I like how enthusiastic you are about bitcoin. Unfortunately, this all seem complicated, if not risky to me. Let's forget about the possible legal issues for now. How are you going to get them to understand it? It's not a good and people would be skeptical in receiving this digital stuff. I doubt even handing out paper wallets would be enough. They'll probably just scratch their heads wondering how it could be money. Also if you're going to sell them bitcoins for the current value in fiat they could just say "why bother converting my money for a paper token?". Point is you'd be taking a lot of time explaining per customer. That's not a good business model. You want them in and our as quickly as possible, with their money in your hand if possible.
If you open up a shop the people who are interested in buying the coin can approach and you can educate them if they show any interest and you do not need to be skeptical about that.It is quite possible and bitcoin is a major news everywhere and most of the people are aware and heard about bitcoin ,they might not be using it but they could have heard about it,at least the younger generation could understand what it is. 
Topic: Has Anyone Ever Tried Selling Bitcoin on a Market Stall? (Read 1041 times)
I like how enthusiastic you are about bitcoin. Unfortunately, this all seem complicated, if not risky to me. Let's forget about the possible legal issues for now. How are you going to get them to understand it? It's not a good and people would be skeptical in receiving this digital stuff. I doubt even handing out paper wallets would be enough. They'll probably just scratch their heads wondering how it could be money. Also if you're going to sell them bitcoins for the current value in fiat they could just say "why bother converting my money for a paper token?". Point is you'd be taking a lot of time explaining per customer. That's not a good business model. You want them in and our as quickly as possible, with their money in your hand if possible.
I just wondered if anyone here had set up at a market and tried to sell Bitcoin to the public/tourists?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that t walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that t walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
I don't like the idea that you are planning with, why don't you try to make something which explain what is bitcoin to them. Well, I guess if you do that people might get be happy once you do it.
I just wondered if anyone here had set up at a market and tried to sell Bitcoin to the public/tourists?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
i am not yet trying to do like what OP asked because i think it is not enough information for public/tourist about bitcoin and also there is many problem that i could face like, i should explain first what my purpose is, maybe i should explain the basic of bitcoin. i think ordinary people is too scared for new thing that they don't have much of informations so i think we need a time before we can sell bitcoin into public/tourists but i am sure we can see that in future. but if you are in london, maybe in your city, you can trying to sell your bitcoin into public because i think london is a big city with many people that will accept new thing especially in technology aspect so maybe you can start your own market.
I just wondered if anyone here had set up at a market and tried to sell Bitcoin to the public/tourists?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
If you want to promote and make suer people adopt BTC, you need to give away 2-5$'s of BTC to a few people of keep an open market contest where they can win real money which would be paid out in BTC. These could be a good way of letting people know about BTC. I dont think in an open market, just selling BTC would work very well. People might notice it but they will just go past it and it wont be eye catching enough. I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
Interesting idea.
I think it might work if bitcoins were sold at a 1:1 ratio (or at a discount) with some effort made to educate people on what btc & crypto is.
But if someone tried to sell btc with a price markup, say 1 btc @ 120% of cost.
I don't know if that would work.
Also there is a chance stall sellers could be raided by police and have their btc/money confiscated.
I think it might work if bitcoins were sold at a 1:1 ratio (or at a discount) with some effort made to educate people on what btc & crypto is.
But if someone tried to sell btc with a price markup, say 1 btc @ 120% of cost.
I don't know if that would work.
Also there is a chance stall sellers could be raided by police and have their btc/money confiscated.
you'd spend your whole time answering incredibly dumb questions from people who don't understand anything, then you'd get stabbed and robbed by someone who does. it could be a fun experiment until then.
there was a physical store in london that sold bitcoin for a while. it seemed to be a short lived thing.
there was a physical store in london that sold bitcoin for a while. it seemed to be a short lived thing.
Is that the Azteco shop? Is it closed now then?
I had a friend who opened and ran a shop selling "Top Trumps" type card when we'd just left school, I think they might have been Pokemon cards or something like that. He made quite a bit of money (for a 16 year old) for a while.
I would view a 'Bitcoin market stall' as something akin to this - Something of a novelty, collectable, a gift. Obviously not for real investors but for the person who has seen Bitcoin in the news and feels like they can spare a Tenner or so 'just for fun'.
I thought the best way to implement is to create varying size of fancy looking paper wallets of small denominations (with fairly high mark-up so price fluctuations don't affect the value of the paper wallet too much).
Of course aftercare for the customer would be a major part of it if they are asking further questions but then of course then maybe they will become return customers?
People like physical, people like tangible and people are more likely to buy something that is right in front of their face on a Saturday morning rather than a bank-transfer and 3 days wait away.
I would view a 'Bitcoin market stall' as something akin to this - Something of a novelty, collectable, a gift. Obviously not for real investors but for the person who has seen Bitcoin in the news and feels like they can spare a Tenner or so 'just for fun'.
I thought the best way to implement is to create varying size of fancy looking paper wallets of small denominations (with fairly high mark-up so price fluctuations don't affect the value of the paper wallet too much).
Of course aftercare for the customer would be a major part of it if they are asking further questions but then of course then maybe they will become return customers?
