Beaverslayer

I see that you are from France. I also see that you are an excellent airbrush artist. I think that you would do very well if you were to also market your work to the tattoo industry, as it would fit in very well with the type of art you do. Here is a website that lists all the Tattoo Conventions in France this year. You could possibly get a booth or share a booth at a number of these shows. http://www.worldtattooevents.com/category/france/ Here's also a list of all the other countries in Europe that are having Tattoo Conventions as well. http://www.worldtattooevents.com/tattoo-conventions-europe/

Thor, Winter here in Calgary this year has been pretty nice actually, seeing as all the Alberta Oil Sands contribute so much to Global Warming and all. Most of the risk regarding Bitcoin is from holding it and hoping the value will increase or buying Bitcoins at a high price and again hoping the value goes back up over $1,000.00. If you are accepting it as a payment using a reputable company as your POS provider, and having them convert it to US dollars or the currency of your country, then the risk as well as the cost. is actual far less than conventional credit card/debit card, PayPal or even Western Union Money orders. As long as you price your goods in a "Dollar" amount and the person pays with Bitcoin at time of check-out, then the Bitcoin is converted at that time. This eliminates the volatility of Bitcoin value changes. Yes people have lost millions of dollars "Investing" in Bitcoin, no different than people who have lost millions "Investing" in the stock market. People bought large quantities of Bitcoin when the price was very high, just to watch the price drop very low, as long as you convert your Bitcoin sales to Fiat once received you are not faced with this problem. Now back to basking in this glorious Alberta winter...if Global Warming is real...Bring it on...

Troy I, I don't see where I am "Trying way too hgard" to sell this venture. I posted about Bitcoin and accepting it as a payment method for custom leather work done by people who frequent this forum as another way to increase sales and market their goods. People responded with questions and concerns and I posted replies to those. Just in this section of the forum there are 320 topic posts related to "Marketing and Advertising" with 3,349 replies to these posts. All these posts are about Marketing and Advertising, this is just another one of those posts that gives leatherworkers the opportunity to look at another form of payment. You ask what is wrong with the currencies we have today and why do we need another one. Well, you may want to ask the people of Cypress about that, also the people of Zimbabwe, they will be more than happy to explain to you exactly what happened to the money that their Governments printed for them. When it comes to "Needing" a new currency, nobody is saying that we need it, but it is there for your use should you decide to use it. Who said we needed credit cards and debit cards? why have so many people stopped using "Cash" and instead pay with a debit card? It's called "Progress" and adapting new technology to the ever changing world. Do you truly believe that companies like Microsoft and Overstock.com only accept Bitcoin in hopes of driving the price of Bitcoin up? no they accept it as a payment means because they realise that their sales will increase and their cost of making that sale will decrease. Sure there are people who are involved with Bitcoin that are going to make millions of dollars, no different thatn the banks and credit card companies have been doing for years.

As I stated before Tramps, I respect your opinion (and what you stated above....IS YOUR OPINION) I do not respect you assuming my sole intention for "Informing" and "Helping" people look into another form of increasing sales and marketing their goods as "Beaverslayer trying to increase his investment". This is what I would consider an attack on me personally. Everything I have ever done or posted on this forum was for the sole intention of "Helping" other leather workers...always has been always will be... You personally have decided that Bitcoin (and most likely credit cards and PayPal and such) are not for you and only accept "Cold Hard Cash" for your goods, this is all well and fine. But....yes BUT, there is a whole other world out there, and in that world there are many many many other forms of payment that are accepted and people use every day of the week. When it comes to "Mining" Bitcoin, today it is not worth a individuals time nor money to even consider mining them, this is done by companies that have invested millions of dollars into mining them. I, as stated above "Mine" Altcoins (they are like Bitcoin but only a few are accepted like Bitcoin) and I trade those on an exchange for other Altcoins and when needed I convert those to Bitcoin and sell them. If you truly believe that by me posting here on this forum trying to get people to use Bitcoin to make the price of Bitcoin go up so I make more money, well, I'm sorry but that really does make me laugh. Even if 500 of the people that frequent this site were to accept Bitcoin and use it on a daily basis, this would have zero effect on the daily price of Bitcoin. The price is determined by people who trade millions of dollars worth of Bitcoins hourly, not by retail sales people. It's like when people complain about the price of gasoline and blame the big oil companies for the price...it is not the oil companies, it is the people who trade "Futures Contracts" of oil and gasoline who determines the price of gasoline and oil, just like any other commodity. Your opinion of "If this can be easily converted to cash, then the people who have them can convert them and pay me" is no different that saying if you have a credit card/debit card or PayPal, then use it and convert that to cash and pay me with the cash.

