Topic: I Opened another business were I accept Bitcoin (Read 1104 times)

What ever business kind I think keep forward and always adapted what the new technology depending we are in modern era, I think your business accepted bitcoin is should did because right now become the era of digital currency where all payment transaction easy to do if using bitcoin or altcoin. How to build business nowadays need to see our costumer development, were most of them have used bitcoin as the way for investing and have chance open your business by accepting bitcoin as payment currency.

However you made costumer easy when joining with your business because have several kinds way for payment currency used, with option accepted bitcoin in your business I think have added several new costumer later.

I will always support a person who ventures to accept Bitcoin and more in a prohibited country, I have read about the culture of Nigeria and it has many good things and its people are very friendly and cheerful, surely a government that prohibited them should not stay with that, I like that they can do and be irreverent, bitcoin was made for everyone, and in a business everything is valid, besides Bitcoin represents money, another thing is that they want to limit the lives of some people in particular better, always in this economy there are freedoms that a traditional system does not offer, Nigeria and its people know that a way out is bitcoin, very good for those businesses that accept btc.

That is a part of business strategies. We have to listen to the needs of the people around us and make several options where it was more convenient for them like using Bitcoin. I really see success in business like this especially if the people already know about Bitcoin and of course, it was supported by the government and legal.

It was just for now that only a few businessmen offered this and have the courage to duel the market volatility but I see this will grow and more establishments will cater to this option in the near future.

At the moment, I am not a business owner but however, I would 100% accept Bitcoin as payment. I would prefer it over credit cards and offer my customers incentives for them to buy my product or service using Bitcoin.

The good thing that comes from accepting Bitcoin is the lower transaction fees which mean more money into your pocket. That will help your business make more profit and increase your investment for the long-term.

From my analysis of the potential of having a Bitcoin in this kind of business, I have discovered that even though Bitcoin may not be widely accepted in that region but serve as an alternative to those who believe and know about Bitcoin and if all thing being equal with what ops have stated in his post, I think he stands to make huge profits from the fees he charges on Bitcoin transactions since he charges higher fees for Bitcoin pos withdrawal even though the transaction is done traditionally without using a blockchain payment system and sender bears the sending fee on the blockchain. The only setback for this kind of business is patronage, if there is high customers demand for bitcoin he will make huge profits but if the turn-up is low it can be discouraging for ops.

In that case, making a business certainly will never grow but if it fails, he'd rather accept fiat instead.
Running a business should be planned so well, likely accepting Bitcoin in a place where it was illegal and no users, you can really imagine who gonna buy you stuff with Bitcoin - of course, nothing.

I think OP must-have reviewed the place where he runs a business accepting Bitcoin. If that is only an option while still accepting fiat, that is still fine.

It's good having a business in a region where the economy isn't working. Your doing yourself and the people a favour. Unfortunately, bitcoin might not be an acceptable currency in the region and having you to accept them, I hope it won't bring you some admiration from government officials.

It is a huge step to be accepting bitcoin directly as, its got issues with confirmation time and fees not to mention the rates and you too still get to charge for the transaction. That seems so much to bear in just a single withdrawal and not a purchase.
Although, it is an offering of a needed service right.

You just use card in your dealings.

There is no business now that you can establish and they ask or demand for payment with Bitcoin that people will not be willing to pay with Bitcoin bitcoin is trading currency and it is a currency that is generalize or accepted in any country despite that many control have not accept it legacy in most of the top country but indirectly they are using Bitcoin for business and other transaction payment

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It is a new thing because some people business but not demand for bitcoin payment. And when you ask for payment with Bitcoin so many of them will not pay with bitcoin because they are against Bitcoin even some foreign countries have never legalize bitcoin or accept Bitcoin the way African countries do accept Bitcoin when you check for the calendar of the most continent that accept Bitcoin it is Africa

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

It was sounds good,surely an appreciation from most of the people in this forum.Because we are here in forum from long and unable to start the business using the bitcoin as the payment.But I suggest you to sell the getting bitcoin on the same day.If you don’t demand on that bitcoin,you can hold it for the long period as long as possible one.Because the price of bitcoin will increase to the maximum with the long period of time.

@Poker Player what you have said is the truth, the pos thing accepting Bitcoin is a new thing to me as I have not seen any pos agents that have a Bitcoin logo such as what ops posted on his thread, even though the majority of the population in my location make use of pos for urgent money transaction. Not everyone have knowledge of Bitcoin and can accept it, most people are just ignorant and would only accept the local currency. But ops is accepting Bitcoin even though the transaction time is too long and fees are high I believe if some changes are done in that direction he should be able to sustain the business and become first among pos agents that accept Bitcoin.

I agree with you, that it can happen because it requires a trusted person, for example from relatives to help process the delivery or the transaction process, because if you hire someone you must definitely test the honesty of that person, so that your funds are not misused or manipulated by unscrupulous persons. irresponsible..

