Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Backing up your wallet

2016-10-10T14:57:56Z

Robbot: /* Backup wallet and blochain data */ fixing typo

== Locating Bitcoin's data directory ==
The [[data directory]] is the location where Bitcoin's data files are stored, including the wallet data file.

=== Gnu/Linux ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/.bitcoin/

You need to do a "ls -a" to see directories that start with a dot.

If that's not it, you can do a search like this:

find / -name wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null

To change the directory Bitcoin stores its data in:
Run in terminal or script: ./bitcoin-qt -datadir=./[Directory_Name]

=== Mac OSX ===

By default Bitcoin will put its data here:

~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/

=== Windows ===
Go to Start -> Run (or press WinKey+R) and run this:

explorer %APPDATA%\Bitcoin

Bitcoin's data folder will open. For most users, this is one of the following locations:

C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Application data\Bitcoin (Windows XP)

C:\Users\YourUserName\Appdata\Roaming\Bitcoin (Windows Vista and 7)

If you have trouble browsing to these folders, note that "AppData" and "Application data" are hidden by default.

==Backing up your wallet files==

'''Note''': Using Dropbox to back up your Bitcoin data is not recommended as doing so introduces the following [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_(service)#Reception security concerns]:

# Dropbox stores your encryption key (meaning that a disgruntled Dropbox employee or an attacker who gained access to the system could decrypt your Dropbox data and steal your bitcoins)
# the Dropbox client only needs a password for the first login. After it authenticates once, the server assigns it a token which it uses to show that, at one time, its user knew the password rather than sending the actual password (meaning that if you ever use the Dropbox client on another PC, that PC's users can access your Dropbox - even if you change your password - and can steal your bitcoins or get a virus that will steal your bitcoins).

For these reasons, an alternative that always uses password authentication such as [http://www.wuala.com/en/bitcoin Wuala] should be used. Wuala's servers do not store your encryption key and the program authenticates with the password each time it is started.

Whether you use Dropbox as your backup or not, it is advised to use what Steve Gibson calls "pre-Internet encryption" which means to use some form of encryption on your files before you back them up, in case an attacker gains access to that backup. Make sure to pick a password that is memorable but secure.

The only file you need to back up is "wallet.dat" which can be done one of two ways. To make a copy of the wallet.dat file, ensure that Bitcoin is closed and copy this file somewhere else. The other way is to use the [[api|backupwallet]] JSON-RPC command to back up without shutting down Bitcoin.

Once a copy has been made, encrypt it, and put it in two or more safe locations. Consider the risk due to theft, fire, or natural disaster in proportion to the value of bitcoins stored in the wallet.

===Backup wallet and blockchain data===
Follow these instructions to backup all the bitcoin data (wallet and block chains) to an encrypted disk image.
# Open Disk Utility
# Click New Image and choose a big enough size, 128-bit or 256-bit (faster or more secure) encryption and single partition.
# Save it somewhere you won't lose it (like your Wuala, Dropbox, Strongspace or whatever)
# Choose a safe and strong password
# Move everything from ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ to the image
# Symlink it back so the app would be able to use it
:::ln -s /Volumes/Bitcoin ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin

Don't forget to mount your image before using Bitcoin and unmount it after quitting.

===Backing up just your wallet file===
Follow these instructions to backup just the wallet.dat file. This results in a smaller disk image, but it's more complicated to do.
# Open Disk Utility
# Click New Image and choose a big enough size, 128-bit or 256-bit (faster or more secure) encryption and single partition.
# Save it somewhere you won't lose it (like your Wuala, Dropbox, Strongspace or whatever)
# Choose a safe and strong password
# Move your wallet.dat file to the image
# Symlink it back so the app would be able to use it
:::ln -s /Volumes/Bitcoin/wallet.dat ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/wallet.dat

[[File:MountWalletAndLauchnBitcoin_OSX_Automator.png|thumbnail|150px|Mount Wallet and launch Bitcoin]]
Don't forget to mount your image before using Bitcoin and unmount after quitting it.

'''Note''': If you start the Bitcoin application without having the image mounted, the application will overwrite your symlink with a new wallet. If that happens, don't panic. Just delete the new wallet.dat, mount the image, and recreate the symlink like above.

'''Automation''': You can create a small application using [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automator_%28software%29 Automator] (included in OS X) to automatically mount the wallet and then launch Bitcoin App. See the Screenshot on how to do this.

If one ''doesn't'' want to use encrypted Disk images, then a '''small shell script''' can be used instead that takes care of decrypting the wallet, launching bitcoin client, and encrypting it after the client exits. This script works on both OSX and Gnu/Linux: [http://lorelei.kaverit.org/bitcoin.sh bitcoin-launch-script]

=== Email-based Archival and Remote Backup ===
One of the simplest methods for storing an appropriately '''encrypted''' archive of your wallet.dat file is to send the archive as an email attachment to your own e-mail address. Services like Gmail use very comprehensive distributed networks that make the loss of data very unlikely. One can even obfuscate the name of the files within the archive, and name the archive something less inviting, such as: 'personal notes' or 'car insurance'.

Another solution is to use a file storage service like [http://www.wuala.com/bitcoin Wuala] ( encrypted, [http://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=5817.0 instructions]), [http://www.dropbox.com Dropbox] (after encrypting the wallet first) and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_backup_services others], including the more secure [http://www.spideroak.com SpiderOak].

=== Automated backups using Cron, Bash and GNU/Linux ===

Linux users can setup backups using cron by telling it to run a backup script at set intervals of time. Run 'crontab -e' and add this line near the bottom:

01 * * * * /usr/local/bin/backupwallet.sh

This cron line will run the /usr/local/bin/backupwallet.sh script at the 01 minute of every hour. Remember to add a newline after the last line of the crontab file, or else the last line won't run. You may also wish to ignore the script's output by appending " > /dev/null 2>&1" to the line (this will also prevent emails from being sent).

