Question about litecoinlocal.org and localbitcoins.com

[PA992]

On these sites, sellers are basically like a sitting duck, right? You could place an ad and not get a buyer for a week and your sell price may be lower than the current price. Or am I missing something here? BY the way, localbitcoins.com seems to have been down for a while.

If you want to sell at the highest price, best to use the exchange sites, right?


edit OK, it looks like the prices automatically update.

[coqui33]

You answered yourself. Traders usually set prices by formula based on exchange rates. There can be various reasons why no one answers your ad, your lack of reputation, for example.

[samsamson]

Quick question regarding LocalBitCoins.com which relates to the thread.

If someone is selling a BTC for $1000, at what point in the buying process am I locked in at the $1000 dollar price?

For example, if I click buy for $1000 and send the money, can the seller wait a few hours for the value of BTC to rise and then only send me the 0.9 BTC that my $1000 is now worth? Or if my bank transfer takes 3 days to arrive am I exposed to whatever price changes happen in the market?

[KieranJones1]

You're locked in from the moment you send the request to trade. The website will tell you exactly how much to deposit, the details of how to make the transaction (i.e. bank info), and the precise amount of bitcoins you'll be receiving.

[samsamson]

Thanks for your reply! That's exactly what I was hoping.

I assume, however, that there is some way for the seller to cancel the transaction if they think to themselves "I didn't expect the price to drop this low, I don't want to sell any BTC at this price"? I'm thinking specifically of a situation where the market crashes, for example.

[KieranJones1]

Once you've marked the payment as having been sent, then they're unable to cancel the trade without a valid reason (i.e. they didn't receive the payment). Essentially, Localbitcoins operates an escrow service for you.

[samsamson]

Thanks a million for clearing that up for me!

[MoneyGod]

thanks its very good and informative answer hope many have solved there doubts about this now

[DannyHamilton]

Thanks for your reply! That's exactly what I was hoping.

I assume, however, that there is some way for the seller to cancel the transaction if they think to themselves "I didn't expect the price to drop this low, I don't want to sell any BTC at this price"? I'm thinking specifically of a situation where the market crashes, for example.

An intelligent seller will create a formula that will protect them from that situation.

For example if you just put in a formula of:
bitstampusd*1.03
then localbitcoins will calculate a price of BitStamp plus a 3% fee.

A seller might think, "but MtGox is often a better exchange rate, I'd really like to sell for which ever will bring me more cash, either straight MtGox, OR BitStamp plus 3%".
So they put in a formula of:
MAX(bitstampusd*1.03, mtgoxusd)
in this case localbitcoins will calculate a price of which ever is higher.

Then a seller might think, "but what if there's a crash.  Then I just want to keep the bitcoins until someone is willing to pay at least $900".
So they put in a formula of:
MAX(MAX(bitstampusd*1.03, mtgoxusd), 900)
in this case localbitcoins will choose the higher of mtgox, or $900, or bitstamp+3%.

[odolvlobo]

Thanks for your reply! That's exactly what I was hoping.
I assume, however, that there is some way for the seller to cancel the transaction if they think to themselves "I didn't expect the price to drop this low, I don't want to sell any BTC at this price"? I'm thinking specifically of a situation where the market crashes, for example.

An intelligent seller will create a formula that will protect them from that situation.

I believe samsamson meant the case in which the exchange rate changes after the transaction is initiated. The formulas you propose do not help in this case because the price is fixed when the transaction is initiated.

samsamson, in the case of face-to-face, the price can be re-negotiated up to the point of the trade. For online trades, the risk is limited because the price is locked in for a limited amount of time and either party can dispute the transaction if the other side is too slow.

[uitryu]

Whenever you initiate a transaction, the transaction is fixed to the rate of exchange when the transaction is initiatied.

Once it is initiated, there is no possibility to change with other rate. It is final.

[DannyHamilton]

Whenever you initiate a transaction, the transaction is fixed to the rate of exchange when the transaction is initiatied.

Once it is initiated, there is no possibility to change with other rate. It is final.

This is not true.

[coqui33]

This is not true.

How so? Please explain.

[DannyHamilton]

This is not true.

How so? Please explain.

When you initiate a transaction you have two options.  You can either use the localbitcoins "transaction service" or you can agree to have the bitcoins sent directly to a bitcoin address.

If you choose to have bitcoins sent directly to a bitcoin address, then when you meet you can negotiate any exchange rate you want.  Then cash and bitcoins are exchanged.  There is nothing preventing adjustments to the exchange rate until after cash and bitcoins are exchanged and you each go your separate ways.

If you choose to use the "transaction service", then the localbitcoins contact page specifies an exact amount of bitcoins for the transaction, but the two parties  can still negotiate how much cash will be exchanged for those bitcoins.

If the parties wish to negotiate a differing amount of bitcoins to be exchanged, it is very easy to just cancel the current contact and create a new contact for a new quantity of bitcoins.

[coqui33]

When you initiate a transaction you have two options.  You can either use the localbitcoins "transaction service" or you can agree to have the bitcoins sent directly to a bitcoin address.

No. Your choices are transaction service (for FTF) or escrow (for  online). I bellieve that the original question was about online trades using the escrow service. There is no provision within the LBC system for direct BTC transmission. Of course, you can use LBC only to make contact, and then do whatever you mutually agree, but this is not sanctioned by the system for online trades because it would be exceedingly foolish. In short, if both parties ignore the LBC system services or violate its rules, then anything is possible. But that was not the context of the question.

May I ask how many different individuals you have traded with using LBC in, say, the past 6 months? Rounded off to the nearest 100.

[Skinnkavaj]

Whenever you initiate a transaction, the transaction is fixed to the rate of exchange when the transaction is initiatied.

Once it is initiated, there is no possibility to change with other rate. It is final.

On Litecoinlocal you have a timer, the buyer have to pay within a time limit.