A couple of questions...
1. What happens if the user clicks out of the payment window after sending the coinage, but before receiving confirmation? Does my website still eventually get confirmation of the payment through the URL handler?
2. Is there any way to have user-enterable text be included in the callback post of an offer? The only reference for the button that I can see is an offer ID, and that obviously wouldn't allow a user to enter text. Is there something I am missing, or is this something that could be implemented in the future?
Topic: BitWillet: To help merchants accept Bitcoin (Read 4794 times)
Another try. This time I had some problem with the transaction, but it eventually went through. After that, the page gave me pop-up saying "GOING", and after I clicked "OK", nothing happened. I still see the message
Quote
Waiting for confirmations.
This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
and the spinning thingy. 5 minutes passed long ago, of course. This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
In something like BiddingPond, that system could make sense, given that it allows for an automated intermediary to escrow the auction, and I'm sure the people over in gambling would go for it. Currency exchanges could theoretically integrate it, although they probably use RPC.
Ah, right — so it would be more of an RPC interface to the bitcoind than a client-facing site. Yes, I've considered this, and it's a good idea… And if there were 32 hours in the day, I'd be all over implementing it.
In something like BiddingPond, that system could make sense, given that it allows for an automated intermediary to escrow the auction, and I'm sure the people over in gambling would go for it. Currency exchanges could theoretically integrate it, although they probably use RPC.
Feature request here: Would it be possible to allow merchants to keep a balance on BitWillit, similar to MyBitcoin? That'd make you a very viable competitor.
At the moment, if I wanted to use BitWillit over the RPC or MyBitcoin APIs, I'd have to implement a secondary system for the sending of bitcoins.
At the moment, if I wanted to use BitWillit over the RPC or MyBitcoin APIs, I'd have to implement a secondary system for the sending of bitcoins.
You mean, so that your site can automatically send Bitcoins as well as receive them? Can you give me an example of how you would use that?
Demo didn't work for me. I sent bitcoins and got nothing in return. The site says:
Quote
Waiting for confirmations.
This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
I think, more than 30 minutes passed already, and the transaction now has 10 confirmations, and I still see that message and spinning thingy. That would earn customer dissatisfaction. This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
Ya, one of the difficulties is that smaller transactions can take quite a while to propagate throughout the network, so it can take a while. Apart from showing the number of confirmations in the “waiting” dialog, and possibly including a link to the BlockExplorer record for the transaction, I'm not sure what can be done to improve that =\
Feature request here: Would it be possible to allow merchants to keep a balance on BitWillit, similar to MyBitcoin? That'd make you a very viable competitor.
At the moment, if I wanted to use BitWillit over the RPC or MyBitcoin APIs, I'd have to implement a secondary system for the sending of bitcoins.
At the moment, if I wanted to use BitWillit over the RPC or MyBitcoin APIs, I'd have to implement a secondary system for the sending of bitcoins.
Demo didn't work for me. I sent bitcoins and got nothing in return. The site says:
Quote
Waiting for confirmations.
This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
I think, more than 30 minutes passed already, and the transaction now has 10 confirmations, and I still see that message and spinning thingy. That would earn customer dissatisfaction. This may take up to 5 minutes.
Please do not close this dialog.
interesting. I should look into this.
Personally, I feel that only the top 10% of merchants should have fees attached to them, and even with that, make them 1.5%.
That's a good idea. I'll definitely consider it once we start charging.
Personally, I feel that only the top 10% of merchants should have fees attached to them, and even with that, make them 1.5%.
It's not that I don't feel like developers should be rewarded for their efforts. I'm just saying that monetizing it in this particular way removes a lot of the incentive for merchants to make the jump to accepting bitcoins.
Do you have an idea for a better method? Or are you advocating being free/pay-what-you-want for now, then switching to fees later?
However, bitcoin does have other advantages, so maybe I'm overvaluing the fees thing.
My personal feeling is that the bigger problem with other online payment systems (eg, PayPal) is the amount of trust (eg, that they won't freeze your account) and work (red tape, integration, etc) they require… And Bitcoin certainly solves both those problems. Also, I guess just don't think small fees are a practical issue for purveyors of digital goods, as their marginal cost is close to zero.
(I'm one of the BitWillet developers, by the way — just got my account un-noob'd)
A more expensive service that took on bitcoin risk might be worthwhile. For example, say the service receives the bitcoin + a 5% fee, and then sends
the merchant Dwolla at the current Mt. Gox rate. If you consider both chargeback risk and VISA/MC fees, this might be a good option for some merchants
the merchant Dwolla at the current Mt. Gox rate. If you consider both chargeback risk and VISA/MC fees, this might be a good option for some merchants
I completely agree with your sentiment - but reality unfortunately isn't quite as simple. Anything Bitcoin related is a high value target for hacking, especially lately. As some one considering selling goods in exchange for Bitcoins, this is probably the factor that makes me most uneasy even beyond the volatility issues. Having a well secured transaction hub run by professionals that know how to keep it secure in my opinion is worth some small fees. I know enough about technology to know that there will always be some one that knows enough to break my system. A small group of dedicated (read paid) experts in my opinion is the only way to do provide any reasonable assurance at this juncture. Short of manually processing each transaction, I wouldn't want to sell anything of higher value using an automated Bitcoin payment system otherwise.
It's not that I don't feel like developers should be rewarded for their efforts. I'm just saying that monetizing it in this particular way removes a lot of the incentive for merchants to make the jump to accepting bitcoins. Yes, once Bitcoin becomes established, merchants might want to make the jump because a large portion of the population might have bitcoins to spend. But right now, if I'm a merchant weighing bitcoin without the advantage of 0% fees, I think I'm less likely to make a move.
However, bitcoin does have other advantages, so maybe I'm overvaluing the fees thing.
However, bitcoin does have other advantages, so maybe I'm overvaluing the fees thing.
I don't see a problem with a fee if it is a centralized service. They reduce the work time and liability for the merchants which are already taking considerable risk accepting Bitcoins because of volatility. If you don't like the fees I suggest you program your own free open source version 
My friend hasn't got out of n00b status on the forum yet 
He said to post this:
He said to post this:Quote
the fee is there to cover our expenses, and hopefully turn a small profit. Unlike Visa/MasterCard/etc, there is nothing forcing merchants to choose us — they are free to host their own Bitcoin daemon and monitor its transactions. But if they don't want to do that (because they aren't technically savvy, they want to get a proof-of-concept out quickly, etc), they have the option of using our service… And once they have used our service, there is nothing at all forcing them to stay with us.
Fees..... so tedious.
On the other hard, Paypal makes a living out of it.
On the other hard, Paypal makes a living out of it.
yeah what does visa charge? around 3% right? defeats a lot of the purpose
One problem is that if you charge 3% (at some point in the future, like your site says), that reduces the advantage of using bitcoin in a major way.
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