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How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#51

Post by yebyen »

mcherm wrote: post #50
jlgreco wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Treat your local bitcoin wallet like your bank account, and treat your hosted bitcoin wallet like your leather wallet in your pocket. Only keep what you need in the leather wallet / hosted wallet. Local wallets are easy to keep secure. Just keep it on a flashdrive, don't let it touch your harddrive, and don't use it on a pwnd computer. If you want, you can even keep that flashdrive in a real bank.

Evidence shows that the track record of hosted bitcoin accounts is a bit disappointing. But the evidence seems to show that the track record of bitcoin accounts kept by individuals is significantly worse. For instance, http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/10/78-percent-of-bit... and I think I am safe in concluding that a significant portion of those "non-circulating" bitcoins are actually lost. So my financial adv…

7 million bitcoins are "lost" because they haven't circulated in the last 3 months?

Maybe you have found evidence of an elaborate ponzi scheme that we are all played by, but I don't buy your conclusion, and it's not the conclusion of the linked article.

If only 90,000 bitcoins held by/moved through a small group is driving most of a total of 423,000,000 bitcoins transacted, then I'd say the rest of the owners of the 9mil bitcoins in existence owe those guys a debt for stress-testing the grid.

You can use a cloud bitcoin wallet, like BitcoinSpinner, which is implemented on top of the BCCAPI. While I have not read the actual API, and I'm not sure this program is open source, I can tell you that it promises your bitcoins cannot be stolen from the cloud!

If that's not good enough for you, and you don't trust your own safe box in your own house, then I'd suggest you run back to your FDIC insured bank, or better, start reading. It's shameful to hear Hacker News readers saying they don't trust their own data to stay safe.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#52

Post by yebyen »

drivingmenuts wrote: post #11
yebyen wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should just ask them to mail you cash. It's about equally reliable, from a buyer's perspective.

I can spend cash at the corner store if it comes down to it. Bitcoin, not so much.

Now, there's an argument for greenbacks. McDonalds takes greenbacks. Brb guys... fry cravings.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#53

Post by javert »

barmstrong wrote: post #43
javert wrote: post #18

Suggestion: I found the option "Send to a bitcoin address" to be confusing. I would have expected it to say "Send from a bitcoin address." Upon further reflection, it's clear why I expected that. First, when a user goes through a typical online checkout/payment, they are not concerned about where the money is going to , they are concerned about where it is coming from , i.e., putting their credit card info in. Second…

Ok good feedback. While technically it is correct that you are sending to a single bitcoin address (your payment can actually come from multiple bitcoin addresses) I agree it's confusing and the the distinction isn't important to more users. It now reads like this: http://cl.ly/image/2n3Y3F261o1s

Sweet, I like it much better that way.

Good point that your payment likely would come from multiple addresses, I had overlooked that.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#54

Post by yebyen »

crygin wrote: post #13
yebyen wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would fall into the category of exchange going under. Similar risk to cash in the mail, except with cash in the mail there's nothing you can do to protect yourself (or prove that delivery was accepted.)

It's actually somewhat riskier than cash through the mail (which is shockingly reliable), and you have no recourse, unlike the US postal service which is more than happy to insure cash mailings (up to $25k through Registered Mail) and investigate and prosecute fraud.

That was the first danger. How much is the insurance? We were talking about 1% at CoinBase, I think that MtGox was 0.65%, and that's only for buying and selling. Withdrawals are free. Bitcoin-to-bitcoin transfers are (still) free.

If it's $20,000 cash in the mail, it weighs about 200g (100 $100's) and to mail it about an hour from here (1 hour 30 minutes by car) Rochester to Buffalo, registered mail with $25,000 insurance, flat rate priority mail envelope is $53. I guess that price is the same across country.

OK, so it's actually cheaper to mail cash than to trade bank dollars for bitcoins. I'll get off my pulpit now.

(PS: I'm pretty sure you actually have to pay taxes on that cash you received by mail, especially if it's registered and insured, now that it's yours, it's income. Bitcoins on the other hand are not cash. I am a newbie to taxes, but I don't think you would have to pay tax on bitcoin income unless you were actually cashing them out. Maybe capital gains. Any experts?)

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#55

Post by dllthomas »

dllthomas wrote: post #25
pavel_lishin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are other currencies immune from this?

Most currencies that are dealt with online are more stable than BTC. But no, not "immune".

Too late to edit, but I realize the problem is more likely to come up in the face of sudden and significant deflation, which isn't something we see in other currencies terribly often.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#56

Post by kamkazemoose »

DrStalker wrote: post #39
wmf wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Merchants should refund an equivalent value of BTC, not the same amount paid.

Why? Serious question, if I get a refund the amount isn't compensated for changes in the Australian dollar. Either the buyer or seller will lose out if the value of bit-coins change, so is there a compelling reason for picking which party that is other than "merchants have the control to give whatever refund amount they want"

The main reason is because bitcoins are volatile. Most currencies are fairly stable, there won't be much fluctuation over the course of a week or month, for however long refunds are valid. This isn't true for bitcoins. Once you pay for something in bitcoins, you are trading those bitcoins for something of similar value at that time. I don't know what the bitcoin exchange rate is right now, so I'm just going to make up some numbers for an example. But say you buy a TV that has a value of $1000 USD. Let's say the current exchange rate is 10 bitcoins to 1 USD. Then you have to pay them 10,000 bitcoins for the TV. Say a month later, you decide you want a refund. So you return the TV. Well the TV still has a value of $1000 USD (ignoring deprecation) so you should get that same value back. If the bitcoin market has skyrocketed, to say 5 bitcoins to 1 usd, then you would get 5000bitcoins back, because those bitcoins have the same value. The merchant isn't acting as a bank to hold onto your coins for you, they are trading you something of value for something else, and if you want a refund, you'll get something of the same value back.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#57

Post by wmf »

kragen wrote: post #37

Hi Brian, cool, congratulations on making it this far! Do you think the several hours latency to the bank account deposit is going to expose people to too much exchange rate volatility?

Since Bitcoin is unregulated, if they wanted to I guess Coinbase could lock in exchange rates at any time they choose (e.g. the time of the transaction) and then do the exchange later. Since that effectively shifts the currency risk from the merchant to Coinbase, they could choose to charge extra for such a service.

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#59

Post by MarxGames »

I am almost ready to use this service but have some questions first:

1. Are Instant Payment Notifications sent only once with 0 confirmations? (hoping no)

2. How do I verify that the IPN is really coming from Coinbase? (hoping some simple signature check)

3. If I created a button worth 1.99$ then will it adjust BTC amount based on the current exchange rate or will it be static? (hoping it will adjust itself over time)

4. Also is it possible to see and edit buttons at a later time(hoping yes)

Re: How To Accept Bitcoin On Your Website

#60

Post by xyzzy123 »

dllthomas wrote: post #55
dllthomas wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most currencies that are dealt with online are more stable than BTC. But no, not "immune".

Too late to edit, but I realize the problem is more likely to come up in the face of sudden and significant deflation, which isn't something we see in other currencies terribly often.

Surprisingly wide swings in fiat currency value can happen over the course of a month or two though. I imagine the volatility of BTC might cause problems for things like pre-orders.

I once placed a large order with a US company; unfortunately the order couldn't be filled for about two months.

I really wish they had billed me up front, because by the time they did bill me, the order cost 30% more in NZD.

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