People like physical, people like tangible and people are more likely to buy something that is right in front of their face on a Saturday morning rather than a bank-transfer and 3 days wait away.
I haven't tried to sell bitcoin in a market stall. It is not that common to be sold in a market stall. In future, situations might prevail to give us such an opportunity to sell bitcoin.
I doubt its a trend that would grow tbh. Bitcoin is a digital product its most likely people access it online with ease from their banks/paypal whatever.
I hadn't try something like that. I live in a small town where people heard about bitcoin only from my words and don't get the idea of bitcoin completely. I think I would just look wired selling bitcoin to people/tourists directly.
Any legal issues aside, I think the biggest problem selling to the uneducated masses in this way is that they are going to require a lot of support to understand what they should do with a paper wallet. And I don't think bitcoin is ready for these people yet.
Yeah right? It would take a lot of explanation for you to persuade them to buy your bitcoin, and the worst thing that could happen in the end is that, they will not buy after you have introduced it to them, because their excuses are they would still prefer Fiat because bitcoin seems complicated for them, that is why, it is not a good idea right now, especially if you are going to sell it in a Market Stall.
This sounds crazy, it won't sell so just abandon the idea. Just attempting to sell something intangible on the stalls of a store? wow! Then you must as well attempt to sell electricity on those stalls.
If you want to sell bitcoin on a stall because you are an enthusiast and this will be your way to promote cryptocurrency then it is perfectly fine.
But if you want to profit from this activity you need to test the waters first, and don't expect to raise substantial revenues. At least you don't need much money to 'build' a street stand.
The problem is that this might be potentially illegal, as you will be dealing with 'foreign' form of currency as working as unregistered currency exchange.
But if you want to profit from this activity you need to test the waters first, and don't expect to raise substantial revenues. At least you don't need much money to 'build' a street stand.
The problem is that this might be potentially illegal, as you will be dealing with 'foreign' form of currency as working as unregistered currency exchange.
you'd spend your whole time answering incredibly dumb questions from people who don't understand anything, then you'd get stabbed and robbed by someone who does. it could be a fun experiment until then.
there was a physical store in london that sold bitcoin for a while. it seemed to be a short lived thing.
there was a physical store in london that sold bitcoin for a while. it seemed to be a short lived thing.
No, this seems like an oversimplification. If they don't understand how transactions or addresses or anything with Bitcoin actually work, they shouldn't bother owning it because it's not going anywhere for them. It would probably be a lot of hassle for all parties involved because Bitcoin isn't cut out for being implemented into real life. I didn't realise it existed until I found it online.
The thing is even if you do this it highly unlikely there would be a bitcoin user among the tourists and that too who wants to buy BTC for you. Also If i was visiting London and i see someone selling BTC like this, I probably would care thinking someone is trying to scam as we all know BTC community is full of scammers.
Yes. Plus if someone is selling a paper wallet, can't they simply keep a copy and have access to the private key?
the idea of doing something like this with paper wallets is to spread the word about bitcoin not make people a wallet (private key on a paper) they can dump their money in!
and you do keep the private keys but explain how things are in the back size of the paper.
for example you put a couple of bucks in that paper wallet and on the back you explain how they can sweep the key and spend the coins using a bitcoin wallet, give links to bitcoin.org and the /choose-your-wallet page so they can download something like Electrum or others for their cell phone and spend those coins.
and for example if they didn't spend them in a month you use the private keys to spend it yourself.
I just wondered if anyone here had set up at a market and tried to sell Bitcoin to the public/tourists?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
I think it's be a bit of advertising for Bitcoin for people that walk past and people may buy as novelty gift etc. (if done as fancy paper wallet).
I'm considering trying this in London, what do you guys think?
Before doing this, better to do a survey if people knows about bitcoin, if they are interested if someone would sell it to them, stuffs like that, because selling it to a Market Stall might just get you in to nowhere, or ended up disappointed because no one bought even a 0.00001 bitcoin to you, because they prefer fiat more than bitcoin, since it is new to them. Also, selling it to the Market Stall is a lot of money, I mean you need to pay a fee every month on your place where your stall at in the mall because that is how it works.
But, let's say that you have already done a survey and it went successful, then take the opportunity to do it, because there is no victory without risking anything at all, but don't put all the eggs on one basket.
I don't think anyone has ever actually implemented that idea yet, but I have a feeling a fair amount of people have thought of doing something like that and seeing whether or not it would work in the way they want it to.
I don't know how effective the entire system would actually be and if you'd realistically make any money off of it considering the time investments, but it might be interesting to do once to see how it works.
I don't know how effective the entire system would actually be and if you'd realistically make any money off of it considering the time investments, but it might be interesting to do once to see how it works.
This even if practical will be very difficult to achieve because just like other commodities Bitcoin is a virtually commodity which cannot be placed on physical stalls to display like gold so there's the need for s lot if explanation and verification of the paper wallet.
Market stall? Good idea. Its a good chance also to introduce bitcoin to people. But you need to be on full time. And thats seems not practical to me. We have localbitcoins.com that can provide us customers. Or we can sell it online. You dont need to be on full time to sell bitcoin. Its saves us time.
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