Well, I just tried to transfer one of my domains to Namecheap using Bitcoin, but their implementation leaves a lot to be desired.
I filled in my domain, got to the checkout page, and it gave me three options: Pay from 'Funds', 'Credit Card', or 'Paypal'. Turns out in order to pay with Bitcoin, you have to first add 'Funds' to your account. So I click the link to do that, it asks me how much I want to add (I don't know, aren't you supposed to tell me how much I owe?). Anyway, I follow a few pages and finally end up on BitPay's page where it asks me to send a specific number of Bitcoins to their address, so I do. The page recognizes immediately when I have sent the funds, and redirects me back to Namecheap.
Great, now I can find my way back to the checkout page and finally finish the transfer! Except I can't. Despite having sent the funds, they won't show up in my account for another hour (or possibly up to 24 hours). I understand they want to prevent double spend attacks, but this is absurd. We're talking about a $10 domain that they can just revoke if the payment doesn't clear. They have to wait 45+ days for paypal/credit cards to clear, but they give the product to me immediately, and I don't have to go through their ridiculous fund adding process to do so.
I applaud the effort Namecheap and I'm happy to see Bitcoin becoming more useful, but this needs work.
NameCheap actually doesn't have the capacity to revoke domains as they're an eNom reseller. Enom's policy is that once you buy a domain, it's yours. With domains sales being such a low margin business I can understand their level of caution.
Many people (like myself) keep a fair sized balance on namecheap to make checkouts faster for credit cards in general, so this won't be a problem for everybody.
"They have to wait 45+ days for paypal/credit cards to clear"
This is not a thing. There's no concept of 'clearing' when it comes to credit cards; they are authorized for a specific dollar amount or they aren't. If a merchant authorizes $10 for a domain name, it's guaranteed that those funds are theirs (and they're given an authorization code confirming it). They more than likely get the funds in their bank account the very next business day.
The only way the money can be taken back from the merchant is if the consumer does a chargeback with their bank, so the only concern there is fraud.
It sounds like that was something with the API for BitPay, perhaps NameCheap will skip the wait in the future and revoke if necessary but the thing that worries me is that maybe the BitPay API doesn't support notifying on pending funds instead of secured funds.
I'm loving this Bitcoin ramp up over the past few weeks. Namecheap should be applauded for their general endorsement of "what's good for the internet". Of course it's in their best interest, but you don't see GoDaddy doing the same.
I think back to the "So, that's the end of Bitcoin"[1] article by Forbes and chuckle to myself. Hopefully one day we can look back at that article in the same way we look back at Ballmer laughing at the iPhone [2]
Neat, but will they turn a blind eye to domains registered with false information? After all, the biggest advantage of Bitcoin over traditional digital payment methods is its capability to be used anonymously.
> Neat, but will they turn a blind eye to domains registered with false information?
I imagine in the future internet, domain registrations will be just as anonymous (like .onion on tor) as bitcoin, no reason domain names can't be decentralized (different tld's of course).
I'm honestly not sure, but I was under the impression that bitcoin wasn't really anonymous. All transactions are publicly logged to prevent double spend, so you can trace a coin from the first time it was used. If you happen to know that an address maps to a specific someone, you can begin to create a pretty identifiable picture.
The biggest advantage of Bitcoin is being able to transfer funds globally without an intermidiary. Think of it as a payment method rather than a currency for the time being and you'll be better served.
The price of Bitcoin is currently hovering around 37 USD. I remember when Bitcoin was $2.00 after the first crash, I never expected it to rebound so quickly. Announcements such as Namecheap's lend credence to the current price, but I would not be surprised if a correction brought Bitcoin below $30.
Regardless, I am excited that there are more places to spend Bitcoin each and every day.
A domain registrar is going to have a fairly technically literate customer base, but bitcoin is edging towards the mainstream faster than I'd expected.
edit:
I just tried it. The workflow works well, but this brings me back to my biggest reservation about the usability of BitCoin for regular transactions: The long period (hours) to confirm a transaction.
