Bitcoin Forum

hi,

so I've been casually selling bitcoin over various services for a while now.  I have reached the stage where i feel comfortable and want to build a recognizable service within the bitcoin community.

So I'm wondering - what are the marks of a trustworthy seller?

i.e. what actions do i need take to build trust and become a go to seller, instead of just another individual (as is the case now)

You need to invest time in the community. You need to be able to prove you value your reputation and the other people here.

what do you mean by time in the community?

I plan to get involved in this forum, but as a buyer I wouldn't have thought post count is  good indicator of trustworthiness?

It's not the post count that's the indicator but the idea that you enjoy the people here and what they stand for. Genuine friendships and a sociable attitude usually show that a person has no reason to harm people because they like them for who they are.

lol oh dear, you can't really judge peoples reputation based on that, especially when you count the amount of times people bicker with each other on here, basically, sell stuff and if you get people saying good things about you then you'll have a good reputation, that should mean you'll be trusted, I put little stock in status' though because it's a bit like score systems and things like that. You can't really rate personal experiences with numbers that easily because every one will normally be quite different.

A "trusted" Silk Road seller with hundreds-of-thousands in dollars of sales and a perfect review record walked away with a lot of unresolved orders.

Humans aren't machines with consistent behavior. You can't always successfully predict what they will do next based on their history. You have to look at a person's or company's principles to see if they are trustworthy. If those principles change, the person's trustworthiness and behavior can change entirely.

Well yeah, even then, usually it's a good indication of whether someone is good to do business with the majority of the time.

And you are right. I guess I am trying to advocate certainty beyond numbers.

There is no certainty in my experience :P that's reality, too many people live in their own protective bubble so when something like Bitcoin comes along where they need to take responsibility for themselves they don't handle it very well.

From personal experience, testimonials do help out a lot. It shows they have worked with someone in the past and gives you a chance to dwelve deeper into that person's history.

Just my 2 cents  ;D

http://bitcoinsbs.wordpress.com/2013/01/01/establishing-trust/

or use otc gribble reputation tool :D

See here (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=110861.msg1227871#msg1227871).

great links thanks. i've joined the web of trust. See how I get on:

http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=bitmango&sign=ANY&type=RECV (http://bitcoin-otc.com/viewratingdetail.php?nick=bitmango&sign=ANY&type=RECV)

How hard is it to create multiple users and rate self in WoT?

BTW I play World of Tanks lol

From what I have read. Not hard at all. There doesn't apparently seem to be a better system though. Guess i'm stuck until people trust me on here...

It doesn't come over night and there is no one thing that will establish your trust.  You need to work it.  You have take the first two bog steps.  First you need to get out there is the forums an start to have conversations with people.  Next you need to provide a place where rated people can rate you.  Next you need to do some business with them.  It seems like a racket maybe, but you have to mingle and your roaming in a crowd of buyers and sellers.

As you roam consider writing a blog about your adventures. It takes time to establish yourself.  You will.

It's not hard at all but neither is it useful at all really. You want to be linked to people that are trusted, this isn't a numbers game.

According to the disclaimers of WoT:
"Do not rely on the ratings blindly - since the cost of entry into the web of trust is only one positive rating, it is not impossible for a scammer to infiltrate the system, and then create a bunch of bogus accounts who all inter-rate each other. Talk to people on #bitcoin-otc first, make sure they are familiar with the person you're about to trade with, have traded with him successfully in the past, etc"

So it's about knowing people actually, and the ratings only make sense within the circle that know each other. I see similarities with my idea Credit networks based on real-world relationships (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=137580.msg1467067#msg1467067). I wonder how many in the WoT know each other's real-world identities?

Well some, like MP, actually operate under their own identity, rather than some pseudonym. Plenty others use a pseudonym but have their identity clearly linked to it one step removed (such as on github, some personal blog, etc). I would imagine most people know each other at least to some degree behind the scenes. Then again this "have met IRL" is not the end-all, be-all - as pirate's Vegas show illustrates.