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Comment by wonderwonder | Hacker News Reader

Most of these are pretty solid positives.

"Transactions are final. The merchant has no risk of chargebacks." Is this a plus all the time?

What if I buy something and the vendor just takes my money and does not send me my purchase? I have no recourse.

Look at it from the merchant's perspective: If chargebacks are easy and the middleman (PayPal, etc.) tends to side with the buyer, would you take the risk of putting up your goods for sale? There is a tradeoff here.

This is a large reason why many cryptocurrency vendors online require you to use irreversible payments (cash, wire transfer) to buy crypto, in order to match the finality of crypto transactions.

> If chargebacks are easy and the middleman (PayPal, etc.) tends to side with the buyer, would you take the risk of putting up your goods for sale?

The answer is yes for almost all businesses I've seen.

And they bake in the losses to their pricing, as well as banking fees up to 3% or more. I've seen vendors online offer substantial discounts for using cryptocurrency as payment.

There really aren't many online vendors that accept crypto that I have seen. And if they want to avoid views, the fees for a debit card are lower than most crypto transactions at this point.

>I've seen vendors online offer substantial discounts for using cryptocurrency as payment.

This is actually my 100% use case for crypto. Making legal online purchases at a discount to avoid credit card fees, not retarded speculation or the spectre of crime all the nay-sayers worry about.

Since when are transfer fees smaller for cryptocurrency?

Most online metal bullion vendors. Usually I only buy on the occasions they wave crypto fees; but even when they don't it's virtually always cheaper than the CC/Debit option. Compare CC to crypto price on APMEX for example.

At least you have the choice to do a non-standard transaction where you give the cash without having received the product. Standard cash transactions involve receiving the product at the same time as the payment, or before.

Cash transactions are generally in person. If they're not, then you have to worry about the courier, also.

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