Site Review: AmazonBitcoins (2 updates)

Do you buy at Amazon? Would you like to buy their stuff using Bitcoins? Now it's possible, thanks to a new Bitcoin service which launched yesterday: AmazonBitcoins!

http://amazonbitcoins.com/

My Experience With AmazonBitcoins


One of the administrators from AmazonBitcoins contacted me one week ago to see if I could review their new website. I accepted, as long as they sent me the necessary Bitcoins to test their service. I'm glad they trusted a crazy guy like me who calls himself "The Bitcoin Master" and sent some coins (Update 2, 25/02/2013) 0.9฿ my way! I'll tell you my experience using their service.

The first thing you'll see when you visit AmazonBitcoins is that the website is really clean and uncluttered; there's only the necessary amount of text needed to know what the site does and how it does it. It almost looks like an iPhone app inside your browser with that big "Get Started" blue button. If you press said button it will show you a dialog to register a new account:

Simple and infomative

When you introduce your data in the text fields and press the "Register" blue button you'll be given a personal AmazonBitcoins Bitcoin address to send the coins you'd like to exchange for Amazon gift cards. You may send as little as $1 (converted to bitcoins) to try out the service:

The "Copy to Clipboard" option is a nice detail

I sent them the 0.888฿ needed to buy a $25 Amazon gift card. Every time you visit the site this exchange prize is recalculated taking as a reference the one at Mt.Gox:

Transaction sent!

And in seconds I received this very professionally written email:

0.888฿ = $25.15? I guess the bitcoin exchange versus the dollar went

up while I was using this service!

After that, I only had to wait 13 minutes to receive my Amazon code on my inbox:

Excellent!

The service is really fast! Once you send them Bitcoins a new link will appear at the top of the AmazonBitcoins page with your order history. It will show you the status of your orders and the gift codes once they are processed:

This is my order history...

... And this is a sample order history where you can see two orders:

one pending and another complete

They also had a Live Chat where I had the chance to chat with Brian, one of the creators of the site! This is a great addition in case you have questions about the service. Brian is very helpful and nice as well:

Update 1, 25/02/2013: The Amazon gift code I received was redeemed by the AmazonBitcoins administrators, not by me.


Site Review:

• Service quality: 5/5. The website is clean and zen-like, the registration process is hassle-free and the information they give covers everything you need to know about the service. They've also got a FAQ.
• Convenience: 5/5. This is a great service for those who'd like to buy stuff from the Old World (where Bitcoin has not yet been widely adopted by every business). And especially for those who don't want to go through the process of registering on a market exchange (or can't [I'm looking at you Residence Certificate!]) to transform their Bitcoins into other currency. 
• Service speed: 4/5. The service is fast. It's not automatic, since they have to wait for some confirmations of your transaction to avoid the bad people who double spend their bitcoins. They are planning to let customers with a good payment history skip this waiting time and receive their gift codes as fast as possible.
• Risk: 0/5 1/5. None. The administrators are good, trustful people. Their service works very well and if you have questions you can contact them via Live Chat or email. Update 2, 25/02/2013: Read the comments.
• Final Score: 10/10. AmazonBitcoins works like a charm. You can now buy stuff at Amazon with your bitcoins faster than if you go through a market exchange to transform them into dollars or other Old World Currency. It's a service I'd recommend to anyone!