as someone who has always been an early-adopter and an aspiring pioneer of cutting-edge ideas, i have come to understand that the 3rd party transaction marketplace is in need of an overhaul.
backstory: had some miners up for sale on craigslist about a year ago, was transparent in my dealings with all purchasers because i recognized (at the time) the vulnerability of BUYERS in the bitcoin market. this transparency led to skype conversations and even some potential buyers coming to my place of residence to check out my miners.
fast-forward to a few days later when i come home from work and find that my mining rigs, along with my personal computer were all stolen.
police contacted and what have you. because i am renting i didn't have any insurance.
feel-good moment: reconciled losses with fiat and when BTC hit $350 i sold to repurchase mining gear.
what i am saying here, is that the onus of legitimacy always lies on the seller, and this is how it ought to be, but at the same time, pure legitimacy lies in the revealing of very personal information; information that comes in direct contradiction to some of the ideas that Bitcoin is rising from (anonymity!).
So how can the average buyer protect themselves, not from scam, but from personal identifiers being exploited (like in my case)?
I could go on, but I see this is a book already.
i'd like to hear your thoughts!
EDIT/TL;DR: Craigslist listing for one of my miners : Exposed address : Broken into : Can't sell anything with legitimacy, leading to the divulging of personal identifiers which people exploit. How to get around this?
