Retailer tries Bitcoin online and in store

Electronics trader announces permanent addition of much-hyped virtual currency

Second-hand electronics retailer CeX is only accepting bitcoin purchases – via Bitcoin ATM – from 13 to 15 May in its physical Glasgow store, and has added the digital currency permanently online.

"You can now buy with bitcoins and sell your old gadgets, phones and games for bitcoins," CeX said in a statement put out on its website.

"We're proud to be the first national UK retailer adopting Bitcoin, adding it permanently to www.webuy.com."

CeX's Glasgow Sauchiehall Street store is "a pound-free zone" from 13 to 15 May; customers will only be able to trade in bitcoins.

To do this, CeX has opened Scotland's first and the UK's fourth Bitcoin ATM there as well.

A Bitcoin button for online trades now also accompanies buttons for Visa, PayPal and MasterCard on www.webuy.com.

"We live and breathe technology so it's only natural we looked at Bitcoin as a choice to offer," its statement continued.

"It is a new form of money that works extremely well on the internet. It's much easier than other online payment systems."

Customers simply click a link to confirm the transaction, or use QR codes if they're purchasing via smartphone.

According to lobby group the UK Digital Currency Association, Bitcoin can offer certain advantages to merchants.

"With Bitcoin a merchant gets paid within an hour for their goods and services. If the merchant is willing to reduce the number of confirmations (such as with low-value items), they can get their money quicker," according to the association's Bitcoin guide.

"Credit cards often keep the possibility of chargebacks open for 180 days, leading to uncertainty with cashflow."

Bitcoins are also free to receive, although there is a transaction fee to send it, the association said. And although bitcoin prices change all the time and funds could potentially disappear suddenly, perhaps via an undocumented technical flaw, a merchant can choose to exchange them immediately for local currency.

"There are companies that perform this service for a small fee which is lower than a typical credit card processing fee," it said.

CeX was originally founded in 1992 by Paul Farrington and Robert Dudani as Complete Entertainment Exchange, a company focused on buying, selling and exchanging phones, games, movies, computers, consumer electronics, TVs, displays and music.

It has more than 200 physical stores around the globe, many of them franchises, in the UK, US, Spain, Ireland, India, Portugal and Australia.