A few weeks ago I decided to convert some steem to bitcoin and go try to buy some things I had never purchased anything with crypto-currency.

Since then I have purchased quite a few things and also acquired a bitpay card so I can petty much buy anything, anywhere with bitcoin.

I am going to show you the things I bought using bitcoin so far.    This is mainly to get you excited and hopefully get people fired up and realizing that they can actually buy stuff due to blogging, commenting, and voting on steemit.

<h1>What I have purchased so far</h1>
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ULXbTgf.jpg"/>
That is a lot of stuff.   I purchased the things on Steam while they were on sale, and most of the Unity Assets were on sale as well.   The artist 3dfoin has all of his models at 60% off so I snagged a lot of them.

<h1>How do I buy things without a bitpay card</h1>
You can purchase from places that accept bitcoin as a form of payment without a bitpay card.    This will limit the diversity of things you can purchase.    I did find a few places of interest to me.

The Steam Game platform steam.storepowered.com will accept bitcoin as payment.
Newegg.com will also accept bitcoin as payment.

You need to have a wallet.   I have mine on bittrex.com so that is how I will explain this.    You can alternatively (or in addition to) setup and account at poloniex.com and use it instead.    They both have the same transaction fees, but poloniex graphs seem a bit fancier.    I had bittrex.com before poloniex started serving steem and steem dollars (SBD).   I have an account at poloniex, but I have not used it yet.

<h2>Decisions</h2>
Do you wish to buy bitcoin directly with steem backed dollars (SBD) or with steem.    If you wish to use steem there are several ways to convert steem dollars into steem.    I will discuss the two of the methods I am familiar with.

<ul>
<li>Convert Steem Dollars to STEEM using the Convert to Steem menu</li>
<li>Use the internal market to buy STEEM using Steem Dollars</li>
</ul>

**Converting to steem** takes 7 days.   It is slow, but it is beneficial to the platform.   If you are not in a hurry you may want to consider this method.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/8243sz6.jpg"/>

The **Internal Market** is fast and you'll have your steem dollars converted to steem quickly at whatever rate you can manage to buy steem for.   The market changes a lot.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/jK3RtJR.jpg"/>

<h2>You can send Steem or Steem Dollars (SBD) to bittrex</h2>

Send your steem or steem dollars to bittrex
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ICFqUpE.jpg"/>

<h2>Trade steem or steem dollars for bitcoin</h2>

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/RLAtiS0.jpg"/>

<h2>Purchase something with bitcoin</h2>
If you have sufficient bitcoin in your bittrex account you will be able to use that at any place that accepts bitcoin.   It is important to note that bittrex charges 0.0002 bitcoins anytime you make a withdrawal.   So if you bought something that cost 0.1 bitcoins you would want to make sure you withdraw 0.1002 bitcoins when making the purchase.   ***Don't forget to add the 0.0002 bitcoins*** or you're money could be lost unless you can convince the vendor to somehow refund you.

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/p3EM77l.jpg"/>


<h1>Bitpay visa - also can avoid the hassles and fees using blocktrades instead of bittrex</h1>

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/wbGMnxm.jpg"/>

If you can get the bitpay visa it opens the door to buying literally anything.   @craig-grant already has a video blog post that shows how to use this visa card.   It is the video I watched that inspired me to go get one.

<a href="https://steemit.com/steemdollar/@craig-grant/video-how-to-use-your-steem-dollar-visa-debit-card-usa-only">VIDEO: How to use your Steem Dollar Visa Debit card, USA only</a>

I am not going to tell you how to do that, as it is similar to the buying anything else, but you charge your bitpay card up with dollars (US Dollars).   You tell it how many dollars you want on your card, and it tells you how many bitcoins to send.   Don't forget to add the 0.0002 bitcoins if sending from bittrex.    Craig's video uses blocktrades which may be a better method in many cases as it looks like it can eliminate steps and a lot of the fees.    Definitely check out his post.