One of my clients recently requested to accept Bitcoins at their eCommerce store. Like a good business person, I said no problem! I promised this because I knew that I could easily get a handle of all this Bitcoin mania and learn how it works and most importantly how to enable it and keep my client secure and sell their products with confidence.
After doing a lot of research, there is still much to learn. My concern is the volatility of the value of Bitcoin. The jury is still out for me as to whether Bitcoins are here to stay. But I am willing to play along with caution. I will accept Bitcoin as a new experiment.
Check out the value of 1 BTC :
Notice: Prices are now (by default) gathered from multiple Bitcoin markets, and averaged by trade volume..
What is a Bitcoin?
(source wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin )
Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer payment system and digital currency introduced as open source software in 2009 by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto. It is a cryptocurrency, so-called because it uses cryptography to control the creation and transfer of money.[5] Conventionally “Bitcoin” capitalized refers to the technology and network whereas lowercase “bitcoins” refers to the currency itself.[6]
Bitcoins are created by a process called mining in which participants verify and record payments in exchange for transaction fees and newly minted bitcoins.[7] Users send and receive bitcoins using wallet software on a personal computer, mobile device or on the web. Bitcoins can be obtained by mining or in exchange for products, services, or other currencies.[8]
For Merchants:
I think that Coinbase and Bitpay are the current leaders in accepting Bitcoin payments in an all-in-one solution.
Both have WordPress Plugins and are easy to integrate into your website.
Coinbase
Coinbase is a more full service approach. It combines:
- an online wallet
- the ability to transfer money from a bank account
- the ability purchase bitcoin directly through their service (though the BTC actually comes from the major exchanges)
- payment processing similar to BitPay
WordPress ecommerce bitcoin plugin
(as of 1/28/2014 WordPress Plugin)
Shopping Cart Solutions it supports: Woocommerce, Magento, Zencart, WP e-Commerce
Coinbase Pricing
It’s free for now. No fees.
https://coinbase.com/merchants
Special promotion:
- 0% fees up to $1 million when you use the Instant Exchange Method.
- Coinbase charge 1% to convert bitcoin into your local currency.
- Note that your bank or payout method may have additional fees that do not go to Coinbase. For example, there is a $0.15 per ACH bank payout fee in the U.S.
Bitpay
Very focused on Ecommerce integration into WordPress Websites:
WordPress ecommerce bitcoin plugin:
– magento, whmcs, woocommerce, ecwid, opencart, zen cart
virtue mart, prestashop, drupal 7, Drupal 6, x-cart, c:ceo
Fulfillment by Amazon.com
– must have WordPress Website:
– woocommerce
– bitpay woocommerce
Bitpay Pricing
has 4 different payment types:
https://bitpay.com/pricing
1- Starter: at 1% per transaction fee
2- Professional: $30/month 0% transaction fees
3- Business: $300/month
4- Enterprise: $3000/month
What do you think? Is this a passing fad or a strong contender? I’d love to hear your opinion.
Please leave your opinions in the comments section below.
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I’ve included some resources below including 2 infographics.
Resources:
https://bitcoin.org/en/resources