Cartridge Link and Ink Factory now accept the online currency as payment for cartridges on their websites.
Cartridge Link revealed the “novel” new way for consumers to pay for cartridge purchases on its website, noting that it had “bitten the bullet […] to accept payment by Bitcoin” on its website www.cartridgelink.co.uk. Ink Factory in turn noted that it was the “first UK ink cartridge shop to start accepting Bitcoin in payment for printer cartridges” in early November.
Bitcoin is a virtual, internet-based currency that is both decentralised, or “free from government control”, and independent from “financial systems that have devastated economies”, and “offers a hi-tech alternative to traditional currencies” since its conception in 2008.
The currency is fee-free due to not being operated by banks, and the first Bitcoin ATM was opened in October this year in Canada, with more and more stores online accepting them. They work by secure payment and purchasing through wiring money to Bitcoin exchanges online, and the Bitcoincs are held securely in a “digital wallet” before being traded through websites that accept them, with payments able to be made through smartphone apps or on a computer, with no PIN number or card required.
Ink Factory meanwhile noted that Bitcoin transactions “cannot be reversed by the customer (unlike a credit card), but of course this is of no concern to customers shopping with reputable retailers with a clear commitment to customer satisfaction”. Cartridge Link added that amongst the advantages of using the currency are making payments anonymously, “no taxes […] and no transaction fees”, and access only gained via “physical access to [a] computer”, with the retailer benefiting by “process[ing] orders and services quickly and easily” as well as transaction being able to be “carried out directly”, increasing speed and saving costs. The company noted that it is offering the opportunity to use Bitcoins so that customers can utilise a “truly 21st-century payment method” and have “more choice and [enjoy] quicker transactions” when buying cartridges.