Bitcoin as potential payment for photography

[dsterry]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone here has heard of Bitcoin or considered accepting it in leiu of USD/EUR for their work. Bitcoin is a new and growing Internet currency that is decentralized and currently trades at about $5 per bitcoin though in the last year it's been as low as $0.75 and as high as $32.

In any case, I'm developing a site that may include a stock photography component where photographers would be paid in Bitcoin. I am familiar with stock photo sites but this is likely to be more of a niche market (with mostly techies and gamers who would be buying any images). If anyone would is interested or has any questions feel free to reply or pm me and I'll get back to you asap.

As it stands, I'm launching without any photos but if someone wants to take a chance they can get some exposure from a strong community core that has formed around Bitcoin.

Thank you,

dsterry

 

[o hey tyler]

The Rise and Fall of Bitcoin | Wired Magazine | Wired.com

 

[Josh66]

Get all major banks/retailers in on it and I'm in. Until you do that, it's just pretend money that I can't spend anywhere.

 

[Derrel]

I would rather be payed in vouchers, redeemable for my favorite beer and cheeses at say, the Safeway chain of grocery stores. I mean, an annual fluctuation of between $32 and 75 CENTS within a single calendar year? zOMG...sounds like the German Deutsche Mark after WW I!!!

 

[dsterry]

I would rather be payed in vouchers, redeemable for my favorite beer and cheeses at say, the Safeway chain of grocery stores. I mean, an annual fluctuation of between $32 and 75 CENTS within a single calendar year? zOMG...sounds like the German Deutsche Mark after WW I!!!

Fair enough, but let me ask you this. Can you send that voucher within minutes to anyone on the Internet? I have paid programmers and artists with Bitcoin and it's a truly astonishing capability.

Bitcoin is very similar to digital cash and was designed for the Internet age. Yes it's volatile but it's quite young. That being said, like PayPal, one needn't hold funds in the Bitcoin system for any significant length of time(longer than an hour or two).

 

[Overread]

Why not just pay in paypal with real money that is more stable in its worth...

 

[dsterry]

Why not just pay in paypal with real money that is more stable in its worth...

The primary issue with PayPal is that they have a propensity to lock accounts and play moral police. With Bitcoin, it's a decentralized peer-to-peer system that no single company or organization controls.

It actually lends itself to a funny solution to the situation (and I'm sure you've all seen it) where family members fight over who will pay the dinner bill. If you have someone's Bitcoin address, you really can't stop someone from sending money to you so fighting over the dinner bill is pointless. I'm speaking of a fantasy future of course but you get the point.

 

[Josh66]

I would rather be payed in vouchers, redeemable for my favorite beer and cheeses at say, the Safeway chain of grocery stores. I mean, an annual fluctuation of between $32 and 75 CENTS within a single calendar year? zOMG...sounds like the German Deutsche Mark after WW I!!!

Fair enough, but let me ask you this. Can you send that voucher within minutes to anyone on the Internet? I have paid programmers and artists with Bitcoin and it's a truly astonishing capability.

Bitcoin is very similar to digital cash and was designed for the Internet age. Yes it's volatile but it's quite young. That being said, like PayPal, one needn't hold funds in the Bitcoin system for any significant length of time(longer than an hour or two).

Yeah, but where can it be spent? (And as far as sending someone a voucher - vouchers are often just numbers - a number is easy enough to send to someone (within minutes, even) these days...)
Nobody is going to go for it if you can't buy tangible things with it. Let me know when I can use it to fill up my car or buy a 6-pack...

 

[Overread]

Yeah I've never ever seen any retailer site (legit one) offer bitcoin as a payment option for goods.

As for paypal they mostly operate within the law - moral policing and the like shouldn't be a problem unless you're dealing with suspect goods (I think for them they have restrictions on dealings with adult content and the like - so that would be your nudes in stock).

 

[dsterry]

Yeah, but where can it be spent?

Nobody is going to go for it if you can't buy tangible things with it. Let me know when I can use it to fill up my car or buy a 6-pack...

I think one way to envision the Bitcoin economy is that of a small, technically adept island nation. On our island the primary goods and services available tend to be financial(speculation, currency trading) and technology based(hosting, programming services, VPNs) but there are also services that let you spend Bitcoin to buy items from Amazon or convert it into MoneyPak which is accepted at many stores and gas stations.

I think Bitcoin can work for photography services because work can be done and submitted remotely, hence the site I'm developing. You do have a point though in that you can't just spend Bitcoin at the local store....and that may be the case for months to years.

 

[Josh66]

Why not just pay in paypal with real money that is more stable in its worth...

The primary issue with PayPal is that they have a propensity to lock accounts and play moral police. With Bitcoin, it's a decentralized peer-to-peer system that no single company or organization controls.

It actually lends itself to a funny solution to the situation (and I'm sure you've all seen it) where family members fight over who will pay the dinner bill. If you have someone's Bitcoin address, you really can't stop someone from sending money to you so fighting over the dinner bill is pointless. I'm speaking of a fantasy future of course but you get the point.

I think I'm really going to like this future if you're saying that every time I get in an argument about money, people I barely know will just pay me, for no particular reason...

 

[Derrel]

Why not just pay in paypal with real money that is more stable in its worth...

The primary issue with PayPal is that they have a propensity to lock accounts and play moral police. With Bitcoin, it's a decentralized peer-to-peer system that no single company or organization controls.

It actually lends itself to a funny solution to the situation (and I'm sure you've all seen it) where family members fight over who will pay the dinner bill. If you have someone's Bitcoin address, you really can't stop someone from sending money to you so fighting over the dinner bill is pointless. I'm speaking of a fantasy future of course but you get the point.

"fantasy future", indeed. I read the Wired article on Bitcoin...it's going nowhere FAST, and the number of "banks" that have absconded with the bitcoins, or had their accounts hacked, or even over-written their ENTIRE bank's worth of ledgers of peoples' accounts is shocking...this idea is a joke. It has zero chance of success. It's a scam that is well-suited to cyber theft and embezzlement. Bitcoin has zero legal basis. It's a fantasy alright. Seriously--I would rather be payed in beer vouchers from Safeway than in Bitcoin...

 

[Josh66]

I'll take some pictures for some beer vouchers... Hell - weddings, even.

 

[dsterry]

]"fantasy future", indeed. I read the Wired article on Bitcoin...it's going nowhere FAST, and the number of "banks" that have absconded with the bitcoins, or had their accounts hacked, or even over-written their ENTIRE bank's worth of ledgers of peoples' accounts is shocking...this idea is a joke. It has zero chance of success. It's a scam that is well-suited to cyber theft and embezzlement. Bitcoin has zero legal basis. It's a fantasy alright. Seriously--I would rather be payed in beer vouchers from Safeway than in Bitcoin...

Heh...I get your point. Bitcoin has had a rocky past with much excitement and not-entirely wholesome entertainment. That being said, reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated. As a protocol and payment processing network it has proven quite resilient. Daily transactions carried out by the network have been growing steadily since the first block was generated.

It might help to take a step back from Bitcoin in particular to try and imagine how a new Internet currency could be created. Bitcoin gets so many things right it's actually quite amazing. Still, as you say, it might fail. It might be replaced by another Internet currency. But obviously I feel it has a decent chance of long-term viability otherwise myself and so many others wouldn't spend our development resources on it.

 

[Overread]

Soooooooooo this is more a bitcon advert right?



PS Amazon don't even accept paypal and don't even list bitcon under the not accepted options - so popular it might be -- within a tiny market........ like one restaurant in the UAS