Topic: I talked with Amazon Live Support today... (Read 19010 times)

I've been checking bitcoin.amazon.com every day since I had that lovely conversation.

(Oh well )

+1 you got that right

And our damned tool still hasn't come out! I saw an amazing update of it today though. I think it will be ready for at least Amazon US very very soon. Not sure what very very soon means in developer world though.

old thread is old

This is grate  another reason to invest in bitcoin !!
 

Neither Electrum nor Armory implement the full Bitcoin protocol. Ie. they don't keep a local copy of the block chain, and help other peers maintain a block chain (which is needed for the Bitcoin network to function). Armory is intended to become a full client (that doesn't depend on the Satoshi client), but isn't yet. Electrum is only intended to be a light weight client, ie. it doesn't support the network in any way, it just uses it. Without the Satoshi client there would be no usable Bitcoin currency at the moment.

Yes, but it also brings down the costs for everyone who doesn't require tech support I'd rather have cheaper product + Google search than more expensive product + good customer support.

I for one am pro-electrum. We're using it in a new product of ours.

Regular bitcoin client just isn't scalable, especially on mobile platforms.

Imagine 2,000,000 people downloading the blockchain but not serving it also. It would kill it.

I beg to differ. There's a lot of alternatives like the Electrum  and Armory present in the Alternative Client subforum.

This is awesome.  Anyway to get people to spend bitcoins is a good thing.

The client is the currency currently. There really are no alternatives to the official client.
The bitcoin.org page clearly says "Bitcoin is an experimental new digital currency [...]". Don't oversell it dude.

Having worked support, I must deflate you a bit. All your phone call did was add your information and "Call Reason -> Other" to a database in Hyderabad, India, that will never be looked at again.

These are sad times. See, about 20 years ago, I was able to call ATI and actually talked to one of their engineers at length about my problems with their card and they were able to identify the bug with their card (ATI Graphics Ultra Pro - I found a link). I had his extension number. When I did support myself for another unnamed PC component manufacturer, I was one phone call away from engineers, and was able find, identify, and resolve compatibility problems, and turn them over to QA and deployment. Nowadays, support is an outsourced cost center who's only goal is placating the customer by reading a script and hanging up on them as fast as possible. Of course, computer users on the whole are a lot dumber now, too.

That is very awesome. 

Expected this to be done late last month, but I'm assured we are getting very close.

I applaud your effort! =)

This is a great idea for a thread. The importance of Amazon accepting bitcoins just can't be overstated.

Here is how my conversation went*:

You are now connected to Alan from Amazon.co.uk.
Me:
Hi, do you accept bitcoins and if not will you consider accepting them?
Alan:
Hi David,
Bitcoin? I'm sorry but I've never heard of that.
Is that like a temporary visa card or does it relate to virtual coins like on facebook?
Me:
it's an e-currency, at the moment one is worth roughly £3.40 but that fluctuates by supply and demand
there are no transaction costs
which should make it reasonably attractive to you I should have thoguht
Alan:
Ah, currently we do not accept e-currencies like this. What is your domestic currency?
Me:
sterling
bitcoin is very different to any other e-currency for a variety of reasons
you can find a bunch of info on it using google
Alan:
Thanks for that, any charges you incur placing an order on our website using a sterling account would relate to your bank, we have no control over that.
Me:
I am talking from your perspective
in that when you accept credit cards and so on at the moment
you have to pay a fee
where as you wouldn't if you used bitcoin
there is no company behind bitcoin, it's all open source
Alan:
thanks for the suggestion, I didn't relaise you were just chatting from our point of view just there.
I can pass on your suggestion to our business team for review.
Me:
I would be pleased if you could, yes
Alan:
I have just looked up bitcoin as we have spoken.
Me:
a good site for learning more about bitcoins with a video they could look at is http://www.weusecoins.com/
Alan:
If the payments are irreversible as far as I can see.
Interesting.
The official bitcoin site als says the process is experimental
http://bitcoin.org/
Either way I'll pass on your feedback, if it proves secure and convenient for customers it will be considered in due course.
Can I help with anything else?
Me:
the client is experimental, but the network itself is running and other merchants are using it
nothing else other than bitcoin - although would you be able to get whatever committee it is that you are passing it on to to respond to me after they have looked at it?
Alan:
The internal teams generally don't do that. If it was something we would take up it would be announced publicly.
Me:
ok, fair does
have a good weekend!
Alan:
you too.


*I'm aware the thing about transaction costs is not strictly correct, but I was out to sell it!

They would be stupid, not to make a limited trial with Bitcoins sometime.

Agreed!

It may not be too soon. Amazon can always roll out a trial for limited purchases like certain 'digital goods' only. They could also limit bitcoin to certain countries with restricted payment options during any such trial. Also, I cannot imagine that Amazon is just ignoring the millions of USD/EUR/GBP/etc that could be saved in VISA/MC/AMEX/PayPal merchant processing fees!

My guess is that folk living in countries that have have more corruption than ours will love Bitcoin since their currencies are often devalued due to local scandal. It would be no surprise to me if companies like Amazon start using Bitcoin to circumvent local mob control and drive more revenue because Bitcoiners will have more spending power.