Create /usr/local/bin/backupwallet.sh:

#!/bin/bash
# /usr/local/bin/backupwallet.sh
#
# Performs backup of bitcoin wallet.
#
# Written by: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

#
# Standard Options
#
TS=$(date "+%Y%m%d-%H%M")
WALLET=/tmp/wallet-${TS}
WALLET_E=/tmp/wallet-${TS}.crypt
BITCOIN=bitcoind # /path/to/bitcoind
GPG=gpg # /path/to/gpg
GPG_USER=username # Username of gpg recipient. User should have gpg setup.
RM=rm
RM_OPTS='--force'
USE_SHRED=0 # Flip to 1 to use `shred` instead of `rm`.
SHRED=shred
SHRED_OPTS='--force --iterations=9 --zero --remove'

#
# Storage Options
# Only 1 set of options should be un-commented (the last one will be used).
# Update CP_DEST paths as neccessary.
#
# CP - Storage on a local machine. Could be Dropbox/Wuala folder.
#CP=cp
#CP_DEST='/var/data/backups/' # '~/Dropbox/', etc.
#
# SSH - Storage on a remote machine.
CP=scp
CP_DEST='remoteuser@example.com:~/wallets/'
#
# S3 - Storage on Amazon's S3. Be sure s3cmd is installed and properly setup.
# You may need "s3cmd put --force" if you use a sub-directory in CP_DEST.
#CP=s3cmd put
#CP_DEST='s3://bucket'

do_clean() {
# Remove temporary wallets.
if [ 1 -eq $USE_SHRED ]; then
$SHRED $SHRED_OPTS $WALLET $WALLET_E
else
$RM $RM_OPTS $WALLET $WALLET_E
fi
}

do_fail() {
do_clean
echo failed!
exit 1
}

# Perform the backup.
echo -n Making backup...
$BITCOIN backupwallet $WALLET
[ ! -s "$WALLET" ] && do_fail # If the backup does not exist or is empty, fail.
echo done.
echo -n Encrypting backup...
$GPG -r $GPG_USER --output $WALLET_E --encrypt $WALLET
[ 0 -ne $? ] && do_fail # If gpg returns a non-zero result, fail.
echo done.
echo -n Copying to backup location...
$CP $WALLET_E "$CP_DEST"
[ 0 -ne $? ] && do_fail # If the $CP command returns a non-zero result, fail.
echo done.
do_clean

exit 0

The shell script:

* Calls bitcoind backupwallet to create a time/date-stamped wallet.
* GPG encrypts the wallet with your public key.
* Copies the result using one of several storage options (cp, scp, and s3cmd).
* Uses the rm or shred command to remove the temporary wallet files.

Be sure to modify the script options to fit your setup. After you save, make sure the file can be executed properly by the cron user. Common permissions for files in /usr/local/bin/ can be applied using (verify with your distribution!):

cd /usr/local/bin/ && chown root:root backupwallet.sh && chmod 755 backupwallet.sh

==Restoring your wallet file==

Assuming your backup is recent enough that you haven't used up all of your key pool... restoring a wallet to a new (or old) location and rescanning the block chain should leave you with all your coins. Just follow these steps:
* Shut down the Bitcoin program.
* Copy your backed-up wallet.dat into your bitcoin data directory.
* If you are copying in a backed-up wallet.dat that was last used on a Bitcoin version prior to 0.3.21 into an existing profile, delete files ''blk*.dat'' to make the client re-download the block chain. You may also need to do this if your transactions don't all show up after you restart Bitcoin.

Merchant Howto

2016-10-01T22:51:06Z

Robbot: /* Services */ add link

{{merge|How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses}}

Accepting Bitcoins is easy, and there are several ways to do it.

==Manually==
# Download a bitcoin client
# When a customer wants to buy something, send them a Bitcoin address where their payment should be sent.
#* You can do this by clicking "New.." next to your address in the Bitcoin client and sending that address to the customer.
# When payment comes in to that address, send the goods to your customer. Depending on the value of what you're selling, you may wish to wait until the payment shows Confirmed.
# To issue a refund, obtain from the customer the [[Address|bitcoin address]] where the refund payment should be sent. The refund address will likely be different from the address used when the customer sent payment, especially if an [[EWallet]] was used by the customer.

==Automated==
===Pre-generating Bitcoin addresses===
You can accept Bitcoins on your website without needing to use Bitcoin APIs or third party services if you pre-generate a large number of receiving Bitcoin addresses and store them in a database on your web server, and dispense them one-by-one to customers when they are ready to pay. This way, your web server never actually handles the bitcoins - it simply gives out addresses belonging to a wallet you maintain elsewhere. By using a unique address per order, you will always know which payment belongs to which order. [https://www.casascius.com Example of website using this method]

To pre-generate addresses, use a tool such as [[Pywallet]] (which can generate a wallet.dat file) or [[Bitcoin Address Utility]] (which can generate a CSV file). In both cases, you will be generating a list of [[Address|Bitcoin address]]es along with their corresponding [[private key]]s. Only the Bitcoin addresses (not the private keys) should be loaded on the web server.

If you are shipping goods manually, you can use the Bitcoin software to check for incoming payments, or alternately consider using [[Block Explorer]] or [[Abe]] to verify payment when you're about to ship. To make this easy, make your website provide you a full hyperlink that includes the proper receiving address: ht<nowiki>tp://www</nowiki>.blockexplorer.com/address/ADDRESSGOESHERE.

If you are delivering digital goods or services and want to be able to deliver instantly upon payment and/or confirmation, you can use a third-party service such as [[Bitcoin Notify]] to tell your website when a payment has been received. This sort of service requires no significant API implementation - they will simply make a POST to your website or send you an e-mail when a payment has been received on one of your addresses.

