One of the barometers that I'm using is to try and sell goods here on the forum. Afterall, everyone here understands Bitcoin so if I can't sell here, then the rest of the world surely isn't ready yet. So far my result has been less than impressive. No minimum bid, 80+ views, no offers. I know my goods have value because I have a locked in price from Amazon as to what they would be willing to give me for my item.
I've seen estimates of Amazon conversion rates of 20-25% for their own products. So even if you had the same level of credibility and trust as Amazon, and your views were from visitors you are targeting that are interested in buying the products you sell, you couldn't expect more than 20 sales. But you don't have the credibility and trust that Amazon has. If you had a professional website with good product presentations, visible mailing address, telephone number, and e-mail address and other credible websites around the Internet speaks positive of you, you could probably expect 2-5% conversion rate, and up to 4 sales. If you don't even have that, then I'm not surprised that you don't have any sales after just 80 views. It doesn't mean that Bitcoin is at fault. Try split testing BTC/USD and compare the difference in conversion rate. I doubt you will see much difference.
You make some good points but how do you build credibility based on a currency that uses anonymity as one of its advantages? I could construct a website but I'm not in the market to be a larger seller.
I guess what I'm asking is, if the most bullish of Bitcoin users (presumably those here on the forum) are unwilling to use Bitcoin due to its anonymity, how can we expect the mainstream public to embrace it? Other than face to face transactions, I see this as a potential problem.
I do recognize that it is a very small community and it could very well be that no one is particularly interested in what I'm trying to sell. Although if that's the case why would you click the link when the product for sale is very clearly stated in the title? Curiosity I suppose but surely a fraction of those 80 views must have been some interest?