Germany Circular Economy on Nostr: # Benefits of bitcoin for businesses ## Introduction If you have a business, and you ...
# Benefits of bitcoin for businesses
## Introduction
If you have a business, and you are thinking what bitcoin can do for you, you are in the right place.
As a merchant/business, bitcoin can give you the following benefits:
- New customer base
- Cheaper fees than card payments
- No payment delay like for card payments
- No chargebacks
- Simple way to lock a payment
- Collect tips
- Reward customers
- Reward customer reviews
- and many more...
## New customer base
If you start to accept bitcoin, you will open your business for bitcoin holders.
In this case, you can add your business to btcmap.org, and then bitcoiners will easily find you. If you are among the first businesses in your city, you might get a higher inflow. So worth a try.
## Cheaper fees than card payments
Generally you have to pay 3 types of fees (interchange fees, payment processor fees, assessment fees) if you want to accept card payments.
The interchange and assessment fee goes to the card manufacturer (Visa, Mastercard, etc), and the payment processor fee goes to the payment processing company.
Some payment processors give you an easy fee structure (more expensive on average), others give you more competitive rates by not giving general fees. See some providers in EU:
- Stripe
- EEA cards: 1.5% + €0.25
- Premium EEA cards: 1.9% + €0.25
- UK cards: 2.5% + €0.25 |
- International cards: 3.25% + €0.25
- Extra costs (e.g. POS device / cardreader)
- [Link](https://stripe.com/en-de/pricing)
- Ayden
- General: €0.11 + payment method fee
- Mastecard / Visa / Maestro / G-Pay / ApplePay: €0.11 + 0.6% + interchange fee
- [Link](https://www.adyen.com/pricing)
- GoCardless
- Domestic: 1% + €0.2
- International: 2% + €0.2
- [Link](https://gocardless.com/de-de/preise/)
- BlueSnap
- EEU cards: 1.4% + €0.25
- [Link](https://www.bluesnap.com/payment-gateway-pricing/)
If you accept bitcoin without a payment processor, you can accept bitcoin for free. You only have to pay to send it forward, or convert it to euro. Or you can choose to use payment processors, where fees may apply for receiving, sending forward and converting your bitcoin, but you will get additional services as well.
## No payment delay like for payment with cards
Payment delay means, after how much time you receive the money, that the customer paid via credit card. So how much time it takes after payment, that you can withdraw the money, that was paid to you. (With cash, it's instant!)
- Stripe:
- 3 days
- [Link](https://docs.stripe.com/payouts#standard-payout-timing)
- Ayden: Website does not say - GoCardless
- SEPA: 3 + 3 days
- [Link general](https://hub.gocardless.com/s/article/Introduction-to-payment-timings?language=en_GB)
- [Link SEPA](https://hub.gocardless.com/s/article/Eurozone-SEPA-payment-timings?language=en_GB) |
- BlueSnap
- 4 days
- [Link](https://support.bluesnap.com/docs/payout-method#payout-details-by-country-timing-currencies-and-payment-reference-support)
So at least 3 days, or more. But these are working days! So weekends and bank holidays are excluded.
With bitcoin, you recieve the money instantly.
## No chargebacks
Another big disadvantage of credit cards are the chargebacks. When the credit card company or bank can start a dispute process. In such cases, your transaction will be reverted, and you also have to pay extra for the revert. In many cases they are quite expensive.
In bitcoin there are no chargebacks. The payments are final, and can't be modified. If there is a dispute, and you have to send back the money, you have to initiate a new transaction.
## Simple way to lock payments
During online orders, you can choose to pay beforehand or on delivery. Usually paying beforehand is risky for the customer without seeing the product, and paying afterwards is a risk for your business. Therefore, in many cases, this is made an expensive option for the customer.
With bitcoin, you can make the process fulfill both sides. The customer makes a deposit, locks a payment to your bitcoin wallet, but does not send it. To receive the payment, you need a password, to unlock and receive the payment. Therefore, during delivery, the customer can pay the good, but the you are assured, that the money exist and even locked. Basically the customer has to give the delivery guy the password, and if it works, he can get the product.
For extra safety, you can also ask for a smaller other deposit during the online shopping period, which would be returned to the customer, on paying the invoice for the product. If the customer acts maliciously, he risks losing this deposit.
## Collect tips
With bitcoin, you can put out a QR code in your shop/website, onto which customers can send the tips.
Even you could make it possible, that customers can tip your employees individually. So you put out a QR code for each employee, and then they could get tips separately.
Or you could add this tip QR code to your receipts, so your buyers could tip after they received the product or service.
## Reward customers
You could reward your customers with bitcoin. The options here are endless, only your imagination defines the limit.
What bitcoin adds here is you can simply send really small payments to your customers, borderless, cheap and needing too much information to make it uncomfortable. Also you don't lock them in with a coupon, which sends the signal that you are confident that your products are high quality. So they are better to build a good business - customer relationship then usual coupons.
