Been holding a bit for a couple years but never used BTC for anything real. I run a small home-services operation and a couple of customers have half-jokingly asked if they can pay in Bitcoin. Got me thinking — why not actually set it up properly?
What I'm trying to figure out from people who've actually done it:
- Self-custody vs. processor: Do I take payments straight to my own wallet, or is something like a payment processor worth it for the invoicing/accounting side? I'd rather hold my own keys, but I also need clean records for taxes.
- Price volatility on invoices: If I quote a job at $X and they pay in BTC, how do people handle the gap between quote and payment? Lock the rate? Convert instantly? Just hold and ride it?
- **Lightning for smaller jobs?**A lot of my tickets are a few hundred bucks. Is on-chain overkill / too much in fees for that, and is Lightning actually practical for a non-technical small biz yet?
- Tax/bookkeeping reality: This is the part that scares me. How are you tracking cost basis and reporting when you're getting paid in BTC and maybe spending or converting some? Anything that makes this not a nightmare at year-end?
Not trying to go full Bitcoin-standard overnight, just want to offer it as an option without creating a mess for myself. What would you tell someone in my shoes who wants to do it right from day one?
Just use Zeus POS with embedded LDK node on a tablet in persistent mode or on a mobile if you like.
Done. Cost 0. Thank me later.
forget about that crap. Bitcoin is cash.
Only slaves pay taxes.
I did not know it has a POS, now I know what to do whit that old tablet.
I think using lightning with Rizful & BTCpay should be an easy setup. It should record the dollar amounts at the time of purchase. If you aren't getting much business from Bitcoin payments then it's not worth selling. Offering a discount if paid in sats might help generate more business.
Nice, thanks for the info, I’ll check out Rizful!
I like the idea, and it will be a good incentive for bitcoiners. What do you think is a fair discount when paying in sats?
IDK... Something between 5-20%
@thecommoner does something that also addresses the gap created by volatility. My recollection is that he splits the beneficial price changes with his customers and just eats it otherwise.
So, you could give them a quote in sats based on the exchange rate at the time. If bitcoin depreciates during that time they just pay that number, but if bitcoin appreciates they pay fewer sats.