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I am total newbie and only need an advice on the existing payment processing services available.
So far I have checked only Bitpay, and noticed that on its t&c it is said that the system converts bitcoins into fiat once they are received. I guess that means that the client has to be able to pay by bitcoin, and I find it can be an deterrent when dealing with payers which are not used with this new currency or are unable to pay with them.
So the question is: are there 'blackbox' services, which allow the payer to send money to the payment processing system by using fiat money, effectively allowing both users (payer and receiver) to avoid 'handling' bitcoins directly?
Thank you so much
If both parties are going to use fiat money, then what's the point of an extra conversion into Bitcoin in the middle? – Nate Eldredge – 2015-07-24T17:18:47.393
The fees aked by the bitcoin processing system could be lower than those of online payment systems processing fiat transactions. – newtags – 2015-07-24T21:09:30.457
That seems unlikely, given that your "blackbox" service has to do (itself or by subcontract) all the same expensive things a fiat processor would: accept a fiat payment from the payer (including handling the possibility of a chargeback) and remit a fiat payment to the receiver. Any extra Bitcoin things it does would only increase the cost. The reason Bitpay has a chance to be cheaper is that it avoids one of the fiat payments altogether, replacing it with a Bitcoin payment that is much cheaper to process. – Nate Eldredge – 2015-07-24T21:15:26.040
The idea of my question is only to use a bitcoin processing system to receive money without asking the payer to maintain a wallet and understand bitcoin technology, to render it more usable to the 'sender' side. I dont see why it would have to increase the cost. The system in the middle can handle the bitcoins until their value has increased, then gives the receiver all the sum and can keep the difference for itself. – newtags – 2015-07-24T21:17:18.963
Bitcoins are volatile; that "difference" could very well be negative. Sounds like a very risky business model. – Nate Eldredge – 2015-07-24T21:23:43.017
But every bitcoin transaction is associated to this very risk. I understand the value of this currency can decrease suddenly, thus rendering the fact itself of putting savings in a wallet more risky than placing it in a fiat bank. – newtags – 2015-07-24T21:31:23.850
Most Bitcoin payment processors convert Bitcoin to fiat as quickly as possible, to minimize the time they hold Bitcoin and their exposure to this risk. They don't want to try to profit from a rise in the price of Bitcoin, because that requires exposure to the risk of a fall in the price. By having the payer pay in Bitcoin, they shift this risk onto the payer. – Nate Eldredge – 2015-07-24T21:54:08.683