Buying Products with Lightning - A Weekend Discussion \ stacker news ~bitcoin

Buying Products with Lightning - A Weekend Discussion

2411 sats \ 14 comments \ @sn 28 May 2023 bitcoin

Merchants all over the world now accept Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network, a trend which has accelerated in a meaningful way over the last few years.

Despite the recent surge in adoption, there are likely hundreds, maybe thousands, of merchants who don't accept Lightning payments for every one that does.

We thought it would make for a good discussion to reflect on the current state of Lightning Network merchant adoption.

A few questions to consider:

What was the last thing you bought over the Lightning Network?
How was your purchase experience?
Was it a faster or slower process than it would have been without Bitcoin?
If you haven't bought anything over the Lightning Network before, what is holding you back?
What improvements would you like to see Lightning merchants introduce to their purchase flow?
What steps should the Bitcoin community take to help all merchants accept Lightning payments?

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790 sats \ 0 replies \ @beorange 28 May 2023

What was the last thing you bought over the Lightning Network?

Food

How was your purchase experience?

Smooth

Was it a faster or slower process than it would have been without Bitcoin?

Way faster, less than 5 seconds

Things are ready for adoption, the problems at the moment are not technical. We need to build tools and processes that are easier for non-technical people to securely use it in their daily lives.

650 sats \ 0 replies \ @gnilma 28 May 2023

I think the most I’ve used the Lightning is for zaps on nostr and boosts on Fountain. Surprisingly, I’ve never had to use the 2k sats I sent into Stacker News, and is able to generate positive sats flow from comments and posts; either you guys tip very well or I’m not tipping enough, or probably both.

In real life, I try to seek out merchant that support bitcoin, especially Lightning, but they are few and rare in my city. Otherwise, I use it mostly when trying to on board / orange pill family and friends. I would get them to download Phoenix and send them 30k or 40k sats to show them how easy it is to use bitcoin on Lightning.

The last time I paid with Lightning was donating to my local BitDevs meetup for the venue rental. The experience was quick and easy, as they run their own BTC Pay Server. It definitely was a faster process than it would have been without bitcoin, and I would like to also add that it was more private as I always donate anonymously.

Finally, I think education and training will help merchants accept Lightning. But one most important thing for them to adopt is people actually using bitcoin and Lightning at their businesses. When merchants see a clear and considerable amount of demand for Lightning payments, they will not want to miss out and will make an effort to adopt.

587 sats \ 2 replies \ @jk_14 28 May 2023

What steps should the Bitcoin community take to help all merchants accept Lightning payments?

All LN wallets must support transactions via NFC (with unlocked phone of payer and pop-up confirmation window) Then it will be faster process than current hassle with scanning QR codes.

418 sats \ 1 reply \ @Athena_Alpha 29 May 2023

Yup. Tap to pay is amazing and Bitcoin / Lightning solutions need to absolutely prioritise it more. QR should also always be displayed or available, but tapping is just so much quicker as it's the data transfer AND authorisation rolled into one action

464 sats \ 0 replies \ @jk_14 29 May 2023

of course, QR should also always be displayed or available (not all people have NFC in their phones) you simply have two options active simultaneously, and if you choose "tap to pay" - that's your decision (and comfort) only

522 sats \ 0 replies \ @dgy 29 May 2023

I bought recently some books at konsensus.network (https://bitcoinbook.shop/). Paying with lightning works like a charm. I used it several times before.

522 sats \ 0 replies \ @duvel 29 May 2023

Unfortunately I don't remember what I bought with Lightning. Most of the things I buy online are over the Bitcoin network. I wanted to have an online piano subscription, to learn piano, but they only accepted creditcard payments. I ask if I could pay with Bitcoin and that was possible :-) They weren't were familiar with Bitcoin, but open to suggestions. Maybe to suggest using Phoenix wallet?

To help merchants accept Lightning payments, I think giving a demo workshop (free or paid) would be the best thing. As a merchant you get to experience it, not only see it. Besides that, a merchant for the first time sees a huge number of possibilities on the Lightning network to acquire new customers and have new business models.

497 sats \ 0 replies \ @2bithits 29 May 2023

Yes, I've also found this to be a problem. Hopefully with the spike in fees more merchants will get some lightning solutions set up.

I'd like to see a better non custodial way of running a lightning node. Maybe a node in the box with channels already set up that they could buy as a package.

I recently bought a PoS & a book. I like instant settlement for small purchases.

494 sats \ 0 replies \ @btcphoto 28 May 2023

Bought wakame grown in Ireland from eichenhain.com, 0 sats in fees, perfect experience lol.

377 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin 29 May 2023

What was the last thing you bought over the Lightning Network?

My beers. Every fucking day I go to my regular bar and drink at least 1 beer paid with sats. Just to fuck around and show to the other consumers how I pay it with my awesome NFC LNURL card (made by Plebtag)

How was your purchase experience?

I am buying with BTC/LN mostly in person, sometimes online. The experience is great! The feeling that you fuck the banks every day is awesome.

Was it a faster or slower process than it would have been without Bitcoin?

Is not about being faster or cheaper. The whole point of using BTC/LN is to FUCK THE BANKS AND GOVS. I do not care if is more expensive or harder with BTC. Freedom is not cheap or easy.

What improvements would you like to see Lightning merchants introduce to their purchase flow?

Just more acceptance. People are afraid nowadays to accept BTC. Their mentality is deep into fiat mindset and statism.... is hard to change them.

What steps should the Bitcoin community take to help all merchants accept Lightning payments?

I help merchants to accept BTC for about 6 years now... They need education, basic education about money, about bitcoin, about processes.

To help them you first need to know very well Bitcoin and many solutions, test them, learn them BEFORE going to a merchant and ask "why do you not accept Bitcoin?" because they will come with many questions and if you are not well prepared and even worse you give them the wrong answer, you are doing more harm than good.

Each merchant have its own system or method of doing his business. First you MUST listen their need and after that think about the best solution for their NEED. A wallet or an app that you use frequently is NOT the best solution for that merchant, it is only for you. So don't start by recommending what you use day to day... Find the solution that FIX their problem. And are many solutions out there. STUDY THEM!

432 sats \ 0 replies \ @shyfire 29 May 2023

I bought 4 lbs of coffee beans from a merchant in El Salvador. Went smooth as silk.

What steps should the Bitcoin community take to help all merchants accept Lightning payments?

Buy as much as you can using lightning. When merchants see adoption they will add support for it.

359 sats \ 0 replies \ @muteness11 29 May 2023

never bought anything with LN .... I only use it in my Bitcoin workshops just to demo transactions for participants (BEST tip to orange pill)

357 sats \ 0 replies \ @m00ninite 29 May 2023

My last usage of lightning was a donation, and it took about 2 seconds since I have Alby set up in my browser. Can't remember the last time I ordered something with it, but the experience was similarly fast. The desktop experience with a wallet built into the browser is such an insanely good one, in some ways even better than using PayPal.

For offline merchants (eg: coffee shop), many business owners just don't want to deal with the accounting headache of accepting bitcoin.. But they might be more open to accepting lightning tips through a static QR!

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr 28 May 2023

i’d love to see more Lightning merchants make a point of offering discounts for paying via Lightning.

these discounts could be upwards of 5-10% for low-value items and still the merchant would come out ahead.