

Bitspend - Buy Anything Using Bitcoins - gmaster1440
https://www.bitspend.net/

======
BitspendJessica
Hey Guys, this is Jessica from Bitspend :) I want to cover a few things.

1\. Yes, there is a lot wrong with the site right now - including the order
form. We had been working all week on the new site, including an automated
order-form, and at 4AM this morning we had major issues with the server. Since
we had already publicized our launch, we chose to put together what we could
for today as we fix the issues that broke the "real" site. We know the site
right now is not what it should be - and its killing us too! We promise to
have it all fixed shortly.

2\. About our contact information. Within the week not only will we have 800
numbers for you to call for support, but we will also have our office address
available, and invite anyone in our area to come in and check us out
themselves.

We are aware that what we are doing will take time to build trust in the
community, and we will go above and beyond to make sure we earn it. We will
continue to work on ways to improve our service to you, and to expand our
offerings.

We have a long road ahead, just as the Bitcoin economy itself does. We plan on
making the most out of it and providing you all with a way to purchase
ANYTHING(Legal!!) with Bitcoins.

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crynix
Cool idea! Few things about the website:

* The navbar on <https://www.bitspend.net/order.html> isn't consistent with the rest of the site. It's missing the "Order Now" link.

* I want to click your logo to go to the home page.

* You're using the Bootstrap default favicon

* Is the business's name Bitspend or BitSpend? Both appear on the site.

* The links on the bottom of the main page don't go anywhere.

* The text in the jumbotron/masthead is misleading. The item isn't shipped directly to the consumer.

* "Unlimit Your Bitcoins" sounds a bit awkward. What about "Unleash Your Bitcoins"?

~~~
unreal37
My understanding of the business is that the item IS shipped directly to the
consumer. I send them X bitcoins (plus a $2 fee), and a link to amazon.com
item, and they buy it for me using their credit card, and Amazon ships it to
me not them.

You think the item goes to them first?

~~~
FireBeyond
It says it goes to their warehouse first for "relabeling", then sent to you,
"so you can shop anonymously".

It probably also has the benefit of not triggering merchant anti-fraud
mechanisms for shipping to all manner of different addresses.

~~~
unreal37
There's two types of packages:

\- Standard Order, $2 flat fee

\- Anonymous Order, 5% fee

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JoshTriplett
Interesting idea. When I saw the title, my first thoughts went to prepaid one-
time credit cards, and I think that might work as a scalable version of this:
specify how much you want to spend, send the corresponding amount of BTC (plus
fee) to a specified address, and get a credit card number with that much on it
to use at an arbitrary merchant that accepts credit cards.

~~~
rory096
Aside: Are you aware of any APIs for the creation of one-time credit/debit
cards?

~~~
JoshTriplett
I don't know of any, no; you'd probably want to partner with a friendly local
bank for that. Offering such an API seems like a great unfilled business idea;
I can easily think of half a dozen great businesses to build around that API,
and a couple of really obvious business models to charge for it.

~~~
rory096
Interesting. My initial thoughts were around a business built on that (better
solving the problem I'm trying to address), but just an API could be huge.

Looking around the internet, I've found a couple related things:

Google Wallet creates a "Virtual OneTime Card" underwritten by The Bancorp
Bank for each transaction.
<https://developers.google.com/commerce/wallet/online/faq>

Citibank lets you log into your account and create a "virtual account number."
[http://blog.credit.com/2011/06/worried-about-online-
security...](http://blog.credit.com/2011/06/worried-about-online-security-use-
a-temporary-credit-card-number/)

This (brief) thread in a MasterCard forum, referencing closed APIs.
[https://developer.mastercard.com/portal/display/forums/One-t...](https://developer.mastercard.com/portal/display/forums/One-
time+credit+cards)

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advisedwang
Clearly a secret CIA scheme to link personal details to bitcoin addresses.

~~~
yakiv
I'm no expert on bitcoin, but I've read that you can have as many addresses as
you want. You could generate a new address for each time you order through
bitspend and never give them your "main" address. Overall it may or may not be
a better option than just buying directly from a merchant because of other
considerations.

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ISL
Will money-laundering as a service pass legal muster? It'd be interesting if
it does. Anyone know of case law that protects an idea like BitSpend?

Anonymous purchasing power is a Good Thing; going through a third party seems
like it adds wrinkles.

