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Overstock.com’s Farmers Market Adds Home Delivery For Fresh Food & Accepts Bitcoin

Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:43 PM
Lester Coleman
Last Updated March 4, 2021 4:43 PM

OverstockFarmers Market, an online fresh food business operated by Overstock.com, recently added a home delivery service, making it one of the few such services to accept bitcoin. The home delivery service complements Fresh Market’s drop-ship delivery program and makes Farmers Market one of the few online fresh food merchants that accepts bitcoin in addition to other forms of payment.

Farmers Market allows customers to log onto its website, enter their zip code, select locally-grown food and have it delivered by a local delivery service.

Parent company Overstock.com began accepting bitcoin as a purchase payment option in January 2014. In the year since the move, customers made $3 million in bitcoin purchases onsite.

Based on analysis of the company’s first year of sales paid for with bitcoin, accounting for population, Overstock.com’s home state of Utah is the state with the second highest adoption of bitcoin in the nation. New Hampshire ranks first.

Overstock: A bitcoin advocate

Overstock recently installed a bitcoin ATM at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City. CEO Patrick M. Byrne noted that, as a further indication of the company’s commitment to the new technology, Overstock.com is preparing to offer employees the option of being paid in bitcoin.

“We’re integrating small farms, community-supported agriculture and co-ops into our technology so as to allow consumers in their area to buy and arrange delivery through Overstock,” said Byrne.

“We want to streamline the farm-to-table process to provide everyone access to healthy food, delivered to their doorstep.”

The home delivery function comes in addition to the nationwide drop ship capability that has been available for a year from Farmers Market, says Shelly Olsen, general manager at Farmers Market. In the second quarter, customers will be able to sign up for a subscription service in addition to the single orders they can now place.

Farmers Market expands

Farmers Market local delivery is currently available to about 35 percent of the U.S. and growing, Olsen said.

Most farms participating in the Fresh Market network provide their own delivery. Couriers such as UPS and FedEx delivery drop ship order.

Each product listed on the Farmers Market website is accompanied by a biography of the farmer or purveyor who grew it, along with a look into their production processes, in order to give customers a better idea of the food they are purchasing.

Customers can pay for purchases on the Overstock website with credit card, with the Overstock credit card and bitcoin.

A way for food merchants to grow

The Farmers Market program requires no upfront costs for suppliers to join, instead using a revenue-sharing model that allows them to get their products on Overstock with minimal changes to their existing procedures. Farmers, community supported agriculture co-ops and co-ops interested in joining the program are encouraged to contact the Farmers Market team at [email protected].