Bitcoin Forum

A friend of mine found this and sent it my way:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/BFL-Butterfly-Labs-BitForce-SC-Jalapeno-3-5-GH-s-Bitcoin-Mining-ASIC-PRE-ORDER-/230839071894?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_2&hash=item35bf14b496#ht_767wt_1265

This seems a bit underhanded to me, especially when considering the language in the text.  Just wondering what you guys think.

I guess his angle is that this is a way for people who cannot get BTC or a bank wire to get a pre-order.   I find it hard to come up with a way that someone with $275 to spend on a dedicated bitcoin miner cannot figure out how to get BTC or a bank wire to get a pre-order.

Couple that with a ~$100 markup for selling something that does not yet exist and is being made by a company that is not represented by this guy and this seems more like someone trying take advantage of other people by exploiting their ignorance than someone offering a legitimate service.

One sold so far.

Yeah, it's a little underhanded.  The person who ordered it agreed to pay the asking price, as it was "worth it" to him.  Could he have bought it cheaper?  Sure.  Did he do the research to find out where he could get it cheaper?  Probably not.  Was that his fault?  Yes.  Would he have even known that these were for sale without the eBay posting? Maybe not.

I mean, people buy things in the store without coupons all the time.  Does that mean the stores are underhanded for agreeing to sell them the item without pointing out that there is a coupon in today's paper they could have used? I don't think so...  People are responsible for doing their own research and judgement to find the best price from a vendor they agree to purchase from.

On the other hand, that argument can certainly be taken too far and be applied to scams and cons.  "Well, you should have read the fine text!"  Those are obviously ethically wrong, so where do you draw the line?

While technically correct, this is very misleading.

If that person gets his BFL ASIC shipped to them in October - I will have my picture taken dressed in a butterfly costume and make that my profile picture :P

So he's not even selling pre-orders from the first day... he's selling orders he's placing now with their info? Wow... esp since BFL now accepts PP.

Well, i dunno how ok is that for ebay rules, but except that, it's his choice to sell the preorder or not...

This was my thoughts also.  I wonder what my four 3 SC would be worth since they are in the first 10 orders.

$15 for sending a piece of paper ?    :-\

$15 for having enough imagination to figure there would be people falling for this!

+1

I have been watching this guy on ebay, did you all see the BFL Jalapeno's that were up before this.  15 for sale and they all sold for about 275.00 a unit, what the hell.  I made an offer for 120 which was not excepted since I can go to BFL and get them for 150.  I agree that this person is only selling an option that anyone could get if they just used something like Google to find a cheaper alternative.  Also I think the person listing the 2 week return is totally giving a very high hope.  All of that said eBay allows this all the time and basically what I am most surprised about is that people are buying these things who really don't know what they are getting and then what, how are they going to join our network of fellow bitcoin miners?  Its like that show on discovery with the miners who show up, start digging and then have a hard go at it so they do what, start talking to the established miners around them.  Really do we need more people asking, hey I just bought this thing on ebay and I don't really know how it works, I think it will make coffee and the warm it right? 

I give the guy props for selling this stuff at a premium and ask, why is BFL not doing this themselves?  And no they are not doing this, I asked.

calendar updated. lol

Sorry for the ignorance, but I started hardware mining a while ago and haven't looked at bitcoin for a few months. Is there a link to these new BFL ASICs or more info where I can read about them?

Yes. Go search for Butterfly Labs.

+1 to you sir, and in case ARapalo was kidding, +1 to him too.

I'm looking at my crystal ball, and I see chargebacks in this person's future.