Calling for merchants: please share your BTC onboarding story on SN \ stacker news ~bitcoin

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Calling for merchants: please share your BTC onboarding story on SN

6541 sats \ 19 comments \ @DarthCoin 9 Sep 2023 bitcoin

I am calling for all SN users having a shop, commerce etc or even if they have friends with shops that start accepting Bitcoin.

Please share here your story (no need to give specific location details if you do not want to dox yourself), just explain how was your process and what would like to be better:

type of shop your have (online or brick&mortar)
type of commerce (retail, grocery, bar etc)
how was the onboarding process
what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later
how you improved your use of bitcoin apps
how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment")
anything you would like to share

We need more voice from Bitcoin merchants! Let's hear them!

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2935 sats \ 2 replies \ @Ginepro_Co 9 Sep 2023

type of shop your have nature resort

type of commerce tourism in european underpopulated rural area

how was the onboarding process Easy from my perspective, have studied and practiced before in the position to setup a private node (third node) for the family and provide everyone somehow access to it.

what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later many of them, personally I tried as many as I can, skipping (tried, never used) the most common one like Muun, WoS. A good filter was always, if too many people talk about it, ignore it. I like to focus on niche things. Currently:

CLN node with Start9
Bluewallet
LNbits and extensions helps a lot
GetAlby as browser wallet
Custom website for booking and cms system accepting onchain and lightning
Custom POSs connected to the site db for menu and extra services (also payable with sats and BTC)
nos2x as NOSTR signer

how you improved your use of bitcoin apps using them, making mistakes... losing sats. Has been, and still, all part of the learning process.

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment") cash

anything you would like to share Keep trying and upgrade your tools as your knowledge and experience improves.

41 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin OP 9 Sep 2023

wow this is nice! Thanks for the answer. I hope others will follow your example. You did all by yourself from the beginning or you got help from a friend? So as I understand the business is a physical place but you charge btc online from web? On site you have also payments for other additional products/services, so customers pay in person with BTC?

220 sats \ 0 replies \ @Ginepro_Co 10 Sep 2023

yes correct, at the beginning, as @supratic, a lot of reading and trying. My only references where people on chats and forums. Currently the S9 community it's proactive and feels in good hands from a software perspective. I'm comfortable using my hands so hardware wise had no problems to setup and maintain the system. The fact that as well we unified our accounting, booking, menu, pricing all in one solution has been the grease that speed up the whole business processes.

Correct, physical place and online + f2f BTC payments, people can pay in advance to make reservations, yes in BTC online. On site it's easy because staff use all the same system accessible online via any device. each devise is a cashier, so customers can order from the menu and extra services anytime during biz hours, and team member can take the order an deliver depending on skills and responsibility.

4891 sats \ 3 replies \ @supratic 10 Sep 2023

type of shop your have Consultancy

type of commerce Design & Tech

how was the onboarding process Biz started in 2009, nice times :) started in 2015 with bitcoin and officially defined as internal standard in 2019. It took time to put everything in place, and we upgraded services and hardware multiple times. Backups saved us multiple times. Multisig, indispensable!

what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later We are now setup with a simple:

Wordpress website for orders and requests. Initially we used OpenNode but after we got...
Private Business dedicated node in undisclosed place
LNbits connects website and node
Accounting on separate local WordPress using same db
Bluewallet that enable to have and manage different types of wallets

We keep it simple, apart a great effort placed in enforcing security, we believe that a simple setup like this could help a lot of businesses. The biggest challenge is accounting and how you managed it in and with your jurisdiction.

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment") Our fees are denominated in BTC and all accounting as well. We switch to fiat when needed and to make it easier for the clients. We operate internationally, so used to deal with multiple currency exchange rates at the same time. It feels good to have finally one single reference for all currencies above the dirty $

anything you would like to share BAU, just need to switch the chip in your mind and make it happen. Your accounting strategy will need to change accordingly and depending on which country you reside. You'll need to make hard decisions on how to deal with exchange rates and tax declarations, find a trustable accountant if required, and define the process. It's always good to talk with someone else not related to the business about finance management, especially if related to Bitcoin.

PS Can't believe there're not many business owners around here. Why my response is just the second one after 12h from the post publication? Comm'on guys... share your strategy, I'm curious!

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 10 Sep 2023

Thanks for sharing your experience! Amazing, so you are quite OG, nice. I see you mention multisig, that means funds are managed by multiple users from the company, right? Very interesting use case.

just need to switch the chip in your mind and make it happen

THiS is gentlemen!

how to deal with exchange rates and tax declarations

So you are not counting bitcoins as cash? Or is more about the exchange rates for the international currency accounting? Usually a business accounting, for tax related, will keep everything in one currency (the one in which is paying taxes), no mention at all about btc. BTC is cash, in this case is just a form of payment, like paypal for example. All the invoices are made in the taxing currency not in btc. Taxma n not even have to know that was paid in btc.

an't believe there're not many business owners around here

Indeed I was expecting more merchants to come. We need to hear these amazing experiences and take them as examples.

Thank you sir for your great contribution!

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @supratic 10 Sep 2023

when I said

just need to switch the chip in your mind and make it happen

I meant that sometimes you just need to give up on what you (most of the time are just social contracts, you decide to agree to) have and be ready to receive... make space for the new somehow?! Otherwise the new doesn't arrive.

So you are not counting bitcoins as cash? Or is more about the exchange rates for the international currency accounting?

