There are lasting legal, technical and support operations that we are willing to take on long term if the market's big enough to support it. Otherwise, it's not worth the effort to implement those long term.
Buyers understand that if there is a dispute they will only receive the amount paid in USD, not BTC.
I guess this would be mitigated by immediate exchanges... Haven't used Coinbase enough to know how well this would work, specifically their merchant services, but what's the per-transaction cost to immediately exchange BTC on transactions? Also, I've seen buy/sell prices on CB - is that the same in their merchant accounts? I see daily cashouts as a merchant option, but that doesn't entirely remove the fear of a market crash. Or even smaller daily variations (morning price high, evening price low, etc).
I could see how there would be at least some potential for long-term concern.
The second somebody makes a payment via BTC through coinbase for an app.net project, the BTC is cashed out on the fastest exchange possible and the fiat value of that BTC directly sent to app.net whenever they please.
No, seller never sees BTC, buyers BTC are immediately turned into USD and seller gets USD. No fear of market crash, they're getting the instant exchange rate.
Can you elaborate?
It's fascinating to me that people think that for any retailer to accept Bitcoin it's as easy as embedding a widget on their site. I have been comparing notes with other companies that are also considering adding Bitcoin support and these are the sorts of questions that come up.
That's only because you're setting prices in BTC instead of USD, right? I always thought accepting BTC through Coinbase for USD-denominated goods and services had no tax implications.
The only downside you've listed is that you mistakenly tied your subscription code with one payment provider.
I purchase something on Overstock for 0.5 BTC. The item has an issue, and I want a refund. In the meantime, the price of BTC/USD has fluctuated 20%. What happens?
This question is not insurmountable, obviously. But there are tons of edge cases that need to be thought of and dealt with.
This may be good PR for App.net, but it's bad PR for Bitcoin and Coinbase if the idea that accepting Bitcoin is complicated spreads. It isn't. Using Coinbase is as easy as using Authorize.net, unless you make things hard for yourself by pricing things in Bitcoin.
[1]: disclaimer: they just hired me.