| > Are you not replying to my main point (most merchants are honest therefore chargebacks are rarely needed) because you agree with it? I think there's an at-the-margin effect here. The threat of chargebacks makes actual chargebacks usually unnecessary. Just like having an army can be very valuable even if you only go to war rarely. > Yes it is possible. Some hosted wallets let you set up recurring payments. This is awesome because unlike credit cards, you don't have to give the merchant authorization to debit your money, but you give this authorization only to the wallet hoster. With a bank account you can do this as a "standing order". It's safer than most of the bill-payment methods. And surprisingly useless, because most of the time you want to pay a bill that can vary, so you need to give the merchant authorization to tell them how much you need to pay them. > setting up a recurring payment disclosed in the fine print when you think you are authorizing a one-time payment. Something you can only stop by making setting up payments less convenient. If bitcoin takes off, it will need a system for seamlessly setting up recurring payments from a website that wants to - and the exact same scams will apply. > This scenario covers literally ALL in-person transactions. Hardly a "very special case". No, it only covers cases where you pay after using the thing you bought. If I buy a TV with a credit card, take it home, plug it in and find out it doesn't work, I can if need be make a chargeback; with bitcoin I'm stuffed. > No we were comparing typical users. A security conscious credit card user can STILL get his number stolen and money stolen (eg. a merchant gets hacked). If they're security-conscious enough to not get their PIN stolen, then they can't lose any money. |