Bitcoin Forum

I'm a gold power-seller on eBay - how can I accept bitcoin without eBay closing my account?

I've sold IRL items on ebay with a bitcoin payment option without hassle though not a large number of items. Just state that you accept bitcoin (along with paypal) as payment at the mtgox rate at the end of the auction. Once the auction ends just email then your wallet address and once you get lets say 8 confirmations, ship and mark as payment received in myEbay. You should post your item on the selling forums here too, it will definitely help you get actual bitcoin sales.

Easy peesy.

if i were gold again (i was once, but i can't take ebay/paypal anymore), i'd probably be too worried to try by including a Bitcoin payment option in my auctions.  i suppose the best way would be to include just a graphic with "we accept Bitcoin" as part of the image - that way the keyword scanning that eBay does wouldn't turn up the word 'Bitcoin'.

i don't know what you sell.  i sold antiquarian books, so i had a lot of repeat business:  by the time i quit, over 70%.  in that situation (lots of repeat buyers), i would probably send out notices to my entire customer base and include a mention of Bitcoin in my "you've won!" email.  YMMV.

I had thought of just using an image, though there are sellers explicitly accepting bitcoin (1 or 2 if you do a search). I understand that eBay have a policy about virtual goods, but since I'm not selling bitcoin then I can't see how they should care about the nature of the payment. People can send cash in an envelope for instance, which is pretty much equivalent to bitcoin

never bet on ebay doing what you or i see as perfectly sensible.

never bet on ebay doing what is clearly in their own, long-term best interests.

ebay has always followed (or perhaps led) the apple model of a walled garden.  if there were any feasible way of forcing people to conduct every aspect of their on-line life inside the ebay walls, they would do it.

i fully expect  the first, organized shots-across-the-bow of Bitcoin to originate somewhere in the ebay/paypal world - not from the banks or from a government.  perhaps in the form of massive and unrelenting legal attacks on dwolla, radiating outward to the exchanges.  we'll see...

I might risk it and see (I suspect the bitcoins I've already bought are going to be worth more than all my effort I've put in to trying to sell on eBay anyway).

I was thinking of giving any bitcoin buyer a 25% discount relative to the mtgox/britcoin (I'm British) price just to generate interest - it would be worth it if only a few people started asking me about bitcoin.

This is my eBay URL: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/dan-cupid-shop

(you should change it to .com if you are outside the UK)

I see this thread has been here for a while, were you ever able to start accepting bitcoins on eBay?

accepting something like bitcoin on ebay could lead to sellers scamming new purchasers
it also cuts ebay out of their commission
I doubt they would allow it

Put it in your description, tell the buyers to contact you for more info. Give them the option!

I'm selling in my local ebay with BTC, no problems so far.

They closed my auction when I mentioned accepting Bitcoin.