Good decision, but you have to be very careful the type of people you employed in your POS business, because it's very easy for your employees to empty your bank account, if you don't dedicate more time with them in the business. Try to avoid night transaction, because that is the hours many bad guys that have ideas on digital currency use to carry out their fake transaction that will run your business down or use their weapon or tools to withdraw everything from your wallet or bank account. I think, you will definitely achieve something good from this business because many people that are into this type of business are doing well in the community.

It's not just an old act, it's not a big deal either. But we, bitcoiners, always say we want bitcoin to be widely used, want to be paid in bitcoin every day, want bitcoin to be the world currency. But how many people have done anything to make bitcoin more popular?, very few I believe, so OP's action is really commendable and motivating for us to continue to make bitcoin more popular more popular. today we are not alone anymore, bitcoin is popping up everywhere. Just join hands, each person contributes a small part, bitcoin will soon be known and used by everyone in the world.

It's not a new thing, but what the OP has done has merit because he is contributing as much as he can to the adoption of Bitcoin on a small scale, in his environment. Just because it's not new to the forum doesn't mean it's not good. What I do see is that this happens mainly in less developed countries, mainly African. Well, welcome it.

It was not really technical so I think it was easy to find workers who can manage such a thing and I know that OP had also prepared for that scenario before running his business as a part of the team. Of course, the operation has been planned already so I really think about the success of this business and also, this surely bought profit to them.
It was not that the crypto business is quietly growing this time since more and more people had already about this and much more gaining interest from the community.

Sending each blockchain network actually get delay with bitcoin about 30 minutes until several hours later depending how busy with blockchain confirmation, I have little ideas for OP maybe could adopt and use all exchange market global with his costumer could sending trough lightening network or sending by ID of exchange market account. All costumer not happy with delay transaction exactly what problem faced by OP because need to clear confirmation waiting until 35 minutes later for delay. By adapting send bitcoin assets trough exchange market become faster and instant without few second transaction have been arrived on the destination wallet sender.

Not have reason how to manipulated with blockchain transaction exactly when sending bitcoin, OP can see with transaction history and open blockchain to know how many confirmation need before transaction success.

The second I stated reading the OP, I was convinced OP was Nigerian. Nigeria is an over populated country, comprising mostly of the Middle class with its citizen looking out for means to earn scares ends and feed there families. The POS business has become one of the least business one could take up with at least $200 and hope for some profit to meet up some of there daily needs. Hence, its a highly competition one and you've got to offer more to keep up with the competitionand patronage.

I agree with most of what you've stated with time and all that but let's not forget, as much as most persons wishes to meet up with time by using this service, some crypto investors aren't inclined enough or maybe just scared to work the exchanges and cash out naira to there local banks. Hence, they sort such services in individuals and hopes for a better rate too. Have encountered a few and helped out when I could.

I am impressed getting to know that some POS now accepts Bitcoin as a means of payment in exchange for fiat note in Nigeria, and as an experienced person who has done many physical BTC/Fiat transaction with people, I will love to advise that there will always be challenges in regards to delay in confirmation of Bitcoin transaction, but it always goes through in worst case scenario, but in a case whereby a customer claims to have sent BTC and not yet reflecting in your wallet, all you have to do is check it on Blockchain.com/BTC explorer using your wallet address, as it will show an overview of all transactions both confirmed and unconfirmed transactions

Yes, If OP conduct that business by him self, then there is no problem. And if op are hiring someone else, he will have to give some basic knowledge like receiving or sending a payment. So that the transaction will not wrong. There is an advantage, the money that is fixed for the product or service can be paid instantly.

No doubt that someone will be curious about the crypto payment you are offering and let's just hope that someone will take it seriously, That person might be a repeat customer just because of the payment method. Once bitcoin is hitting it's all time high again, those people who saw that you are accepting BTC in your business will suddenly remember your business for sure.

I've done the same mistake on spending my bitcoin in the past on such bills and prepaid loads. I regret it and I won't be doing the same mistake again.

Only few might be interested at first but it will sure give their Area an idea that it does exist and that they are capable of accepting BTC as payment. Though in mu country now the adoption when it comes in paying using crypto lesses since many regretted that they use it before to pay for their online shopping and to load their mobile that when the price of BTC pump they didn’t have any holdings. So people I knew before who tends to use crypto to buy load or pay online plans now to accumulate more as investment than to use it in their spending.

If anyone is willing to accept bitcoin as a payment method in their business, their employees should know how about bitcoins. If they do not know about bitcoins and crypto, the company should arrange some basic learning sessions about cryptocurrencies for the employees.

If one company open up for bitcoin payments, its competitors will definitely think of doing the same, thus bitcoin adoption will increase.

The legal status if is banned then its problematic for you because the government will take actions to curb your activities despite your efforts so make wise moves as when you have open business then you are under surveillance by the authorities so keep all things in mind.

But it's really appreciable that you have opened up new business accepting btc giving customers a new opportunity to pay through this medium but are there sufficient customers paying in it ?

