Clever tricks starting to appear: buying and selling

[Marcus]

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Fascinating to see tricks starting to appear in various Bitcoin markets.

One seller is charging $6.00 "shipping" for Bitcoin on eBay -- added to the final auction price.
Clever trick to boost his selling price without it being noticed too much.
Not really a scam, since fully disclosed on the auction page.
And if he can get it, why not?

That seller on eBay is "ViperPray" in Syracuse, New York, United States.
Here's a link to one of his auctions: http://tinyurl.com/3odrrgg

More tricks are sure to appear on both sides: sellers and buyers.
Useful to expose more of them.
I hope others will post on this thread the tricks they observe -- we'll all benefit.

[1714134593]

1714134593

[Txyru]

He can charge whatever he wants, if someone buys it then its worth it to them.

[Marcus]

He can charge whatever he wants, if someone buys it then its worth it to them.

.
You're right about that, and you won't get any arguments from me against a philosophy of free-trade and buyer-beware.

But have you noticed any other clever tricks among sellers and buyers of Bitcoin?
(Tactics more clever and more subtle than the crude scam of charge backs which is well-known and already widely discussed here.)

[Threshold]

One seller is charging $6.00 "shipping"

That's a risky move on the seller's behalf.  eBay used to give the seller the full amount they charge for shipping -- for the past month and a half, the seller pays a cut of the shipping charge just like they lose a cut for the price paid for the item...  ...so it isn't more cash in their pocket.

It probably is a trick to try to get an extra $6 out of the buyer -- if they didn't see that there is a shipping charge...  ...but that's why I am saying it is a risky move on the seller's behalf.  I think a buyer could easily charge the seller with an unfair shipping price for charging $6 for a few clicks on a keyboard.

[error]

eBay can and will cancel auctions and sanction sellers for excessive shipping charges.

[dingus]

These are bitcoins a virtual commodity you get no refunds if you are buying these then you know what they are please provide your ID within 3 days or for-fit your Coins and your money

What? This guy is asking you for your identification?

[Marcus]

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Looks like we've got the shipping charges trick sorted out quickly here.

Have you noticed any other clever and subtle tricks floating around?

[error]

And he's CPU mining.

[Marcus]

please provide your ID within 3 days or for-fit your Coins and your money

Now that's clever.
Source?
Link?
Or are you replying to a post on some other thread, because nothing about that on this thread so far.

[dingus]

please provide your ID within 3 days or for-fit your Coins and your money

Now that's clever.
Source?
Link?
Or are you replying to a post on some other thread, because nothing about that on this thread so far.

-- Marcus

Sorry, that was from the ebay page. Look right above the screenshot of his bitcoin client.

[Marcus]

please provide your ID within 3 days or for-fit your Coins and your money ... that was from the ebay page. Look right above the screenshot of his bitcoin client.

Excellent catch!
Two tricks in one auction.
Thank you, Dingus.
Clearly, you have a good eye for details.

The seller's requirement for ID is in the "Description" tab of eBay auction page mentioned in first post on this thread.
It is under banner for, "eBay Buyer Protection".
Link here: http://tinyurl.com/3odrrgg

So, we have added charge for "shipping" plus specific requirement to provide ID, or else lose your money.
eBay seller "viperpray", in Syracuse, NY, United States, is a clever trickster, indeed.

Have you seen any other clever tricks, from buyers or sellers?

[russelljohnson]

for-fit... ahuh..

[Marcus]

for-fit... ahuh..

So, russelljohnson, have you observed any clever tricks for buying and selling Bitcoin, that you can describe here?
That's the topic of this thread.

[dingus]

This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.

Looks like that auction was ended pretty quickly. 

[Marcus]

This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.

Looks like that auction was ended pretty quickly.

Thank you, once again, Dingus.
Let's watch this seller -- viperpray121 -- on eBay.
He'll probably teach us some more clever tricks.
I've just added him to my "favorite sellers" list, to be notified by eBay whenever he posts any new auctions for anything.

Now, does anyone have any other clever tricks from other sellers or buyers?

[xkrysis]

I agree that $6 shipping is excessive.  One potential reason for charging some shipping would be to actually incorporate a physical object into the auction and ship it to a verified address for the recipient.  That would, I believe, per ebay/paypal policy make the auction subject to seller protection from chargebacks.  For example, if I sell 1 trinket on ebay, with a "free" gift of 10BTC.  Then I can ship the trinket via certified mail or something else with tracking.  The sale is no longer in violation of the TOS, and in fact is subject to protection from fraud the same as buying or selling anything else on ebay.

*The above is based on my interpretation and experience doing limited business on ebay with paypal.  Obviously read their docs yourself and come to your own conclusions if you are going to try it.

In the spirit of this thread, I'll mention another trick I've seen used.  Ive had buyers "buy" BTC from me, and then wait ~24 hours to pay or cancel the transaction.  I assume they are watching the price and then only complete the transaction if the price shift is beneficial.  This was in the bitcoinmarket.com PPUSD exchange.  It obviously doesn't work in markets where both currencies are already on deposit with the exchange.

[Marcus]

...Ive had buyers "buy" BTC from me, and then wait ~24 hours to pay or cancel the transaction.  I assume they are watching the price and then only complete the transaction if the price shift is beneficial.  This was in the bitcoinmarket.com PPUSD exchange. 

Good one, Xkrysis.
Thank you for posting about that.

... It obviously doesn't work in markets where both currencies are already on deposit with the exchange.

An excellent lesson to be learned.
As more exchanges open up, valuable to look for that method of handling transactions.

Any other clever tricks, from either the buying side or the selling side?

[wol-va-rine]

please provide your ID within 3 days or for-fit your Coins and your money

Now that's clever.
Source?
Link?
Or are you replying to a post on some other thread, because nothing about that on this thread so far.

would you really trust a "businessman" that can't even spell...?

Jeebus

[zer0]

here's a clever trick

go to infraud(dot)cc
buy a stolen paypal account+email combo for $10-25 with $5k in it
some vendors there also have full ebay accounts w/loaded paypals freshly stolen daily.
buy a proxy from vip72.com that's in that paypal's area

login thru tor, add proxy
scam the hell out of ebay sellers, steal all their bitcoins

enjoy your bitcoins while paypal reverses the transaction 2-7 days later, leaving seller broke.
why am I telling you this? because somebody (a scammer) is going to do it. might as well full disclosure.

never sell ecurrency 4 paypal

[Marcus]

would you really trust a "businessman" that can't even spell...?

Hello Wol-Va-Rine -

Please realize that many posters here are not native speakers of English.
In doing business across borders, I look carefully at the terms of the deal, not the spelling.

So, Wol-Va-Rine, I will ask you:
In your Bitcoin experience, what clever tricks have you seen, that you can report here?