leatherwytch, I'm glad I was able to help you and that you were able to research more about Bitcoin and come to the realization that the possibilities of Bitcoin increasing your online pressence as well as your sales is there. I am more than happy to also help you get your website and such more exposure to the Bitcoin community once you are set up and ready to go, just let me know when. If you don't already have one, I suggest you get a Twitter account set up as this is a very good platform for mass marketing a website....kind of like I tell two friends and they tell two friends, but it's more of hundreds of friends and all very fast. Another would be a Facebook page for your leather work business, which is another very good mass marketing platform that is free just like Twitter. There are a number of "Forum" type sites just like this one that are Bitcoin based as well, and once you get all set up you should open up a topic on a few of them and list your website and the services you provide that you'd accept Bitcoin for payment. Once you start getting sales from Bitcoin people, they are going to tell other Bitcoin people that you are a reputable and good business and sales should pick up from there. As I've said, I am here to help you as much as needed.

Constabulary, First off, "Fiat" is what you use every day, it is cold hard cash, the Euro is "Fiat". The reason you require a company to convert Bitcoin into hard cash, is the same reason you have a bank account that turns your pay check into hard cash, it's the same reason you gave credit card processing services, because carrying around cash is getting to be a thing of the past. Credit cards as well as debit cards are basically the exact same thing as "Virtual Currencies" they are just older and (at present) much wider used in the world. Bitcoin users want to buy things using their Bitcoins and not have to pay some multinational company high fees to do so. Credit cards and debit cards are limited to the amount that you can carry on them, and the amount you can spend at one time. Bitcoin does not have these restrictions as it is not run by a multinational company that's sole reason for being in business is for profit. There are thousands upon thousands of people all over the world that get payed their wages in Bitcoin, pay all there bills with Bitcoin and fly on commercial airlines payed for with Bitcoin as there are numerous companies that you can book and pay for flights in Bitcoin if you so desire. You, like many people have yet to see the benefits of Bitcoin, just like when the internet and email first came about people where skeptical and didn't understand how it all worked. Who thought that back in 1985 that today you could talk to someone face to face through your computer? Who would have thought that they could make a phone call on a small little hand help phone to almost anywhere in the world to almost anywhere in the world so easily? This is just the beginning of Bitcoin as I have said before, this is the ground floor. Believe me when I tell you there are millions upon millions of people that use Bitcoin every day and each day there are new people. Bitcoin may not be for you, just like I hate and detest credit cards, but it is being used and it is another way of marketing your leather work business.

