Quote from: franky1 on August 04, 2014, 10:29:35 PM

1. show them the bitpay 1% fee method, where they simply get FIAT next day in their account simply by showing a QR code. then leave them for a while to have received a couple customers and seen how easy it is to accept bitcoins

They never accepted bitcoins, they accepted fiat from a payment processor.

Quote from: franky1 on August 04, 2014, 10:29:35 PM

for me, merchant acceptance happens in 3 stages
1. show them the bitpay 1% fee method, where they simply get FIAT next day in their account simply by showing a QR code. then leave them for a while to have received a couple customers and seen how easy it is to accept bitcoins

2. show them how they can use their own addresses instead and cash out elsewhere, thus saving the 1% fee, and subtly explaining that they could hoard as an investment. and mention to them a few more details about bitcoins potential
3. if they show interest in hoarding coins then simply say "well dont cash out as much then" and then go into alot more detail about bitcoin

you simply DO NOT run at a FIAT merchant full speed throwing every bitcoin benefit and detail and techno babble at them before then have ever tried it. you also do not go into your first contact with a merchant with the mindset that they will be 100% investors at the first transaction.

its called being subtle, being smart and patient.

Accepting USD from Coinbase isn't really "trying it out". It's just another BTC->USD gateway you can use to pay them with. You could've also used a bitcoin-accepting virtual credit card, one of those websites where you pay in BTC and they order it for you, or in some cases transferred funds to their bank direct from an exchange. The merchant doesn't even see the bitcoin address when you order from coinbase/bitpay if you order online and in-store bitcoin payments aren't really ready yet, the way we currently do it is bad with all the fumbling of electronic devices, some customers not paying enough tx fees leading to confusion and waiting for confirmations.

We have tons of retailers who accept USD from Bitpay/Coinbase now. I use both of those services so many times every single day when buying stuff.

There is very little techno babble involved in accepting BTC or using it, Gavin Andressen used to (don't know if he still does) check if his grandmother could use the bitcoin-core client without any help, and if she could it passed the usability test and she always could. All most merchants need to do to get setup is install an already available free and open source plugin for their eCommerce software in most cases.

When do you think it's a good idea to start telling merchants who are currently "accepting bitcoins" that they are in fact not doing so at all? if you ask me that time is WAY overdue. We need to ween the retailers away from these services because right now what we have is identical to PayPal and it is starting to show the same flaws PayPal has. In fact if you ask me, it could turn out worse than PayPal.