Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Stripe: Bitcoin

stripe.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 374 posts

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#131

Post by rglover »

StavrosK wrote: post #103
venaoy wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world's simplest reasons why you might pay something using bitcoins is simply when this is the only way, or cheapest way, or safest way to make a transaction. Example #1: some merchants are hit really hard with fraud, such as intangible goods paid by international credit card transactions. So hard that they decided to stop selling internationally. These merchants discover that Bitcoin re-enables them to sell inte…

It took me no less than one hour to pay for a flight the other day, because of various cc-related problems, not the least of which being the train wreck that is Verified by Visa. I so, so wished for a Bitcoin option...

Yep! Booked an international flight last summer and had a hell of a time paying with a credit card. It seems like BTC will really shine on these non-domestic payments.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#132

Post by joncalhoun »

malgorithms wrote: post #86
cissou wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the merchant fee is .5% with Strip/Bitcoin. With regular credit card payment processing, the fee is something like 2.25%. The difference could be shared equally between the merchant and their customers. Life would be 1% cheaper for everyone (kind of).

The problem with this is that, from the buyer's perspective, the price is almost always the same when using a credit card or alternative. And with a credit card, the buyer gets rewards back, typically 1% or so. So, sadly, using a credit card continues to have more protections, costs less, and has deferred payment. I don't think this is a good thing, just saying. I hold some bitcoins, but I never buy anything with the…

What you said is 100% correct, which is why companies accepting bitcoin need to give the entire ~2-3% discount to customers. Very few credit cards will match 2-3% rewards, and from the sellers perspective bitcoin is better than credit cards payments.

To name a few benefits:

- There are no chargebacks

- Funds are available immediately (though transferring from BTC to USD may take a day)

- You can accept payment from anyone anywhere in the world (harder with CC atm)

- Fraud detection isn't as important w/out chargebacks. Granted this is a concern for consumers, which is why they need solid security for their wallets. I think of it like cash transactions. You don't have to worry about someone coming into a store and claiming that someone spent their $5 bill with serial code 123-xyz after stealing it.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#133

Post by emodendroket »

venaoy wrote: post #100
lisa_henderson wrote: post #51

The Bitcoin community might want to take a deep breath and recognize where Bitcoin has the most real-world use. The idea that my mom will someday use Bitcoin to buy books online is about as realistic as the belief that, any minute now, youngsters will realize that the daily newspaper is better read in paper form, because of the texture and experience and the anonymity of paper. For that matter, I am a computer progra…

The world's simplest reasons why you might pay something using bitcoins is simply when this is the only way, or cheapest way, or safest way to make a transaction. Example #1: some merchants are hit really hard with fraud, such as intangible goods paid by international credit card transactions. So hard that they decided to stop selling internationally. These merchants discover that Bitcoin re-enables them to sell inte…

Unless I'm buying from my own family or something I'm not forfeiting the right to reverse a transaction if I do not get the goods I paid for just to earn a small discount.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#134

Post by joncalhoun »

MBCook wrote: post #102
cissou wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that the merchant fee is .5% with Strip/Bitcoin. With regular credit card payment processing, the fee is something like 2.25%. The difference could be shared equally between the merchant and their customers. Life would be 1% cheaper for everyone (kind of).

If a merchant gives me 1% off to use Bitcoin so they don't have to pay the transaction fees... I'm not going to take it. Even at 5%. I'd rather have the ability to do chargebacks if something goes wrong.

Would you do it for a percentage greater than your CC rewards if you trusted the seller?

For example, Amazon has never screwed me on a single purchase. If I have an issue they fix it, which is a large part of why I often pay 5-10% more for products on Amazon.com instead of XYZ.com. Would you use BTC for a 2% discount with sellers like this?

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#135

Post by aioprisan »

derefr wrote: post #111
thesimon wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's probably more referring to the customers side. Why should I buy bitcoins for let's say $300 and risk them being worth $200 in a few weeks (which would cost me 33%) instead of keeping my money and paying directly (maybe 3% fees for the seller)?

It's a much more nuanced question if you don't hold USD in the first place. Here I have a choice between holding BTC and holding CAD. Both fluctuate compared to the prices of stuff I want to buy from US retailers.

They both fluctuate, but not that much. If you saw that much fluctuation in CAD to USD conversion, no US based company would sell goods in Canada. Just look at what happened due to the ruble value fluctuations last month.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#136

Post by sah88 »

joncalhoun wrote: post #134
MBCook wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a merchant gives me 1% off to use Bitcoin so they don't have to pay the transaction fees... I'm not going to take it. Even at 5%. I'd rather have the ability to do chargebacks if something goes wrong.