His actions are a good thing for bitcoin but unfortunately bitcoin is banned in his country, Nigeria, which has enacted a bitcoin ban since 2021. But interestingly, as far as I know, bitcoin trading in Nigeria has increased 16% in a year through P2P trading despite the previous ban by the government.

With accepting bitcoin so openly, I don't know if it will get him and his business in trouble with the authorities. Hope he is aware of what he is doing, otherwise he will have a bad experience.

The transaction fee of 3 $ will not be high if we trade with a large amount but there will be problems when they convert to a smaller amount, not many people are willing to accept.

The government doesn't only close it, but we also get punishment (jailed or got fined). Always be careful before applying the idea to have something new like allowing cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin) as payment tools. We must know whether it is legal or illegal firstly, don't rush to do the same thing as OP did in his country. Every country has its own regulations or laws.

You are right. Most customers must use fiats, they don't know crypto coins (Bitcoin). We need to let them know what crypto is. And the customers who pay with Bitcoin should get a cheaper price. So, they are interested to use Bitcoin.

^ I really appreciate both of you, you know this will really help the community and boost the awareness of BTC globally when there is a merchant like this who supports the world of e-commerce and promote BTC as a way of mode of payment. But businesses like this matter in your country that has legality towards BTC. Look at the now the El Salvador people are suing now BTC on their place and they are accepting BTC as open of their valuable assets. So I solute you guys because of this business.

First of all, congratulations for being a successful Bitcoin marchant. This feels really happy for you. You know what, I have the same dream that one day I will open a business with a bitcoin payment section; I want to pay my bills with bitcoin wherever I go or buy anything in my country. So it would be really simple for me as a tech lover. But our bad fate is that my country still does not recognise bitcoin's powers. And they banned it. It's really sad. Let's apart from this, I just want to say all the very best for your business. Thank you.

I agree with you both. We can't take that kind of risk if bitcoin is not legal in our country because later, we can get in trouble with the government, and the government can close our business easily. I think he better contact the local government to ask if he wants to use bitcoin as one of the payment options. We're just worried that something bad could happen to him while he was running his business, and it could damage his reputation out there.

Good decision when opening new business accepted bitcoin as payment currency transaction,  I think your country Nigeria have been popular with bitcoin around I saw many member from Nigerian in Bitcointalk forum. I think not really expensive when payment charge fees about $3 but I hope you can use comparison with charge fees, if transaction above $1,000 maybe you can add little fees transaction or depending with huge amount transaction for fees payment.

By the way your costumer sending coming from which wallet used, I think if your costumer use Binance or exchange wallet you can sent trough lightening network and sending process instant without delay. Nowadays Binance give service sending each Binance user by Binancepay, sent without deduct fees and process without ten second have been arrived on destination wallet.

Little question to ask; have you ever think of your clients patient, like after they sent you BTC would they be able to wait for confirmation before giving out cash to them despite sending you transaction id?.
Then I will tell you is very risky leaving the business to your employees after undergoing training to know things involved, as we know the country is not safe and I don't know the security level of your region so I would suggest you to be in charge of BTC payment section while they can control the PoS which involves fiats, please try stay away from that area to avoid robbery since is BTC and many people are now aware of the value of btc in NGN so it might attracts evil around you.

Your smart phone or wallet were you do received the BTC should be faraway from same environ or either you should hire a staff who could be in charged without showcasing herself or himself around the business arena.

Goodluck.

I think this is a really good idea for a business you run using Bitcoin. If you have employees who don't understand how Bitcoin works, you should really tell them or teach them how to send Bitcoins as well as receive Bitcoins, so they can understand how Bitcoin works. If you don't teach your employees about Bitcoin, the business you run using Bitcoin will be in vain and everyone will be at risk of losing money.

   You didn't make a wrong decision my friend in that matter, you are making money from the traditional business that you built there and besides that, you can also make money from cryptocurrency via Bitcoin, so it's a good combination, to be honest, May there also be there in the community you are in that is as aware as you are of the cryptocurrency business. Because if you're the only one who understands bitcoin that you're still learning right now, I don't think it will be easy for people in your area to take advantage of what you're offering, but this is just my opinion.

Your new business will encourage you. Services through Bitcoin are now interesting to everyone. However, I am worried that Bitcoin is not legal yet your country. So how are you operating the business with this cryptocurrency banner publicly. As it is illegal so definitely it is a threat. my question is how do you deal with that risk?

Bitcoin is decentralised cryptocurrency and accept bitcoin has a payment is the another milestone for traditional business owners

but at least provide education about the advantages and also the risks, don't let bitcoin have a negative view. Those who initially tried to be curious about bitcoin even got disappointed because they did not know about the risks that could occur.
The adoption of bitcoin by some merchants or service sellers etc. provides room for bitcoin to grow from a micro-enterprise to a larger enterprise, provided their country allows it.
The use of bitcoin in Op's business is a good example of adoption because it provides some education to its employees and it is likely that it will continue to be given to their customers as well.

