Topic: A bitcoin group buying business / or increase bitcoin demand / stability (Read 1181 times)

I'm actually working on a railway-related Bitcoin project for Germany right now. The only thing that's missing is someone to do the website. Which is harder than I would have anticipated, since I'm pretty much only offering a share of the potential profits and not a fixed payment.

So if anyone interested reads this: PM me.

I dont think its the right place to start, but its an example of how it could work.
If there were greater numbers of bitcoin people in one place it would work, the most i heard of was Berlin and they have 4-8 people at each meetup.

If we 100 people from 1 country, all prepared to get a mobile phone / internet / insurance or electricity that would be a much better place to start.

I don't know a european-wide card.
It's quite complicate to get foreign tickets. If you order one, you can pay with the "businesscard".
There are travel agencies, which sell tickets all over europe, but I don't know, how they do it.

thats a good example, also very simple place to start
Im imagining the best place to start would be one company that services all of europe or one company that services all of the states.
Would these rail passes be for s pecific country in Europe only?

At the most railway-companies in Europe a company/coops gets a "business-card".
They are credit-cards. You can buy you tickets at the stations, and at the end of the month you get charged.

The bill shows in detail which card was used for which ticket. --> So the amount for the "customers" is easy to calculate.
The customer gets a discount of 20% (if she hasn't an other card) and the company 1% to 3%.

So the tickets can be paid in bitcoins and the coop pays in euro.

That would be excellent i'd definitely go there, its all about buying power.  After prague im addicted to spending money in bitcoins, enough to make me want to go to room 77 in Berlin.

I think you're on to something. I've been thinking the exact same thing and even did some cursory research into reselling electricity. It doesn't seem to be that easy here in Texas, either.

By the way, I also think turning BitBrew into the next Starbucks is a great idea. 

Hi community,

Since I first discovered bitcoin in July, ive been searching for a potential entry into some kind of business.
After the conference in Prague I was quite surprised just how many developers are in the community that are passionate about bitcoin and are trying to set up some kind of business.  The environment im used to is the opposite, its the entrepreneurs trying to convince a good cto to be passionate about their idea.  Im very surprised more entrepreneurs aren't flocking in.

So here is an idea, (feel free to steal it as long as you tell me where to find it):

If we started a group buying club and targeted an area like:
electricity
fuel card
Telecoms
Hosting
starbucks? (its just an idea)
credit cards
Insurance

Something we all use and spend fiat money on every month.

Set up a group account like a corporate account with these companies. Allow members to pay in bitcoin and pay the bills in fiat.  Profits could be taken from commissions from the service provider and everyone could use hundreds bitcoin every month on living expenses.

Im guessing the states would be the obvious choice due to the numbers as i feel you would need do it country by country.  If you know of any services we all use that dont relate to country then im listening.

If you are a developer and see some issues with the idea, or would like to be involved I would need a few to come in on an equity only deal.

When i was 21 i negotiated a mobile phone deal with a company in Sydney, the prices i negotiated were about half that of regular retailers.  The deal was about to get over the line but i was a bit cocky with my marketing rhetoric and the legal team had an issue with it at the 11th hour and cut me off.  I had hundreds of people registering every day.....My marketing message was something like;
 "lets control these corporate phone companies by joining our buying power together".

Of course once you have everyone on one account, you have stronger negotiating skills to move the account elsewhere and secure bigger discounts, Since then ive been thinking about it for over a decade, and i think this might be the right group of people to make something work.  If its a stupid / good idea then please make some comment. 

I would suggest electricity is a good place to start, as you cant tell the difference between electricity form company A and company B.  But i have knocked on their door before and they arent so easy to get to.  This could be expanded to food and other products, although you would have to support a big chain.

I dont think it would be advertised as bitcoin buying group either, just a regular buying group that accepts bitcoins but maybe not even advertised on the site.  Here is an example of a buying group: http://www.buyinggroups.co.uk/mercia.html

Who's interested? Whos' got feedback?

Mitch