If you keep Bitcoins off your web server, this ensures your wallet cannot be stolen if your web server experiences a security intrusion. Your risk becomes limited to the possibility that a successful intruder could add his own addresses to your address pool and steal funds from a few incoming orders until you detect the problem, however, this is a [[Deterministic_wallet|relatively controllable risk]].

===Using offchain payment networks===

[[Off-Chain_Transactions|Off chain]] networks provides various benefits to Bitcoin, such as instant confirmations and protection against double spending.

===Using a third-party plugin===
You can use an existing [[:Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces|shopping cart interface]] from a 3rd party to automatically handle all Bitcoin payments on your website. If you want to develop the system yourself, you can utilize the Bitcoin client's [[API tutorial (JSON-RPC)|JSON-RPC API]] to automatically accept payments.

Things to note if you build it yourself:
# When a customer orders something on your website it records:
#* Bitcoin address that payment should be sent to
#* Order details (delivery address etc.)
#* Customer's refund address (optional - if you wish you can ask for this later, only in cases a refund is required)
#* Payment amount
# When payment arrives, checks that they have paid the correct amount or not, and informs you
#* You dispatch the goods to the customer and mark the order as fulfilled
#* If you cannot dispatch the goods you mark the order as denied and ask the customer for a refund address (unless you already have it from earlier) to send a refund.
# Forwards the funds to bitcoin address of your choice

===If You have a retail business and do not have internet or smart phone===
You can still accept Bitcoin. [https://easybitz.com/merchant] EasyBitz.com has a very simple way to accept bitcoin with just a print out and a phone that gets sms text messages.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]]

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment. However it is possible to create automated invoices by using known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup.

==Common Errors==
It has been observed on occasion that a business funnels all its orders through the same Bitcoin address, and asks people to send some BTC, then send email describing the timing and the amount of the transaction to 'claim' it. This is '''not''' secure, since anyone can see the transaction details using a tool such as [[Block Explorer]], and then try to claim someone else's transaction as theirs.

Do not do this. Give each customer a unique Bitcoin address.

==Listing your business on the Bitcoin Trade page==

Anyone can add and update a listing on the [[Trade|trade]] page. Just register if you haven't and add to the appropriate category. If you'ld like assistance, perhaps someone in the [http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=#bitcoin-marketing #bitcoin-marketing] IRC channel would be willing to assist. If you have a brick and mortar business that accepts bitcoin you can add it to the bitcoin directories. [https://easybitz.com] [http://coinmap.org]

==Services==
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Merchant solution for Bitcoin specialized in Middle Europe (Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Czech republic)
* [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting bitcoins, getting euro's. No fee. The Netherlands.
* [[BitPay]] Merchant solutions for Bitcoin
* [http://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Payments Gateway for Latin America
* [https://coinbase.com/merchants Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, pages, iframes, shopping cart integration, subscription/recurring billing, micro-transactions, and cash out to your local currency for 1%.
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Integrate CoinCorner Checkout in to your eCommerce business using a simple plugin or the API for Bitcoin Payments. Point of Sale solution also available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/merchants CoinGate] Accept Bitcoin payments and receive payouts in Euros, U.S. Dollars or bitcoins. E-commerce plugins, API, Point of Sale app for Android / iOS / web, payment buttons.
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] Bitcoin merchant payment processing. UK-based, serving UK and EU clients.
* [http://www.dcpos.com DC POS] A Bitcoin browser-based Point-of-Sale app. It is hardware, OS, wallet, and browser agnostic. 0.5% transaction fee.
* [[Coinify]] Merchant solutions for Bitcoin
* [http://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] Fraud screening service for online merchants. Support transactions using Bitcoin as payment method.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com GoCoin] International Payment Processing for Bitcoin
* [https://gourl.io Gourl.io] Bitcoin Payment Gateway with ready to use php scripts - Pay-Per-Download, Pay-Per-Product, Pay-Per-Registration.
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] - Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.
* [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] Accept Bitcoin for payments at this bitcoin processor that targets Europe, Russia and Latin America.
* [http://xbterminal.io XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.

==See Also==
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Shopping Cart Interfaces|Shopping Cart Interfaces]]
* [[:Category:Payment_Processors|Payment Processors]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[Bitcoin Evolution]] handles sales tracking and order forms; requires Bitcoin client for actual payment
* [[Bitcoin API Services]] an easy solution for securely accepting Bitcoins and updating BTC prices
* [[Converter|Bitcoin Javascript Converter]] displays a price in BTCs after converting from USDs.
* [[How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses]]
* [[:Category:Marketing|Marketing]]
* [[URI Scheme]]
* [[Promotional graphics]], buttons and logos
* [https://github.com/cryptoapi/Payment-Gateway GoUrl Bitcoin Payment API] open source php payment api on Github.com
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website
* [http://snowcron.com Snowcron] Bitcoin Store Engine: Handles payments, sends your customers information they ordered (reg. codes, passwords...) No web programming required.
[[Category:ECommerce]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2016-10-01T22:48:44Z

Robbot: /* Setting Prices */ add link

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]][[File:Coinktie Bitcoin Payment Buttons.png|alt=Coinkite Bitcoin Payment Buttons|link=https://coinkite.com/merchants]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|Coinify Mobile Checkout|link=https://coinify.com]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://bitcoinqrcode.org/ to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Airbitz mobile logo.png|20px|https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/]] [https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/ Airbitz] Merchant Mode for Android and iOS
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Point of Sale solution available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/pos CoinGate] Bitcoin Point of Sale apps for Android, iOS and Bitcoin Point of Sale web app which can be accessed from any internet enabled device directly in a web browser.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Simplest Point of Sale, No Fees and a peer to peer market to buy bitcoin instantly
* [https://gourl.io/ GoUrl] Bitcoin Mobile Checkout
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [https://coinify.com/checkout/invoice/cb/bb Coinify]