leatherwytch, As Bitcoin is a relatively new technology, there are not as yet a whole lot of Brick and Mortar stores that accept it as a payment method. This is changing on a daily basis and more and more are beginning to see the benefits of Bitcoin. Yes, at present time you cannot pay your Enmax bill and such with Bitcoin, but you can pay it with money you have made by the sale of items generated by Bitcoin. This is why I told you about CaVirtex and Bitcoin Brains right here in Calgary. CaVirtex has a service where you can accept Bitcoin as payment and have those Bitcoins converted immediately into Canadian dollars and deposited into your bank account. This is exactly the same as accepting Visa, Mastercard or AMEX but without the fees those companies charge. Take for example if you use the "Square" credit card processing service, they charge you 2.75% to do a transaction with there service, that is $2.75 for every $100.00 in sales. CaVirtex will charge you ZERO fees for the first $100,000.00 in sales and only 0.5% on any sales after $100,000.00, so as you can see you are saving a substantial amount of money in fees alone. You mention that buying one Bitcoin at $247.00 is not a beneficial thing for you to do....I agree wholeheartedly with that. I'm not saying for you to ever buy a Bitcoin, there is no need for you to do this, I'm only saying that by accepting Bitcoin as another form of payment in conjunction with your present forms of payment will very possibly add to your customer base and increase your sales and bottom line. Once you have accepted Bitcoin as payment (via a payment processor such as CaVirtex) the Bitcoin is converted to "Real Canadian Money" and is then spendable at all those places you mentioned, just like if someone payed you via a credit card or cheque, those also have to be converted and deposited into your bank account before you can use those funds at the places you mentioned...but Bitcoin does not have the fees those other forms of payment have, and there is a fast growing international community of people who want to buy things with Bitcoin.

Constabulary, For starters, there are a vast number of companies online that accept Bitcoin for payments. Here's a short list I have compiled in the last ten minutes. 1. overstock.com 2. Microsoft.com 3. Tiger Direct.com This company listed allows you to buy almost anything online and pay for it via Bitcoin. 1. all4btc.com I see from your profile you are from Germany. The German Government was the first Government to declare Bitcoin as "unit of account" or "Private Money". At the present time, there is only one Bitcoin exchange in Germany and I'm unsure if they provide a POS service such as CoinBase does in the USA. (I cannot read German) One thing you have to understand, I have not said anywhere in this discussion for you to buy your groceries, gas for your car, pay your taxes with Bitcoin, what I have said over and over again, is to accept Bitcoin as payment, convert those Bitcoins to Fiat currency of your Country, and have that Fiat currency deposited into your bank account. Once you have converted Bitcoin to Fiat and it's been deposited into your bank account, you can then do all those things and even pay your taxes. If you currently accept credit card payments for your products, this is no different than accepting Bitcoin, the credit card company still has to deposit that money into your bank account before you can use it...no difference... The difference is the cost of the credit card service and the "Centralization" of the personal information required to accept credit cards. In Germany right now, there is one Bitcoin exchange, it's Bitcoin.de they are the largest Bitcoin exchange in Europe and currently have over 200,000 customers. There is also an online bank called Fidor AG that I think may be involved with Bitcoin, I do know they are involved with another crypto curreny called Ripple, but I can't read German so I can't tell you for sure if they do work in Bitcoin. The whole point behind me bringing this to the leather work community, is to show you and help you to open up to another new market place for "Custom" leather works. If Bitcoin.de has over 200,000 customers, then this is also a potential 200,000 customers that you could have as well just by accepting Bitcoin as a payment service. BUT, and I repeat BUT, if you do accept Bitcoins and do get sales from it....IMEDIATELY convert those Bitcoin to Fiat and have that Fiat deposited into your bank account just as you would a credit card payment. Then you can spend it any whare you so desire.

