For instance, buying metal bullion from a major online vendor such as APMEX, you can avoid credit card fees or long wait for a check/ACH/wire(faster than previous two but still takes hours) to clear by paying in crypto. It's basically <30min clearing for any arbitrary large amount. The closest you can get to that without crypto through most major bullion vendors is a wire, which depending on your bank is anywhere from free (rare) to $25+. Sometimes the crypto fees are waived, other times they're merely much closer to check price than credit price.
It adds an additional 1-2 days at least to shipping. Do you enjoy having your money gone additional time without any underlying asset in hand, adding to your counterparty risk? This is one of the reasons why Amazon delivery logistics has succeeded, consumers LIKE to have their goods faster. You don't think it's valid that some people use crypto to get their goods a day or two sooner for in many cases essentially the same price (or if they already had crypto, cheaper because they didn't have to convert back to fiat themselves).
>Bitcoin is also very volatile, so you can end up losing out on the spread, but not notice it.
The price in BTC(or LTC, BCH, etc) is locked for 15 minutes when you check out. If BTC or whatever you're using gains value you could merely choose not to execute the trade; when I missed the window there was no penalty it just cancelled the invoice. There's no way you can possibly have an unexpected loss. If you have fiat on an exchange and you needed crypto, you can choose to buy it right then in that 15 minute window to make sure your price is locked in.
I wonder if there's an arbitrage opportunity, here.
Sometimes I want to spend money on things that I think are morally right, but the credit card companies/paypal won't let me buy.
You can search for lists. I'm doing things that aren't even on most lists (things like buying medication - not drugs - at a discount). A good consumer will never be in that situation, they'll stick to the paths well traveled and stick to whatever laws they happen to think exist and apply to them (often without actually checking those laws or applying civil disobedience to laws they don't agree with).
An independent mind will sooner or later get into situations of wanting to do things that the established corporations don't want you to do and then you'll find out how little you can actually do with your corporate approved currency.
I'm in BG.
BTW, you have my jealousy on the bike. Congrats :)
There is no way to quantify how much this has happened using crypto assets.