I am curious, would I face any legal complications if I were to set up an eCommerce store which sells BTC? I have set up systems that accept bank transfer and Bitcoin before so perhaps I could offer better prices then Localbitcoins etc.
This is exactly what the whole thread is about.
Yes but Localbitcoins and Bitbargain seem to offer the same kind of options, on a larger scale yet they seem to be ok in the UK (including offer bank transfers)? The other Bitcoin services that are getting shut down etc seem to be suseptible due to scale where as I am wondering if a small time shop would work under the radar.
I am curious, would I face any legal complications if I were to set up an eCommerce store which sells BTC? I have set up systems that accept bank transfer and Bitcoin before so perhaps I could offer better prices then Localbitcoins etc.
this is not official advise, just unofficial tip
speaking to most banks, the FSA, HMRC the basic rule of thumb is, if you stay under the wire transfer limits of roughly £850 per customer per day banks wont see it as a risk to require investigating you. speak to your bank about how much transfer YOU are allowed per day on YOUR account. exceeding this second amount will get the banks and......... (dramatic pause) HMRC to start to take in interest in you (ripple effect through to FSA).
basically if you stick under £850 per customer and under the total daily transmission limits your bank account allows then both FSA and your bank will treat you as a personal transaction (not business) so you can get away with a certain amount.
the general amounts are
here but thats generalised as each account type within each bank have their own limits.
so, to those doing occasional localbitcoin style transactions, you don't have much to worry about..much... but don't get "to big for your own boots", and be honest with your bank as to why or what the transactions are for. as saying your selling advertising where infact its bitcoins. and then some scamming &a$tard tries contacting your bank for a transfer reversal, lying to your bank won't have helped your cause.
it is also worth noting that if you do want to regularly exceed these amounts and do it as a business, (hopefully you already know the regulations and what limits there are) to look at if you want to just be FSA authorised or FSA accredited. as they are 2 separate things. (accredited is the more expensive one for businesses doing more then £3mill a month)
This was my line of thinking tbh, if I was to set up my proposed idea then I highly doubt I would reach a significant size worth investigation. I am sure many on these forums, eBay and so on regularly make large sums. Obviously I wont be using any of this theoretical talk as a basis for legal information. I might offer up 1BTC on one of my merchant channels just to get an idea of how easy the transaction goes through.
