[n00btorial] How to buy anything with Steem or SBD online. In 7 simple steps.
The first time I received some decent SBD was when SteemStream got discovered and trending on the frontpage. I was tired after working long hours, and when I woke up I found the SBD's in my wallet and my SteemPower all up as well
My parents where visiting us that day and the sun was out. We decided to go have dinner outside at a nearby restaurant in my neighbourhood in Amsterdam and told them about 'Steemit'. Earlier I had introduced them to my 'virtual money machine' (my ETH miner) so it was not all jibberish to them...
At the end of the dinner I said: 'This one is on me, I had such a great day!' But then my mom replied when I came back from the waiter / cash register and asked: 'But you can't pay with it right?' And she was right, I had paid with my bank's fiat debit card. (In The Netherlands / Europe we have debit cards by default).
So I made it my quest to find a way of paying with Steem originated earnings, just for the heck of it:
Note: The following tutorial and knowledge is by far not new for everybody but n00bs like myself might like it:1. Register an account at E-Coin.io *ref link
- Note: the referral code gives you 25% discount on the $3 VISA virtual card creation fee - which you can pay with Steem too.
- E-coin will soon be rebranded to Wirex, but for now you should register via E-Coin.io
- Should the site directly ask to create a card after registering, cancel that part, and first get some Steem (BTC) in on your E-coin balance.
2. Put some BTC in your 'Bitcoin account balance' by clicking 'View Address'.
- This address will only be visible for 10 seconds so copy it with [CTRL / CMD] + C. Be sure to copy paste the correct address.
- Every time you click you will get a new address, but all previously generated addresses will still be tied to your account.
GIF link (if broken)
3. Use Blocktrades.us to conveniently convert and deposit some Steem or Steem Dollar in one step to your BTC address account on E-coin
- Pick either Steem or Steem Dollar in the left dropdown and Bitcoin in the right dropdown
- Paste the BTC address you generated in Step 2 (on E-coin) in the 'Your Bitcoin receive address:'-field.
- Hit 'Get Deposit Address':
- Copy the 'Memo' text as instructed per Blocktrades suggestion:
GIF link (if broken)
4. Go to your Steemit Wallet and click the 'linked' Steem or Steem Based Dollar and hit 'Transfer' from the pop over menu
- The transfer modal dialog appears
- Fill in all the blanks, including the correct 'to' (blocktrades) and 'memo' (the value you copied just now in Step 3.4)
- Hit 'Transfer'.
5. Let the magic happen!
- Blocktrades receives your Steem (or SBD) and converts it to BTC and forwards it to your account balance on E-Coin.
- E-coin receives the BTC from Blocktrades and you will be notified within about 30-40 minutes max. that your account balance was loaded with some BTC.
6. Create a Credit Card on E-coin for $3 25% discount
- If you pick a virtual card (VISA) for online shopping you will receive it instantly.
- If you pick a physical card (MasterCard) you pay a lot more $17, but obviously you can just go to the ATM with that one.
- Just hit 'Request new card' fill in the details (get as creative as you like here :D, not if you pick physical card ofcourse)
- And you will receive an email with your new card number, valid thru and CVC code.
7. Top up your card in the E-coin Dashboard page by hitting the 'Top up' link
Now go buy the whole internet, and then some :D
Some notes:
- I am not affiliated with E-coin. I wrote this tutorial as I undertook these steps recently
- I put in a referral link so you get 25% discount on your $3 dollar virtual card (VISA) or $17 physical card (MasterCard).
- Limits apply: $/€2500 (or £ 2000) lifetime use on your $3 virtual card (but you can just make another one) or get verified by uploading your passport scan... (mehhhh).
- You can't order a physical card in USA and India due to regulations... But who needs physical when you have mayonaise?
We must give credit to @b0y2k since he was the first that made an tutorial for the same service! But i guess he must be happy with the reward he has already taken :)
https://steemit.com/money/@b0y2k/convert-your-steem-dollars-to-physical-money-to-spend-or-withdraw-anywhere
ah.. you are totally right ... pfff... finding this out all by myself... but it was already done before... Thanks for pointing out!
Awesome article as always! Very useful for me to know how to do this, because I'm not so tech, so this will be helpful :) Alla x
cools... they also have a 'Pound credit card'. It's a bit unclear sometimes on their site, but it is actually a VISA card if you pick a virtual card. Know this when you do online payments!
oh really , good one! i will def need that one :)
This is so cool. Too bad I'm a coin hoarder.
Using this method, the money never touches your bank, so you'll eventually avoid a pretty serious conversation about tax evasion.
not sure if endorsing tax fraud is a good thing to do. eventually people using the platform should be aware what comes with it.
Yes for me this is not about tax fraud or evasion, it was just a lil epiphany to find this way to buy some stuff online...
I used it to support some of my kitefriends who are doing a fundraiser Kite-surf event in which 60 people will kitesurf a distance of 130 KM or 80 Miles along the dutch coast in September. As I couldn't support them with Steem through the donation site. http://hoektothelder.nl
i was refering to the comment of @udg ofc not to your post. i upvoted the post, cause i didnt know about ecoin myself. just not sure if they have a sustainable business model. most of those services close down in the long term due to regulations.
just so both of you know, you can't tax cryptocurrency if you keep your money in crypto. If you're declaring your income in bitcoins or steem dollars, they can't tax you. Since the money isn't their controlled. They may have attempt at taxing this, but it's most likely going to be capital gains tax, which is the most basic income tax out there. But they can't enforce this tax on anyone, only to those who are willing to declare their income in the standard fiat cash. You just have to keep in mind that you're profiting in crypto not standard fiat cash.
what are the limits of the virtual card without further verification?
See my comment elsewhere here, or let me get that for you:
Number of purchases / Per day No limit
Value of purchases / Per day No limit
Max lifetime load per card: $2500 / €2500 / Pound 2000
hehe thanks. we posted about at the same time, that's why i didn't see it in the first place. those limits are pretty high for an 'anonymous' card. hope they are not shutting down too soon due to too much abuse..
Am I correct in stating that this is basically a way to load steem/steem dollars onto an exchange and sell them for bitcoin and exchange them for fiat onto a debit card?
Do you still have to transfer your sbd/steem each time manually or can you auto request them to be transferred through the exchanges and made fiat?
Hopefully this can be transferred to a mobile app and allow users to pay like apple pay and remove the need to have a physical card.
Hopefully someone can create a decentralized system so that no transaction fees will be needed to be paid by small businesses that accept credit cards. You could then use a card to buy a pack of gum at a gas (petrol haha) station without needing to hit a $5 limit to use the card.
I love the way you write. It's very easy to follow, but I am unable to see the pictures right now.
yes some how the 2 gifs are suddenly broken through Steemit's cache... I notified and put the direct link to the two GIFS next to them...
Check out http://Plutus.it initiative...
The currency flow here is:
Steemit.com (steem/sbd) -> blocktrades (BTC)-> E-coin Balance -> E-coin card -> (web)shop
Yes you have to maually top it up.
Paying with SBD ?
Lekker ! :D
Also: respect for marking the referral link properly.
How did you do the exponent thingy btw ?
it's basic html :) < sup > your text here </ sup>
(superscript)
ja lecker!
Yes very good! You can also get discount if you convert to BTC and use purse.io
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
thank you this is really a great and useful method if i only have enough money:)
Thanks