Payment companion having peer to peer encrypted invoicing using your own bitcoin address [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [http://paysius.com Paysius] or [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr], [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay]). Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [https://bitaps.com/api Bitaps.com] APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] SiteCite: "As of 10-11-2015 BitStraat is discontinued as a company."
* [[File:Bitx-avatar.png|20px|link=https://bitx.co/api]] [https://bitx.co/api BitX API] Merchant API for registered businesses & developers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed. '''Update:''' Starting 01/2016 API2 requires an API key - account required!
* [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics] Peer to peer bitcoin invoices using your own bitcoin address.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[Cashila]] Online bank account and payment processor. Accepts bitcoin payments, SEPA transfers and [https://www.cashila.com/ pay bills with bitcoin]
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Integrate CoinCorner Checkout in to your eCommerce business using a simple plugin or the API for Bitcoin Payments. Point of Sale solution also available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/merchants CoinGate] Accept Bitcoin payments and receive payouts in Euros, U.S. Dollars or bitcoins. E-commerce plugins, API, Point of Sale app for Android / iOS / web, payment buttons.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://coinpip.com CoinPip] Online and POS bitcoin payment processor for Asia.
* [[File:Coinsnap_favicon.jpg|20px|link=http://www.coinsnap.eu]] [[Coinsnap]] European Bitcoin Payment Provider
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [https://cubits.com Cubits] Platform with multisignature wallets and merchant system Cubits Pay.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://gourl.io Gourl.io] Bitcoin Payment processor with ready to use php scripts - Pay-Per-Download, Pay-Per-Product, Pay-Per-Membership, Pay-Per-Registration.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [[File:Payfast-400.png|20px|link=https://www.payfast.co.za]] [https://www.payfast.co.za PayFast] Merchant solution for South Africa. Integrated in 60+ shopping carts. Supports credit cards, EFT bank transfers and Bitcoin. When buyers pay with Bitcoin, merchants receive the South African rand equivalent, using BitX API
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Accept Bitcoin with no internet then sell bitcoin for profit on our peer to peer exchange.
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.
* [[File:SpectroCoin.png|20px|link=https://spectrocoin.com]][https://spectrocoin.com SpectroCoin] Payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR, USD, CZK, PLN and other currencies. Debit card, exchange and wallet offered. Plugins for e-commerce and API offered for integration.
* [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]][https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] Accept Bitcoin for payments at this bitcoin processor that targets Europe, Russia and Latin America.
* [http://xbterminal.com XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Payment_Processors|Payment Processors]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2016-10-01T22:47:03Z

Robbot: /* Examples */ add link

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]][[File:Coinktie Bitcoin Payment Buttons.png|alt=Coinkite Bitcoin Payment Buttons|link=https://coinkite.com/merchants]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|Coinify Mobile Checkout|link=https://coinify.com]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://bitcoinqrcode.org/ to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Airbitz mobile logo.png|20px|https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/]] [https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/ Airbitz] Merchant Mode for Android and iOS
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Point of Sale solution available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/pos CoinGate] Bitcoin Point of Sale apps for Android, iOS and Bitcoin Point of Sale web app which can be accessed from any internet enabled device directly in a web browser.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Simplest Point of Sale, No Fees and a peer to peer market to buy bitcoin instantly
* [https://gourl.io/ GoUrl] Bitcoin Mobile Checkout
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [https://coinify.com/checkout/invoice/cb/bb Coinify]

Payment companion having peer to peer encrypted invoicing using your own bitcoin address [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [http://paysius.com Paysius] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay]). Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [https://bitaps.com/api Bitaps.com] APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] SiteCite: "As of 10-11-2015 BitStraat is discontinued as a company."
* [[File:Bitx-avatar.png|20px|link=https://bitx.co/api]] [https://bitx.co/api BitX API] Merchant API for registered businesses & developers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed. '''Update:''' Starting 01/2016 API2 requires an API key - account required!
* [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics] Peer to peer bitcoin invoices using your own bitcoin address.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[Cashila]] Online bank account and payment processor. Accepts bitcoin payments, SEPA transfers and [https://www.cashila.com/ pay bills with bitcoin]
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Integrate CoinCorner Checkout in to your eCommerce business using a simple plugin or the API for Bitcoin Payments. Point of Sale solution also available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/merchants CoinGate] Accept Bitcoin payments and receive payouts in Euros, U.S. Dollars or bitcoins. E-commerce plugins, API, Point of Sale app for Android / iOS / web, payment buttons.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://coinpip.com CoinPip] Online and POS bitcoin payment processor for Asia.
* [[File:Coinsnap_favicon.jpg|20px|link=http://www.coinsnap.eu]] [[Coinsnap]] European Bitcoin Payment Provider
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [https://cubits.com Cubits] Platform with multisignature wallets and merchant system Cubits Pay.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://gourl.io Gourl.io] Bitcoin Payment processor with ready to use php scripts - Pay-Per-Download, Pay-Per-Product, Pay-Per-Membership, Pay-Per-Registration.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [[File:Payfast-400.png|20px|link=https://www.payfast.co.za]] [https://www.payfast.co.za PayFast] Merchant solution for South Africa. Integrated in 60+ shopping carts. Supports credit cards, EFT bank transfers and Bitcoin. When buyers pay with Bitcoin, merchants receive the South African rand equivalent, using BitX API
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Accept Bitcoin with no internet then sell bitcoin for profit on our peer to peer exchange.
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.
* [[File:SpectroCoin.png|20px|link=https://spectrocoin.com]][https://spectrocoin.com SpectroCoin] Payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR, USD, CZK, PLN and other currencies. Debit card, exchange and wallet offered. Plugins for e-commerce and API offered for integration.
* [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]][https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] Accept Bitcoin for payments at this bitcoin processor that targets Europe, Russia and Latin America.
* [http://xbterminal.com XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Payment_Processors|Payment Processors]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2016-10-01T22:45:50Z

