Main point...
You guys are missing the point here.
It's a tall order to make someone become an investor by exposing them to large foreign exchange risk (currency fluctuation risk) simply because they want to save money on wire fees and credit card fees, which seems to be what many champion when discussing Bitcoin. There is no point in highlighting the fact that BTC can save any money on fees because it likely can't.
It is simply a tool for investors to make purchases with their investment. It doesn't offer the public a cheaper transactional fee structure. It forces them to become investors by making them take on enormous currency exchange risk (USD/BTC) in order to, under perfect circumstances, save maybe 1% in various transactional fees because:
A) 99.9% of online purchases are through BitPay and their 1% charge
B) Spread is 0.5% - 1% (or 5%+ during high volatility) and must be accounted into sale price through BitPay
C) Foreign exchange risk (USD/BTC fluctuations) are greater than any CC or wire fee
D) Paypal offers free intra-border money transfer, so this does not help people who aren't already invested in BTC
E) Paypal offers low cost international money transfer, ditto.
So champion it for what it is, an investment that allows investors to make purchases with their investment. Only with a great deal of luck will it save anyone else anything on transaction fees.
Because only investors are incentivized to make purchases with BTC, and because there is an incentive for investors to hoard, I see this as something that limits BTC online transactions (and BitPay because 99.9% of merchants will only accept through them).
And If people begin making substantial online purchases with BTC, because these purchases will likely be made by investors who already hold substantial coins, the market will likely trend lower because there will be no off-setting transaction for the BTC to USD (or whichever currency) conversion that happens through BitPay.....again, because almost all merchants accept Bitcoin through BitPay.
Lower fees....debatable. We just moved from from $166+ to $157 in no time. That transaction just became 5%+ more expensive if I purchased @ $166, not including spread and BitPay transaction fees. Actually, while I'm writing this we are now at $153.....so much more expensive than any CC fee. This is the foreign exchange risk I'm talking about. $166 - $153 is almost 8% in a matter of minutes.....plus 1% for BitPay and 1% for the spread (now at 1.5% due to volatility).
So if I had bought a few minutes ago at $166 BTC for a transaction that just occurred, it would have cost 10%.......way higher than any credit card fee.
All of these merchants that are 'accepting Bitcoin' are really accepting USD through BitPay. 99.9% of Merchants will likely never accept Bitcoin directly due to extreme foreign exchange risk.
Other than for very niche privacy related applications that are likely international, there is no reason to go USD-BTC-USD by converting USD to BTC to purchase something with bitcoins that will be converted immediately back into USD.....unless one already holds BTC as an investment.
And the people that invest are hoarding, for the most part, so I see this as something that will stunt BitPay's growth. And if BitPay does grow tremendously, the market would likely trend down because A) USD-BTC-USD (mainly for gambling and niche privacy related uses) would be an offsetting transaction that should not move the market and B) investors that have been holding bitcoins are very likely the main consumers transacting, so if they began making a huge number of online purchases the market would, if anything, trend lower because 99.9% of merchants must use BitPay and immediately convert to USD.
I see Bitcoin's utility in transnational transactions, albeit with high foreign exchange risk. For intra-border (within the US) transactions, the only reason to transact is if you are already an investor. It's a tall order to ask the general public to invest in Bitcoin or for merchants to accept it directly simply to save, at best, 1% on transaction fees. BitPay charges 1% and the BTC spread is usually 0.5% - 1% (or 5%+ during high volatility), and merchants must account for the spread when pricing through BitPay, so at a minimum the fees are still 1.5% - 2% split by the purchaser and the merchant. This doesn't include the extreme foreign exchange risk assumed by the purchaser (or merchant if they chose to accept Bitcoin and not BitPay), which can easily dwarf CC fees in a very short time.
And as much as I dislike Paypal, they offer completely free money transfers (non-purchase related, free for sender & receiver) that are certainly as easy if not easier than purchasing Bitcoin. They also offer very low international transfer rates (0.5% - 2%).