Tramps, I respect your opinion on what you think about Bitcoin, and in some way you are correct about the potential for loss. There is a very good potential for loss if you "Hold" the Bitcoins you've gotten from sales in hopes that they increase in value. I DO NOT suggest this and have only ever said to use a service that can convert Bitcoins to your countries currency and deposit those funds into your bank account. By utilizing a service provider such as CaVirtex, CoinBase or any one of a number of other reputable (and backed by multi million dollar corporations) you are not dealing with "no accountability" these companies are just as accountable as your bank is. The notion that this is some sort of "Bubble" that will burst at any time now is just that "a notion" or your opinion. There is a reason companies like the New York Stock Exchange, the Winklevoss Twins and Microsoft, Amazon Dot Com, Overstock Dot Com and many other very very large multinational corporations not only investing in Bitcoin but also accepting them as a viable alternative to fiat currency. The biggest and most important of these reasons is the speed of transactions and the cost of those transactions. When current credit card/PayPal fees are between 2.5% and 3.5% these are savings that go into your bottom line, not some huge multinational corporation. Another reason, and a very important one, is that Bitcoin is not a "Centralized" service. What this means is that your personal information is not stored anywhere in some large data centre that can be hacked such as Target was. This also means that people cannot hack into the Bitcoin system and steal your identity and run amok with it and make your life a living hell. By accepting payment in Bitcoin you are also protected by the scammers that do "Charge Backs" on credit card purchases, or the ones on PayPal that register a complaint that the item arrived damaged or didn't arrive at all. PayPal will side with the complainer and "Freeze" your PayPal account until you prove otherwise. With Bitcoin this can never happen. There are many people who are very skeptical of Bitcoin (as well as anything new like this) and I respect that skepticism (I was skeptical as well) once you realize that Bitcoin isn't just some weird new ponzi scheme or some fancy idea, then you are able to see the advantages of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is no longer looked at as the thing that will bring down fiat currency and the all mighty dollar, it is looked at as an "International" currency built on mathematical technology. I've spent over a year now learning about Bitcoin and Altcoins to better understand exactly what they are and how they work. I also have been "Day-trading" Altcoins on exchanges just like the stock market. I invested into another computer that "Mines" for Altcoins that I convert to Bitcoins and then sell at Bitcoin Brains here in Calgary. I am able to go to a few coffee shops and buy coffee and donuts with Bitcoin as well as use the Bitcoin ATM's that are here in Calgary. I spent a number of years doing custom leather work as well as being an active member here on this forum. I know how hard it is to garner new clients and get sales and not have to worry about whether the person is going to pay me. I was always looking for new ways to try to get new customers, whether it be by a website, Etsy or word of mouth...it is not an easy task. What I believe, is that by marketing to the Bitcoin world, you are opening up a whole new avenue of potential customers. Bitcoin people WANT to be able to use their Bitcoins, so why not be on the ground floor and help them spend them? If I were still doing leather work, I would have no problem whatsoever accepting them as payment.

leatherwytch, You being from Calgary are one of the luckier ones as there is a "Brick and Mortar" store that deals only in Bitcoin down on 17th Ave and 10th Street SW. Their name is Bitcoin Brains. I deal with them on a regular basis and they are not only extremely friendly but also extremely helpful. Here's a link to their website: http://bitcoinbrains.com/merchants/ They work with another Calgary based company called CaVirtex which is Canada's largest Bitcoin exchange. CaVirtex offers a POS system for people looking to accept Bitcoins for purchases. This service is exactly the same as PayPal, Square or any other money/credit processing service except for the fees charged. You are able to see a comparison of those fees on the Bitcoin Brain website. I don't suggest just accepting Bitcoins on your own, as this can be a somewhat costly thing as the value of a Bitcoin could change before you are able to convert it to Canadian dollars. By utilizing the services of CaVirtex or CoinBase (being in Calgary I would use CaVirtex) once you make a sale for a $225.00 US belt, they customer has the option of paying you via Bitcoin, credit card or PayPal (if you have those options) if they choose Bitcoin, then at the checkout CaVirtex would calculate the amount of Bitcoin required to equate to $225.00 US and that is what they would pay. CaVirtex would then accept their payment in Bitcoin and immediately convert it to US or Canadian dollars depending on which you choose it to. The funds collected by CaVirtex would then be sent to your bank account. The main thing here is not only are you able to market to people who want to use Bitcoins, you are also getting a POS service such as PayPal at a greatly reduced cost.