Robbot: /* Merchant Services */ alphabetized

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]][[File:Coinktie Bitcoin Payment Buttons.png|alt=Coinkite Bitcoin Payment Buttons|link=https://coinkite.com/merchants]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|Coinify Mobile Checkout|link=https://coinify.com]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://bitcoinqrcode.org/ to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Airbitz mobile logo.png|20px|https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/]] [https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/ Airbitz] Merchant Mode for Android and iOS
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Point of Sale solution available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/pos CoinGate] Bitcoin Point of Sale apps for Android, iOS and Bitcoin Point of Sale web app which can be accessed from any internet enabled device directly in a web browser.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Simplest Point of Sale, No Fees and a peer to peer market to buy bitcoin instantly
* [https://gourl.io/ GoUrl] Bitcoin Mobile Checkout

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [https://coinify.com/checkout/invoice/cb/bb Coinify]

Payment companion having peer to peer encrypted invoicing using your own bitcoin address [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [http://paysius.com Paysius] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay]). Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [https://bitaps.com/api Bitaps.com] APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] SiteCite: "As of 10-11-2015 BitStraat is discontinued as a company."
* [[File:Bitx-avatar.png|20px|link=https://bitx.co/api]] [https://bitx.co/api BitX API] Merchant API for registered businesses & developers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed. '''Update:''' Starting 01/2016 API2 requires an API key - account required!
* [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics] Peer to peer bitcoin invoices using your own bitcoin address.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[Cashila]] Online bank account and payment processor. Accepts bitcoin payments, SEPA transfers and [https://www.cashila.com/ pay bills with bitcoin]
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Integrate CoinCorner Checkout in to your eCommerce business using a simple plugin or the API for Bitcoin Payments. Point of Sale solution also available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/merchants CoinGate] Accept Bitcoin payments and receive payouts in Euros, U.S. Dollars or bitcoins. E-commerce plugins, API, Point of Sale app for Android / iOS / web, payment buttons.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://coinpip.com CoinPip] Online and POS bitcoin payment processor for Asia.
* [[File:Coinsnap_favicon.jpg|20px|link=http://www.coinsnap.eu]] [[Coinsnap]] European Bitcoin Payment Provider
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [https://cubits.com Cubits] Platform with multisignature wallets and merchant system Cubits Pay.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://gourl.io Gourl.io] Bitcoin Payment processor with ready to use php scripts - Pay-Per-Download, Pay-Per-Product, Pay-Per-Membership, Pay-Per-Registration.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [[File:Payfast-400.png|20px|link=https://www.payfast.co.za]] [https://www.payfast.co.za PayFast] Merchant solution for South Africa. Integrated in 60+ shopping carts. Supports credit cards, EFT bank transfers and Bitcoin. When buyers pay with Bitcoin, merchants receive the South African rand equivalent, using BitX API
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Accept Bitcoin with no internet then sell bitcoin for profit on our peer to peer exchange.
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.
* [[File:SpectroCoin.png|20px|link=https://spectrocoin.com]][https://spectrocoin.com SpectroCoin] Payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR, USD, CZK, PLN and other currencies. Debit card, exchange and wallet offered. Plugins for e-commerce and API offered for integration.
* [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]][https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] Accept Bitcoin for payments at this bitcoin processor that targets Europe, Russia and Latin America.
* [http://xbterminal.com XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Payment_Processors|Payment Processors]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

How to accept Bitcoin, for small businesses

2016-10-01T22:43:28Z

Robbot: /* Merchant Services */ remove broken link, add link

{{merge|Merchant Howto}}

This guide is intended for small business owners who wish to help promote Bitcoin by accepting it as payment for goods and services. It's written with the assumption that you operate a regular business that sells goods or services for regular national currency such as dollars, and that you wish to accept Bitcoin as another legal way to pay, and that you intend to pay taxes on your Bitcoin income just like any other income.

With Bitcoin being touted as a way to conduct anonymous transactions and as way to compete with government currency, many small business owners wonder what's the right way to accept and account Bitcoin, or if it's legal or ethical, or whether and how they should pay taxes on income received through Bitcoin.

As far as we know, Bitcoin isn't yet formally recognized by governments and authorities as a "currency". But in practice, Bitcoin is likely no different than accepting payment in other forms, such as cash, or gold, or scrip, or gift cards or foreign currency. We think that it is pretty much the same as the local businesses of Great Barrington, Massachusetts choosing to accept their locally-printed [http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/06/19/us-usa-economy-berkshares-idUSN0530157720070619 "Berkshire Bucks"] to support their local economy.

====Starting to accept Bitcoin for transactions====
Accepting Bitcoin at a small business is best started in whichever manner keeps the accounting simple for you. This will vary by the type of business you are operating.

===Start with a sign===
[[{{ns:file}}:WeAcceptBitcoin.png‎]]

If you expect that the number of people interested in using Bitcoin is small, you might simply start by posting a sign or a note: "We Accept Bitcoin", and ask people to contact you directly in order to make a payment. Even if hardly anybody uses Bitcoin as a payment method, you're helping Bitcoin in two ways: one, by increasing awareness, and two, by making your customers more willing to accept Bitcoin as payment from others in the future, because now they know somewhere they can spend it.

===Utilize a merchant solution===
If you sell things on your website (goods or services), you'll want to use a [[#Merchant Services|Bitcoin merchant solution]] to accept the Bitcoins (you can usually opt to have them converted to USD or other currencies automatically with some services).

