Casascius selling direct again

[rpietila]

I hope I am being reasonable here and if not please explain why.

I think Goat is being very reasonable.

[casascius]

My frustration is that by you refusing to sell to collectors you are hurting the people who supported you from the start. Now you only sell to resellers who do not want to collect but just want to make a buck.

Help me understand - did I actively refuse to accept your order, or did I just drop the ball on getting back with you?  I suspect it's the latter.  I have never formed any intent to make anyone go through "resellers" to get the gold coin, if for nothing else, it makes absolutely no logistical sense whatsoever.  I have not actually defined anyone as a "reseller", I have simply (at this point) imposed a minimum order quantity of 50 coins for the small-value coins only.  Have I said anything anywhere that might be interpreted as asking you to buy gold coins through a reseller?  If so, I am terribly sorry for the misunderstanding.  Actually, this is true of nearly all of the items I've ever made and sold beyond the 1BTC coin.

I needed resellers because it's not sensible for me to be shipping numerous orders for single 1BTC coins when it actually takes longer to create the shipment than it does to create the actual coin, to the point it actually decreases supply substantially because it takes up a good chunk of my "bitcoin time" (and you can understand what kind of effect that would have on the price).  But this is a problem that only applies to coins like the 1BTC coin, an item I've produced at a rate of a few thousand per month on average.  Clearly you can understand I don't need any of this sort of "help" shipping an occasional gold coin of which only 50 were made.

Yes, I think it's very reasonable to expect me to fulfill the order at the current price when able.  I appreciate your acknowledgment that the issue is not the price.  Yes I would sell you the gold coins directly.  I would appreciate you linking me to or copying me on any communication suggesting I wouldn't, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and apologize for having represented I wouldn't.

[rpietila]

How much you asking for the gold coin? PM ok.

[casascius]

How about $1000 over spot?  2-factor included free (and if it's 2-factor, it also includes the option to not actually fund the coin...ever...if you so desire...for reasons I've explained elsewhere)

I realize that's quite a jump over my original starting price, but it's still half the markup as measured in BTC as it was months ago.  The flip side is, if I end up establishing that the market is willing to bear this USD price, and I am able to sell off my 2012 supply at it, I suddenly have a business case for another big run of gold coins, which up until now is running at a loss (save for gains related to BTC exchange rate itself, which keeps me happy but won't help me justify another gold coin run by itself).  The folks I have minting the coins don't like doing gold in anything but a big run because they essentially have to deep clean their entire production line twice to switch it from silver to gold and back so as to not compromise product purity...but they'll do it if I'm willing to place a healthy order, and I'll do it if I know that the price I"m charging essentially insulates me from the risk of volatility and covers the relatively high initial production costs.

If you want to place orders and calculate the price using gold spot and MtGoxLast and order them through the auction feature on my website, I'd be willing to accept the order immediately.  Please send 2-factor intermediate code in notes.  2-factor is mandatory if you won't be funding the coin, but you also don't need to send me 1000BTC in that case.  It's also a terribly good idea in any case (just pretend trust only goes so far...for the sake of limiting my own anxiety, I don't want to be trusted with hundreds of millions of dollars in value, honest!)  Suggestions for the passphrase: imagine you might engrave the passphrase on a trophy nameplate and make it part of your presentation display for the coin...something neutral (like X5Ab3kZF1W) or a phrase praising Bitcoin ("It was Satoshi's genius vision in 2008") will maximize the appeal to a potential second owner.  I will provide digitally signed certification of the BIP38 confirmation code so you can prove to a secondary buyer the correctness of your passphrase.

[casascius]

$1000 over spot each is more than fine, I just hope you will not lower this in the future. As you know they will need to be shipped to two different addresses. They will both be 2fa but I don't know the codes yet. As you know, one of the coins is not for me so I will have to get back to you.

However I am willing to pay for the two coins now and if you are okay with this just e-mail me an amount and and payment address. I can pay right away.

Thank man.

No problem - I will not be lowering the price.

I would prefer that you use my website to request a payment address.  I use an outrageously cumbersome private key management policy to ensure that targeting me for MITM and other forms of theft is difficult, since I"m an attractive target for such a thing.  Taking an address from my website ensures your funds are being held securely.  My website will issue a PGP-presigned bitcoin address if you place an order on it that isn't for a trivial amount (please make sure that it's at least 15 BTC or it will come from a lower security junk key pool meant to keep bots and test orders from allocating my secure addresses).  Please check the PGP signature before paying, assuming you're able to do so.

