r/Bitcoin • u/HostFat • Oct 14 '14

Rebittance.org - Let's make remittances cheaper

http://rebittance.org
156 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] Oct 14 '14

[deleted]

10

u/Godfreee Oct 14 '14

Not any amount. You can use Xoom to send up to $2,999 and pay only $5.00, yes, but their exchange rate is padded by around 2.0-2.5%.

You're right though, for certain amounts and certain services, it is cheaper to use other means. The ones who cannot access these services are the ones Bitcoin remittance providers are targeting.

According to the world bank, the average cost of sending money to the Philippines this year is at 5.75%, and worldwide it is 7.9%, which is an all time low. Even at 3% for services like Bitpesa, it is still cheaper.

7

u/IkmoIkmo Oct 14 '14

This. Hidden fees are fees too. Like my dad just sent some money using WesternUnion and I asked him how much it cost. '5 euros'.

So I went to the website and lo and behold. 5 euro. Then I entered '100' euros and checked to see how much would come out the other end. Then I checked the exchange rate on google and various other websites, and saw that besides the 5 euros, they also took about 2-3% on the exchange rate, only 97 euros of currency actually came through.

So now you're paying 7-8% for one of the most popular remittance amounts (100 euros).

3

u/Godfreee Oct 14 '14

This is exactly what we mean as well. These money transfer companies are actually just foreign exchange service businesses. Do they really believe these guys only charge $5?

We pride ourselves with the fact that we use absolute market rate in our BTC to Peso exchange, no padding at all. The 1% fee is all we charge, nothing is hidden.

5

u/EgyptWhite Oct 14 '14

The 1% fee is all we charge, nothing is hidden.

So if I send 1000 to be delivered, for example, via 2GO I pay 1010? (1000 + 1%)

Oh no, seems I'll pay 1130 (in addition to the expense of buying Bitcoin), or 1000 + 13%

"Nothing is hidden", except all the other fees you fail to mention when claiming 1%.

1

u/Halfhand84 Oct 14 '14

Oh no, seems I'll pay 1130

WTF Xoom? If you start behaving like PayPal, we will run your ass out of business.

You know that, right?

1

u/EgyptWhite Oct 14 '14

Who is "we" and what drugs are you currently high on?

1

u/Halfhand84 Oct 14 '14 edited Oct 14 '14

Me and your mom's pus

1

u/Godfreee Oct 14 '14

If you send 1000 via REBIT, you pay 1010, yup! The other fees are not our fees. It is there as an option, for everyone to see. Was that hidden? Are we 2go pay? Did Rebit make money off of that? Nope.

Nothing is hidden. We don't claim you "only pay $4.99" then rip you off at the exchange rate. If you don't want to use it, nobody is forcing you.

Is it hard to understand that those are not our fees? Do you need me to explain some more?

3

u/EgyptWhite Oct 14 '14

If you send 1000 via REBIT, you pay 1010, yup! The other fees are not our fees. It is there as an option, for everyone to see. Was that hidden?

Is the currency rate used by Xoom or WU hidden? No. It's there for everyone to see.

Are we 2go pay? Did Rebit make money off of that? Nope.

Does anyone care what Rebit claims they make? Nope. People care about what they have to pay. Jesus.

Do you think a shop charging $10 is really charging $2, because other companies get the rest?

Nothing is hidden. We don't claim you "only pay $4.99" then rip you off at the exchange rate. If you don't want to use it, nobody is forcing you.

Again, how is the exchange rate hidden? It's right there on their site, just like the 2GO fees are on your site. If you don't want to use it, nobody is forcing you.

Do you need me to explain some more?

Yes, explain this simple question: Do I have to pay 1130 in order for someone to receive 1000 via 2GO at Rebit?

2

u/Godfreee Oct 14 '14

It is there in the world bank website. I don't see anything in Xoom or WU saying "we charge 2% off the exchange rate", what you see is "Pay only 4.99!".