If you sell things in a brick and mortar shop, customers can pay using hardware terminals, touch screen apps or simple wallet addresses through QR Codes.

[[File:Easybitz bitcoin pointofsale.png|400 px|alt=Accept Bitcoin without internet|EasyBitz ZeroClick System|link=https://easybitz.com/merchant]][[File:Coinktie Bitcoin Payment Buttons.png|alt=Coinkite Bitcoin Payment Buttons|link=https://coinkite.com/merchants]]

[[File:Bitcoin-pos-terminal.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|Coinkite terminal]] [[File:Mobile_Web_App_Bitcoin_Register.jpeg|100 px|alt=Bitcoin POS Terminal|CoinBox terminal]]

[[File:Mobile_Checkout_Phone.png|200 px|alt=Bitcoin Mobile Checkout|Coinify Mobile Checkout|link=https://coinify.com]]

===Smart Phone or Tablet===
You can use a wallet address with any wallet. For that it's best if you can place a QR code near your cash register to which the customers can scan with their phone and pay (use http://bitcoinqrcode.org/ to make a QR code sign). For a more convenient solution you can use a dedicated app or webapp that generates a QR code on the fly including the amount.

==== Examples ====
Solutions for smart phones and tablets:
* [[File:Airbitz mobile logo.png|20px|https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/]] [https://airbitz.co/bitcoin-wallet/ Airbitz] Merchant Mode for Android and iOS
* [https://bitcoin.co.th/merchants/ bitcoin.co.th] mobile Bitcoin Point of Sale for Thailand
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], Mobile payment terminal with EUR, USD, PLN and CZK settlements.
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] accept Bitcoin on mobile phone, tablet, computer; converts to Euro/Bitcoin (any percentage)
* [https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-for-retail BitPay] Mobile Checkout
* [https://bitpos.me/demo.html BitPOS] Merchant POS solution for Australia
* [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.blockchain.merchant Blockchain] Merchant for Android
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Point of Sale solution available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/pos CoinGate] Bitcoin Point of Sale apps for Android, iOS and Bitcoin Point of Sale web app which can be accessed from any internet enabled device directly in a web browser.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Bitcoin Point Of Sale
* [[File:Coin_Of_Sale_logo.png|20px|link=https://coinofsale.com]] [https://coinofsale.com Coin Of Sale] - device-independent Bitcoin POS payment system
* [https://coinbase.com Coinbase] Point Of Sale for Android
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]][http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin point of sale for Android
* [https://cryptopay.me/products/ Cryptopay] HTML5-based bitcoin POS
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Simplest Point of Sale, No Fees and a peer to peer market to buy bitcoin instantly
* [https://gourl.io/ GoUrl] Bitcoin Mobile Checkout

===Point-of-Sale hardware terminal===
With custom hardware you can integrate with existing registers and point-of-sales solutions (examples: [[File:Coinkite.gif|20px|link=https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz]] [https://coinkite.com/promo/wikibiz Coinkite], [https://xbterminal.com/ XBTerminal], [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat]).

===Accounting===
When a customer makes a payment, you might simply issue a credit to their account. Ideally, you want to enter it in a way that suggests you received a payment. You could consider entering it as a "discount", but you may want to consider whether this inappropriately disguises the nature of the transaction. If on the other hand, you're giving "discounts" for Bitcoins, but then you are selling the Bitcoins for currency and then counting that as income, then chances are good that your calculation of income is making up for it. Ask your accountant.

===Businesses that offer gift cards===
If your business sells gift cards or gift certificates, you may find that the easiest way to accept Bitcoin is to accept it only for the purchase of gift cards, and then require the gift cards to be used for actual purchases of goods or services. This way, the accounting practices you already have in place for processing gift cards can be put to use. The accounting for Bitcoins would then be minimized to tracking sales of a single SKU.

This method is also ideal for retail food establishments and convenience stores, where the payment of Bitcoins through a mobile phone for a small daily food purchase might be cumbersome or disruptive, especially in front of a line of other customers. Bitcoins in this case would be best used to reload prepaid cards that can then be swiped at point-of-sale.

If you don't accept gift cards, but you already accept credit cards through a swipe terminal, consider the possibility that you could add a retail gift card system through the swipe terminal you already own. Many point-of-sale terminals, including ones from VeriFone®, are designed around the ability to support multiple applications on the same terminal. Gift cards are also highly profitable because of "breakage", or in other words, the fact that a significant percentage of them never get redeemed.

You could consider adding a private label gift card program from a provider who specializes in this, not just as a jumpstart to accepting Bitcoins, but as an extra boost to income. A private label gift card service provider necessarily have to handle your funds - they can simply provide a solution that keeps track of the balance on the cards on your behalf, including features that allow users to check their balances by phone or by web. Such a solution, of course, is also what makes the cards swipeable through the card reader.

===Businesses that mail invoices===
Does your business send out invoices to customers? Adding one line may make a huge impact for the Bitcoin economy. Perhaps you list it as a payment option just after Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, even if that means your customer must call or e-mail to make a payment.

If you have access to the programming expertise such that you can generate Bitcoin addresses programmatically, consider generating a brand new Bitcoin address for each invoice, and print it on the invoice. When a Bitcoin payment arrives, you'll automatically know where it should arrive.

Customers might wonder how much BTC they should pay in order to satisfy an invoice in full. Your invoice might suggest an amount. For example, if your invoice is for $100 and BTC's are currently worth $1.24 each, your invoice might suggest that it can be paid in full ''"with a payment of 80.65 BTC if paid by (date)"''.

You might be able to anticipate the possibility that even though a Bitcoin address can be printed on an invoice or payment stub, that they are very cumbersome for most people to type, especially being a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters. However, you should probably still do it anyway. The customer is probably going to want some paper trail for his payment. Giving him a pre-printed payment stub with a pre-printed address will satisfy that, because the customer can independently and publicly prove through [[Block Explorer]] that the payment took place.