[rpietila]

How about $1000 over spot?  2-factor included free (and if it's 2-factor, it also includes the option to not actually fund the coin...ever...if you so desire...for reasons I've explained elsewhere)

I realize that's quite a jump over my original starting price, but it's still half the markup as measured in BTC as it was months ago.  The flip side is, if I end up establishing that the market is willing to bear this USD price, and I am able to sell off my 2012 supply at it, I suddenly have a business case for another big run of gold coins, which up until now is running at a loss (save for gains related to BTC exchange rate itself, which keeps me happy but won't help me justify another gold coin run by itself).  The folks I have minting the coins don't like doing gold in anything but a big run because they essentially have to deep clean their entire production line twice to switch it from silver to gold and back so as to not compromise product purity...but they'll do it if I'm willing to place a healthy order, and I'll do it if I know that the price I"m charging essentially insulates me from the risk of volatility and covers the relatively high initial production costs.

If you want to place orders and calculate the price using gold spot and MtGoxLast and order them through the auction feature on my website, I'd be willing to accept the order immediately.  Please send 2-factor intermediate code in notes.  2-factor is mandatory if you won't be funding the coin, but you also don't need to send me 1000BTC in that case.  It's also a terribly good idea in any case (just pretend trust only goes so far...for the sake of limiting my own anxiety, I don't want to be trusted with hundreds of millions of dollars in value, honest!)  Suggestions for the passphrase: imagine you might engrave the passphrase on a trophy nameplate and make it part of your presentation display for the coin...something neutral (like X5Ab3kZF1W) or a phrase praising Bitcoin ("It was Satoshi's genius vision in 2008") will maximize the appeal to a potential second owner.  I will provide digitally signed certification of the BIP38 confirmation code so you can prove to a secondary buyer the correctness of your passphrase.

Is this the same guy who complained about the luxury in my summit...?  What was the talk about the speck...

I will drop a PM soon if you are interested in selling to me also, coins for about BTC1500.

[rpietila]

How about $1000 over spot?  2-factor included free (and if it's 2-factor, it also includes the option to not actually fund the coin...ever...if you so desire...for reasons I've explained elsewhere)

I realize that's quite a jump over my original starting price, but it's still half the markup as measured in BTC as it was months ago.  The flip side is, if I end up establishing that the market is willing to bear this USD price, and I am able to sell off my 2012 supply at it, I suddenly have a business case for another big run of gold coins, which up until now is running at a loss (save for gains related to BTC exchange rate itself, which keeps me happy but won't help me justify another gold coin run by itself).  The folks I have minting the coins don't like doing gold in anything but a big run because they essentially have to deep clean their entire production line twice to switch it from silver to gold and back so as to not compromise product purity...but they'll do it if I'm willing to place a healthy order, and I'll do it if I know that the price I"m charging essentially insulates me from the risk of volatility and covers the relatively high initial production costs.

If you want to place orders and calculate the price using gold spot and MtGoxLast and order them through the auction feature on my website, I'd be willing to accept the order immediately.  Please send 2-factor intermediate code in notes.  2-factor is mandatory if you won't be funding the coin, but you also don't need to send me 1000BTC in that case.  It's also a terribly good idea in any case (just pretend trust only goes so far...for the sake of limiting my own anxiety, I don't want to be trusted with hundreds of millions of dollars in value, honest!)  Suggestions for the passphrase: imagine you might engrave the passphrase on a trophy nameplate and make it part of your presentation display for the coin...something neutral (like X5Ab3kZF1W) or a phrase praising Bitcoin ("It was Satoshi's genius vision in 2008") will maximize the appeal to a potential second owner.  I will provide digitally signed certification of the BIP38 confirmation code so you can prove to a secondary buyer the correctness of your passphrase.

Is this the same guy who complained about the luxury in my summit...?  What was the talk about the speck...

I will drop a PM soon if you are interested in selling to me also, coins for about BTC1500.

1500 BTC?   I just got two for just under 40 BTC.

Or are you looking to get more than 1? If so he only made 50.

Ah sorry, I included the face value of the coin also. No, I don't plan to buy more of the gold coins (not loaded, at least ) but I want to buy quite many of all the other coins.

[rpietila]

Is this the same guy who complained about the luxury in my summit...?  What was the talk about the speck...

No - to be specific, this is the same guy who complained about the conspicuous display of luxury, specifically one that I found inconsistent with a commensurate conspicuous display of organization, planning, and business value associated with the event.  There is a profound difference, and always another chance to get it right!

PSY: I’ve heard it said that Gangnam is the Beverly Hills of Korea. But I would say that Gangnam is the capital of Seoul, which, of course, is the capital of Korea.  People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are -- it’s only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are "Gangnam Style" -- so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying so hard to be something that they’re not.

Yes, the most I enjoy when I do it quietly. But I am now assigned to be the forum troll, and I like it. I ate whitefish tartar with seafood and cauliflower puree, and filtered water for appetizer. Then I came back to the forum for some more trolling. Then I continued with snails á la Haikko, oven-fresh bread, chardonnay and more filtered water. And now I'm back trolling. This is my work, my private life is not for sale.

