I really like this idea. What if disputes were done out in public view?

Getting ready to release the beta of Getcoin, which will be simple, fast, and free escrow. Before we release it publicly, would love to offer it to anyone who'd like to give it a try and offer their thoughts.

Why we built it
As an experiment, I offered in the Marketplace thread to buy and ship anything from California for Bitcoin. Unsurprisingly, the biggest issue I was faced with was escrow/trust.

As a buyer, my stomach literally turns when sending BTC. Once I send, I'm at the seller's mercy. And the scammers are the best at preying on newbies by pressuring and stating that it's insulting and a waste of time to worry about escrow. And when you're dealing with an honest seller, it absolutely is.

As a seller, I checked out existing escrow services, and the problem I faced was that in order to trust them, I wanted a completely transparent, reliable, secure service. What I found was a few web forms that felt like they could be honeypots for suckers, and a handful of varied reviews. Realistically, I wanted to know that there was an support email or Skype I could hit up if I had an issue, that the coins would be stored securely, and basically that the service was more concerned about ensuring the success of transactions (as I'd imagine the folks at Coinbase are) than that which they might gain by running off with someone's Bitcoin.

Earning your trust
In order to build trust in supporting something like escrow, I think that one either needs a tremendous amount of positive references, as on a site like this forum, and/or to be "out in the open" and fully transparent, with one's identity, and the financing and purpose behind's one work.

The guys behind Getcoin are myself, Ryan Mickle, and Ed McManus, who I've been working with since 2011, building 2 marketplaces, funded and supported by several folks who also funded Coinbase, such as Y Combinator. We've supported 7 figures (USD) in transactions in our work so far, and everyone who has used the products we've built, even when there were issues, has been happy. So that's us.

Check out our beta
When I talk to folks who haven't yet started using Bitcoin (but have heard of it), the main hesitation is volatility, which I believe will solve itself when there are other unique, native uses of the currency, and the second is trust. In order for Bitcoin to succeed, I believe that we must "bridge the trust gap" for transactions between parties who don't already know and trust each other.

Would love your thoughts, and feedback.

If you'd like a preview, shoot your email to me here and I'll send you an invite:
https://ryansf.wufoo.com/forms/escrow-service-early-preview/

A little sneak peek

Been using Buttercoin. It's insanely good, no fees.

Hi folks! After selling, shipping a handful of things for Bitcoin, I decided to build a simple escrow service. What would you want in an ideal escrow service?

Would love feedback on what's there so far, if you'd like to to use it totally free.

Please add your email here and I'll send invites directly:
https://ryansf.wufoo.com/forms/escrow-service-early-preview/

Thanks for that. What else would you like to know? I'm not acting as a broker, the person who owns these basically was acting as an investor and now he has over 300 miners to offload. They are all in Las Vegas, so shipping would be a pain. He is very motivated to sell, just wants to know what kinds of offers he can get.

A friend is looking to sell more than 100 fully racked CoinTerra IV Miners (1.6TH models). They are located in Las Vegas.

Please reply or PM with interested offers. He would prefer to sell all to one party.

No problem, if we disclose as a gift valued at <36 GBP.

Heh, where are you located? I can disclose it as a gift, as that seems to avoid taxes in many cases.

I was surprised no one threw me out. 

You'll pay whatever I pay. I'm calling FedEx, UPS, and DHL tomorrow to see what rates I can negotiate. So far everything has run $20-70 per package, depending on size and weight, via US postal service's priority mail.

Hi,

After seeing the great reaction from my offer to buy and ship anything from California, I realized not everyone has a Costco down their street, and it might be fun to post a photo walkthrough of the one by my house in San Diego. Ever wondered what the inside of a Costco is like? Here is your chance.

Check out the 150 photo walkthrough, covering about 20-30% of the 218k sq. ft. warehouse.

http://imgur.com/a/XLejR

Find something you want? Hit me up at the link below and I'll get back to you with a final price (items + shipping + escrow, no additional charges as I'm doing this for fun right now):

https://gettit.wufoo.com/forms/ill-buy-anything-you-want-from-costco/

Thanks!
Ryan

Hey guys, I found a guy in Atlanta to track down and ship these bad boys out to the UK. Fingers crossed. Worst case, I'm out the bottles and we'll turn the escrow around and I'll pay any escrow fees. Best case, I've got a guy who can get us all hard-to-find moonshine (he offered to pick us up some of the Deep South "real stuff").

Absolutely. Can you give me the specific model, and to where I'll be shipping and I'll get you a price?

First orders!

Trader Joe's cat treats ($10) for Useli Violent

And a couple Trader Joe's Coffee Cup Quintets ($9ea) for Braedo



And some small gifts for the first orders.

I just charge whatever the post office does... depends on the size/weight of the package but usually $20-30 for something small and fairly light. What might you be interested in?

Awesome! Happy to help. Looks like I'm headed to Trader Joe's tomorrow. I think it might be a bit tight to ship in a 12.5x9.5 envelope... next step up is $13, but if I can put it in the smaller one, I'll gladly send the balance of the shipping cost back.

We can use escrow, or this thread and keep it out in the open, if you like. If you just PM me your shipping address and send payment to 13GhqbdJha5pE76BqNwCquY9V4UEsEh4PX (or work out escrow with Blazedout419, if he's willing), we'll be off to the races!

You bet. Will grab some tomorrow, if you like. How many would you like? Looks like they are about $10 each out the door, but will confirm tomorrow.

Bitcoin (via escrow) for payments, I'll just charge you what I get charged at the postal service. My goal is to minimize that. I'll get everything shipped within 48 hours of payment (escrow confirmation).

Feel free to PM or Skype any time (since I keep hitting the rate limit on PMs).

Cheers!

Seriously, if I could send you all In-N-Out, that would be bonkers. Thanks for coaxing me into what to eat tonight.

No problem on the cat treats. Looks like they go for $17.5 USD for 3 x 3oz containers. How many 3 packs do you want? And these are the right ones, yeah? https://i.imgur.com/qw5JmWU.jpg

In my research, it appears that this varies by country, and can be the exception rather than the rule. Have you experience in receiving/sending items as "gifts"? That was going to be my first approach.

Happy to do it. Shoot me a list and I'll go get prices.