Australian retailers can now accept Bitcoin as payment through cloud-based software provider, Vend, and a partnership with DC POS.
Since its inception in 2008, Bitcoin has grown into a new digital currency, with a community of users worldwide.
Vaughan Rowsell, CEO and founder of Vend, said digital currencies are the future and accepting them through the Vend platform is now as easy as any other transaction.
To make a Bitcoin sale retailers enter a sale amount into the Vend platform in their local currency and automatically a payment code appears in the customers’ software wallet. In seconds the retailer receives the ‘green tick’ to confirm the money has been transferred to their online wallet.
“Bitcoin is an efficient way to accept electronic payment for goods and services with transaction fees at 0.5 per cent, much less than fees charged to retailers by the big banks. It’s also secure, as Bitcoins act like cash so once the transaction has taken place, the money is the retailers. The shop or café is in control of any disputed amount not the credit card provider or the bank,” Rowsell explains.
Rohan Carroll, IT manager at St Kilda’s Bike Factory Outlet, and Vivo Green Café has been using Bitcoin to shop online and recommended the benefits to his employer.
“We were using Vend in the Café and DC POS in both stores, so it was easy to be one of the first to offer our customers the new Bitcoin integration,” he says.
The Bike Factory Outlet, and Vivo Green Café have been offering Bitcoin for three weeks.
“We’ve had a few customers make use of the offering and we’re adding ourselves to the Bitcoin registers so more people are aware that we take this form of payment. It’s appealing to be a small business able to offer something new and exciting to our customers,” says Carroll.
Orea Café is the only café in Brisbane’s CBD that accepts payment by Bitcoin.
Samantha Saunders, and Brittany Vass took over the café in 2013 and immediately moved to Vend for their POS.
“We’ve been accepting Bitcoin payments for several months now, and it already makes up about 10 per cent of our daily takings,” said Saunders.
“You would be surprised at the diversity of people who pay with Bitcoin, and it is growing every week,” said Vass.
