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Topic: How do merchant services make a profit? (Read 1222 times)

member
Activity: 63
Merit: 10
August 29, 2014, 01:03:02 PM
#12
Simply,they make profit while they sell the product/service to costumers.And they use services like bitcoin to accept payment to provide the ease of access to their costumers which cuts off payment processor fees to both parties
sr. member
Activity: 406
Merit: 250
August 29, 2014, 09:59:03 AM
#11
I'm pretty sure by charging fee's that is how they make a profit. The amount of merchants that are not accepting bitcoin is a lot to be honest so they must have found a solid way to be able to make a profit otherwise they would not have started accepting in the first place. I personally feel that what matters is they are now accepting it and have found a way to make a profit which means things can only get better.
sr. member
Activity: 366
Merit: 250
August 28, 2014, 08:51:27 AM
#10
I wouldn't worry too much about how payment processors make their money. I'm sure they've figured out a way to provide the service whilst turning a profit. If they haven't they wouldn't be a very good business or wont operate like that for long.
full member
Activity: 210
Merit: 100
★YoBit.Net★ 350+ Coins Exchange & Dice
August 28, 2014, 08:40:55 AM
#9
Basically, i think they charge cheaper to gain traffic and more income.Then later they monitor the trends to sell when the price is high.
hero member
Activity: 543
Merit: 500
August 17, 2014, 12:26:59 PM
#8
Indeed, they earn mainly from the bid-ask spread, exactly as jonald_fyookball described.
Unless you are having a very huge business, you essentially don't need to pay any additional fees.

https://coinbase.com/merchants
Quote
No fees for the first $1,000,000 of bitcoin payments, after that just 1% to instantly convert bitcoin to cash.

https://bitpay.com/pricing
Quote
Free Plan
$0 Forever
Unlimited processing volume
member
Activity: 70
Merit: 10
August 17, 2014, 12:22:50 AM
#7
They can charge fees, also transaction time is faster.
hero member
Activity: 602
Merit: 500
August 16, 2014, 08:41:44 PM
#6
Some simply charge cheaper to gain traffic and more income and rely on the price of Bitcoin to increase and cash out and make a profit that way a good business would probably do this for 60% of their funds.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
August 16, 2014, 07:49:24 PM
#5
Nice answer. Thanks Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1008
Core dev leaves me neg feedback #abuse #political
August 16, 2014, 07:14:18 PM
#4
they can charge fees, and there is also a spread which they benefit from as market maker.

The merchant must cover those costs? Does the customer also cover them?

The question is: Do the banks end up with the same profits from all this?

say the current buy price is =$521 and sell price is $520 on coinbase.
if you're a merchant and you sell an item for 1 Btc , and use coinbase merchant
service, you would get $520 in your bank account.  coinbase then sells your 1 btc
for $521 to someone else and profits for $1.  so in effect you as a merchant are covering the cost of the spread.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
August 16, 2014, 07:09:03 PM
#3
they can charge fees, and there is also a spread which they benefit from as market maker.

The merchant must cover those costs? Does the customer also cover them?

The question is: Do the banks end up with the same profits from all this?
legendary
Activity: 1302
Merit: 1008
Core dev leaves me neg feedback #abuse #political
August 16, 2014, 07:05:20 PM
#2
they can charge fees, and there is also a spread which they benefit from as market maker.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
August 16, 2014, 07:02:11 PM
#1
Ok noobish question ....

Services like Bitpay and Coinbase need to use banks to exchange fiat for bitcoins. So the merchants can save money by using Bitcoin, but then the services need to transact with customers using those exact banks that the merchants avoided. So it seems like the burden is just shifted one place.

Can anyone explain please Smiley ?
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