Your idea is excellent and would totally work
Awesome because its coming. I'm past the point of no return on money spent (i.e. ive already spent on the project significantly more than half of the expected total cost).
Topic: [update:pics] I'm working on a bitcoin gift card vending machine - page 2. (Read 3528 times)
January 31, 2013, 09:46:35 AM
Awesome because its coming. I'm past the point of no return on money spent (i.e. ive already spent on the project significantly more than half of the expected total cost).
January 31, 2013, 09:42:47 AM
Great idea. There was a discussion about this here.
January 31, 2013, 09:08:22 AM
Your idea is excellent and would totally work
January 31, 2013, 09:01:04 AM
Make it happen. Are you in or near a big city?
medium sized city. Winston-salem North Carolina maybe neighboring Greensboro if i have to.
January 31, 2013, 05:36:29 AM
Make it happen. Are you in or near a big city?
January 30, 2013, 10:20:47 PM
I purchased an old phone card vending machine on the cheap (presumably because no one uses phone card vending machines any more) with the intention of redeploying it to dispense bitcoin gift cards. In the interest of not spending 10 years on this project before deploying it the methods i intend to use early on will be very simple and additional features will be added at a later date.
Initially i am just going to order a couple hundred gift cards from a company that makes custom gift cards (they will cost about $0.50 initially and closer to $0.25 if i ever buy in bulk). These gift cards will have their face value denominated in dollars on the front and a scratch off strip on the back with a private code underneath. On the card will be instructions to send an email to [email protected] containing both the address they would like the coins to be sent to as well as the obfuscated key on the back of the card. If they key matches my records than I will send the bitcoins minus my commission to the address specified. Initially i plan on doing 20 dollar cards and 100 dollar cards (i think 500 dollar cards could become a serious security risk) As far as security is concerned i will be using the bitcoin vault on a dedicated offline computer and manually sending each transaction since i do not yet have the technical skill to automate the process (a skill i will certainly work on developing later on). Prices will be calculated using the mtgox ask at the time of redemption.
Now a couple of reasons why i believe a service *like* this is important. 1) anonymity is important for many bitcoin users, especially those who intend to spend their bitcoins on the silk road. These people will greatly appreciate not having to meet a human being in person or filling out a form with private information (i think you have to do this with bitinstant when you send a moneygram?). 2) this eliminates the problem of waiting around for confirmations from the guy you are buying from on localbitcoins. Granted they will be forced to trust that i will actually fulfill my obligation but they can gain some assurance from the fact that i would have to be a complete idiot to spend hundreds of dollars to start this business and then destroy my reputation over 20 dollars. 3) the machine its self will be a wonderful advertisement. it will display in the largest letters i can fit "what is bitcoin?" with a large qr code right below it linking to weusecoins.com
So then this begs the obvious question, wouldn't this simply be inferior to a bit-coin atm? There are a couple of reasons why this might be considered better than a bitcoin atm or at least a complimentary service. 1) non-technically inclined people like your grandma will still be able to buy bitcoins as a gift for their technically inclined relatives and friends 2) the machine will not require any sort of internet connection which should cut costs. 3) Retooling an old vending machine will likely be a lot cheaper than it would be to build an atm from the ground up. 4) less security risk from hackers 5) imagine a situation where someone has heard about bitcoins but doesn't know very much about them, doesn't have a smart phone or doesnt have the time to stop in the middle of what hes doing to figure out how to install an use a bitcoin wallet on his smart phone. This person might be willing to just buy a gift card and stick it in his pocket to deal with when he gets home.
Now the hard part is finding some sort of business in the area that will allow me to install the machine in their store (hopefully for free). The idea being that they will benefit from a positive externatlity when people come into their store who otherwise wouldn't have and i will benefit from the security of having it sitting a couple of feet away from the front counter at a pizza hut (for example).
anyway now its time to let the soul crushing reality set in as you guys tell me why my idea is god awful and how i just wasted hundreds of dollars. Thanks in advance for that.
oh and here is my website http://btcgiftcard.com/. very little there atm but you can check it out anyway. im pretty happy with the domain.
Initially i am just going to order a couple hundred gift cards from a company that makes custom gift cards (they will cost about $0.50 initially and closer to $0.25 if i ever buy in bulk). These gift cards will have their face value denominated in dollars on the front and a scratch off strip on the back with a private code underneath. On the card will be instructions to send an email to [email protected] containing both the address they would like the coins to be sent to as well as the obfuscated key on the back of the card. If they key matches my records than I will send the bitcoins minus my commission to the address specified. Initially i plan on doing 20 dollar cards and 100 dollar cards (i think 500 dollar cards could become a serious security risk) As far as security is concerned i will be using the bitcoin vault on a dedicated offline computer and manually sending each transaction since i do not yet have the technical skill to automate the process (a skill i will certainly work on developing later on). Prices will be calculated using the mtgox ask at the time of redemption.
Now a couple of reasons why i believe a service *like* this is important. 1) anonymity is important for many bitcoin users, especially those who intend to spend their bitcoins on the silk road. These people will greatly appreciate not having to meet a human being in person or filling out a form with private information (i think you have to do this with bitinstant when you send a moneygram?). 2) this eliminates the problem of waiting around for confirmations from the guy you are buying from on localbitcoins. Granted they will be forced to trust that i will actually fulfill my obligation but they can gain some assurance from the fact that i would have to be a complete idiot to spend hundreds of dollars to start this business and then destroy my reputation over 20 dollars. 3) the machine its self will be a wonderful advertisement. it will display in the largest letters i can fit "what is bitcoin?" with a large qr code right below it linking to weusecoins.com
So then this begs the obvious question, wouldn't this simply be inferior to a bit-coin atm? There are a couple of reasons why this might be considered better than a bitcoin atm or at least a complimentary service. 1) non-technically inclined people like your grandma will still be able to buy bitcoins as a gift for their technically inclined relatives and friends 2) the machine will not require any sort of internet connection which should cut costs. 3) Retooling an old vending machine will likely be a lot cheaper than it would be to build an atm from the ground up. 4) less security risk from hackers 5) imagine a situation where someone has heard about bitcoins but doesn't know very much about them, doesn't have a smart phone or doesnt have the time to stop in the middle of what hes doing to figure out how to install an use a bitcoin wallet on his smart phone. This person might be willing to just buy a gift card and stick it in his pocket to deal with when he gets home.
Now the hard part is finding some sort of business in the area that will allow me to install the machine in their store (hopefully for free). The idea being that they will benefit from a positive externatlity when people come into their store who otherwise wouldn't have and i will benefit from the security of having it sitting a couple of feet away from the front counter at a pizza hut (for example).
anyway now its time to let the soul crushing reality set in as you guys tell me why my idea is god awful and how i just wasted hundreds of dollars. Thanks in advance for that.
oh and here is my website http://btcgiftcard.com/. very little there atm but you can check it out anyway. im pretty happy with the domain.
Jump to: