Why is bitcoin going for more than $20 on eBay?

[SaintDevil]

Just seen this and about died
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Bitcoin-1-0-BTC-Digital-Currency-/181001007600?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a248031f0

jeesh come buy coins from me lol

If you're just going to reverse the transaction anyway, $47 isn't that much money.

Could also be digital delivery sellers are getting scarce

Yeah they are getting scarce because paypal is banning them 

I saw your post bout PayPal divorcing you. Can you tell me a little bit about your account?

My questions are...

Did you ONLY sell bitcoins?
How long were you a member for?
Did you only sell digital delivery?
You said you only had 3 chargebacks and many voluntary refunds. What time span did the chargebacks happen in? 1 month? 6 months? more?

In my past experience with PayPal I believe PayPal to be generally lazy. They only seem to act when someone complains. Do you feel a competitor may have "narked you out" ?

I used to run a seed selling business on eBay back in 2003-2007. I specialized in poison-garden seeds. Some of which can be considered drugs. I had that PayPal account closed over a $2 poppy seed packet sale and the complaint came from a concerned mother. I had refunded her payment when she contacted me, I was very pleasant with the woman and felt the issue was handled well by me and was shocked when PayPal canceled my account. After the 180 days, It took an additional 6 months to recover the frozen funds. At the time there was NO WAY to speak to anyone on the phone.

I'm really going to begin to worry if they are canceling paypal accounts for people who are shipping physical bitcoins (me).

On a more positive note, I got my paypal account back in the end by providing them a bunch of information and agreeing not to sell poisonous seeds anymore. Attempts to explain how lots of innocent vegetables have poison seeds fell on deaf ears at PayPal. They ALWAYS assume the seller to be a liar and the buyer to be a judge/jury/executioner. I have been an eBay seller since 1998 and have been using PayPal since it was X.com.

Did your business with poison-garden seeds required some kind of license? If you were licensed then it would be illegal for PayPal to freeze your account.

As for physical bitcoins, have you tried adding signature confirmation, I don't know if it does much but it does adds seller protection.

Oh an have anyone ever tried eBid. It has auctions worldwide and fees are much less than eBay, or eCrater.

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[FLHippy]

Did your business with poison-garden seeds required some kind of license? If you were licensed then it would be illegal for PayPal to freeze your account.

No license is required to sell seeds. My auction listing had pictures of opium poppies and a link to the wikipedia page for papaver somniferum. this is where mom clicked... saw the word heroin and instantly the seeds were a drug and I was shut down. The same seeds that you get on a bagel. HEROIN DEALER?

Papal can freeze your account for pretty much any reason.

[SaintDevil]

Did your business with poison-garden seeds required some kind of license? If you were licensed then it would be illegal for PayPal to freeze your account.

No license is required to sell seeds. My auction listing had pictures of opium poppies and a link to the wikipedia page for papaver somniferum. this is where mom clicked... saw the word heroin and instantly the seeds were a drug and I was shut down. The same seeds that you get on a bagel. HEROIN DEALER?

Papal can freeze your account for pretty much any reason.

Omg, that is so crazy to hear. There are some crazy people out there, and PayPal pretty much didn't listen to you.
I know they can freeze you for any reason, but there has to be a good reason otherwise you can sue them. They are in the US and law works here.
They cannot just take your money without a good reason, that's what I mean.

[lebing]

Did your business with poison-garden seeds required some kind of license? If you were licensed then it would be illegal for PayPal to freeze your account.

No license is required to sell seeds. My auction listing had pictures of opium poppies and a link to the wikipedia page for papaver somniferum. this is where mom clicked... saw the word heroin and instantly the seeds were a drug and I was shut down. The same seeds that you get on a bagel. HEROIN DEALER?

Papal can freeze your account for pretty much any reason.

Omg, that is so crazy to hear. There are some crazy people out there, and PayPal pretty much didn't listen to you.
I know they can freeze you for any reason, but there has to be a good reason otherwise you can sue them. They are in the US and law works here.
They cannot just take your money without a good reason, that's what I mean.

They can't take it indefinitely, just for 6 months 

[adamas]

Oh an have anyone ever tried eBid. It has auctions worldwide and fees are much less than eBay, or eCrater.

I didnt know about eBit. Seems to be a great egay alternative. 

[SaintDevil]

Oh an have anyone ever tried eBid. It has auctions worldwide and fees are much less than eBay, or eCrater.

I didnt know about eBit. Seems to be a great egay alternative. 

It is of course is not as popular, but eBay is just turned from the auction for users like it used to be into big corporate marketplace.
Then you try to compete with all those companies...

[Micon]

I bought my first bitcoin on ebay... just wanted to get one!

Me too, and for the same reason.

Same reason for buying 1st one, got it from bitmarket.eu, then started buying them from bitmarket.eu and selling on eBay at a reasonable markup.

ran into the chargeback game, then ebay de-listed a bitcoin auction saying it wasn't allowed.  I stopped after that, I value my eBay account even though they are fucking evil. 

what is the rule now?  Can you win paypal disputes with blockchain verification now?