Some possible ideas for rewarding:
- % bitcoin cashback for products
- reward customer reviews
- reward customer photos
- reward loyalty
- bitcoin reward packed in the product
- etc
## Introduction
If you have a business, and you are thinking what bitcoin can do for you, you are in the right place.
As a merchant/business, bitcoin can give you the following benefits:
- New customer base
- Cheaper fees than card payments
- No payment delay like for card payments
- No chargebacks
- Simple way to lock a payment
- Collect tips
- Reward customers
- Reward customer reviews
- and many more...
## New customer base
If you start to accept bitcoin, you will open your business for bitcoin holders.
In this case, you can add your business to btcmap.org, and then bitcoiners will easily find you. If you are among the first businesses in your city, you might get a higher inflow. So worth a try.
## Cheaper fees than card payments
Generally you have to pay 3 types of fees (interchange fees, payment processor fees, assessment fees) if you want to accept card payments.
The interchange and assessment fee goes to the card manufacturer (Visa, Mastercard, etc), and the payment processor fee goes to the payment processing company.
Some payment processors give you an easy fee structure (more expensive on average), others give you more competitive rates by not giving general fees. See some providers in EU:
- Stripe
- EEA cards: 1.5% + €0.25
- Premium EEA cards: 1.9% + €0.25
- UK cards: 2.5% + €0.25 |
- International cards: 3.25% + €0.25
- Extra costs (e.g. POS device / cardreader)
- [Link](https://stripe.com/en-de/pricing)
- Ayden
- General: €0.11 + payment method fee
- Mastecard / Visa / Maestro / G-Pay / ApplePay: €0.11 + 0.6% + interchange fee
- [Link](https://www.adyen.com/pricing)
- GoCardless
- Domestic: 1% + €0.2
- International: 2% + €0.2
- [Link](https://gocardless.com/de-de/preise/)
- BlueSnap
- EEU cards: 1.4% + €0.25
- [Link](https://www.bluesnap.com/payment-gateway-pricing/)
If you accept bitcoin without a payment processor, you can accept bitcoin for free. You only have to pay to send it forward, or convert it to euro. Or you can choose to use payment processors, where fees may apply for receiving, sending forward and converting your bitcoin, but you will get additional services as well.
## No payment delay like for payment with cards
Payment delay means, after how much time you receive the money, that the customer paid via credit card. So how much time it takes after payment, that you can withdraw the money, that was paid to you. (With cash, it's instant!)
- Stripe:
- 3 days
- [Link](https://docs.stripe.com/payouts#standard-payout-timing)
- Ayden: Website does not say - GoCardless
- SEPA: 3 + 3 days
- [Link general](https://hub.gocardless.com/s/article/Introduction-to-payment-timings?language=en_GB)
- [Link SEPA](https://hub.gocardless.com/s/article/Eurozone-SEPA-payment-timings?language=en_GB) |
- BlueSnap
- 4 days
- [Link](https://support.bluesnap.com/docs/payout-method#payout-details-by-country-timing-currencies-and-payment-reference-support)
So at least 3 days, or more. But these are working days! So weekends and bank holidays are excluded.
With bitcoin, you recieve the money instantly.
## No chargebacks
Another big disadvantage of credit cards are the chargebacks. When the credit card company or bank can start a dispute process. In such cases, your transaction will be reverted, and you also have to pay extra for the revert. In many cases they are quite expensive.
In bitcoin there are no chargebacks. The payments are final, and can't be modified. If there is a dispute, and you have to send back the money, you have to initiate a new transaction.
## Simple way to lock payments
During online orders, you can choose to pay beforehand or on delivery. Usually paying beforehand is risky for the customer without seeing the product, and paying afterwards is a risk for your business. Therefore, in many cases, this is made an expensive option for the customer.
With bitcoin, you can make the process fulfill both sides. The customer makes a deposit, locks a payment to your bitcoin wallet, but does not send it. To receive the payment, you need a password, to unlock and receive the payment. Therefore, during delivery, the customer can pay the good, but the you are assured, that the money exist and even locked. Basically the customer has to give the delivery guy the password, and if it works, he can get the product.
For extra safety, you can also ask for a smaller other deposit during the online shopping period, which would be returned to the customer, on paying the invoice for the product. If the customer acts maliciously, he risks losing this deposit.
## Collect tips
With bitcoin, you can put out a QR code in your shop/website, onto which customers can send the tips.
Even you could make it possible, that customers can tip your employees individually. So you put out a QR code for each employee, and then they could get tips separately.
Or you could add this tip QR code to your receipts, so your buyers could tip after they received the product or service.
## Reward customers
You could reward your customers with bitcoin. The options here are endless, only your imagination defines the limit.
What bitcoin adds here is you can simply send really small payments to your customers, borderless, cheap and needing too much information to make it uncomfortable. Also you don't lock them in with a coupon, which sends the signal that you are confident that your products are high quality. So they are better to build a good business - customer relationship then usual coupons.
Some possible ideas for rewarding:
- % bitcoin cashback for products
- reward customer reviews
- reward customer photos
- reward loyalty
- bitcoin reward packed in the product
- etc