pull down to refresh

I am calling for all SN users having a shop, commerce etc or even if they have friends with shops that start accepting Bitcoin.

Please share here your story (no need to give specific location details if you do not want to dox yourself), just explain how was your process and what would like to be better:

  • type of shop your have (online or brick&mortar)
  • type of commerce (retail, grocery, bar etc)
  • how was the onboarding process
  • what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later
  • how you improved your use of bitcoin apps
  • how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment")
  • anything you would like to share

We need more voice from Bitcoin merchants! Let's hear them!

This my story when living in Brisbane in 2017:

  • type of shop your have : NONE
  • type of commerce : service provider. I had a domestic cleaning company
  • how was the onboarding process : At the end of the fiscal year, we sent a letter to our 40 clients telling then that we'll be accepting BTC as payment method and explaining what Bitcoin is, where to buy it, how to send it, etc. From the 40 clients, only 2 asked more questions about this new money. And at the end, only 1 client accepted to pay us with BTC. We were very lucky because it was our biggest client, so it was a great way to do DCA without KYC.
  • what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later : At that moment I was using MyCelium wallet and the client was paying us directly from the exchange Cointree.
  • how you improved your use of bitcoin apps : Now days, if I need to send an invoice I'll be using Phoenix wallet over the Lightning Network. In 2017 I didn't know about it yet.
  • how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment") : In my mind all the BTC received were an investment; for tax authorities, they didn't know about it.
  • anything you would like to share: If you are a freelancer or own a small business you have a good opportunity to make your business special, just accept BTC as a payment method Not many people will pay you with BTC but the small % of payment received would make a difference for you over time.

Don't be shy to tell your clients you're a BITCOINER

reply

Thanks for sharing another nice experience!

so it was a great way to do DCA without KYC.

This is really good indeed. Good point.

If you are a freelancer or own a small business you have a good opportunity to make your business special, just accept BTC as a payment method Not many people will pay you with BTC but the small % of payment received would make a difference for you over time.

EXACTLY THIS! Well done sir.

reply

Related, I put up a website last week dedicated to online bitcoin-accepting stores for non-bitcoin-related products. https://circularbtc.xyz

The idea is that if bitcoiners buy from bitcoiners as much as possible, while selling to both bitcoiners and nocoiners, it is sort of like having net exports, which makes ngu.

reply

This is great.. why didn't you share it in SN before? Will be interesting to hear from them.

reply

Thanks. I did. Actually managed to get quite a bit of engagement.
#242308

reply

Hey great thread thanks for sharing! Here's some e-commerce sites that do bitcoin payments:

https://www.mushmoresupplements.com/ (mushroom supplements)
https://freemansperspective.com/ (subscription newsletter and writings)
https://buckeyebitcoin.com/ (apparrel)
https://www.velascommerce.com/ (software devs)

reply

Super cool!
Please if you can invite them to SN and share with us their onboarding experiences.
Lead by examples.
THIS IS GENTLEMEN !

PS: I like that you also put some few indications how to start at the bottom of the page. Good!

type of shop your have (online or brick&mortar)
Online

type of commerce (retail, grocery, bar etc)
Software development (web dev, mobile apps, custom software)

how was the onboarding process
We’ve been working on helping businesses accept bitcoin payments for years, including offering “pay with bitcoin” option for all of our services. We also offer btc payments to our devs as an option.

It’s tough but rewarding! We are always looking at new tools for invoicing, accounting and bookkeeping as well as secure storage and business usage tools.

what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later
Multi-sig Electrum wallets
Offline cold storage hardware wallets
BTCPay Server with pruned bitcoin node
LND nodes

how you improved your use of bitcoin apps
Casa.keys is great for industrial grade security advice
BTCPay server is the go-to for e-commerce
Electrum is a really good hot wallet for multi-sig accounts that multiple partners need access / authorization for.

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment")
Uff it’s super painful from an accounting side in the USA. We consider it as both an investment (whatever we can save) and cash for paying the bills and developers.

We’ve worked on our bookkeeping process over many years and it’s really starting to get easier now.

anything you would like to share
Always consider security best practices: offline storage, hardware wallets and multisig. For payments consider lightning, especially for e-commerce. Make sure you promote your business to bitcoiners!

reply

impressive.... (insert Darth Vader voice here)
Thanks for sharing!

reply

Type of Shop
Farmer selling veggies at farm gate and some online sales (honey, crop shares sold in advance )

onboarding process
Introduced 21Lessons.com
Learned diff btwn on-chain and LN
Set up Wallet of Satoshi and used point of sale for first IRL purchase

what tools / apps using or plan to use
BTCPayserver to be implemented for online sales transactions - on-chain payment ok but need to understand about hosting own node or if better to use LSP like voltage

Sparrow for coin control and moving to cold storage vault

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting
working on this - not clear as to how to integrate into bookkeeping (Zaprite looking promising) or how to hold on balance sheet

what I could use help with
payments are sitting in WOS and plan is needed to move to HODL storage

Very open to hearing opinions that emphasize self sovereignty and maintaining good digital hygiene:)

reply

Thank you for your story!

reply

deleted by author

reply

Thanks for sharing your experience! Amazing, so you are quite OG, nice.
I see you mention multisig, that means funds are managed by multiple users from the company, right? Very interesting use case.

just need to switch the chip in your mind and make it happen

THiS is gentlemen!

how to deal with exchange rates and tax declarations

So you are not counting bitcoins as cash? Or is more about the exchange rates for the international currency accounting?
Usually a business accounting, for tax related, will keep everything in one currency (the one in which is paying taxes), no mention at all about btc. BTC is cash, in this case is just a form of payment, like paypal for example. All the invoices are made in the taxing currency not in btc. Taxma n not even have to know that was paid in btc.

an't believe there're not many business owners around here

Indeed I was expecting more merchants to come. We need to hear these amazing experiences and take them as examples.

Thank you sir for your great contribution!

reply

deleted by author

reply

Fair enough, I don't want you to doxx more here.
I am just curious about how people "see" bitcoin in their accounting.

reply

deleted by author

reply

wow this is nice!
Thanks for the answer. I hope others will follow your example.
You did all by yourself from the beginning or you got help from a friend?
So as I understand the business is a physical place but you charge btc online from web? On site you have also payments for other additional products/services, so customers pay in person with BTC?

reply

deleted by author