Author

Topic: Bitcoin and gift cards. (Read 1004 times)

member
Activity: 108
Merit: 10
July 07, 2014, 02:36:52 AM
#13
Read you can buy gift cards in the UK with dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1ygcef/buy_gift_cards_in_the_uk_with_dogecoin_and_other/
legendary
Activity: 826
Merit: 1002
amarha
July 05, 2014, 07:43:11 AM
#12
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
Why would they have an incentive to accept bitcoin over their own branded gift card? I would argue the opposite. Once a gift card is paid for Amazon will have zero incremental costs in accepting the gift card as payment. They know 100% that the money is there.

Because when you buy a gift card through Gyft or another company you're getting few percent off the value and the company selling the gift card has to make a profit as well. So Amazon is selling them to the company at a pretty large discount relative to what they would be paying if they used BitPay to directly accept bitcoin(around 1% I think).
Actually, while most companies do take off a certain percent, Gyft doesn't. In fact, you get bonus points which you can redeem for even more gift cards.

Well I mean that Amazon is selling the cards to Gyft for a good chunk less than face value so that Gyft has some room to make a profit. And yeah Gyft gives back a lot, which makes me wonder what their profit margins are like.
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1007
July 04, 2014, 06:47:45 PM
#11
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
Why would they have an incentive to accept bitcoin over their own branded gift card? I would argue the opposite. Once a gift card is paid for Amazon will have zero incremental costs in accepting the gift card as payment. They know 100% that the money is there.

Because when you buy a gift card through Gyft or another company you're getting few percent off the value and the company selling the gift card has to make a profit as well. So Amazon is selling them to the company at a pretty large discount relative to what they would be paying if they used BitPay to directly accept bitcoin(around 1% I think).
Actually, while most companies do take off a certain percent, Gyft doesn't. In fact, you get bonus points which you can redeem for even more gift cards.
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
July 04, 2014, 05:49:30 PM
#10
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
Why would they have an incentive to accept bitcoin over their own branded gift card? I would argue the opposite. Once a gift card is paid for Amazon will have zero incremental costs in accepting the gift card as payment. They know 100% that the money is there.

Because when you buy a gift card through Gyft or another company you're getting few percent off the value and the company selling the gift card has to make a profit as well. So Amazon is selling them to the company at a pretty large discount relative to what they would be paying if they used BitPay to directly accept bitcoin(around 1% I think).
Amazon may offer discounts to people who buy gift cards in bulk to reduce costs like shipping the gift card. But once the gift card is sold all of the costs associated with the gift card has been incurred.

Gift cards also give customers to spend more money on purchases. A customer will not want to leave the gift card with a small amount on it, so if they wish to make a $95 purchase with a $100 gift card they will likely purchase something in addition to what they were going to spend so they can use all of the value on the gift card.
legendary
Activity: 826
Merit: 1002
amarha
July 04, 2014, 01:01:33 PM
#9
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
Why would they have an incentive to accept bitcoin over their own branded gift card? I would argue the opposite. Once a gift card is paid for Amazon will have zero incremental costs in accepting the gift card as payment. They know 100% that the money is there.

Because when you buy a gift card through Gyft or another company you're getting few percent off the value and the company selling the gift card has to make a profit as well. So Amazon is selling them to the company at a pretty large discount relative to what they would be paying if they used BitPay to directly accept bitcoin(around 1% I think).
sr. member
Activity: 266
Merit: 250
July 04, 2014, 11:10:28 AM
#8
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
Why would they have an incentive to accept bitcoin over their own branded gift card? I would argue the opposite. Once a gift card is paid for Amazon will have zero incremental costs in accepting the gift card as payment. They know 100% that the money is there.
legendary
Activity: 826
Merit: 1002
amarha
July 04, 2014, 11:01:52 AM
#7
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Well, Amazon for example still has incentive to accept bitcoin over giftcards. They get a much higher total amount of profit from a theoretical direct bitcoin purchase over a gift card or credit card purchase.
legendary
Activity: 1232
Merit: 1195
July 04, 2014, 06:25:37 AM
#6
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?

Not at all. If there's a market for people to spend bitcoin with Amazon then they will surely accept it at some point as they'll be missing out on cut of the profits. Accepting bitcoin is a double plus for businesses as you already save money compared to credit and debit card fees but also benefit greatly from the free advertising you get from accepting bitcoin,.
full member
Activity: 378
Merit: 100
July 04, 2014, 03:47:38 AM
#5
yea or maybe the recipient could have a wishlist or something
full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
July 04, 2014, 03:16:37 AM
#4
do you say gyft???
Search gift card in google. I think it is correct, but english is not my first language, so I make some mistakes.
global moderator
Activity: 3990
Merit: 2717
Join the world-leading crypto sportsbook NOW!
July 04, 2014, 02:35:58 AM
#3
No, I think they're good. If companies can see that there's an interest in them and people actually want to spend their bitcoins then they can implement accepting bitcoin and take advantage of it directly. I would prefer it if companies accepted btc directly but this is the next best thing and is hopefully only a stopgap or placeholder until the company actually takes the plunge themselves. Keep spending your coins on the cards and I'm sure companies will take note eventually.
hero member
Activity: 490
Merit: 500
July 04, 2014, 02:32:02 AM
#2
do you say gyft???
full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
July 04, 2014, 02:16:24 AM
#1
Are theese cards good or bad for bitcoin? Are business like amazon avoiding accep bitcoin with this cards?
A lot of people change their bitcoins for gift cards when they need buy something. They can do it, but are they hurting bitcoin or helping it?
Jump to: