Bitcoin Forum

http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000281677

This might not be something entirely new to most of us. We've understood that ebay is friendly to crypto currencies in the past, but this time, Ebay's CEO came out to talk about bitcoin in specific. And it's on CNBC! Positive PR for bitcoin to the general public.

Would be nice if ebay could accept Bitcoin payments.

This is great that he publicly mention his stance in public, but actually implementing it on ebay/papal is a whole different story. If this were to be true, it wouldn't happen any time soon. Ebay and paypal's current policy is heavily against crypto right now.

True,but like any Government ,they could change direction very quickly when it suits them ;D

If this news is confirmed there will be a huge increase in the adoption of bitcoins worldwide (and therefore of its value).

More adoption from major companies is needed and hopefully people talking about will lead to the implementation down the road!

Well it is the CEO that said so it seems pretty confirmed. This is a big step in taking our currency main stream.

I haven't sold on ebay in a while. I'll be both a happy seller and buyer when ebay-paypal lets me pay/receive bitcoin.

The huge benefit to ebay versus other companies/merchants accepting bitcoin is the two-sided nature of it. It'll act as another mechanism for people (sellers) to acquire bitcoin. Far more of a closed loop than a big retailer simply accepting bitcoin.

And given the hints that both Donahue and David Marcus have been dropping over the past 6 months or so, I'd say the chances of this actually happening are decent.

i really do hope there is a competitor to ebay.. i remember reading about some site that does online auctions like that too.

It will be interesting to see if they insist on hosting the transactions to make sure they get their cut.

A viable/sizable competitor to ebay is actually unlikely. Ebay's core business has fantastic dynamics. Classic network effect. As a seller, it makes sense to me to pay their 10-13% fees versus a theoretical competitor that offered 0% fees, simply because I get *far* more visibility and bids, more than covering the fees. As a buyer, I have far more options on ebay versus a competitor, so unless I want to spend a bunch of time searching tons of tiny competitors, I'll just stick with where all the sellers are.

It's like bitcoin vs altcoins... Each new entrant has incentive to join the biggest network, thus making that network stronger, and in turn, the value prop of that network greater for the next guy. Such things build upon themselves rapidly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe's_law

you are ignoring the difference in price though. if a competitor decided to charge significantly less, there would be more people who would use their service, because they either get more by selling their goods on ebay, or the people buying get better prices. a competitor would be nice, because then at least ebay might start playing nicer.. at least if they can't eliminate their competition.

I'm saying it's a classic monopoly catch-22. A competitor can't offer enough value to sellers/buyers unless it has significant volume, and it can't achieve such volume without offering the value to buyers/sellers. Again, I'd still sell on ebay if there was a competitor with 0% fees, and I still buy on ebay without bothering to check the various smaller auction sites regularly...it's just not worth the time. This is the type of market where the first one in wins (at least for quite a while). Ebay won this battle in the late '90s.

that, or a big tech juggernaut with a reputation of being disruptive could jump into the game. google is known to be like this, and they already have access to hundreds of millions of people. they could hit hard if they swing, but i'm not sure if they are really interested in taking down ebay.

This is something where you would have to have a lot of capital in the beginning so you can wait for the growth to happen. Clever marketing could help but it is definitely something you would wait a long time to turn a profit on.

I'm super thrilled to see this press popping up on CNBC of all places as it's where the investor class keeps tabs on things. People are probably sitting back not knowing what to think as they've likely heard all the bad press and figure BTC is doomed and we're all suckers. Then, they hear a giant talking about integrating it and then their minds get blown. ;D

Mean while we just keep quietly collecting it.   8)

This would be revolutionary for Ebay.   Sellers could theoretically have an option to set a price for fiat, and a separate price for BTC.

Still unsure how they would handle chargebacks and returns though?

I think ebay would make you host the transaction on their system. This ensures that they can keep the buyer protection thing and still get their cut as well.

Yes, you are probably right.  Maybe when you pay with BTC, they will have a checkbox, that you have to click that acknowledges that the purchase is a final sale or something like that...

they would probably have to use an escrow system, much like silk road does. otherwise someone could just take your money and run.

Well they can pretty much do that right now (if they are willing to have their paypal account shut down after) so I guess it would be the same concept.   Sellers could hit and run, but people will have to look into their feedback (like they already do), before making purchases (especially with BTC).

It would be rather ironic to see the sale of BTC on ebay...once you can pay with BTC  haha

they've been "looking" at it for about 8 months now.

Here's a pattern by Ebay filled in 2011. It maybe doesn't say much to you but it mentions electronic currencies and even bitcoin in specific.  I'm son sure if this is going to end up in something but it's certanly something interesting to look at.

It's only a matter of time before Ebay accepts Bitcoin