I'm trying to create a payment portal for customer for small payment (under $500 - for bigger sums bank transfers or Western Union are OK).
I've had a hard time with credit card gateway providers, they somehow mostly expect a merchant website to be set up and sell well-defined products. I just want to get paid for various small services.
So I'm looking into having the customer somehow buy bitcoins (using a CC hopefully) and send them to me - if I can find a straightforward way to implement that since customers are mostly weak in computer stuff to start with (that's why they pay me!), but haven't had too much luck either so far... any ideas, since we're on that topic?
rolf wroteI'm trying to create a payment portal for customer for small payment (under $500 - for bigger sums bank transfers or Western Union are OK).
I've had a hard time with credit card gateway providers, they somehow mostly expect a merchant website to be set up and sell well-defined products. I just want to get paid for various small services.
So I'm looking into having the customer somehow buy bitcoins (using a CC hopefully) and send them to me - if I can find a straightforward way to implement that since customers are mostly weak in computer stuff to start with (that's why they pay me!), but haven't had too much luck either so far... any ideas, since we're on that topic?
Maybe https://bitpay.com/ can help?
6 months later
i'd say it will go higher, like 500? USD on mtgox what do you think guys ?
Samer, I'm trying to understand why did the price skyrocket in under a week. Did BTCChina have an increase in number of traders? Is there a relation between Silk Road 2.0 and the BTC price increase? Shall we expect a massive drop like last time (you know from 233$ to 55$)? Is it safe to keep the bitcoins or is it better to sell now (with this high price) and hope another price disaster strikes back?

im not economically experienced , but ill share how i see that thing :
now with the bitcoin is opened to one of the largest economy in the world (china ) which is rapidly growing , i think the containing of bitcoin wont be absurd for that "successful" economy , this has been planned , and opposite to usa who limited bitcoin (the dropping economy) , china is doing great! , so i think there will be more and more happy traders everyday, and it will lead eventually for price rising . and for the price dropping , i think it will happen , but as lately , the bitcoin will rise again.

what is the easiest route to buy bitcoin?

what is the easiest route to buy bitcoin?

In Lebanon, the cheapest and most effective option is to send money to the exchange via bank wire transfer.

Any exchange recommendation ?

btcchina registration is in chinese, seriously!
btc-e is as you described.

from bad to worst.

after I exchange the BIT to dollar, how do I receive my money?

by the way thanks a lot samer!
From 395$ down to 300$ then back to 350$ in 12 hours; crazy.

I'm thinking of selling out and getting a 600GH/s miner. The machine will pay itself in under a month. What do you think?
Well I'm still looking for the best BTC miner out there. The BFL 600GH/s miner sounded good because I can just place it into my already cooled case. Though I'm very tempted in getting a ready made miner case. Hash Fast has a 1.2GH/s miner, CoinTerra has a 2GH/s miner but can't be shipped anywhere (just local pickup or hosted service).

I know BFL products have heat issues; their previous generation of miners have somehow flawed case designs. Many actually run their setup with the covering case; others actually drilled holes for the miner to breath. Do you think BFL products are prone to early failure?

I have used this site to speculate BTC mining profitability: http://www.bitcoinx.com/profit/
After some thinking, the HashFast Sierra 1200GH/s sounds much better. Also took into consideration worst case scenarios like bitcoin difficulty reaching 1,000,000,000 and bitcoin price going down; this unit which lets say will cost 10000$ can pay itself in under 2 months.
8 days later
in a week it jumped $300 that is crazy!
I did something stupid today. Bitcoin crashed from 608$ to 535$. I noticed the crash when it was 535$ and freaked out and sold my bitcoins. In few minutes, bitcoin price went up to 580-590$, then to 600$. Apparently the bubble pop lasted 10 minutes only. I bought at 590$ fearing that the price wouldn't go down; well it didn't, but I lost half a bitcoin darn it.

I think lesson learned: never sell your bitcoins till you reach your target. Lost about 13 bitcoins since the last crash in April 2013 :S

Bitcoin now at 730$. Sorry but I got to say WTF!

So yeah minor set back today but I am still happy.

Regarding mining bitcoin, it turned out that getting miners was a hard deal. The good ASIC miners can be ready by January at the soonest. So the difficulty would be impossible by the time I get my hands on a unit. Let's keep our bitcoins as is till the price reach the moon; and by moon I mean 100K ;)

Has anyone every tried to withdraw USD cash from a bitcoin exchange? I'm thinking of moving to BTC-E or BTCCHINA but not sure if they support withdrawal via bank transfer. I'm still with gox, but I guess they'll make it a hard deal when you try to withdraw.
@MrClass i am selling BFL ASIC miners in Lebanon. If you're interested PM me.
As for withdrawing, did you get AML approved? My last withdrawal took 3 weeks to complete

BTC-China requires you to have a Chinese bank account.

@scatman which miners do you have and how much are you selling them for? Would it be worth it given how fast the mining difficulty is increasing?

I'm interested as well, please let us know the price.

Thanks aliessayli2
BFL is selling the 5GH/S ASIC for 275$ + 36$ shipment to Lebanon
Customs and libanpost charges around 50$ extra.
So i think 400$ is a reasonable price. No?
Knowing that if you order one now from BFL.... you won't get your item until February (estimation). I received my ASICs 8 months after i ordered them.

Would it be worth it given how fast the mining difficulty is increasing?

The mining difficulty is absolutely increasing and so is the the price of a bitcoin
so looking at the current price, difficulty and hash rate, and using the Mining Calculator i got:
bitcoin