Accepting Bitcoins for Your Ecommerce Site: How to Start

Bitcoin is defined as a digital currency which exists solely in the virtual world. One can use it to pay for products and services online. However, according to Christopher Burniske, an analyst at ARK Investment Management, it’s more than just a currency. It’s viable and fungible, which makes it a significant medium of payment in commerce transactions. In fact, it’s currently the most popular cryptocurrency as of today.

The good thing about using bitcoin for your e-commerce site is that customers from around the world can use it. It’s also anonymous and requires minimal fees, without chargeback and exchange rate risk. So how can you integrate it into your business?

1. Create the payment button.

Start off by posting a sign or a button that says you accept bitcoin payments. You can generate payment buttons by the use of button API. The code will look like this:

If it’s confusing, you can hire an expert web developer to help you out.

2. Choose a merchant solution.

Before accepting bitcoin payments on a website, you will need to choose a merchant solution which will accept the bitcoins. There are different bitcoin merchant solutions you can choose from. The most famous of which are Bitaps, BitPay, Blockonomics, Stripe, Coinbase, and Shopify. Of course, each of them has different things to offer. Review the merchant solution before you make the final decision.

3. Set the prices.

When e-commerce accepts bitcoin as a mode of payment, there’s a need to convert the currencies used in paying the suppliers, employees, etc. to bitcoin. That way, you can quote the price of your services and products objectively. There are bitcoin charts that provide exchange rate for different currencies and give their weighted prices in bitcoin.

4. Create an invoice.

You can send an invoice through e-mail to collect payment from customers. In the invoice you create, make sure that you include your company logo and your contact information. You can use Coinbase API to create a dynamic e-mail invoices.

Unlike other payment options, there is no third party that will handle the charge. Thus, customers can’t simply enter their number or log-in in order to make payment.  They need to create a custom wallet for every transaction. While this transaction will take about 15 minutes, it’s secured.

5. Account your sales properly.

Ideally, when a customer makes a purchase and pays through bitcoin, you have to inform them that you have received the payment. You can then simply issue a credit to their bitcoin account. If you are giving discounts in bitcoins, but selling them for currency to count them as your income, then the calculation of your income may become complicated. Ask an accountant whose expertise lies in Bitcoin to help you in this matter. This part is highly critical as you need to know whether you are earning or not.

Conclusion

It may seem daunting to start accepting payment through bitcoins. However, once you start doing it, you’ll realize that it’s simpler than other payment options.