Does your business have a website? On your invoice, consider allowing them to go to a special URL to get the address to make a Bitcoin payment just by typing in their invoice number. For example, ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc'' with a form they can enter their invoice number, or just ''ht<nowiki>tps://ww</nowiki>w.yoursite.com/paybtc/60365'' for paying invoice #60365. This way, they can see the Bitcoin address, copy and paste it directly into their Bitcoin client.

Use a brand new address for each invoice whenever possible, and use it only once. This benefits the customer as it removes any ambiguity as to which customer is making which payment and for which invoice.

Known payment systems supporting invoicing, and recurring invoice setup, [https://coinify.com/checkout/invoice/cb/bb Coinify]

Payment companion having peer to peer encrypted invoicing using your own bitcoin address [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics]

===Avoiding fraud===

You should also consider the possible risk that fraudsters could send counterfeit invoices to your customers, and entice them to make a payment to a Bitcoin address they control, instead of you. While that isn't likely in general - it depends on how well a fraudster could find out who your customers are in the first place - it would certainly be an unpleasant situation if it ever happened. One way you could control that is, whenever possible, never let people try to type Bitcoin addresses off payment stubs - instead, force people to get the full Bitcoin address from your website via secure SSL. But, still print ''most'' of the address on the payment stub (perhaps with four or five characters starred out), so that the customer's need for a paper trail can be satisfied, so they can prove they paid if there is ever a dispute. Merchants can also use the IP address geolocation to understand the close proximity of users. There is automated solution such as [https://www.fraudlabspro.com FraudLabs Pro] that automates the screening of Bitcoin transactions to determine risk level.

==Setting Prices==

When a business accepts bitcoins for payment, there generally is the need to convert them to the currencies used for paying suppliers, employees and shareholders. Some merchants set prices based on the current market rate at the time the price quote is presented to the customer (merchant services like [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [http://paysius.com Paysius] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] do this automatically).

[[Bitcoin Prices]] lists the exchange rate for many currencies on multiple exchanges.

When prices are determined using an automated process, the current market rate can be based on either a current price or on a weighted average basis. [[Bitcoin Charts]] provides a [http://bitcoincharts.com/about/markets-api data feed that provides weighted prices]. [[Bitcoin Average]] also offers a weighted average price index, featuring average price across all exchanges reachable in the world and in over 150 currencies. 24h sliding average price index is also available and all data is [https://bitcoinaverage.com/api.htm reachable through the API].

When bitcoin funds for purchases are received, some merchants instantly exchange those proceeds into the preferred currency used (again done automatically by [[File:Polycoin_favicon.png|20px|link=http://www.polycoin.io]] [http://www.polycoin.io Polycoin], [https://coinify.com Coinify], [http://www.bit-pay.com Bit-pay], [https://coinbase.com Coinbase], [[File:Favicon-32x32_.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] or [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]] [https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay]). Hedging for each transaction can nearly entirely eliminate exchange rate risk that the business is exposed to when accepting bitcoins for payment.

==Contract==

A sales contract might be used to ensure that specific terms are met to lessen the chances of a misunderstanding. For instance, the party sending payment is responsible for paying any [[transaction fee]] that might be necessary. A contract might specify that a transaction fee must be paid and what amount, so as to prevent the situation where the transaction is considered a low priority transaction and thus isn't confirmed quickly.

Other items that might be addressed in a contract:

* Requirement and handling of escrow through an [[:Category:Escrow_services|escrow service]].
* Jurisdiction for disputes.
* Refund policy (particularly with the exchange rate being volatile)

==Paying taxes on Bitcoin income==
[[Tax compliance]] is a topic of concern for small businesses. We aren't accountants or lawyers, and can't give legal or accounting advice.

But in many respects, Bitcoin transactions work very much like cash. Just like Bitcoin, cash is anonymous and doesn't leave a paper trail, yet is widely used in commerce every day.

Ask yourself how you would handle a cash transaction. Do you accept cash transactions? Do you normally pay taxes on cash transactions? The answer for Bitcoin should probably be the same.

As for how to decide what a Bitcoin transaction is worth... the IRS, as far as we know, has never issued a guide mentioning how to value Bitcoin transactions. But they probably have rules and guidelines on how to value transactions made in foreign currency or "cash equivalents". We imagine the accounting would be similar.

With Bitcoins, there's likely to be some difference between the value of BTC when you received them as payment, versus when you go to exchange them for another currency like USD, should you decide to do so. This scenario, likewise, would be no different if you accepted foreign currency or gold as payment. Under some scenarios, it might make sense to book the dollar value of BTC income as it is received, and then to book any difference incurred when it is exchanged for fiat currency. Under others, it might make sense to book the whole thing at the time of exchange.

Perhaps you might talk to your accountant. You don't need to get into a discussion with your accountant about block chains and private keys or the philosophy behind a decentralized currency. By comparing the fundamentals of Bitcoins to accounting concepts already well understood by the public, you can probably get all the answers you need. What would you ask your accountant if you decided that you wanted to accept ''Berkshire Bucks'' or 1-ounce gold coins as payment?