Here's a link to a very resourceful site on Bitcoin that will help you to better understand all the benefits of Bitcoin. http://enjoybitcoins.com/bitcoin-resources/

TwinOaks, it's interesting that you mention the part about satelite links, there is a company that is presently working on building and launching a satelite just for this reason. I'm not sure exactly how it all works, whether you'd need a sat phone or just a normal smart cell phone or not. There is so much development going on right now in the Bitcoin/Altcoin world. I think the main reason behind so much development, is the fact that it is all open source, so if you know how to program software, you can easily get involved. Regarding the "International" customers and leatherworkers, Bitcoin reduces the cost of international money transfers greatly compared to conventional methods. As I said earlier, one man/woman (no way of knowing who) sent a bit over 81 Million dollars worth of Bitcoin in one transaction at a cost of only four cents. The transaction took a bit over 10 minutes to complete, this is unheard of in the international let alone the local money transfer world. The part about the "Un Banked" of the world, is that whether you use Bitcoin or M-Pesa in Africa, you essentially have a "Bank" of your very own right there in your cell phone. You own the bank, not some big corporation or government...you own it.

TwinOaks, I respect your opinions regarding Bitcoin and was very skeptical myself for quite some time. Yes there have been some very large thefts of Bitcoins over the last year or so in the Bitcoin world, no different than there have been some very large thefts of fiat currency or major ponzi schemes. There has been some major investigations and arrests of Bitcoin people who had created and run the Silk Road 1 and 2 because of drug sales and such. Every day of the week, and in pretty much every city on Earth, someone is being arrested for selling drugs or guns and accepting Fiat/Cash as payment, this will never change. Any currency whether it's hard cash, paper check, credit card or digital will be used by the criminals of the world. The most important thing about Bitcoin, is the technology behind it. Unlike credit cards, Bitcoin is decentralized, there is no central computer that stores all the holders information that can be hacked/exploited. Remember the Target hack? This cannot be done with Bitcoin. Yes Bitcoins can be stolen/hacked if you do not secure them with a strong password, but your personal information will never be stolen like with Target. Another thing is the cost of transactions, this alone will save many companies vast amounts of money each year on credit card transaction fees. For example, you sell something for $100.00 and the person pays you via credit card. If you use Square, then they will charge 2.75% of that $100.00 for the transaction. If that same person payed in Bitcoin, they would pay 0.00020000 of a Bitcoin to transfer $100.00 worth of Bitcoin to you (that is approx. $0.03 at present) Then you as the receiver want to convert that to US cold hard cash as quick as possible so you use a service like CoinBase. CoinBase will charge you 0.1% yes that is 9 points UNDER one percent to convert the Bitcoin to cold hard cash and deposit it into your bank account. You mention Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, this brings to mind a very interesting fact. In the world today there is a bit over 7 Billion people living on Earth. Of those 7+ billion people, close to 6 Billion of them are what is classified as "Un Banked" this means they have no access to conventional banking. Bill Gates (Microsoft fame/worlds riches man) is highly involved with M-Pesa which is a "Digital Currency" in Africa. M-Pesa is exactly the same as Bitcoin and every African that uses it, does so with a cell phone. Bitcoin can and does get used every day throughout the entire world by people using their cell phones as the means to pay with Bitcoin. I buy coffee and donuts every day with Bitcoin at a local coffee shop, they also have a Bitcoin ATM in their lobby. During any disaster, as long as you have a smart phone and the battery has juice in it, you will be able to use Bitcoins. The person/people who created Bitcoin did so because of the vast amount of people who are unbanked in the world and because of the way the world governments can just do what they want with fiat currency. Look at what happened in Zimbabwe (here's a good article on that fiasco http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703730804576314953091790360 ). This is the main reason governments are so afraid of Bitcoin, but most are starting to accept the fact that Bitcoin is viable and is needed. The Royal Bank of Canada (Canada's largest bank) is currently working on using the Bitcoin technology to eliminate the paper check here in Canada. What this will do once it is implemented is, there will be no more "Bouncing" checks and no more "Forged" checks. It's impossible to "Forge" a Bitcoin, just can't be done. There is no such thing as a counterfeit Bitcoin....just can't be done. One more interesting thing regarding Bitcoin compared to Fiat currencies. Back in 2013 I believe, in the country of Cypress. The government was in dire straights and in need of billions of dollars to secure EU debt financing. What the government did there, was they closed down ALL the banks and then TOOK ALL the money that was on deposit at the countries second largest bank...just took it without any recourse to the people who owned the money. If the government decided to do something like this here where we live (highly unlikely but possible) and you held your money in Bitcoin, it would not matter if they closed the banks and took all the fiat currency. On the internet as well as in many main stream media publications, you are going to find stories saying how bad and dangerous Bitcoin is, you will also find stories about how great and useful it is as well, no different than all the media and differing opinions on the Keystone XL pipeline and Alberta Oil Sands oil. It's very important to research anything whether it be Bitcoin, a new pipeline or which leather sewing machine you will need to do the job. My whole intention here is not to promote everyone into becoming a Libertarian and denounce fiat currency and take up Bitcoin, my intention is to bring to the leather community another viable means of gaining a larger market for their leather work.

