As Bitcoin is now widely known for having numerous advantages in the modern-day business and finances, many small businesses are considering including BTC as a regular payment asset. E-commerce stores should be aware that there are 3 main advantages of using Bitcoin: Bitcoin is chargeback-proof, there are low or no fees included, and including Bitcoin can attract new customers.
No chargeback costs
In the case of credit card payments, the process can be reversed, but with Bitcoin, the transaction cannot be reversed. Once the coins are sent to another user, the sender cannot retrieve the funds without merchant's agreement. So, it means that there are no chargeback costs. It also makes very complicated for suspicious people to make any e-commerce fraud.
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Low transaction fees
As Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not regulated by any central authority, government, bank, or any financial institution, there is no intermediary in BTC transactions. It means that the whole transaction process is happening directly between the sender and the recipient. Without the intermediary, there are no fees for processing Bitcoin transactions, or some very low fees compared to the credit card fees.
The CEO of LiquidVPN, David Cox, says that an e-commerce website can find a reliable Bitcoin processor for 0% when it comes to low sales and around 1% of bigger sales. He thinks that it is the main reason why Bitcoin or any other blockchain-based cryptocurrency could become the driving force of e-commerce to improve developing markets in Asia or the Middle East.
Bitcoin attracts new customers
Including BTC in small businesses helps find a totally new circle of customers, the Bitcoin holders. As goods and services are being purchased regularly by customers these days, and the number is increasing, accepting this cryptocurrency could be a very profitable move for any small business or shop.
The statistics show that BTC holders are usually people between 25 and 55, mostly male. However, if the wide adoption of Bitcoin continues in this fashion, we can expect some changes in customer demographics.
Advertising
Whether it's an online store or a small shop, once you have accepted Bitcoin payments, you have to make it public in a proper way, putting an accent on it, with big letters used. There is also a way to get an ad for free, like the "Bitcoin accepted here" from the Bitcoin wiki page.
DIY payment system
Those who possess some coding skills and wish to gain full control over their websites should find this process quite easy. First, they just have to upload the wallet address or QR code on the website so that the customers could scan it with their phones. The second part of the job is to have some checkout procedure that would get the delivery details and complete the transaction.
Third-party payment processor
For those who are not familiar with coding, the best option is to rely on a wide variety of digital currency payment processors. These processors include tools that can integrate BTC e-commerce into the website. In the list below, there are some of the most popular choices among BTC holders.
Coinbase
Coinbase is a well-known BTC payment processor that doesn't include fees. As soon as the amount of $1 million in transactions is reached, the 1% fee is applied. This company offers an HTML widget to input payment options to your site easily and has some plugins for Magento, WooCommerce, ZenCart, and WordPress. Some of the major names that use Coinbase include Expedia, Dell, and Overstock. Bricks-and-mortar businesses have the option to choose Coinbase's point of sale application.
BitPay
As its name says, BitPay is famous payment processor for all sorts of businesses. Just like other major payment processors, this one also has plugins for a wide range of e-commerce systems. Besides Magento, WooCommerce, Shopify, and other Saas shopping carts, BitPay works with Fulfilment service of Amazon.com, which is a service that offers merchants the option to sell and send goods via this e-commerce company.
BitPay tariff packages go from starter pack service with 1% fee to enterprise pack solution with $3000 per month. Enterprise pack offers features such as taking space on custom domains, VPN access, and export transactions to QuickBooks.
BIPS
The name BIPS stands for Bitcoin Internet Payment System. It is a payment processor that enables merchants to buy, sell, and trade BTC, but also to accept payments in cryptocurrency. Fees are 0% for standard payments processing.
BIPS also offers the option to store invoices and has some plugins for major names such as Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. For those who code their solutions, BIPS offers the API access. Among the variety of service, it's also worth mentioning their mobile-friendly checkout for websites. Just as CoinBase, bricks-and-mortar businesses have the option to choose Coinbase's point of sale application.
