Topic: How to buy anything in India with cryptocurrency? (Read 357 times)

@avikz do remember gift vouchers do attract tax. If you have passed their KYC on eCommerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart then after 50k worth of purchase in a year you might be asked for the source. By source I meant the source from where you are getting the gift vouchers. For Amazon pay you will have to go through KYC. I am not certain how Flipkart works. I know Big Basket doesn't ask it's consumer's for KYC. Still, your phone number & address are shared by you with them. It is wise to pay your taxes at the moment rather getting entangled in cases.

You can check coinsbee.com. There u find better prices for Amazon INR.

I don't think it's profitable any more. Especially if you consider the BTC-INR cross rate of India right now. For example, I just saw a 10000₹ gift card on the website is around 0.00531671. If I translate this amount of BTC to INR using WazirX it translates to around 12500₹, the tax saving is 30% but it's on the net gain only which will mean the net amount post tax will be higher than what I am getting on this website.

We are working on a more mobilefriendly version. Release should be soon.  Stay tuned!

App is a must now days. Although your website is compatible on the mobile phone but on some browser it might not display properly.

Ok thx for the hint. We will work on a hindi version for coinsbee.
Also the App Version will follow in the next months.

Hey! Thanks for the reply. I would certainly go through your Twitter handle and yes if there is anything concerning post sale I would contact the support. Yes, Hindi version would be an added advantage. Not everyone in our country is good with English.

Here is our telegram channel: https://t.me/coinsbee

we have much more interaction on twitter: https://twitter.com/coinsbee

you can find a lot of reviews in the internet about us.

If you have any question feel free to contact our support-team at any time. They will assist you.
https://help.coinsbee.com/en/support/home

Do you think a Hindi-Version of Coinsbee make sence?

Yeah! In order to boost the confidence of a first time buyer you should create a telegram channel for Indians consumers. Bitrefill has a channel, not that active yet, it helps as a consumer can ask questions related to after sale issue. I hope you get my point.

Good to hear from another platform similar to Bitrefill. I did visit your website and saw a lot of vouchers for the Indian market being sold. I guess you guys do not have any apps at the moment as I did not find any links on the website.


As a first time buyer I do some checks before using a platform. One of those check is to visit the telegram  channel of that platform. Do you have any telegram channel where users of your platform can interact. I found only an ANN telegram channel. 

We added for India a lot of new products. Also Amazon and a lot of others. 

There can be other users who might not be interested in providing an email address. I know you can create a temp email address or create a new one specifically for this purpose most do not do that. Still, they will give a regular email address and later crib about it.

How's that issue to use email?


I'm willing to pay fees as long as I get good service. Bitrefill does exactly that. Little I read about etsy, and I don't see how's is it equivalent to bitrefill?

its not but they do provide indian gift cards and mobile recharges.

i used them a long time ago to recharge my phone.

but i stopped because their commission was too high and i didn't think it was profitable.

now.. things are bit different though with the tax and all that.

they could be profitable comparatively.

for me i am uncomfortable to pay fees they charge,
and there are lot of others platforms available to exchange crypto like bitrefill

you can use etsy there are many many many many items listed for selling and you can also sell you stuffs there like digital products or physical
and check this article for more : https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/business/major-companies-that-accept-bitcoin/

Just wanted to add to this thread that today I made a purchase for a small amount to check the platform and everything went smoothly. I would like to recommend them if anyone here wants gift cards from various Indian e-commerce platforms.

Apart from Bitcoin they also support other cryptos like Ethereum. Litecoin, Dogecoin and multiple USDT blockchains.

I have been using Bitrefill for a while now, from buying phone topups, to uber gift cards to grocery store gift cards. Their service is unparalleled and delivery is quick and smooth, easy to follow up. Just make sure you read and understand the terms of using the gift cards before you buy.

I know gift cards are not a clean alternative to directly spending crypto on the merchant (something we would all love to have), but it is a workaround for now.