If it works for the others then it should work for you too though it depends sometimes with the way you handle it plus your luck in business. But overall, it's a good initiative to make business with Bitcoin since it will increase the adoption faster that way and you might encounter some problem but I think it's normal for every business owners.

It would be better to place some feedback box if you want to improve your business in the future since you don't know everything what your customer wants.

Have you considered accepting Lightning?

Easiest way to do so would probably be to set up https://btcpayserver.org/ on your computer.
It would then handle both on-chain Bitcoin payments (that indeed, can take a while to process), as well as instant Lightning Bitcoin payments.

Watch the two videos on the main page; I think they explain the high-level idea of the software pretty well.

And not all would really be that going into that Private membership specially on a country which does have strict rules or regulation towards crypto.If its still neutral then its not really that much a problem.

You could always make it possible if you are the business owner but you should really that needed to make your workers be aware on how it does works or even simply with the basics.

Always stick out with 1 confirmation before things to be settled since we do know that unconfirmed ones does have the  chance of that double spend.

Slowly this can be introduced, because people should not have an understanding that cryptocurrency is something complicated. If they get into such a mindset then the usage will slowly decrease. So, let this continue with atleast three confirmations. Once good number of users starts using it, OP can introduce lightening network to them.

Possibly the biggest Bitcoin problem is that there aren't any physical bitcoins. There are loads of people who deal in cash only. The question is, how do we make physical bitcoins that maintain their value? Of course, the public can't trade them safely with the SEC around. But that answer is to go private, with a Private Membership Association.

i was also actually thinking about introducing the LN to his customers. which is cheaper and maybe faster. but you need to orient your staffs or people that will directly be involved in this. for me, one or 2 confirmations is enough. some exchanges are crediting even just one confirmation. but giving the money without confirmation at all is very risky. try to orient your staffs with at least blockchair or blockchain, to see how the btc transaction is doing.

One network confirmation is not enough to actually confirm a bitcoin transaction, get at least three confirmation on the blockchain before handing out money to any customer. Even big exchanges do not make the mistake of accepting only one network confirmation, why should a small business take that risk? How about you tell your customers about lightning network for faster transaction.

 I am not going to keep my customers waiting, once one network confirmation is done, I can allow the customer leave.

At current market conditions when the price of bitcoin is not that high, this risk of bitcoin's volatility is minimized because the chances for bitcoin to dump are way less as compared to the chances for bitcoin to pump from the major support level. Anyways until the bitcoin is more adopted we have to face this challenge of bitcoin price volatility and business should incorporate this risk if they want to adopt bitcoin payments in their day to day business transactions.

Great initiative. I have to say it's a win-win situation for both. You can make some money also your customer would take advantage of quick cash out instead of hassle. Although it's a good initiative but always make sure the transaction is confirmed before cashing out. There is a risk involved in double-spending. Train very well your salesman, so they won't make mistakes.

That is a nice business by accepting bitcoin through POS by deposit/withdraw and transfer transaction are stress free without going to bank and safe of time, but have you consider the Bitcoin transaction fees, and also educate your worker how it been calculate without ruining losses along side, If Yes, your good to Go, because bitcoin is the future financial system we need to adopt innovation.   

Yeah dude,
That is a nice business idea and you're gonna earn much; not just from trxn fees(pos charges) but also by indulging in fx so you could trade back your funds. Kudos!
 But I guess you're gonna have alot of trouble cus a client is not gonna wait for a confirmation from the memphool,or maybe they will? It all depends.

It's a nice idea but just be careful out there.

Sandra👩‍🦱

volatility will be a risk when we accept payments using bitcoin. this can be a double-edged sword which can be beneficial and can also harm us. during a bearish season like this accepting payments with bitcoin will be an opportunity to get double profits. but for small investors, of course it will be more risky because the money obtained from the sale must be immediately turned over to buy raw materials and it must be converted to fiat

it seems your business inspires me a little. because previously I was a little confused about what business I should start. but when I read this I became almost the same idea as you. but in a different field.
however your idea is to accept bitcoins to cash in your shop. is a wonderful thing. after people know you accept bitcoin. so I'm sure in the future there will be many customers who become regular customers to your store to cash out bitcoins into cash. I hope your business will be more successful.

Depending on your businesses workflow, it might be worth checking with the mempool before every single transaction, and specifying the fee that the customer needs to pay in order for you to accept it. I understand that might actually put a lot of customers off, but it prevents a customer from putting a rather small fee on the transaction, and then you're waiting a while for it to confirm. Ideally, if you're operating on a six confirmation basis, you want that to confirm as soon as possible so you can get the transaction done. However, most businesses these days find that one confirmation is enough reassurance, and if you go about it that way, putting enough of a fee to get around a 10/15 minute transaction should be enough for most customers.

Some businesses even do zero confirmations, and just accept the risk of a double spend, but I wouldn't necessarily suggest that. I guess it depends if the customers are willing to wait for the block confirmation to receive whatever they're buying/trading. It seems like you might be selling other currency? Which I assume requires additional paperwork anyway, so the transaction could be sent, and then the additional paperwork sorted out while you wait.