I seems the overall useage and popularity of bitcoins has gone down though. I haven't had a single purchase with bitcoins in about a year at Flow and Zone Games ( http://flowandzonegames.com ) and that's quite a change from the one-a-week clip before.
I don't understand the currency so maybe I'm overpricing.
I think in five years, the idea of using credit or debit cards for electronic transactions will seem slightly ridiculous, sort of the way using snail mail to pay bills by check seems now.
Paying bills over the internet was easier and simpler than paying by check. Paying by credit and debit cards are easier, safer and simpler than using say Bitcoin.
There is zero chance that those cards are going anywhere. If anything the popularity of PayWave and other NFC technologies should see their use increase.
It's a great step towards domain anonymity, but at the end of the day Namecheap is a company in the USA that needs to comply with USA law and its enforcers. And we know it's not the most privacy-friendly country in the world.
To be fair, registering a .com domain is a bad idea if you want to stay anonymous. Go for a .is, a .ch or even a .eu.
Interesting if anyone had conducted an experiment, whether new Bitcoin button, near old good CC payment, actually worsens whole conversion rate, due to interesting Bitcoin reputation in masses.
This is beautiful to watch unfold: The universe is taking flight! Do help it, not for the sake of a cryptocurrency, but for the ethical implications. For you and for me.
Hey all! I'm trying to build a domain registrar we'd actually love to use. Does bitcoin really appeal to you as a user? I'm trying to find a list of must-haves and want-to-have features to bake into my project.
Honestly, a good reputation is the primary feature I care about. Don't be super expensive, on par with Namecheap and godaddy. And don't make the interface bloody complicated. GD is the worst, Namecheap is better but needs work. And make it incredibly easy to move my domains in and out.
I'd like bitcoin to succeed even to a small extent if only as a counterweight to keep central banks in check but it would be better if it weren't so cumbersome to use, ie slow.
The payment gateway BitPay calculates how many bitcoins equal a USD price and then give that amount (minus their fee) in USD to Namecheap within 2 days.
"It does not matter how many bitcoins we collect, how long it takes to collect them, what we can sell them for, or how long it takes to sell them."
If the seller and the payment provider quickly convert their bitcoins into USD -- as seems likely to be the case based on the link in Maxious's reply -- then they're minimizing the time interval during which their wealth is exposed to exchange rate fluctuations.
Well every currency is volatile isn't it? I guess (if namecheap is a us-based company) they're bitcoin price would fluctuate just as the bitcoin does in relation to the usd.
My take away is "holy crap, 10 million bitcoin a day is trading hands. That's a lot!"
Especially for a fledgling currency with staunch opposition by traditional bankers and financial markets because it solves a lot of problems that make them a lot of money.
[+] [-] gibybo|13 years ago|reply
I filled in my domain, got to the checkout page, and it gave me three options: Pay from 'Funds', 'Credit Card', or 'Paypal'. Turns out in order to pay with Bitcoin, you have to first add 'Funds' to your account. So I click the link to do that, it asks me how much I want to add (I don't know, aren't you supposed to tell me how much I owe?). Anyway, I follow a few pages and finally end up on BitPay's page where it asks me to send a specific number of Bitcoins to their address, so I do. The page recognizes immediately when I have sent the funds, and redirects me back to Namecheap.
Great, now I can find my way back to the checkout page and finally finish the transfer! Except I can't. Despite having sent the funds, they won't show up in my account for another hour (or possibly up to 24 hours). I understand they want to prevent double spend attacks, but this is absurd. We're talking about a $10 domain that they can just revoke if the payment doesn't clear. They have to wait 45+ days for paypal/credit cards to clear, but they give the product to me immediately, and I don't have to go through their ridiculous fund adding process to do so.
I applaud the effort Namecheap and I'm happy to see Bitcoin becoming more useful, but this needs work.
[+] [-] shiftpgdn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GigabyteCoin|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hdra|13 years ago|reply
Their interface really needs a make over though. It's like they are trying to win a "Show As Much Information As Possible in A Single Screen contest".
[+] [-] tonywebster|13 years ago|reply
This is not a thing. There's no concept of 'clearing' when it comes to credit cards; they are authorized for a specific dollar amount or they aren't. If a merchant authorizes $10 for a domain name, it's guaranteed that those funds are theirs (and they're given an authorization code confirming it). They more than likely get the funds in their bank account the very next business day.
