Bitcoin is a hot topic right now, and some retailers have begun asking if they should accept Bitcoin as another form of payment. There are a number of pros and cons to using Bitcoin, but if you prefer to skip all of that and hear our take- we say skip it for now.
The advantages of accepting Bitcoin as payment are:
1) Low risk of identity theft. The specificity of Bitcoin means that payment fraud is very low
2) Low fees
3) No chargebacks possible from the consumer
The disadvantages of accepting Bitcoin are:
1) High instability. If a consumer bought a product from you and then the value of bitcoin rose by 50%, they would be upset. This also means that someone could buy products from you in anticipation of a bitcoin value drop, in which case your money from them would suddenly be worth a lot less. You're in the business of selling jewelry, not Bitcoin speculation
2) Low usage rates. Less than 1% of all Americans have used Bitcoin in any way, and most of those users have just bought and sold the coin- not used it for merchant transactions. It would be better to focus on more widely adopted systems like Paypal
Two items to consider when accepting Bitcoin are the tax implications (short terms & long term capital gains tax) as well as custodial/wallet use. The SEC has yet to give clarity on Bitcoin taxes and thus all taxes must be paid when transacting with Bitcoin. You should also be aware that if your Bitcoin is lost of stolen, the funds are NOT recoverable. Due to this you should be well versed on hot and cold wallet storage, as well as proper private key storage.
We recommend not bothering with Bitcoin transactions on your website for now, but that is subject to change as the technology (and consumer behavior) evolves.
If you're still interested in accepting Bitcoin then let us know as there are integration options out there we can assist with such as Coinbase Commerce or CoinGate.