Regarding the taxes, I'm in no way capable of saying exactly how you would be taxed, as I am a Canadian and our tax laws are far different than yours and our version of the IRS are far more easy to get along with. In regards to pricing, you would still price your goods in US dollars and by using a service such as Coinbase, the customer would be charged the equivalent amount of Bitcoin at time of checkout. This amount of Bitcoin would then be converted to US dollars within a few minutes so you would not be susceptible to any major price drop/rise of Bitcoin. Coinbase would then transfer the US dollars to your bank account. As I've said above, if you use a service such as Coinbase (or any of a number of others available) the Bitcoins are converted to US dollars right away and this is then transfered to your bank just like any credit card service does. The difference being though, is that the credit card company/PayPal and such will charge you anywhere from 2% to 3.5% plus a transaction charge, where Coinbase for example only charges 0.1% I believe for the transfer to your bank, and there is no charge for the Bitcoin acceptance up to $1,000,000.00 US dollars. As of yet, I do not know of any "Leather" suppliers that accept Bitcoin, just companies like Overstock and Amazon and a few others like them. Should a number of leather workers start to accept Bitcoin, then I would be available to try and get leather supply companies involved in Bitcoin as well. When it comes to investing, I am not saying to "Invest" in Bitcoin or any of the many other "Altcoins" out there, as this is no different than playing the stock market, and unless you have big brass B's, and constantly watch the markets, Bitcoin is not the type of thing to invest in. I spend quite a bit of time "Day Trading" Altcoins and converting them to Bitcoins and this can tend to be almost like a full time job sometimes. But as far as accepting Bitcoin as an alternative payment method, what I'm saying is there is a very good chance to open up a completely new market for active leatherworkers. For example, when Dogecoin (an Alt Coin) was first introduced in December 2013, the Dogecoin community grew faster than any other on-line community in the history of the Internet in just over a month. They took it upon themselves to raise the necessary funds (via Dogecoin) donations to send the Jamaican Bobsled team to the Winter Olympics. They also raised large amounts for water wells in Africa. This in turn created a whole new market for Dogecoin related items, and people that had Dogecoins wanted to buy things that they could pay for with them. If the item had a picture of the Dogecoin logo on it, it was a sure fire sell. I can see people that are involved with Bitcoin would be very inclined to buy a hand made wallet with the Bitcoin logo tooled on it, as the "Wallet" is a major part of the Bitcoin technology. Bitcoin belts would also be a big item, as well as Bitcoin key chains.

According to the IRS Bitcoin is a "Commodity" and is taxable in the USA as a "Capital Gain" should you buy and sell them for profit/loss. In the stae of California, Bitcoin is classified as a "Currency". Bitcoin will not replace US dollars or any other Fiat currency any time soon, but, it is a viable payment method that millions of people throughout the world are using every day to purchase goods and services with.