If you are a small business owner, then this guide can help you promote bitcoin which is done by accepting bitcoin as payment in exchange for goods and services. Bitcoin is gaining a lot of popularity as being perfect for anonymous transactions and is competing with government currency. There is a lot of speculation among small business owners whether to accept Bitcoin as payment.
Bitcoin has not yet been recognized by authorities and the government as a currency in a formal way. For all practical purposes, accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment is just like gold, cash, gift cards, scrip or foreign currency.
How to begin Bitcoin accepting for transactions
The first priority when starting Bitcoin acceptance for transactions is keeping the accounting procedure simple and straightforward for you. On the basis of the type of business you are running, this system will vary.
Post a sign
If people who are interested in using Bitcoin as a way of making payments are quite few in numbers, you can simply let more people know by signing a post or a note stating, “We accept Bitcoin”. In case someone is interested in using bitcoin for their transaction your site will come up in their search.
Making use of merchant solution
If you enjoy a prominent web presence and sell a variety of services and goods on your site, you will surely wish to utilize the bitcoin merchant solution for accepting bitcoin. Using bitcoin will afford you the freedom to choose which currency to ultimately convert the sale into. In case you have an actual shop, payments can be made by your customers using simple and straightforward wallet addresses with QR Codes or touch screen apps.
POS Hardware Terminal
A perfect integration can be made with point of sale and existing registers solutions with custom hardwares, for instance, XBTerminal, Coinkite and more.
Accounting
It is very easy to keep a tab on payments made using Bitcoin. Credit needs to be simply issued to their account when a payment is made by the customer. In an ideal situation, you would like to enter the details in a way that clearly indicates that payments have been done. Many people think that this transaction can be entered in the disguise of discount but one has to consider its ethical ramifications. Also, if you are actually offering discount for Bitcoin, you are selling Bitcoin in exchange for currency, counting the same as income. In such a situation, the transaction is being counted as income and your income calculation may be making up for the same. The issue is worth clarifying from your accountant.
