From the description of ripple, I believe that an unusual system of payments for merchant's goods is possible, not quite like the ususal one in a fixed currency.
(So here I'll describe this interesting system, leaving the answer concerning organizing a traditional payment system for a customer to other people.)
What if the merchant's goods is the curency? Similar to bonus systems some merchants offer. Then the merchant should actually act as a gateway (shouldn't they?), and redeem real goods for their IOUs. And their IOUs can be traded by other people for other currencies, the price depending on how much the goods from this merchant are wanted, and how much they trust the merchant (that the merchant will keep the promise).
So, the merchant would initially sell their IOUs for other money, or give them out according to their wishes, and then these IOUs can be traded, and returned back to the merchant for the goods.
If the merchant constantly sells these IOUs, it shouldn't be a problem for someone to pay with other money, because he would be able to immediately buy the merchant's IOUs in ripple, and then redee, them for the goods.
1
You may want to start with https://ripple.com/partners/#merchants or https://ripple.com/merchants/. And then move on to https://ripple.com/wiki/Main_Page#Merchants
– dchapes – 2014-05-26T15:37:42.997@dchapes But what if the merchant's goods is the curency? Similar to bonus systems some merchants offer. Then the merchant should act as gateway, shouldn't they? And redeem real goods for their IOUs. And their IOUs can be traded by other people for other currencies, the price depending on how much the goods from this merchant are wanted, and how much they trust the merchant (that the merchant will keep the promise). I believe this is possible with ripple, and also looks like an interesting system. – imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev – 2014-05-29T07:53:33.283
1@imz--IvanZakharyaschev it sounds like you're talking about something like gift cards redeemable at purchase time. If so, with Ripple a merchant can just accept their own issued USD (or whatever unit/name they want to use) and just arrange to distribute/give/sell those. Unlike physical gift cards, Ripple makes it easy for others to trade/sell these. For further discussion on such things I'd suggest ripple.com/forum as SE comments aren't the best place for discussions. – dchapes – 2014-05-29T15:40:26.567
@dchapes Yes, "gift card" is a good word for what I meant. I see now the option that you mentioned: accept their own issued USD. The option I thought about was like nominating the currency in the kind of goods one will be able to redeem: e.g., a promise to give 1 kg of potatoes or 1 Gb of network storage in exchange for the "gift card". Then we let the market determine the price for our goods... – imz -- Ivan Zakharyaschev – 2014-05-29T16:29:19.547