With calculation or rough estimation you provided, the story Op told is sounding like another fairy tale. There is no how a client would pay a fee of $3 which is about 2,700 of the local currency,  for a service you can get for a few cents. Op, said that the business is lucrative and many people are into it, which means Op isn't the only one to provide the services.

Still accepting bitcoin but this kind of business depends on you and how you designed this system surely you will need to start teaching about bitcoin to the employers because they cannot work with bitcoin customers without knowing bitcoin transactions and how the bitcoin works are this case they will have more benefits and learn a new skill while they're working which can be another positive point of your business for the employers works there, however, and regardless of that you should consider how the government regulated the bitcoin transactions in your country for safety on your business.

Really nice idea, as long as Bitcoin is legal in your country and there are no legal problems, this is a good thing to earn extra income by accepting Bitcoin, but of course you will face some technical problems at the beginning such as transaction delays and also you need to provide more liquidity as well as teach your employee more knowledge About Bitcoin so they don't cause you problems and lose your money. At the very least they should have experience about transaction time, fees and the number of confirmations needed for a transaction to be secure.

I am really wowed by your bold step in trying to do something new and novel in your region.
 
The concept is great, but my main concern is the time it takes to usually confirm a BTC transfer. The customer might be a rush and telling them to wait for about 30mins would really be discouraging.

First let me congratulate you for making your first Bitcoin business transactions, I must say you are the first am hearing of having a POS accepting Bitcoin. But I find wired is the fee you charged the customer $3 fees at present dollars exchange rate to Nigeria naira is 700+ so 3×700=2100+ this is just a rough calculation of the fee you charge on an 18,000 naira withdrawal were ordinarily a pos charge 100 nairas on every 10,000 naira withdrawal in Nigeria, your client must have been so desperate to spend his Bitcoin to have agreed to pay such high fees aside from the blockchain fee he would have paid to send you the Bitcoin.
My advice to you is to be careful with the business, especially in Nigeria we're the central bank has placed strict orders on banks and other financial institutions from aiding cryptocurrency transactions, so accepting Bitcoin in a pos business is a high risk at the moment. And generally speaking, you should work on developing a faster payment system and also reduce your transaction fees on bitcoin to naira.
I wish you all the best and be careful.

No, there is no risk.
you should continue accepting bitcoin as you've stated yourself, acceptance of Bitcoin makes you unique from other POS stations. So to stop accepting it would be a bad idea in my opinion. for your business.

You should educate your colleagues and tell them don't give payment until 3 block confirmations at least.

Also, consider creating a QRcode for your wallet so that customers can simply scan and send BTC.

I would like to extend my warm congratulations for your other business that accepts Bitcoin. Despite the seemingly unfriendly Bitcoin stance of your country, it seems Bitcoin-accepting business establishments are growing. But I'm quite confused with how the system works. If I were to simplify everything, it seems you are just acting as a money-changer as far as Bitcoin is concerned. Am I right?

And as far as other transactions are concerned, you are trying to earn where the banks fail. It seems you are simply offering convenience for a fee.

It would be more secure, if the op waits for some confirmations in the blockchain, then handover or completes the order.
Bitcoins have now become a daily to do for many people, so it’s great that it has been added in your business.
Moreover taking payment in Bitcoins, also help you to get rid of taxes.
Holding Bitcoins gives complete access to your funds and has no restrictions like the bank.
Honestly speaking Bitcoins should be integrated by all the businesses entrepreneurs. Bitcoins are the future.

Good to see you taking an opportunity out of the new business ideas such as POS. Same thing is increasing at alarming rates in my region however it's not because of the congestion at "ATM" but thats all about the plastic card trend that is ever growing day by day. Everyone carries cards and its way easier to pay now with contactless cards with tap and pay feature.

While you wait for the transactions, you should always keep in mind that 30 min window before you can get at least 1 confirmation done. You can always ask them to increase the fees if they are in hurry and willing to pay couple of bucks extra for faster transactions.

However, I have observed that, though there are no confirmations yet you can see the "incoming" transaction in your wallet which can expedite your payment processing. However, always look for safer window rather than being stressed out. & congratulations for your business.

Afaik it wasn't a scam as long as you see that there is an incoming transaction in your wallet. You shouldn't worry anymore by there because the coins will always arrive even if it takes a long time due to the network congestion or to the fees that is set when sending the btc.

Every business has a risk but according to what you are doing, you will be just fine because you educate your employees properly. They will now be aware if what they should do in different scenarios. You should not worry and don't ever think of stopping this business because we all want to see it grow and maybe some of us will help you support it because we also love the idea of spreading the word btc in your own ways.

Regardless of the business, you are running, all must refer to the policy of the region where Bitcoin transactions are allowed. If not, you may be taking a big risk. But to make sure that such a transaction business proves to be effective, try within the next month to see the prospects you generate and the feedback from people on the provision of transaction services. Make a kind of small evaluation when every time your customer has made a transaction give some kind of simple assessment and ask them to evaluate the performance and service satisfaction honestly.

