The problem with finding reputable bitcoin sites is that there are more non-reputable sites than reputable ones. If I use a bank card, I wouldn't even have to worry about it. For example: If I ordered some t-shirts from a website with bitcoin but never received the t-shirts I purchased, I have no way of getting my money back; however, if I use my credit card, or debit card, to purchase the t-shirts, all I have to do is file a complaint with my bank and my money is returned to me. And, I don't have to do any kind of deep web research to figure out how reputable the vendors are when I use my bank card.
What is the cost for that? No monetary sovereignty. Yeah, I'd rather stick to Bitcoin and use common sense. I've been around for 3 years and was never scammed by anyone or any merchant. Also, you do not order from random websites using your CC. That would be a very stupid move.
I was directing my responses to the context of the thread question: "What's stopping people from using bitcoin?" I agree with you that there's a lot of digital goods and services that can be purchased with bitcoin; however, if it's going to be more widely adopted, it will have to address the points I enumerated above.
Understood.
Exactly, bitcoin isn't being adopted by more consumers because it's not the scammers getting scammed, as they recognize a good scam when they see it; it's the honest folk getting scammed because they have a trustworthy mindset. My point is, as long as bitcoin is viewed as a blackmarket tool by the general public, and as long as it attracts the type of people whom naturally think in terms of scams, bitcoin will be shunned by the average honest wage earner. I mean, if my mother asked me if she should invest in or use bitcoin, I would say, "Hell no," unless she had some secret thing she wanted to do with her money. Why should she use bitcoin, when she could use her card and be protected by a federally insured dollar?
I love bitcoin and I have made some risky investments....but, I knew they were risky and could afford the risk. I can recognize scams, avoid keyloggers, understand escrow, and know how to recognize those things....the average joe doesn't. For bitcoins adoption rate to increase, it needs to be safer and easier to understand by the general public. Otherwise, its use will be populated by a less attractive group of people whom understand scams and how to profit off of them.