Want to Start Shopping Online With Crypto? Here's What You Need to Know

The growth of e-commerce has made your travel-friendly life way easier. And with it, this trend has opened up a new opportunity that works to your advantage — more online merchants are now accepting cryptos. 

And it’s not surprising that both online retailers and shoppers embrace making transactions in Bitcoin and digital assets — they offer increased security and lower fees. So for a digital nomad like you, the good news is that you can pay with cryptos at your favorite stores and services online no matter where you are in the world.

Not only do big companies like Rakuten, ExpressVPN, and Expedia allow you to start shopping online with cryptos, but more and more small businesses follow the trend, as well. It’s exciting to see that you can pay with cryptos for online courses, web hosting, plane tickets, and fast food these days!

Even Paypal has added a ‘checkout with crypto’ feature, allowing customers in the US to pay with digital assets for products from millions of online merchants. So, let’s see how to start shopping online with crypto! 

What Are the Benefits of Shopping Online With Crypto

Although there is much debate on whether cryptos make for a better investment than they do as a payment method, there is no doubt that paying with Bitcoin and other digital assets is getting more popular. In fact, a recent survey by PYMNTS revealed that 51% of crypto owners are more likely to buy from merchants that accept cryptocurrency. 

Despite the volatility of cryptocurrencies — meaning that the price you pay for a product today may not be the same tomorrow, more and more people go for this option. If you’re wondering why, here are a few reasons behind this:

• Cryptocurrencies are mobile-friendly while benefiting from increased security — due to their decentralized nature, they allow shoppers to make safe, quick, and easy mobile payments
• You can spend your time in a country where the banking system is less developed, and you can still be able to purchase things online without having to own a bank account
• Transactions in digital assets don’t incur fees or service charges as it is the case when using third-party intermediaries — so no debit and credit card fees, merchant fees, or checking account fees
• The payments you make are confidential — while your transactions are public on the blockchain, they don't link to your identity (as long as you safeguard your online activity and the private keys to your wallet)

However, keep in mind that when shopping online with crypto, requesting change-backs is not possible. Once the payments are recorded on the blockchain, they can’t be changed.

How to Use Cryptos for Shopping 

If you already have cryptocurrency stored in your wallet, you can easily use it to pay for online shopping. So, if the merchant you want to buy from gives you the option to pay with Bitcoin and other cryptos, all you have to do is to:

• Copy their public address and paste it into the designated field in your wallet
• Type in the amount of crypto owed as shown in the payment window
• Click ‘send’ and allow for a few seconds for the transaction to be completed

Where Can You Spend Crypto

As I said before, there are plenty of options for you to spend crypto online. While online merchants are opening up to accepting more coins, you can safely use Bitcoin to pay for various products and services. Here are a few online stores accepting cryptos that may come in handy:

• Service providers: AT&T, Reddit, ExpressVPN, ProtonMail, WordPress, Reddit
• Travel companies: Expedia, BitcoinTravel, Destinia, CheapAir.com
• Restaurants and supermarkets: Burger King, Starbucks, Whole foods, Pizza Hut
• Luxury retailers: BitCars, Prestige Time, AutoCoinCars, Hublot
• Fashion stores: Bloomingdale’s, Saks, Nike. There are many less known fashion and clothing stores accepting cryptocurrencies as payment that you may want to support and purchase from

How to Find Online Stores Accepting Cryptos

There are plenty of choices when it comes to the products and services that you can buy with cryptocurrencies. If you want to find out if you can pay with crypto for your desired items or to spot online stores accepting cryptos, here are a few websites that can help you with that: 

• Spendabit — this search engine helps you find a wide array of online stores accepting cryptos and lets you browse through millions of products that you can pay for with Bitcoin 
• Coinmap.org — if you plan to go out and want to check out what businesses in your local area accept cryptos, use this website listing all the cryptocurrency merchants all over the world
• BitcoinWide.com — this is another useful global platform that lets you search for businesses accepting cryptos 
• Shopping.io — this website makes it easy to start shopping online with crypto. You can order from companies such as eBay, Amazon, or Walmart and pay with crypto. Plus, you can enjoy various benefits such as free shipping, token airdrops, shopping discount, and more
• useBitcoins — on this platform, you can find over 5,000 businesses accepting Bitcoin, beautifully categorized into general goods, food, software, and more

How You Can Live on Cryptocurrency Easier  

Luckily, living on cryptocurrency as a digital nomad is getting easier since you have more and more options to pay with crypto. However, to truly make the most of your money, it’s worth staying up to date with various services that can help you with this. One website worth checking out is Bitrefill.  

This platform allows you to purchase a wide range of products and services through gift cards. Besides the variety of gift cards offered, their services include phone refills and lightning network access. As soon as you land on their website, you’ll notice that they correlate your location with gift cards that could be relevant to you. The interface makes the purchasing process simple and intuitive. One thing worth noting, though, is that you should expect a service fee of 2% to 3%.  

To pay with crypto for your choice of gift cards or any of their other services, you don’t even need to sign up for an account. Just complete these steps: 

• Select your amount 
• Add the email address where you want to receive the voucher 
• Select the crypto you’ll use to pay in
• Scan the QR code and send your payment to the Bitrefill address

As of June this year, they have announced a partnership with Wyre allowing payments from major debit cards, credit cards, and Apple Pay. If you're at a time when you want to hold your crypto, you can still continue to use their service by paying in fiat currency instead of crypto.  

Get More Out of Living Off Crypto

Having all these opportunities for shopping online with crypto makes your globe-trotting life more enjoyable. From well-known retailers to small businesses to online platforms that make it easier for you to pay with crypto, there is no denying that the world is growing more crypto-friendly. 

If you want to get more out of trading crypto and be a part of a community of people who have a similar growth mindset to yours, join our Simple Wealth Elite program and take your crypto journey up a notch.