Everything OP narrated sounds good but there is hardly anyone in Nigeria trading crypto that doesn't know the exchange P2P transaction and Nigerians as we have known from previous info are at the top of that transaction in Africa
and also rated highly in the World so I was wondering, why would I want to spaned 35min waiting for a transaction to get through and even pay an additional $3 fee because I want to cash out some Satoshi? As I said, the narrative sounds good for Bitcoin but the transaction is faulty from the seller's point of view.

Yes, that 30 minutes waiting time for the transaction to confirm, is going to be a problem.. if you use legacy Bitcoin. (Was this a SegWit transaction or Legacy Bitcoin?) The alternative might be to use the Lightning Network, if your customers are familiar with it... it is almost instant transactions at a fraction of the cost they are paying now. 

Well, good luck with your new business venture... I hope it will be very successful in the future.. just don't give up.    I will give people a small incentive to rather use Bitcoin over other payment methods, by introducing a discount for people who are paying with bitcoins. 

I also want to start a business where all kinds of crypto will be accepted, but our luck is not good what kind of transaction in our country government people say money laundering that's why it is very difficult to work in cryptocurrency in our country, but I wish sometime in the future if cryptocurrency or blockchain When it is legal in our country I will accept almost all types of cryptocurrencies in my business and I wish to have an online store where cryptocurrencies will be accepted but currently, it is not possible in our country, but I can't do anything about it but hopefully in the near future blockchain and cryptocurrencies will be in our country. It Will be legalized, and then we can work with blockchain and cryptocurrency in the open.

at least your initiative to accept bitcoin in your business is a great thing. But when your customer wants to withdraw money by exchanging bitcoins for you. then it takes time. so to save time I guess after 1 confirmation it's enough to be able to cash it into money. so there won't be many people waiting in line. but your business category is indeed popular in the area where I work. so that people rarely queue up to the ATM to withdraw money from the bank.
it's very helpful and a great initiative in today's business.

Congratulation OP on starting your new business. But as you know, it is not just about starting a new business in addition to the one you already have but being able to manage both of them successfully. Expansion in business always requires an extra level of commitment. You must also realise that as you have made your business a centerpoint for exchange of cryptocurrency, you have also become targets for scammers and people who may want to try out schemes to try to fool you or your staff. Prepare yourself and staff for such individuals, so you don't have a bitter experience.

Congratulations for your business idea and including bitcoin in your business. It has helped you to have a very good feel about Bitcoin transactions. When you said that you were afraid if it was a scam. That is not how bitcoin transactions work, you don't have to hand out cash unless the person sends you the transaction ID and you go into blockchain and confirm truly that the transaction is in queue and atleast a block has been confirmed before you can handout cash. More careful next time.

Well, congratulations if this is another business that you've come up with that's related to bitcoin and you're not just talking it with words but you're actually applying it.

You are a legitimate entrepreneur as you are solving problems that you see within your community. It's going to be accompanied by fees and that's already part and given with we know how the bitcoin atm works. So, with this POS business you started, I guess you'll discover many things, the ins and outs of it.

Good luck!

Yes, POS is a point of sale used in the supermarket, it's also used in the supermarket in my country but it saves more like an ATM in my country because of how the bank ATM is usually crowded, some youths like us has turned POS into a business were customers comes to your shop and Carry out any transaction with their debit card.
  For example; some one can come to my shop and ask to withdraw cash, all I need to do is slot in his card into my POS marching, type-in the amount he/she wishes to withdraw, they put their pin and Money will go from their account to my account then I will give them the cash they need.  (POS business in Nigeria is just like performing a manual process of an ATM).


POS does not accept Bitcoin, but some one can decide to receive Bitcoin from customers and give them cash
Equivalent to the Bitcoin they sent. Let me assume you came to my shop and you need cash but you want to send
me Bitcoin and receive cash equivalent to the Bitcoin you sent.

Ok, apart from congratulating you on helping somebody spend his coins, I do have to say I feel like this whole POS thing as I see it and understand based on this article
https://techpoint.africa/2021/07/15/pos-business-in-nigeria
is like one huge step backward.

Basically, what every one of these operators is doing is acting like the exact fourth party between the customer and the service provider that needs to be paid, counting the third party as the bank that does the actual money transfer?

So rather than having a simple bank app from which you can pay your bills with a tap directly from your bank account you go to the POS shop, you hand this guy the bill, you pay him an extra 2-3 maybe 5% and he pays the bill for you? Am I right?

Being a Nigerian myself and live in area where POS is a popular business among youths, I find it a bit difficult to believe you are the first person accepting bitcoin in a POS business, 98 percent of POS operators in Nigeria are youths, and more than 80 percent of this youths know a thing or two about bitcoin and crypto currencies, 60 percent of this people have bitcoin logo on their POS banner which means they accept bitcoin or will accept it upon request.