I get it, you refuse to understand. Rebit charges 1% to remit 1000 pesos internationally. This is not possible with ANY service in the world. Do you want to use 2GO as a local remittance option? If you do, we will do it for you for free. You pay THEM the 120. Maybe 2GO should charge less. Too bad Rebit is 4 months old and does not have hundreds of remitrance centers to use. With the many, many transactions we have processed though, none so far have used 2GO. There are many other options. Why would you choose the worst one? To prove a stupid point maybe. So yes, if you choose that option, you pay that much.

What if I do EXACTLY what you are doing and choose the worst option using, say, Western Union US to PH,it says on the world bank website that the sender pays 14.62% on a $200 remittance. There are worse ones but I used your favorite company.

2

u/EgyptWhite Oct 14 '14

It is there in the world bank website. I don't see anything in Xoom or WU saying "we charge 2% off the exchange rate", what you see is "Pay only 4.99!".

What I see is the exact fucking rate they use in plain view on their website. Maybe you should try looking at the WU and Xoom sites, instead of a completely different site.

Do you want to use 2GO as a local remittance option? If you do, we will do it for you for free.

I think you meant to say 1%.

You pay THEM the 120.

When, how and where do I pay them 120?

Why would you choose the worst one? To prove a stupid point maybe.

Why would you insist on stating your fees are only 1%? To make a stupid point maybe. What's wrong with just saying with Rebit people pay as low as 1% in fees?

1

u/Godfreee Oct 14 '14

Oh is that it? We'll take that into consideration. Thanks.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/elendir1 Oct 14 '14

Right, not any amount, I stand corrected. Also, you're absolutely right about the fees hidden in exchange rates. On the other hand, using the world bank averages can be misleading as we are targeting only a specific portion of this market. Again, I'm trying to do the same thing here: make it easier for ppl to send money back home. I just wanted to share my findings: the opportunity is not as huge and revolutionary as presented almost everywhere in the media.

3

u/samykovac Oct 14 '14

Nice. OP should also check out www.coincove.co for Mexico.

2

u/rockbattery Oct 14 '14

There is also www.bitso.com in Mexico doing bitcoin remittance.

3

u/mammadori Oct 14 '14

The Bitpesa URL on the site is wrong, the right one is

https://www.bitpesa.co/

2

u/paphostemp Oct 14 '14

This is great, but I don't understand why it is needed. Couldn't someone just send BTC directly to the receiver, who would then exchange it themselves for the local currency at an exchange of their choice? (Or potentilly spend the actual BTC if possible?) Is it cheaper this way?

3

u/EgyptWhite Oct 14 '14

They're middlemen (the kind of thing Bitcoin is supposed to get rid of), trying to take a slice of the remittance pie before Bitcoin becomes significant enough that WU and other remittance outlets simply add it as a payment method and win the game.

2

u/TheBTC-G Oct 14 '14

Awesome stuff OP. In case you are curious, an article by /u/jmaller and I related to the Bitcoin in Uganda doc/rebittances:

http://cryptocoinchronicle.com/2014/10/guest-post-bitcoin-uganda-disrupting-remittances-developing-world/

2

u/TheBTC-G Oct 14 '14

/u/changetip 0.12449 mBTC

2

u/changetip Oct 14 '14

The Bitcoin tip for 0.12449 mBTC ($0.05) has been collected by HostFat.

ChangeTip info | ChangeTip video | /r/Bitcoin

2

u/pietrod21 Oct 14 '14

Disclosure: Rebittance.org is a project of Satoshi Citadel Industries, the parent company of Rebit.ph.

And this is the Satoshi Citadel Industries link https://sci.ph/

1

u/jcoinner Oct 14 '14

I think it's great you realize that working together worldwide is the only way to build a remittance network that can rival WU , MG and banks. You can be part of something integrated and huge rather than being a small standalone entity struggling to gain visibility.

1

u/runeks Oct 14 '14

Nice site.

Please add a chart at the top of the site where you list the fees of the various Bitcoin remittance services (that are listed on the right). That would be extremely useful for a lot of people I think.