Announcing bitgem.org, buy precious stones (Pegged to BTC!)

[Anonymous]

Today I would like to unveil a new project which will be online one month from today. BitGem.org has been a while in the making, between finding and working with investors, purchasing inventory, and deciding how the company was going to be run. I am unveiling it now because the product has been received, and I will post pictures in a couple of days of our initial offerings.

What is BitGem?
BitGem is a storefront for anyone wishing to purchase precious stones using nothing but bitcoins. This storefront will differentiate itself from many other bitcoin stores by pegging our products to Bitcoins. The rate of currency to bitcoin might fluctuate rapidly, but once a stone has been listed it's price will not change no matter where the exchange markets are. I am willing to take a loss on this, but I believe personally that the biggest issue with Bitcoin today is that with very little exceptions everything is pegged to the dollar. I and my investors have faith in the Bitcoin market, and we'll see where that

What kind of stock will BitGem have?
As it currently stands, we have a stock of Peridot, Garnets, and Sapphires available. There are talks right now of emeralds, but these haven't been purchased yet. Requests for future product absolutely will be taken into consideration, and we will expand as demand dictates.

What kind of prices are these going for?
Prices will be reasonable, with most semi-precious stones falling between 1-2 bitcoins. The price will obviously be effected by things like the kind of stone, the carat weight, desirability, etc. Obviously stones like the sapphires will be more.

What condition are these stones in?
All are in brand new condition and faceted. Should you choose to mount one of these stones, you would likely have no problems doing so.

What about business practices?
BitGem will work in two ways. The first is that we as a company will be completely above the table. Income will be reported to the proper authorities and taxed respectively. We will not suddenly vanish due to a failure to disclose.

Secondly, we care greatly about privacy. This includes both our own and yours. I understand there is recent mistrust recently due to some wallet stealing, and it is for this reason we will not be hosting anything more than a storefront online. Both for the sake of keeping track of an exchange, and as a precaution against having our data compromised, we have decided to take the unusual step of doing as much as possible in hardcopies.

One of the downsides to this obviously is that I will not have a real name or phone number listed for either myself or my investors. It is for this reason that we will start with the smaller inventory until trust is gained. We know you have no reason to trust us initially, so we would rather a good track record speak for itself. Considering a majority of this business would be small transactions, that should establish some level of security for buyers right there.

When will you open for business?
The site will go fully live very early in September. This allows us some time to work out any remaining logistics, secure some extra inventory, and --most importantly, hear feedback from the community.

As far as we know, this is the first time a commodity has been pegged to Bitcoins at a fixed exchange rate. We're incredibly excited to see this happening finally and as it stands there isn't much that can go wrong as long as the demand is there. I understand the only reputation I have at this point is from my posts on the forum, but I would ask that anyone interested please at least try our service when it goes online.

In the meantime, I would very much like to hear questions, comments and concerns you might have.

-Gilgamesh

[Anonymous]

I'll just bump this since apparently threads about Diablo III and troll threads are hogging all the posting.

[BidBitcoins]

Today I would like to unveil a new project which will be online one month from today. BitGem.org has been a while in the making, between finding and working with investors, purchasing inventory, and deciding how the company was going to be run. I am unveiling it now because the product has been received, and I will post pictures in a couple of days of our initial offerings.

What is BitGem?
BitGem is two things. The first is a storefront for anyone wishing to purchase precious stones using nothing but bitcoins. This storefront will differentiate itself from many other bitcoin stores by pegging our products to Bitcoins. The rate of currency to bitcoin might fluctuate rapidly, but once a stone has been listed it's price will not change no matter where the exchange markets are. I am willing to take a loss on this, but I believe personally that the biggest issue with Bitcoin today is that with very little exceptions everything is pegged to the dollar. I and my investors have faith in the Bitcoin market, and we'll see where that leads us.

The second feature of BitGem is as a speculative side. When you purchase a gem, you will have two choices, either I can ship it to you immediately, or you can pay a fee to have me re-list the gem as for sale at a price you define. This will combine with the fact that I won't list similar stones within a set period means that if you purchase a stone, I sell them all, and people still want them, then you will have the option to sell at a profit. Considering the rate of bitcoin to dollars could fluctuate, as could the cost of gemstones themselves, there is some interesting potential for profit here.

When you purchase a stone you will know exactly how many are remaining in my stock. At any point you may request the stone be sent out to you, and this will be done as soon as possible.

What kind of stock will BitGem have?
As it currently stands, we have a stock of Peridot, Garnets, and Sapphires available. There are talks right now of emeralds, but these haven't been purchased yet. Requests for future product absolutely will be taken into consideration, and we will expand as demand dictates.

What kind of prices are these going for?
Prices will be reasonable, with most semi-precious stones falling between 1-2 bitcoins. The price will obviously be effected by things like the kind of stone, the carat weight, desirability, etc. Obviously stones like the sapphires will be more.

What condition are these stones in?
All are in brand new condition and faceted. Should you choose to mount one of these stones, you would likely have no problems doing so.

What about business practices?
BitGem will work in two ways. The first is that we as a company will be completely above the table. Income will be reported to the proper authorities and taxed respectively. We will not suddenly vanish due to a failure to disclose.