If mine is not the best-organized bitcoin conference ever, I promise to sell 1000 bitcoins!

[rpietila]

What part did you find difficult to understand?

[rpietila]

What part did you find difficult to understand?

The part that's inconsistent with expected behavior of a bitcoin conference organizer, i.e. the whole thing.

The ones who expect something as regards bitcoin, are due for a surprise.

Do you believe if I say, I am just a messenger. There are more wonderful things to come...

[stereotype]

Wow. Incredible. Really? Wow. 

[jbord39]

Is this the same guy who complained about the luxury in my summit...?  What was the talk about the speck...

No - to be specific, this is the same guy who complained about the conspicuous display of luxury, specifically one that I found inconsistent with a commensurate conspicuous display of organization, planning, and business value associated with the event.  There is a profound difference, and always another chance to get it right!

PSY: I’ve heard it said that Gangnam is the Beverly Hills of Korea. But I would say that Gangnam is the capital of Seoul, which, of course, is the capital of Korea.  People who are actually from Gangnam never proclaim that they are -- it’s only the posers and wannabes that put on these airs and say that they are "Gangnam Style" -- so this song is actually poking fun at those kinds of people who are trying so hard to be something that they’re not.

Yes, the most I enjoy when I do it quietly. But I am now assigned to be the forum troll, and I like it. I ate whitefish tartar with seafood and cauliflower puree, and filtered water for appetizer. Then I came back to the forum for some more trolling. Then I continued with snails á la Haikko, oven-fresh bread, chardonnay and more filtered water. And now I'm back trolling. This is my work, my private life is not for sale.

If mine is not the best-organized bitcoin conference ever, I promise to sell 1000 bitcoins!

Wow we are all so jealous of your success and fancy food.  Filtered water hard to come by in your country? LOL. 

Honestly seeing you flaunt it like this makes me want BTC to crash hard to the ground (not really though because I do own bitcoin).  You are a great example of 'new money'.  You got lucky (call it what you want but there is certainly a degree of luck involved in BTC) and now have more money than you ever imagined.  The years spent looking up to people who had a little more makes you feel the need to outdo them and post about it here.  This over-extravagance is pretty cliche for a newly rich person.

Pride before the fall much?

[rpietila]

Wow we are all so jealous of your success and fancy food.  Filtered water hard to come by in your country? LOL. 

Honestly seeing you flaunt it like this makes me want BTC to crash hard to the ground (not really though because I do own bitcoin).  You are a great example of 'new money'.  You got lucky (call it what you want but there is certainly a degree of luck involved in BTC) and now have more money than you ever imagined.  The years spent looking up to people who had a little more makes you feel the need to outdo them and post about it here.  This over-extravagance is pretty cliche for a newly rich person.

Pride before the fall much?

I have the actual ability to keep Bitcoin network and bitcoin price up indefinitely long. (Proof.) Why would I not buy them?

Buffett says that it makes very little sense diversifying if you know what you are doing. I do.

It's like poker, if you have A-A, you nearly always raise and always call, even if there is a chance that you lose big. Bitcoin is the A-A of monetary systems of early 2013.

The luxury is there just to speed up the process. Many in bitcoinworld do know what I do. Even I did not actually make it up, it took 2+ years from another person to make me believe it and be able to speak about it articulately in public.

PS. I really get high every time I taste good water. Even yesterday EuroTrash though I was drunk (I wasn't).

[pikeadz]

What's up with the 25 BTC coins being so cheap?  Do people not like them, or can they just not afford them nowadays?  Also, you are still selling the 2011s which leads me to believe demand is just not there for them.

[casascius]

What's up with the 25 BTC coins being so cheap?  Do people not like them, or can they just not afford them nowadays?  Also, you are still selling the 2011s which leads me to believe demand is just not there for them.

Cheap relative to what?

It's true I'm trying to run out of them.  They say 2011 on them.  It's fair to say that whoever buys them while they are still available will probably have made a good buy.  It's cheezy for me to be trying to get a top price for something like this, am happy with what I'm getting.  Someone might wipe them out in a single order, like what happened to the last of my silvers.  They're priced to let that happen.

Don't you worry, they will be gone soon enough.  There were 1000 made, and I'll bet somewhere like 100 were sold or given away without a hologram and will never appear as funded (I routinely gave them away without holograms, such as to guys like BitPay at their CES booth so they had something catchy to show people a "bitcoin").  So maybe the trackers will say ~900 when they're done, I don't know.  When they are gone, they are gone, simple as that.

[hennessyhemp]

Do whatever you want Mike...you have my full support...you are an excellent dealer with an excellent product and if I can afford to...I will buy again...at pretty much whatever the going rate at that time...definitely cheaper than what I can sell them for!