Would you do it for a percentage greater than your CC rewards if you trusted the seller? For example, Amazon has never screwed me on a single purchase. If I have an issue they fix it, which is a large part of why I often pay 5-10% more for products on Amazon.com instead of XYZ.com. Would you use BTC for a 2% discount with sellers like this?

Unless you're buying large amounts you're probably going to pay 2+% just to get the bitcoins.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#137

Post by aioprisan »

drcode wrote: post #93
lisa_henderson wrote: post #51

The Bitcoin community might want to take a deep breath and recognize where Bitcoin has the most real-world use. The idea that my mom will someday use Bitcoin to buy books online is about as realistic as the belief that, any minute now, youngsters will realize that the daily newspaper is better read in paper form, because of the texture and experience and the anonymity of paper. For that matter, I am a computer progra…

I disagree somwhat- We're slowly moving into a new economy where the distinction between buyers and sellers is blurring: Instead of everyone making their purchases from a few megacorp sellers, the future will be one where any person may have a small shop or sell a small product with a small unit price (maybe even your mom someday.) In that type of environment, it is helpful to have a payment system that is more "sell…

How is that creating a blur between buyers and sellers? We've always had small businesses and will continue to have both small businesses and large corporations. I don't understand the small unit price correlation to a small business. The 1-2% savings in processing fees right now are heavily offset by the instability of the currency. Not being able to plan your cost of goods sold and having predictable formulas for this will kill a business a heck of a lot more than an extra percentage point for processing via convenient electronic payments.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#138

Post by sah88 »

derefr wrote: post #111
thesimon wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's probably more referring to the customers side. Why should I buy bitcoins for let's say $300 and risk them being worth $200 in a few weeks (which would cost me 33%) instead of keeping my money and paying directly (maybe 3% fees for the seller)?

It's a much more nuanced question if you don't hold USD in the first place. Here I have a choice between holding BTC and holding CAD. Both fluctuate compared to the prices of stuff I want to buy from US retailers.

If you are in Canada that isn't really true. It is extremely easy to open a USD denominated bank account and credit card. Couple banks have Euro accounts as well.

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#139

Post by bduerst »

venaoy wrote: post #100
lisa_henderson wrote: post #51

The Bitcoin community might want to take a deep breath and recognize where Bitcoin has the most real-world use. The idea that my mom will someday use Bitcoin to buy books online is about as realistic as the belief that, any minute now, youngsters will realize that the daily newspaper is better read in paper form, because of the texture and experience and the anonymity of paper. For that matter, I am a computer progra…

The world's simplest reasons why you might pay something using bitcoins is simply when this is the only way, or cheapest way, or safest way to make a transaction. Example #1: some merchants are hit really hard with fraud, such as intangible goods paid by international credit card transactions. So hard that they decided to stop selling internationally. These merchants discover that Bitcoin re-enables them to sell inte…

Hmmm, some of these hypotheticals are wishful thinking.

For example 1, it's a double edged sword. As a seller, no international chargebacks sounds like a wet dream! As a buyer, why would I use bitcoin internationally when I can't reverse my transaction if they don't deliver?

Example 2 seems legit for now. If and when bitcoin becomes more mainstream, you'll see an increased transactional cost from overhead and risk mitigation, so the transactional savings will probably not always be there.

Since we don't gift each other bitcoins, Example 3 isn't a problem.

Example 4 is laughable because in the last week, four Bitcoin exchanges were hacked (or robbed by the owners - still TBD) and people who had their coins in those exchanges lost it all.

Skimming CC numbers is for sure an issue for credit cards, but as someone who has had their credit card skimmed, my issuer locked my account within 2 hours of fraudulent activity, called me, and eventually gave me my money back. How many Mt. Gox users got their money back?

Re: Stripe: Bitcoin

#140

Post by foobarqux »

nailer wrote: post #19

Greg Brockman from Stripe said this is exactly what it would take for BTC to take off commercially a year ago: (after discussing why regular people probably don't want to store value in BitCoins) > However, Bitcoin has huge potential as a way to transport value. It’s surprisingly difficult to move money today ...compounding the issue, value transport becomes especially challenging as soon as there’s a regional border…

I thought he said BTC wouldn't succeed as a payment mechanism, but might as a settlement and clearing one.
Post reply on HN