4 ms·

I can only talk about Paypal from the payer side it's virtually frictionless in my experience and transactions can be disputed via Paypal or my bank. Buying and

I can only talk about Paypal from the payer side it's virtually frictionless in my experience and transactions can be disputed via Paypal or my bank. Buying and using bitcoin adds a number of extra steps as well as transaction costs in moving dollars into bitcoin as well as giving me no dispute mechanism.

mrb 9y ago
Paypal is pretty frictionless, but it still takes ~15-20 sec to do the 3 clicks through 3 slow-to-load Paypal pages (1: paypal button, 2: page to specify amount, 3: confirmation page). By contrast, a click on the Bitcoin address opens my local Bitcoin wallet which opens up instantaneously, and clicking send is also instantaneous. Total ~3 sec. The difference between ~15-20 and ~3 sec is enough to make me prefer BTC over Paypal. I don't need the ability to dispute: I am not going to change my mind later about this donation. I don't need to buy BTC: like many bitcoin users I already have some in my possession, ready to be spent at any time.
- moonchrome 9y ago
  How long does it take for the payment to go through ? What's the fee ? For a donation transfer speed doesn't matter, but for actual purchase it's a lot more than 30 s last I've tried
  - mrb 9y ago
    The payment is broadcasted instantly (1-2 seconds). Fee can be as low as $0.10-0.30 (eg. these donations to the VLC address https://blockchain.info/tx/99ee82b2b8f33ee22c6c51ff4ba198141c4283c702ea212bc9edcad19c33d4d2 https://blockchain.info/tx/99ee82b2b8f33ee22c6c51ff4ba198141... https://blockchain.info/tx/d056b36bdb81f70cf344d4489ba337ad1820e07b0907211ecdff764cb9ed25ba https://blockchain.info/tx/d056b36bdb81f70cf344d4489ba337ad1... https://blockchain.info/tx/445ba8e7559a4f83bcd7fd7adac30cf9fa4e220c25ccc35e9492fff876937fef https://blockchain.info/tx/445ba8e7559a4f83bcd7fd7adac30cf9f...). It's important to understand the difference between a broadcasted transaction (tx received by most Bitcoin nodes, "0-confirmation", 1-2 seconds) versus the transaction being included in at least 1 block ("1 confirmation", ~10 minutes). Some merchants accept 0-confirmation tx, while others require 1 confirmation. But in almost all cases it's fine to accept 0-confirmation transactions: • ordering physical goods online (an order takes more than ~10 minutes to be shipped & delivered anyway) • ordering virtual goods/services (eg. paying for VPN: the vendor can simply cancel the service if the tx is never confirmed) • any low-value real-world transaction (eg. paying for groceries... no one will bother with a double-spend attack to steal groceries) • etc

mrb 9y ago

Paypal is pretty frictionless, but it still takes ~15-20 sec to do the 3 clicks through 3 slow-to-load Paypal pages (1: paypal button, 2: page to specify amount, 3: confirmation page). By contrast, a click on the Bitcoin address opens my local Bitcoin wallet which opens up instantaneously, and clicking send is also instantaneous. Total ~3 sec. The difference between ~15-20 and ~3 sec is enough to make me prefer BTC over Paypal. I don't need the ability to dispute: I am not going to change my mind later about this donation. I don't need to buy BTC: like many bitcoin users I already have some in my possession, ready to be spent at any time.

moonchrome 9y ago
How long does it take for the payment to go through ? What's the fee ? For a donation transfer speed doesn't matter, but for actual purchase it's a lot more than 30 s last I've tried
- mrb 9y ago
  The payment is broadcasted instantly (1-2 seconds). Fee can be as low as $0.10-0.30 (eg. these donations to the VLC address https://blockchain.info/tx/99ee82b2b8f33ee22c6c51ff4ba198141c4283c702ea212bc9edcad19c33d4d2 https://blockchain.info/tx/99ee82b2b8f33ee22c6c51ff4ba198141... https://blockchain.info/tx/d056b36bdb81f70cf344d4489ba337ad1820e07b0907211ecdff764cb9ed25ba https://blockchain.info/tx/d056b36bdb81f70cf344d4489ba337ad1... https://blockchain.info/tx/445ba8e7559a4f83bcd7fd7adac30cf9fa4e220c25ccc35e9492fff876937fef https://blockchain.info/tx/445ba8e7559a4f83bcd7fd7adac30cf9f...). It's important to understand the difference between a broadcasted transaction (tx received by most Bitcoin nodes, "0-confirmation", 1-2 seconds) versus the transaction being included in at least 1 block ("1 confirmation", ~10 minutes). Some merchants accept 0-confirmation tx, while others require 1 confirmation. But in almost all cases it's fine to accept 0-confirmation transactions: • ordering physical goods online (an order takes more than ~10 minutes to be shipped & delivered anyway) • ordering virtual goods/services (eg. paying for VPN: the vendor can simply cancel the service if the tx is never confirmed) • any low-value real-world transaction (eg. paying for groceries... no one will bother with a double-spend attack to steal groceries) • etc