There are different modes of setting the miner fee and I think the customer deliberately set the miner fee low which is why the transaction took that amount of time to confirm, see the images below for a better understanding...




My advice is, next time you have a customer who want to send bitcoin to you and receive the cash equivalent, make sure the customer put the MINER FEE setting to priority, and if possible, politely make the customer to wait until the transaction receives atleast, one blockchain confirmation before they can leave.
I will personally suggest you type the above in a paper, print it out and paste it all over your POS shop, make it as a rule that customers transacting in bitcoin must set miner fee to priority and after sending bitcoin,. Must wait for 1 blockchain confirmation before they can take cash and leave.
This is to avoid or bring to the barest minimum, the chances of encountering a payment reversal where Bitcoin sent end up reversing back to the address it came from.

I'm also not familiar with this kind of service, because thanks to digital banking accounts which can be accessed on any smartphones every payments and transactions can be done virtually directly between seller and buyer without middlemen services included. I believe if people there had internet access and devices such as smartphones they could do these transactions by themselves, saving on fees. Or maybe middlemen services will keep existing to assist older generations making their payments, since they have some difficult or lack of interest for learning how to use technological devices in general.

In my opinion, this is neither good nor bad. If you say you just started the my candid advice to you is to manage the bitcoin transactions yourself until your staff has a firm grasp of it.  Secondly, I think it may be risky to operate this openly as regards the ban by the Central Bank on cryptocurrency businesses. Lastly, I am aware that the exchange rate differs as regarding the amount of Bitcoin needed. In other words, the exchange rate is greater for someone wishing to trade $100 worth of bitcoin than it is for someone wishing to swap $40. How would you approach this?

POS is basically this terminal thingy that's often available at the supermarket if a person wants to pay by card, right? In my experience, it's something that it just available for payment by card wherever card payments are accepted. I assume it's different in Nigeria, as the op mentions people crowding around ATMs to get cash?
It's hard for me to understand what the POS business is normally about because to me POS is just a piece of hardware to which you can bring your card or smartphone to complete a transaction to pay for goods. Is it selling POS devices? Is it renting devices to merchants for a fee? Is it something else entirely?
Also, can a POS accept Bitcoin? Or is it accepting Bitcoin for the terminals themselves? I read the post, but it's difficult for me to make out the details because of how differently I probably perceive a POS.

Before handing over your FIAT currency to an unknown customer, always ensure that the transaction was successful. Trust is a very serious issue that we must be very cautious about. When you give out money (FIAT) before confirming the transaction, some people can double spend the Bitcoin and you will lose it all because you gave your FIAT out of trust. For more information, try studying how the memory pool works using the link provided by @Lucius.
You have a very good innovation and idea to start this business as well as try to teach your employees more about Bitcoin and how Bitcoin transactions work; the only risk is that the Government of Nigeria has yet to legalize Bitcoin, so you are exposing yourself to risk; it is better you do it secretly for your own safety.

In my country, POS was often used as a cash register in stores, to make payments and transactions easier, as the times progressed with technology and the internet, it has entered remote areas with today's sophistication, Point of Sales (POS) has been used by ordinary entrepreneurs in payments in cash.

With the available features, as you said, yes indeed POS is feasible to be a business, especially payments, orders, product purchases for customers, without having to bother going far for example to banks, ATMs and so on, bottom line: if you take $3 in per transaction to a customer, that's a great and profitable business these days.

Great initiative and good luck with the business.

Have you thought about automating the crypto part of your business in any way by using a crypto payment processor to take care of addresses and amounts? Judging by your explanation, all that was manually done. You generated an address, sent it to your colleague, they then gave it to the customer, the customer paid and waited over half an hour for the transaction to go through. Imagine having 10 people in quick succession who want to pay with BTC, you are going to have to give them each a separate address, check, and keep track of who has paid and how much.

Another potential problem is taxes. Are you in the system, do you pay taxes on the turnover you generate? 

There is nothing to stop if bitcoin transactions in your country are legal. What you do will certainly have a positive impact on how to trade with bitcoin. In addition to running this business, you also provide education to some of your employees. this is an added value that makes your business must continue to run.

In my country, this kind of business may soon be closed by the local government because it uses digital currency which is not allowed to replace fiat currency.

This business will run well and continue to grow if you also provide education to your customers, because there are customers who of course do not fully understand bitcoin.

Good idea!, but this people that will pay you in Bitcoin must be Big guys and Big men I guess, adding $3 as transaction fees to your customer in Nigeria is huge amount and might scare them away from doing business with you , I suggest you remove it as you are just getting started to attract more customers, then later you can add your charges. However, if you do have an account with any platform that has P2P like Binance for instance, though I'm not encouraging you should keep your cryptos in a centralized exchange, but in this case Binance P2P will make things easier for you, in terms of selling your Crypto back to Cash. therefore you need not to add $3 transaction fees to your customers because that is approximately (#2000) Nigeria Naira as at today's exchange rate of #700 -$1 dollar.

