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Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

blog.coinbase.com

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Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#31

Post by ballard »

pkfrank wrote: post #15

I think this is a great move. For one, it further cements their position as the best-funded, most-respected Bitcoin processor. Even putting $1mm figure into the ether raises their profile. Their investors (USV et al) definitely understand marketplaces back-and-forth and are in it for the long game. It makes sense to do anything possible to spur merchant adoption, and this is an eye-popping way to do it. Without merch…

Really cool giveaways (say a Tesla) seem to work for mass appeal on the other end of the double-end of this. And the press lap it up = free marketing. :)

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#32

Post by epscylonb »

Osiris wrote: post #28
cperciva wrote: post #19

Why can't coinbase follow Stripe's example of having a "publishable key" for payment forms? If it weren't for the headache of needing to make an API call to create a payment page (or button, or iframe), I would have added Coinbase support to Tarsnap months ago.

Something else that's a bit different is that you have to create an invoice/order number to send along to Coinbase, then mark that invoice as paid later. With Braintree/Stripe, the server makes a call to the service with the amount to charge and it gets back a success or fail which I can then immediately display to the user showing that the purchase went through. With Coinbase I haven't found a way to have that tight…

Probably because a bitcoin transaction doesn't confirm instantly? (a block is found once every 10 minutes on average).

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#34

Post by Osiris »

epscylonb wrote: post #32
Osiris wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something else that's a bit different is that you have to create an invoice/order number to send along to Coinbase, then mark that invoice as paid later. With Braintree/Stripe, the server makes a call to the service with the amount to charge and it gets back a success or fail which I can then immediately display to the user showing that the purchase went through. With Coinbase I haven't found a way to have that tight…

Probably because a bitcoin transaction doesn't confirm instantly? (a block is found once every 10 minutes on average).

Exactly. Which means developing a completely separate process for accepting bitcoins over credit cards. I worked on adding Coinbase to my small website a while back but the workflow of how it works is so different, I would have had to write a whole new sales process just for bitcoin.

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#35

Post by cperciva »

Osiris wrote: post #34
epscylonb wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because a bitcoin transaction doesn't confirm instantly? (a block is found once every 10 minutes on average).

Exactly. Which means developing a completely separate process for accepting bitcoins over credit cards. I worked on adding Coinbase to my small website a while back but the workflow of how it works is so different, I would have had to write a whole new sales process just for bitcoin.

It seems to me that the process for Coinbase could be exactly the same as the process for Paypal -- post a form with the amount to be paid and the account money should be paid to, and get a payment notification later.

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#36

Post by coldarchon »

carrja99 wrote: post #26
downandout wrote: post #22

Coinbase may have venture investment, but their customer service and week-long verification process will make this a nonstarter. If you want to read some of the more entertaining stories about their customer "service" read this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=147341.80 One of my favorites: Well they refunded the BTC. In order to get a response, all I had to do was post on several BTC related forums an…

"week long verification process"!? I really have to call B.S. on that one. I setup a coinbase account a few weeks ago and was verified within 3 days. I can't comment on their customer service as I have yet to need it.

well, I did this with an app on my tablet and the coinbase account was immediately usable for transactions, am I missing something?

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#39

Post by hackerboos »

jcampbell1 wrote: post #24

This is negative marketing. Anyone that does $1M+ a year in online sales doesn't want their payment vendor losing money. What I want are honest FAQs and simple integration options. "Free" is irrelevant. If I can get incremental customers and I hope that means $20,000 more bucks. I don't give a shit about $400 vs. $200 vs. $0. Hell, I pay Apple $6000, and I am only kinda mad.

>This is negative marketing. Anyone that does $1M+ a year in online sales doesn't want their payment vendor losing money.

Forgive me but won't they make money by selling the Bitcoins they receive?

Re: Process your first $1,000,000 of Bitcoin payments for free with Coinbase

#40

Post by beaner »

downandout wrote: post #22

Coinbase may have venture investment, but their customer service and week-long verification process will make this a nonstarter. If you want to read some of the more entertaining stories about their customer "service" read this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=147341.80 One of my favorites: Well they refunded the BTC. In order to get a response, all I had to do was post on several BTC related forums an…

> Well they refunded the BTC. In order to get a response, all I had to do was post on several BTC related forums and chat, contact the founders on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, and file a complaint with the government.

Note that the user did not actually have to do any of those things for a response. It made no difference. Coinbase has a queue and they get through the whole thing - you're attended to when they get to your place in line. You can make all those other posts if you want, however there's no evidence to suggest that any of it affects how quickly they get back to you.

Also, by "verification process" you really mean "ach bank transfer", which is not exactly something Coinbase invented. Interfacing with banks is difficult and time consuming and stupid - that's part of why bitcoin exists - but as long as ach is around you kind of have to deal with that. Two parties are involved in an ach transfer, and the banks are the end that take that long. You're blaming Coinbase for the problem they're helping to solve.

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