[SaintDevil]

I bought my first bitcoin on ebay... just wanted to get one!

Me too, and for the same reason.

Same reason for buying 1st one, got it from bitmarket.eu, then started buying them from bitmarket.eu and selling on eBay at a reasonable markup.

ran into the chargeback game, then ebay de-listed a bitcoin auction saying it wasn't allowed.  I stopped after that, I value my eBay account even though they are fucking evil. 

what is the rule now?  Can you win paypal disputes with blockchain verification now?

I tried that, made screenshot of submitted wallet, transaction, my wallet and it didn't work. They told me the buyers account got stolen and even if they receive goods they reserve the right to get their money back.
I was like 

[DoogieHouser]

I concur with other responses... For a lot of people, $20 on eBay is easier than dealing with Dwolla & MtGox.
That is one thing that I like about Virtex.  I can create an account, walk to a branch of their bank, make a cash deposit, and buy BTC five minutes later... 

[scrybe]

I tried that, made screenshot of submitted wallet, transaction, my wallet and it didn't work. They told me the buyers account got stolen and even if they receive goods they reserve the right to get their money back.
I was like  

Isn't the customer required to return the merchandise?

13.3 How much coverage do I get with PayPal Buyer Protection?
Items purchased on eBay:
If you see the PayPal Buyer Protection message "Pay with PayPal and full purchase price is covered", and if PayPal finds in your favor on your Claim, PayPal will reimburse you for the full purchase price of the item and original shipping costs – with no cap on coverage. PayPal will not reimburse you for the return shipping costs that you incur to return a Significantly Not as Described item to the seller or other party PayPal specifies. If the seller presents evidence that they delivered the goods to your address, PayPal may find in favor of the seller even if you did not receive the goods.

[SaintDevil]

I tried that, made screenshot of submitted wallet, transaction, my wallet and it didn't work. They told me the buyers account got stolen and even if they receive goods they reserve the right to get their money back.
I was like  

Isn't the customer required to return the merchandise?

13.3 How much coverage do I get with PayPal Buyer Protection?
Items purchased on eBay:
If you see the PayPal Buyer Protection message "Pay with PayPal and full purchase price is covered", and if PayPal finds in your favor on your Claim, PayPal will reimburse you for the full purchase price of the item and original shipping costs – with no cap on coverage. PayPal will not reimburse you for the return shipping costs that you incur to return a Significantly Not as Described item to the seller or other party PayPal specifies. If the seller presents evidence that they delivered the goods to your address, PayPal may find in favor of the seller even if you did not receive the goods.

Yeah, but I think they are talking about physical goods. I mean could take them to court and prove wrong because I do have proof, but it's not worth over $15.

[FLHippy]

I tried that, made screenshot of submitted wallet, transaction, my wallet and it didn't work. They told me the buyers account got stolen and even if they receive goods they reserve the right to get their money back.
I was like  

Isn't the customer required to return the merchandise?

13.3 How much coverage do I get with PayPal Buyer Protection?
Items purchased on eBay:
If you see the PayPal Buyer Protection message "Pay with PayPal and full purchase price is covered", and if PayPal finds in your favor on your Claim, PayPal will reimburse you for the full purchase price of the item and original shipping costs – with no cap on coverage. PayPal will not reimburse you for the return shipping costs that you incur to return a Significantly Not as Described item to the seller or other party PayPal specifies. If the seller presents evidence that they delivered the goods to your address, PayPal may find in favor of the seller even if you did not receive the goods.

Yeah, but I think they are talking about physical goods. I mean could take them to court and prove wrong because I do have proof, but it's not worth over $15.

Always sell a physical good to help protect yourself. If anyone needs help with the physical goods part, I have beautiful unfunded, custom printed, notes for sale complete with tamper evident stickers. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=120221.0

It only costs $1.70 to ship one of these to people and they get their BTC in 3 days usually. That $1.70 includes delivery confirmation and is created using PayPal's shipping system. Overall, it is still less of a hassle than MtGox. It helps to weed out scammers, it makes you more legit in PayPal's eyes. Some buyers upgrade to priority shipping and that is going to add a few more dimes to your profit.

[BitCoiner2012]

Don't sell unless you are shipping something physical.

100% scammers in my exerpience on eBay, PayPal openly admit that I can buy a digital good, claim I never received it, and get my full refund with no problems. The lady on the phone admitted to facilitation of fraud so long as it is a digital good. I was angry, but shall do no more instant transactions on eBay. All stolen cards and fraudsters.

[salfter]

Someone new to the bitcoin community doesn't know about bit instant but obviously they know about ebay.  That's the majority of the problem there.

Someone who stumbles upon bitcoin will do the following.

www.google.com
(bitcoin)
....

I doubt they cant figure it out.

Considering the continued utility of sites like Let Me Google That For You, I think you overestimate the average luser's search skills.