The only legal risk here is that CBN do not tolerate bitcoin p2p transactions. Knowing how the POS business in Nigeria works, I don’t think it’s going to be a profitable venture. The major reason why customers patronize pos shops is for convenience and quick service compared to using ATMs. I believe your staff doesn’t have access to your wallet, only you do. So they have to contact you somehow to confirm the transaction. 35 minutes is a long time to spend trying to withdraw money at a POS centre. You could teach your staff how to use blockchain explorers to check the status of a transaction. Another thing you have to consider is the volatility of bitcoin, pos business is a small scale business, the capital is usually around 300-500$ I don’t think such business is ripe enough to adopt bitcoin yet.

While it is a decent way of earning a side income you must make sure who you are trading with.
Sometimes the other person is not genuine and might use bitcoins which were previously used for illicit activities hence putting you in trouble.
Some might also try to scam you by doing a replace by fee transaction and the solution to this is to at least wait for 2 confirmations to be on the safer side.
On the other hand you will need a good amount of liquidity in order to run this business which might become a problem when your business grows bigger.
Not to mention the legal regulations that you might encounter if you are from a country which restricts cryptocurrency trading.

- Legal risk? Your country bans crypto. But it's an open secret that Nigeria is at the top of the bitcoin transaction statistics in Africa even though it's under ban. A risk that doesn't have to be thought about much, right?
- Crime risk. You as a physical cash exchange provider are assumed to have a large amount of cash reserves. This is feared to attract criminals to come to your shop.

If you think you can handle these 2 risk factors, you can continue your business.

if in your country trading transactions using bitcoin are allowed, I think there will be no problem with your business. because usually, some countries regulate currency or means of payment that are legal and accepted in their country.

however, you have tried to make people around you more concerned about the value of Bitcoin. thank you for your effort and business.
My advice, you should do an evaluation every week or every month. related to your employee systems and services. I am sure this will not be short, it will take a long process.

You should be aware of how Bitcoin transactions work, and accordingly do not hand over money to the client until the transaction has received at least one confirmation on the network, or that your employees know to check whether the transaction has the RBF (Replace-By-Fee) label, which would mean that it is possible to double spend the same coins.

I would also advise my clients before the transaction which fee to use in relation to the current situation with mempool - which you can always see on this site -> https://mempool.space/


If the authorities in your country allow such a way of doing business, and if you know what you're doing, then you can make a profit - I would just invest in additional protection in the form of surveillance cameras or a protective barrier behind which your employees are when they work with clients.

This is a good business but the time taken for the transaction is more here due to network. If some day many customers come, then you may have a little problem.

POS (Point of sales) business is a major lucrative business in my region.
in my region, Bank ATMs is usually crowded with people trying to cash out or cash in (withdrawal/transfer). this become a challenge to most people who can not undergo the stress of joining a long que or having to wait under the sun, stand for long time or being patient until it's turn to carry out their transactions. in some cases bank is not close to some residential area and people living in the area would have to pay for transportation fee to get to a close by ATM and carry out their transactions, some times you get to the ATM and find out there is no cash (unable to dispense or out of service). Due to this reasons lots of people are now into POS business which is actively saving people Bank/ATM transaction stress.
the service offered by a POS business Agent is to save individuals the stress of going to the Bank/ATM to make cash withdrawal or send money to their loved ones, another stress it saves individuals is to help them pay for their cable subscribetions like (DSTV, Startimes) without having to drive down to the network providers office, they can also recharge airtime (VTU) to their desired network.
  Another thing it does is assist individuals pay for their electric bill, they need not go through the stress of going to the NEPA office before they can pay their bills.
 there are lots of people doing this Same business in my region but I did not find any one with the idea of accepting and exchanging Bitcoin and other crypto for their customers. So I decided to Open this same business with a different idea of accepting Bitcoin, i think am the first person with this move in the POS business.
I am happy I now have Two business in different areas that accepts Bitcoin. Thanks to the things I have learned in this forum about Bitcoin payment, I am being practical of things I learned in this forum.
  I just Opened the business on 1st/September/2022 and on the 2nd/Sep/2022 I was surprised to receive a call from my employee that a customer wants to take #18,000 (Nigeria Naira) and pay in Bitcoin, I did the calculation and added $3 fee for my business charge and sent the details across and the customer sent 0.00155 BTC. I asked my employee to give cash to the customer when she confirms the transaction is processing, so the customer initiated the transaction and receive the cash he needed.
It took over 35 minutes before the transaction was finally successful and arrived in my wallet. Due to the delay, I started thinking 🤔 its a scam but I was also convinced that it might be a congestion in the Bitcoin network.

 Apart from a short explanation I have given to my employees on how to receive payment in BTC from customers, I have decided I will organize a special class to teach all my employees things they need to know  in details About Bitcoin. The fact that I want to teach my employees things about Bitcoin and also accepting and exchanging Bitcoins for customers, do you think it's a risk am taking and should i discontinue the Business?