Hehe, we go into details here. We do have two accounting systems though: one internal, the oracle, and the other is maintained by our law & accounting partner. So not sure if we count bitcoin as cash, because isn't, it's bitcoin and that's it. So let's just say that for us Bitcoin is also the oracle that define the exchange rates for any other currency.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 10 Sep 2023

Fair enough, I don't want you to doxx more here. I am just curious about how people "see" bitcoin in their accounting.

10.5k sats \ 1 reply \ @criptopanas 10 Sep 2023

This my story when living in Brisbane in 2017:

type of shop your have : NONE
type of commerce : service provider. I had a domestic cleaning company
how was the onboarding process : At the end of the fiscal year, we sent a letter to our 40 clients telling then that we'll be accepting BTC as payment method and explaining what Bitcoin is, where to buy it, how to send it, etc. From the 40 clients, only 2 asked more questions about this new money. And at the end, only 1 client accepted to pay us with BTC. We were very lucky because it was our biggest client, so it was a great way to do DCA without KYC.
what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later : At that moment I was using MyCelium wallet and the client was paying us directly from the exchange Cointree.
how you improved your use of bitcoin apps : Now days, if I need to send an invoice I'll be using Phoenix wallet over the Lightning Network. In 2017 I didn't know about it yet.
how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment") : In my mind all the BTC received were an investment; for tax authorities, they didn't know about it.
anything you would like to share: If you are a freelancer or own a small business you have a good opportunity to make your business special, just accept BTC as a payment method Not many people will pay you with BTC but the small % of payment received would make a difference for you over time.

Don't be shy to tell your clients you're a BITCOINER

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 10 Sep 2023

Thanks for sharing another nice experience!

so it was a great way to do DCA without KYC.

This is really good indeed. Good point.

If you are a freelancer or own a small business you have a good opportunity to make your business special, just accept BTC as a payment method Not many people will pay you with BTC but the small % of payment received would make a difference for you over time.

EXACTLY THIS! Well done sir.

1595 sats \ 5 replies \ @DeltaClimbs 11 Sep 2023

Related, I put up a website last week dedicated to online bitcoin-accepting stores for non-bitcoin-related products. https://circularbtc.xyz

The idea is that if bitcoiners buy from bitcoiners as much as possible, while selling to both bitcoiners and nocoiners, it is sort of like having net exports, which makes ngu.

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @supratic 11 Sep 2023

This is great.. why didn't you share it in SN before? Will be interesting to hear from them.

410 sats \ 1 reply \ @DeltaClimbs 11 Sep 2023

Thanks. I did. Actually managed to get quite a bit of engagement. #242308

782 sats \ 0 replies \ @ealvar13 14 Sep 2023

Hey great thread thanks for sharing! Here's some e-commerce sites that do bitcoin payments:

https://www.mushmoresupplements.com/ (mushroom supplements) https://freemansperspective.com/ (subscription newsletter and writings) https://buckeyebitcoin.com/ (apparrel) https://www.velascommerce.com/ (software devs)

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin OP 11 Sep 2023

Super cool! Please if you can invite them to SN and share with us their onboarding experiences. Lead by examples. THIS IS GENTLEMEN !

PS: I like that you also put some few indications how to start at the bottom of the page. Good!

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @DeltaClimbs 11 Sep 2023

Tweeted :) https://twitter.com/CircularBTC/status/1701142883930079654

1893 sats \ 1 reply \ @ealvar13 14 Sep 2023

type of shop your have (online or brick&mortar) Online

type of commerce (retail, grocery, bar etc) Software development (web dev, mobile apps, custom software)

how was the onboarding process We’ve been working on helping businesses accept bitcoin payments for years, including offering “pay with bitcoin” option for all of our services. We also offer btc payments to our devs as an option.

It’s tough but rewarding! We are always looking at new tools for invoicing, accounting and bookkeeping as well as secure storage and business usage tools.

what tools / apps you used, in the beginning and later Multi-sig Electrum wallets Offline cold storage hardware wallets BTCPay Server with pruned bitcoin node LND nodes

how you improved your use of bitcoin apps Casa.keys is great for industrial grade security advice BTCPay server is the go-to for e-commerce Electrum is a really good hot wallet for multi-sig accounts that multiple partners need access / authorization for.

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting (cash or "investment") Uff it’s super painful from an accounting side in the USA. We consider it as both an investment (whatever we can save) and cash for paying the bills and developers.

We’ve worked on our bookkeeping process over many years and it’s really starting to get easier now.

anything you would like to share Always consider security best practices: offline storage, hardware wallets and multisig. For payments consider lightning, especially for e-commerce. Make sure you promote your business to bitcoiners!

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 14 Sep 2023

impressive.... (insert Darth Vader voice here) Thanks for sharing!

495 sats \ 1 reply \ @saltykate 19 Sep 2023

Type of Shop Farmer selling veggies at farm gate and some online sales (honey, crop shares sold in advance )

onboarding process Introduced 21Lessons.com Learned diff btwn on-chain and LN Set up Wallet of Satoshi and used point of sale for first IRL purchase

what tools / apps using or plan to use BTCPayserver to be implemented for online sales transactions - on-chain payment ok but need to understand about hosting own node or if better to use LSP like voltage

Sparrow for coin control and moving to cold storage vault

how you consider bitcoin in your accounting working on this - not clear as to how to integrate into bookkeeping (Zaprite looking promising) or how to hold on balance sheet

what I could use help with payments are sitting in WOS and plan is needed to move to HODL storage

Very open to hearing opinions that emphasize self sovereignty and maintaining good digital hygiene:)

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DarthCoin OP 19 Sep 2023

Thank you for your story!