very small percentage of those involved with bitcoin use it like a currency to pay for everyday items.

Yes the numbers are increasing but its going to take a long while and many more incentives before the average Joe starts using bitcoin like he's using fiat at this stage.

Another factor seldom taken into account is the general indebtedness of people. Very few have the spare cash to invest/buy bitcoin. They are living from paycheck to paycheck and the last thing they are interested in now is a digital currency unless you can show them how it will make an impact on their daily lives.

tyz

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Made the same experience. A friend of mine sold wine for Bitcoins. At the beginning there was some interest because many Bitcoiners wanted to try the service. But from time to time the volume of purchases with Bitcoins declined more and more.

jdebunt

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http://digitalmoneytimes.com/crypto-news/lack-bitcoin-customers-worries-merchants/

Even though the number of Bitcoin merchants keeps increasing year by year, the major concern is the low number of actual Bitcoin customers they will attract. Bitcoin is meant to be used as a payment method for goods and services all over the world; yet the Bitcoin community hasn’t seemed to grow at a rapid pace in the past few months. Is this a sign of things to come, or is it a small bump in the road?

Topic: [2015-08-22] Lack Of Bitcoin Customers Worries Merchants (Read 1129 times)