**TL;DR** I tried to buy something on Overstock, pay with Bitcoin, but they never sent my my merchandise.  When I complained, they took forever to refund me.  When they finally did, they didn't send me the whole amount.

#### Does Overstock Even Take Bitcoin?

Maybe.  I don't have any personal firsthand knowledge that they know what to do with Bitcoin, although they claim they do.

Perhaps they *think* they take Bitcoin.  But in reality, they haven't tested it to see if it actually works.  Maybe if you use Coinbase it works, but I don't use Coinbase.

See, Coinbase has these tools to help businesses accept Bitcoin.  Coinbase apparently also helps with refunds.  But if you opt out of Coinbase like I did, you're in for a world of hurt.

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Keep in mind, the item I actually ordered on July 3rd was a $49.48 charger that is now out of stock.  So I'm just using some other charger in this screen example.

Their payment screen apparently works with Coinbase *and* regular Bitcoin wallets.  Since I don't use Coinbase, I used the regular Bitcoin wallet option.

#### Payment Sent - Nothing Happened

I sent the amount, it never updated to say it got my funds and the dialog expired.  In chat, they told me they'd contact me by e-mail, so I waited for that process to start.

When I got the e-mail, this is what they said on July 10th:

> I’m writing today in response to your recent contact about your Bit Coin Order that did not process. If you have a 8 number & digit transaction code provided by Coin Base I maybe able to check further as we do not see any order placed or funds sent to us.

So, I sent them the Bitcoin transaction ID.  Their reply:

> Unfortunately the number you provided does not pull up in the Coin Base Portal. I apologize for the hassle this is causing but if you have any correspondence from Coin base that you can send to me so I can see if I can find it. You can also contact Coin base at support@coinbase.com.

Now, I'm starting to get a bit impatient.  So, I reply to them:

> What a joke.  You guys have no clue what you're doing. You should not accept Bitcoin if you can't handle transactions without Coinbase.  I did not use Coinbase.  I didn't mention Coinbase.  Your UI says that Coinbase is optional on my end.
> 
> The transaction is there.  You screwed up. 

On July 14th, their reply:

> I understand you might be using a different Bitcoin Wallet, but in order for me to locate your order I have to look through our Coinbase wallet. I have now located the order and found that the order failed and did not book. When a Bitcoin order fails, Coinbase normally sends our customers an email advising of the failed order which is why I suggested to check for any correspondence from Coinbase. At this time since the order failed, I have issued a refund to you in the amount of $49.48 to the email address [REDACTED]. 
> 
> Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you with this or any other issue. 

So at this point, I got an e-mail from Coinbase asking me to log in and claim my funds.  So I replied to Overstock:

> Do you have reading/comprehension problems?  I never mentioned coinbase.  I don't use coinbase.  You use it.  Great, I don't care, whatever.
> 
The thing that I find frustrating is that now, you've sent my funds to ... COINBASE.  I don't use coinbase.  I don't want to use coinbase.  I'm not going to sign up for coinbase.  But where are my funds?  On coinbase.
> 
> Thanks for nothing.

And on July 17th, they replied:

> I'm truly sorry that you did not want your refund to be issued to Coinbase. At this time we use Coinbase to take payment and to issue refunds. 
> I understand this is an inconvenience for you however the refund has already been issued. Your refund was issued for the full USD value of the order, $49.48, through Coinbase using the email address listed on your Overstock.com account. If you do not have a Coinbase account, you will receive an email outlining how to create an account and claim your refund. If you fail to retrieve your funds within 30 days, the funds will be returned to Overstock.com as unclaimed and will remain in your account as an in-store credit.
> 
> Please let me know if there is anything else I can do for you with this or any other issue.

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So, long story short, a month later I got escalated to phone support and they figured out how to deal with my request.  But instead of sending me the original 0.0188961 BTC that I sent them, they sent me 0.011124 BTC.  On August 25th, I replied:

> Yes, I got the "refund" of 0.011124 BTC even though you owed me 0.0188961 BTC (which is the original amount I sent).  You didn't account for the fact that it took you 53 days to refund me, the price of Bitcoin in USD has doubled in that time.
> 
> I know you have no intention of trying to swindle me.  I know the whole reason this happened is a complete lack of training in your pay "support" department regarding Bitcoin.  I know Bitcoin is hard to understand.
> 
> But just so you know, I'm very unhappy with Overstock.

#### Conclusion

Obviously, they have some issues to work out.  Their site needs an update to support direct wallet transfers, or remove that broken option.  Their support needs training as well.

If someone sends $50 worth of Bitcoin, the refund should not be $50 worth of Bitcoin.  Instead, they should return the amount of Bitcoin they received, regardless of what it's worth in USD.

Then it won't matter if USD rises or falls against Bitcoin.  Overstock is probably showing us what problems we have to look forward to in the new economy.