They even have a telegram group for Indian users here - https://t.me/bitrefill_India

Thanks for pointing out the typo mistake. I have now updated the topic.


Okay, I was also not sure about this service. I do not think they will be able to get the platform up and running if they are based in India.

this is company bitrefill based in INDIA?

i see they seem to be offering services in other countries also.

Consider correcting the typo in OP.

Virtual cards can not be used in ATM. But, you may use Credit Cards in ATM and pay the bill with virtual cards. I have never used these cards though.

I have. CoinsBee is real. They have lately stopped Tor access though. BitRefill still does allow it.

Just a quick question! Have you used their services? Are they real?

I can vouch for Bitrefil because I have personally used their services and found no reason to complain. I have received the services and my bitcoins were not wasted.

Please advise if you have used Coinsbee services or not.

I am surprised to see such a company exist. I think these are online cards and do have not practical usage as you cannot withdraw funds from an ATM. It is better to use gift coupons rather than using unreliable online prepaid cards. It seems all three links shared by @Rotten Egg do not work  .

Thanks for your contribution to this thread


LOL! It always happens, you sell Bitcoin and the next day you would see the pump. Nothing new for anyone of us who are active. Just chill and the next time twice before selling your Bitcoin. 

There were few...

1. https://www.coinsbee.com/en/My%2BPrepaid%2BCenter%2BMastercard-bitcoin - Out of Stock

2. https://www.coinsbee.com/en/My%2BPrepaid%2BCenter%2BVISA-bitcoin - Out of Stock

3. https://www.coindebit.io/ - Temporarily down

Mostly you will find gift cards from Amazon or Flipkart and some other renowned brands. These are very handy if you are planning to purchase certain things that are available on those websites. You can do mobile recharge as well. Go ahead and recharge for the entire year.

Now I feel stupid for doing this day before yesterday when the bitcoin price was around 20k. Today the price has gone up and I could have spent less amount of bitcoin.

I had no idea that you can find gift coupon for everything on Betrifill. I saw they are even selling coupons for Hindustan Petroleum. I am not sure whether you can use them to purchase petrol or disel or gas. At the moment it is out of stock.

The only thing now left is to find a prepaid debit card that can be refilled using crypto and can be used in India.

As of now, Bitrefil seems the most sane ways to make use of our cryptos. I have completely stopped converting my cryptos to cash since that 30% tax was imposed. So as of now, I can't think of any negative point for Bitrefil. It's saving us from huge burdens.

The commission is quite less and the price is quite ok. Especially when considering the taxes, I don't mind paying that extra amount because it's te most economical way of spending your cryptos right now in India.

I was recently browsing on another forum and found a topic wherein a user was asking on how to make a purchase online in India using crypto. I was unaware you can do something like this with your own cryptocurrency. I was only aware of a project, that allows any user to earn Bitcoin using their list on their platform to make a purchase with INR.

Real Scenario

Just think about it, Why on earth would I use such a platform when I know it is just based on affiliate commission and it cannot be questioned as they have a certain period to release Bitcoin gained through your purchase? Rather than using such a platform, I would always prefer an alternative to use my crypto, especially my Bitcoin.

Practicality

When I heard that this platform Bitrefill provides an option to buy gift cards using their platform for major e-commerce sites in India. I went ahead and checked it and was gratified. To my surprise, they had gift coupons from every company that you ever dreamt of. I did scroll almost every company listed on the platform and I found out that they are selling coupons for petrol to diamonds.

Commision

I understood that Betrifill is charging 1 percent per purchase and I think it is far less than what our government is charging as tax, GST & so on.

Problem

Let me put it in a list.

1. The biggest issue is that Betrifill allows access to its platform using Metamask wallet or getting registered using email.
2. You can buy coupons in whole numbers as in INR 100, 1000, & 2000 but when the bill is displayed it will always be an in odd number format.
3. Sometimes the cost price would be more when you are using a coupon.
4. There might be a major difference on the INR price when you compare it with an exchange.


If you think there are more pros & not cons then do share.