== Merchant Services ==
* [[File:Rocketr.png|20px|link=https://rocketr.net]] [https://rocketr.net Rocketr] Sell digital products online and accept BTC, ETH, and more. Utilize their IPN/API for seamless integration into your website or app.
* [https://bitaps.com/api Bitaps.com] APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed.
* [http://www.btc4erp.com Bitcoin Transaction Coordinator] Full Merchant Solution for organizations using the NetSuite Global ERP and eCommerce Platform
* [[File:favicon_bp.png|20px|link=https://bitcoinpay.com/static/img/]] [https://bitcoinpay.com BitcoinPay] Payment gateway for virtual currencies with direct settlement to PLN, CZK, EUR and USD. POS + API.
* [[File:Bitfavicon.png|20px|link=http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com]] [http://www.bitcoinpaygate.com Bitcoinpaygate] Bitcoin payment processing for the web & in store payments
* [[File:BitKassa_favicon.png|20px|link=https://www.BitKassa.nl]] [https://www.BitKassa.nl BitKassa] Merchant solution for accepting Bitcoin, getting Euro or Euro/Bitcoin percentage. The Netherlands.
* [https://www.bitpagos.net BitPagos] Bitcoin and Credit Card payment processor
* [https://www.bitpay.com BitPay] Bitcoin payment processor with mobile checkout solution
* [https://bitpos.me BitPOS] Bitcoin payment processor for online and brick and mortar stores
* [http://www.bitstraat.nl BitStraat] SiteCite: "As of 10-11-2015 BitStraat is discontinued as a company."
* [[File:Bitx-avatar.png|20px|link=https://bitx.co/api]] [https://bitx.co/api BitX API] Merchant API for registered businesses & developers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa.
* [http://blockchain.info/api/api_receive Blockchain.info] Free APIs to process bitcoin payments. No sign up or account needed. '''Update:''' Starting 01/2016 API2 requires an API key - account required!
* [https://www.blockonomics.co Blockonomics] Peer to peer bitcoin invoices using your own bitcoin address.
* [https://coinbase.com/docs/merchant_tools/payment_buttons Coinbase] Offers payment buttons, checkout pages, shopping cart integration, and daily cash out to USD.
* [[File:BitcoinRegister.gif|20px|link=http://coinbox.it/merchant]] [http://coinbox.it/merchant CoinBox] Bitcoin Point of Sales application for Android, with integration into various exchanges. Similar to Square.
* [[Cashila]] Online bank account and payment processor. Accepts bitcoin payments, SEPA transfers and [https://www.cashila.com/ pay bills with bitcoin]
* [[File:CoinCorner_blue_logo.png|20px|link=https://coincorner.com]] [https://www.coincorner.com/ForBusiness CoinCorner] - Integrate CoinCorner Checkout in to your eCommerce business using a simple plugin or the API for Bitcoin Payments. Point of Sale solution also available that allows physical retailers to easily accept bitcoin and automatically convert that to fiat, removing the risk of holding bitcoins.
* [https://coingate.com/merchants CoinGate] Accept Bitcoin payments and receive payouts in Euros, U.S. Dollars or bitcoins. E-commerce plugins, API, Point of Sale app for Android / iOS / web, payment buttons.
* [https://coinify.com Coinify] Payment Service Provider (PSP) specializing in the technical aspects of accepting cryptocurrencies - such as bitcoin. Supports Bitcoin Web Payments, Mobile Checkout, In-store Bitcoin Payments and Bitcoin Invoicing with recurring billing in bitcoin.
* [https://coinpip.com CoinPip] Online and POS bitcoin payment processor for Asia.
* [[File:Coinsnap_favicon.jpg|20px|link=http://www.coinsnap.eu]] [[Coinsnap]] European Bitcoin Payment Provider
* [https://cryptopay.me Cryptopay] European payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR and USD. Exchange and wallet integrated.
* [https://cubits.com Cubits] Platform with multisignature wallets and merchant system Cubits Pay.
* [[File:Paxful_how-to-buy-bitcoin.png |20px|link=https://paxful.com]] [https://paxful.com Paxful] Accept Bitcoin with no internet then sell bitcoin for profit on our peer to peer exchange.
* [[File:gocoin-logo.png|20px|link=https://www.gocoin.com]] [https://www.gocoin.com/docs GoCoin International payment gateway and processing platform for Merchants]
* [https://gourl.io Gourl.io] Bitcoin Payment processor with ready to use php scripts - Pay-Per-Download, Pay-Per-Product, Pay-Per-Membership, Pay-Per-Registration.
* [https://www.okpay.com/en/services/accept-payments/index.html OKPAY] Bitcoin payment processing for merchants
* [[File:Payfast-400.png|20px|link=https://www.payfast.co.za]] [https://www.payfast.co.za PayFast] Merchant solution for South Africa. Integrated in 60+ shopping carts. Supports credit cards, EFT bank transfers and Bitcoin. When buyers pay with Bitcoin, merchants receive the South African rand equivalent, using BitX API
* [[File:SpectroCoin.png|20px|link=https://spectrocoin.com]][https://spectrocoin.com SpectroCoin] Payment gateway with daily payouts in GBP, EUR, USD, CZK, PLN and other currencies. Debit card, exchange and wallet offered. Plugins for e-commerce and API offered for integration.
* [[File:Spicepay-bitcoin-payment-gateway-96x96.png|20px|link=https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/]][https://www.spicepay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway/ SpicePay] Accept Bitcoin for payments at this bitcoin processor that targets Europe, Russia and Latin America.
* [http://xbterminal.com XBTerminal] Brick-and-mortar hardware POS terminals with payment processing integrations.

==See Also==

* [[Merchant Howto]]
* [[In-store Transactions]]
* [[:Category:Payment_Processors|Payment Processors]]
* [[Tax compliance]]
* [[Securing online services]]
* [[BitCoins Mobile]] provides accurate up to date pricing from multiple exchanges from your Apple iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch.
* [[Bitcoin PayFlow]] automates the process for accepting bitcoins
* [[Lazy API]] The lazy (and possibly easiest?) way to accept bitcoin payments on your website

[[Category:ECommerce]]
[[Category:Local]]

[[de:Bitcoin_als_Geschäft_akzeptieren]]

File:Rocketr.png

2016-10-01T22:40:43Z

Robbot: Rocketr's rocket

Rocketr's rocket