~~~
lallysingh
Doubtful: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-gold>

------
Irregardless
Gaining trust is key if you want people to give you personal and financial
information, and the 30 second Bootstrap website really isn't inspiring any
confidence -- especially the visible seams in your pasted together background,
the complete lack of form validation, and all the blank links at the bottom.

~~~
jonpaul
Coinbase is using basic Bootstrap, they seem to be doing fine, selling over
$1M USD per month: [http://blog.coinbase.com/post/42587245753/coinbase-is-now-
se...](http://blog.coinbase.com/post/42587245753/coinbase-is-now-selling-
over-1m-usd-of-bitcoin-per)

~~~
rbn
The difference is that YC has invested in Coinbase, which automatically gives
them tons of credibility.

------
FootballMuse
What state are you reshipping from? There are sales tax implications unless
you are in a state like Oregon.

Also, I'm sure there are users that need an international reship.

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jerguismi
Great MVP :) I guess you just receive the orders via the form, and if you see
demand, then you start improving the product?

~~~
BitspendJessica
That improvement is already underway!

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contango
yikes, hope you have good insurance and a fat legal warchest

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johnrob
This is likely to solicit questions about whether purchases can be anonymous.
However, I don't think that matters. As long as an average Joe (who doesn't
care about anonymity) can use this to spend bitcoins, the overall acceptance
of the currency should increase. That benefits all bitcoin users, including
the paranoid ones.

~~~
adambard
> As long as an average Joe (who doesn't care about anonymity) can use this to
> spend bitcoins

My question is, why does Joe who doesn't care about anonymity, care about
Bitcoin?

~~~
johnrob
If you owe Joe money, he might accept bitcoins because he knows he can use
them (minus a fee) at sites like bitspend.

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silasb
What happens if you need to refund something?

~~~
MacsHeadroom
then you get a refund (including fee).

They use some fancy PKI footwork to facilitate returns/refunds without
retaining customer/order information.

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lallysingh
Unless you're specifically aiming for illegal transactions, I'd remove the
specific reference to law enforcement.

~~~
MichaelGG
I think it's good to have it mentioned, regardless. Too many sites claim they
"won't turn over information" or claim they don't keep records, only to later
say "ok well for LE, yeah", proving they had your data the entire time.

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rezrovs
* How do you handle the cost of shipping if the user is not based in the USA?

* If I buy from a non-USA based site, how are the customs charges handled when the items arrives at your warehouse?

* How will you handle returns if the item is defective or damaged?

~~~
unreal37
Not my site, but I think "Standard orders" go direct to you not to a
warehouse. You pay shipping from the original seller, whatever they charge.
You pay customs fees. Returns are going to be a pain in the ass - don't expect
to be able to do that very easily.

For "anonymous orders", the concept doesn't seem thought through very well.
Only 5% fee on any order from $1-$300? So I want to buy something from eBay
for $1, you will anonymize that for 5 cents? I don't think so. I doubt you'll
be able to do international orders anonymously.

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wodow
It's possible to submit the order form at
<https://www.bitspend.net/order.html> and receive a success message without
completing any of the fields. No validation - a big bug?

~~~
cjg
It's an MVP. No point in writing all that validation code just yet - most
people understand that you actually have to fill the fields in.

~~~
FireBeyond
I think an MVP of anything related to finances (be it cash, card, or bitcoin)
should include SSL and validation. I see there's SSL.

In any case, adding simple form validation there would have taken <10 minutes
with a decent library (especially given that they're already "using" jQuery -
though perhaps not actually "using"; it seems that they've taken the Bootstrap
example HTML wholesale, and include a bunch of other Bootstrap jQuery plugins
that they're not using - or have at least included it).

Apparently their MVP includes a "secure warehouse"... but not ten minutes of
Javascript?

There are many things that can be excused under the umbrella of "... but
MVP!".

This site is asking people to place their trust in an anonymous entity to the
sum of several hundred dollars - I say anonymous because there is ZERO contact
information on the site, no address, email (well, other than for Media
Requests), or anything.

Speaking of anonymity, there are also no corporate registration records for
"Bitspend LLC" in Florida (where the domain is registered), or the US, for
that matter.

MVP or not, this site doesn't scream "credibility".

~~~
BitspendJessica
We love the constructive criticism, however we would like to ask that you
stick to facts when claiming something:

"Speaking of anonymity, there are also no corporate registration records for
"Bitspend LLC" in Florida "

If you did a simple business title search on the FL sunbiz site, you would
find Bitspend LLC listed, right at the top :)

As far as your other concerns, we are able to admit that where the site is at
this exact moment is not where it should be. We promise to have it up to your
standards by end of week!!

~~~
FireBeyond
I'm willing to stand corrected. I had done a Dun & Bradstreet corporate
registration search.

Duly noted!

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mazsa
Standard Order, Order Total of $1: $2 fee; Guaranteed Anonymity, Order Total
of $1: $0.05 fee Is it true?

