Bitmit - Buy and sell goods with Bitcoin | Hacker News Reader

Bitmit - Buy and sell goods with Bitcoin

bitmit.net

87 pointsbasil35 comments

Whoa! http://www.bitmit.net/en/trade/i/2592-o-j-simpson-if-i-did-i...

Someone is selling a copy of the OJ Simpson book.

From Wikipedia: "According to a Newsweek story, all 400,000 printed copies were recalled for 'pulping', except for one, locked away in a vault at News Corp.[6] One copy did show up on eBay on January 15, 2007, with a starting bid of $1500, and sold for over $65,000 fueling speculation about whether News Corp. was able to destroy all printed copies.[citation needed] James Wolcott of Vanity Fair obtained a "pristine hardcover" copy of the book for a review published in January 2007.[7]"

This is quite an interesting auction here, considering the circumstances.

If real, I wonder if someone is interested in selling via bitcoin for anonymity. Or a marketing stunt...

There is a gmail address in the listing if anyone has any questions so I'm not so sure...

Or it's a fake. And since bitcoin has no chargebacks (which many in the bitcoin community think is great!) the customer is left out of pocket with no recourse.

Caveat Emptor.

> And since bitcoin has no chargebacks

Neither does cash. Bitcoin replaces currency, not credit.

Usually, when you pay in cash you have physical access to your future purchase and can detect obvious scams.

And you usually know physically where the seller is, or know what they look like.

This is the worst of both worlds!

I'm pretty sure this site offers escrow, so nobody is going to lose their bitcoins just like that...

Did a reverse image search of that picture and I don't find it anywhere else. So it isn't obviously fake.

Recently added: Bitcoin mining gear, gems hand picked by a thai GIA graduate for sale on bitmit, Nazi paraphernalia and 'The Israel Lobby' on audiobook.

Even though I am a bitcoiner, I do not understand the curiosty of the HN readership in what is basically an ebay clone for bitcoin.

mmm, it's a little hard to get excited when it's pretty much 99% junk. still, spose ebay started that way too.

As someone who has only looked at Bitcoin from the outside, it nonetheless hits many of my personal interests: currency arbitrage, encryption, digital ventures, security, etc.

So, I'm interested in outcomes of Bitcoin. Ebay has all sorts of restrictions on what you can post and bid on, will a market emerge for (as others noted) OJ's book, transplant kidneys and illegal publications?

On a less lurid scale the site _has_ to do some serious work and thought around fraud, transactions and reputation in anonymous settings, work I'd like to take lessons from.

This works well for those who spend their life on /r/girlsgonebitcoin (NSFW)

Reminds me of the Real Money Auction House in Diablo 3.

How so?

Trading virtual currency for physical currency. In Diablo 3 you can purchase/sell virtual goods for real currency. Although both have "real value", you can do more with for example "USD/EUR" than with "Diablo 3 Gold".

"Yes, PHP has a better dependency manager than any other languages."

> Better than Maven or Gradle? I wished someone made a chart with all these tools that covered dependency management and analyzed their features. But in the end, dependency management is only a part of the platform built around the language, it's a good factor in whether to choose or not to choose a language - but not the crucial one.

How did my comment appeared on a different article..

Crashed my browser.

What would stop someone from setting up a bunch of accounts and selling a bunch of non-existent stuff? Is there escrow of some sort?

If you read the FAQ, they did mention an escrow system.

From the FAQ: Because Bitcoin transactions are widely anonymous there is a need for trustbuilding measures like our escrow system. Thereby Bitcoins are only transfered to the vendor if you have set the order as received or have given a positive rating. Thereby potential fraudsters have no chance of success.

More details: http://www.bitmit.net/en/info/13/bitmit-bitcoin-treuhand-die...

Sadly it means the customer is always right. So if the customer says "nope I didn't get it", then they get their money and the product. Similar to how paypal works really.

Just hold the money when the evidence is not clear?

Paypal provides a mechanism for the merchant to show proof of delivery. Generally, if you use UPS or Fedex, all you have to do is forward them delivery confirmation or the tracking number, and they free up your funds.

For intangible goods, you simply need to show proof that the item purchased is intangible.

Paypal isn't perfect, but if it really screwed over merchants the way you suggest they do, they would have gone out of business years ago.

> Paypal isn't perfect, but if it really screwed over merchants the way you suggest they do, they would have gone out of business years ago.

I don't think you can draw that inference unless there is a good non-Paypal option that doesn't screw over merchants. Getting a traditional merchant account and accepting credit cards online isn't such an alternative--that screws over merchants on charge backs and with the occasional massive and apparently arbitrary increase in reserve requirements.

As a merchant it feels like you're being screwed over, but the fact is you'll sell more and at higher values than if you don't accept paypal or credit cards.

There are plenty of studies showing that customers spend more if they pay by credit card. In fact just having a credit card logo visible will increase spending, even on cash puchases.

The escrow service can donate the money to charity. Since the seller never gets it, there's no disincentive for fraud in the first place.

Incentive, I mean.

So I order the most expensive item and pretend I never received it.

I guess need a delivery trust component. Vendor should send only with tracked/signature required service and provide receipt as a proof of shipment.

What if they send a box of dirt, and call it a PS3?

You don't even need to shop online for that - it can happen in brick-and-mortar stores: http://consumerist.com/2007/10/best-buy-sells-you-a-box-of-b...

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