The only way the money can be taken back from the merchant is if the consumer does a chargeback with their bank, so the only concern there is fraud.
[+] [-] MertsA|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Muromec|13 years ago|reply
... and after one hour transactions are marked as "invalid" and you are forced to fill ticket to tech support (which is nonworking either)
[+] [-] ashamedlion|13 years ago|reply
I think back to the "So, that's the end of Bitcoin"[1] article by Forbes and chuckle to myself. Hopefully one day we can look back at that article in the same way we look back at Ballmer laughing at the iPhone [2]
[1] http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/06/20/so-thats-...
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eywi0h_Y5_U
[+] [-] invalidOrTaken|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|13 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] qdot76367|13 years ago|reply
I realize PR departments are probably flailing wildly over $33 bitcoins, but which feature do you think your users are more likely to use?
[+] [-] doublextremevil|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Skoofoo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] n3rdy|13 years ago|reply
I imagine in the future internet, domain registrations will be just as anonymous (like .onion on tor) as bitcoin, no reason domain names can't be decentralized (different tld's of course).
[+] [-] redegg|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jotaass|13 years ago|reply
See, eg: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=241.0
[+] [-] disintermediate|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jeremyjh|13 years ago|reply
I really don't see how they can do that anonymously and still function. They will be constantly fighting scammers and spammers.
[+] [-] bmiranda|13 years ago|reply
Regardless, I am excited that there are more places to spend Bitcoin each and every day.
[+] [-] dmix|13 years ago|reply
It has mostly a transactional since the use cases are so niche.
[+] [-] foxylad|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daniel-cussen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tlrobinson|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kalleboo|13 years ago|reply
edit: I just tried it. The workflow works well, but this brings me back to my biggest reservation about the usability of BitCoin for regular transactions: The long period (hours) to confirm a transaction.
[+] [-] mwsherman|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] score|13 years ago|reply
I don't understand the currency so maybe I'm overpricing.
[+] [-] ihsw|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidroberts|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nursie|13 years ago|reply
No chargeback possibility? No sale from me.
[+] [-] taligent|13 years ago|reply
Paying bills over the internet was easier and simpler than paying by check. Paying by credit and debit cards are easier, safer and simpler than using say Bitcoin.
There is zero chance that those cards are going anywhere. If anything the popularity of PayWave and other NFC technologies should see their use increase.
[+] [-] teoruiz|13 years ago|reply
To be fair, registering a .com domain is a bad idea if you want to stay anonymous. Go for a .is, a .ch or even a .eu.
[+] [-] Muromec|13 years ago|reply
It`s not about anonymity. All other payment systems just suck.
[+] [-] andreyf|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Nursie|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] juskrey|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] WhoIsSatoshi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacoblyles|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lowglow|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] geuis|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] doctoboggan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianwaj|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tedsanders|13 years ago|reply
What if bitcoin drops and I fill register domains on the cheap? Is there a way to prevent this? Are the prices somehow pegged to the dollar?
[+] [-] Maxious|13 years ago|reply
"It does not matter how many bitcoins we collect, how long it takes to collect them, what we can sell them for, or how long it takes to sell them."
https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-payment-gateway-api
[+] [-] csense|13 years ago|reply
If the seller and the payment provider quickly convert their bitcoins into USD -- as seems likely to be the case based on the link in Maxious's reply -- then they're minimizing the time interval during which their wealth is exposed to exchange rate fluctuations.
[+] [-] hmsimha|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mariuolo|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] stevewilhelm|13 years ago|reply
_____~10000000 (10 million) dollars in bitcoin transactions a day [1] verses
~5000000000000 (5 trillion) dollars in daily foreign currency trades worldwide. [2]
[1] http://s831.us/XIQoZ7 [2] http://s831.us/XISAQb
[+] [-] zanny|13 years ago|reply
Especially for a fledgling currency with staunch opposition by traditional bankers and financial markets because it solves a lot of problems that make them a lot of money.