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The first vending machines for the increasingly popular cryptocurrency,  Bitcoin , has appeared in Malaysia. Singapore-based Numoni Pte Ltd has installed two Auto Vending Machines (AVM) in Bangsar Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur and Gurney Plaza in Penang last weekend. The new AVMs were installed after Numoni announced  the Bitcoin AVM in Spain last month. The company also installed four AVMs in its native island state. Interestingly, the company is looking to install another eight AVMs for a total of ten Bitcoin AVMs this year, and a total of 100 over the next three years. “Numoni is especially pleased to launch our machines in Malaysia as the machines are assembled in Malaysia in our Senai factory. The machine was fully developed by Numoni in Singapore since 2012,” said Numoni CEO Norma Sit. These Bitcoin AVMs work by reading a Bitcoin owner’s unique QR code, and accepts 22 physical currencies to purchase the cryptocurrency. These AVMs are also fully secured with ba...

There are lots of reasons why a white elephant technology doesn’t catch on. Sometimes the technology is ahead of its time. In other cases, no amount of time can make a misguided technology useful or attractive. Then there’s vending machines that sell books. The first book-dispensing vending machine was built by Richard Carlile in England in 1822. Carlile was a bookseller who wanted to sell seditious works like Paine’s  Age of Reason  without being thrown in jail. His answer was a self service machine that allowed customers to buy questionable books without ever coming into contact with Carlile. The customer turned a dial on the devise to the publication he wanted, deposited his money, and the material dropped down in front of him. It’s unclear whether this was an automated process, but that didn’t stop England’s own automated process from convicting one of Carlile’s employees for selling “blasphemous material.” The Penguincubator The next book-dispensin...

A growing number of consumers are falling victims to pseudo-online merchants. Many shoppers on the Web are also bemoaning the poor quality of products and late deliveries. The National Consumer Complaints Centre (Malaysia) says it's about time outdated laws were amended to deal with present realities. E-commerce tops the sector with the most complaints received by the National Consumer Complaints Centre for two consecutive years. As more Malaysians turn to the Internet to purchase goods and services, there is a pressing need for an improved legal framework to protect their rights. ONLINE shoppers, beware. The e-commerce sector continues to top the list of complaints by Malaysian consumers, with the National Consumer Complaints Centre (NCCC) finding that an increasing number of Malaysians are falling victim to unscrupulous online merchants. These are mainly products offered by the merchants or direct-sellers who advertise them on social networking sites and online sho...

KUALA LUMPUR: A survey by telecommunication company Telenor Group has revealed how gullible Malaysians are on the Internet. With at least 46 per cent of respondents from this country having admitted to being a victim of Internet scams, Malaysia leads among the countries surveyed which included India, Singapore and Thailand. The study found that one in five Malaysians had been victims of both Internet auction scams and online dating scams. A quarter of Malaysians have experienced Internet auction fraud, The largest percentage of Malaysian scam victims however have fallen for the ‘work from home’ fraud, a scam whereby users are tricked into paying someone online to help them start a business or undertake work but end up not receiving any payment. One in 10 users in Malaysia also reported that their Facebook accounts had been hacked in the past. The multi-market survey assessed 400 Internet users aged 18 to 65 in Malaysia, India, Singapore and Thailand and was...

Nothing! Are Malaysian Online Sellers and Home Business Owners really getting what they and their products are worth? According to the Tourism Malaysia ’s website, some RM82.1 billion was spent on retail goods by tourists last year, and this is the highest spend since 2006. But how can online sellers access this huge cash bank that is just ready to be spent on something, anything, in Malaysia ? There are many unique products that Malaysians make that would be great as souvenirs for our foreign visitors to take back, but unfortunately there is no way for an online seller to reach the tourist market.   It would be difficult for any Online Store or Marketplace to sell to tourists because they are only here for a few days, and within this few days they shall travel all over Malaysia, so they cannot afford the time of the two or three days wait for their products to arrive, and if there is anything wrong with the order or product, the tourists will be ...

Yesterday I wrote about  ‘trust’ being the issue of why many Malaysian independent online sellers   do not make much sales online – Malaysians trust online buying, but just not the small guys. If you are thinking about starting an online business and know nothing about this fast-changing territory, then I would firmly advice you to read this article, which is based on my own experience of starting an online business in 2010 , and the hurdles I had to overcome. These past challenges of mine have today become knowledge , and I wish to share this hard-gained knowledge with the other Malaysians who may have a dream to start an online business. The first and best advice I am inclined to give anybody is NOT to start an online business using your own domain name and creating your own e-commerce store. Our quick research yesterday has already proven to us that Malaysians prefer to buy from the known and popular Marketplaces . Hence, the best advice I can give anybody w...