Secondly, we care greatly about privacy. This includes both our own and yours. I understand there is recent mistrust recently due to some wallet stealing, and it is for this reason we will not be hosting anything more than a storefront online. Both for the sake of keeping track of an exchange, and as a precaution against having our data compromised, we have decided to take the unusual step of doing as much as possible in hardcopies.

One of the downsides to this obviously is that I will not have a real name or phone number listed for either myself or my investors. It is for this reason that we will start with the smaller inventory until trust is gained. We know you have no reason to trust us initially, so we would rather a good track record speak for itself. Considering a majority of this business would be small transactions, that should establish some level of security for buyers right there.

When will you open for business?
The site will go fully live very early in September. This allows us some time to work out any remaining logistics, secure some extra inventory, and --most importantly, hear feedback from the community.

As far as we know, this is the first time a commodity has been pegged to Bitcoins at a fixed exchange rate. We're incredibly excited to see this happening finally and as it stands there isn't much that can go wrong as long as the demand is there. I understand the only reputation I have at this point is from my posts on the forum, but I would ask that anyone interested please at least try our service when it goes online.

In the meantime, I would very much like to hear questions, comments and concerns you might have.

-Gilgamesh

Hey Gilgamesh, you're welcome to test things out on my new system at BidBitcoins and maybe even gain some good reputation in the meantime.

[Anonymous]

I have a rather large sapphire I was considering testing out for promotional purposes on your site, but I'm not willing to give up personal information so that's kind of a deal breaker for me. I was trying to find a good use for that thing in promotions though, so I'll need to come up with some new ideas.

[BidBitcoins]

I have a rather large sapphire I was considering testing out for promotional purposes on your site, but I'm not willing to give up personal information so that's kind of a deal breaker for me. I was trying to find a good use for that thing in promotions though, so I'll need to come up with some new ideas.

Understood.

Best of luck in your venture. 

[Anonymous]

And to yourself as well.

[Anonymous]

Final bump or feedback.

[markm]

This could fit really nicely with a roleplaying game in  which played characters could happen upon precious stones.

If a mechanism existed in the game whereby the character could arrange for a gem to be shipped to the "mythical" planet known as Earth htat could make the game quite interesting.

Of course it would also require that the game have some revenue with which to finance such "shipments"...

-MarkM-

[Anonymous]

I'm... Not sure what youre saying...

[markm]

A trusted third party holding gems that can be shipped on demand could be useful, compared to some game merely claiming that they will ship actual gems to players.

-MarkM-

[BidBitcoins]

Hey Gilgamesh, I removed the Trufina verification. You can set up shop on the site if you like.
BidBitcoins

[Anonymous]

If anonymity is preserved, I'm willing to host that Sapphire as soon as I have a chance to both get my site up and testing the gem. For anyone interested, I can now confirm that very shortly after launch we will be adding emeralds to the list.

[Anonymous]

Remember, our gems are pegged to BTC, not USD.

[gmannn]

Sorry but I dont think anyone wants to trust an anon with BTC anymore.  Reveal your ID and address, because "trusted" community sites are known to disappear with their BTC.  Until a company has a real world verifiable identity and address, nobody should trust it.

[Anonymous]

That's frankly not happening. Anonymity is too great a concern for myself and many others in the Bitcoin community. As I said in my original post, a vast majority of the transactions I'm going to be making are going to be relatively small. Nobody is going to see me scheming to run away with one or two BTC, since were I to instantly convert it to cash that would even cover the web hosting. In the forseeable future nothing in my inventory is going to be worth so much that people would be playing with fire trusting me, and I plan on mainly focusing on the smaller items in my inventory.

I also plan on doing what I can to build trust within the community. One of the greatest advantages of Bitcoin is anonymity, and I truly believe in that. I would understand a negative attitude in response to that if I had set up a storefront selling gold or high-carat stones, something which would require a massive payment to be processed, but frankly I don't see the need for true transparency when only small transfers are involved.

[alan2here]

Stock Bistmuth crystals.

[Tasty Champa]

Stock Bistmuth crystals.

whoa.

[Anonymous]

Stock Bistmuth crystals.

I assume you mean the attractive lab grown ones? If so I'd be open to considering this, assuming I can find a reliable wholesaler. As it is the contacts I have are better suited to faceted stones instead of mineral samples.

Speaking of which, I thought I might show you what has just come in, as well as give you some price points.

Garnets


These are a nice size and colour, 6x4 pear cuts.

Peridot


These peridot are 5mm each, a good size for mounting or storing as an investment.

Spessartite


I only have a small number of these beauties for sale, Spessartite is a form of garnet known for it's especially attractive orange colour. It's more rare than regular garnet and usually fetches higher prices. These stones are going to be the top end of the semi-precious scale for now.

Pricing still isn't decided on 100%, but these are the initial semi-precious offerings.

Incidentally, because I understand the trust issues within the community at the given time, I will postpone the investment side of things and just act as a gem vendor for now.

[Nibbler]

So you're setting the prices on gems to a specific number of bitcoins? That's pretty cool, assuming they're not overpriced. In theory, if every bitcoin merchant were to do that, it effectively keeps the value of bitcoins from going below a certain level. (Of course, if the gems and other goods are overpriced, it creates a ceiling for the price instead, devaluing bitcoins somewhat. So please don't do that.)

Anyway, I don't know a lot about gems, but this is at least interesting, if it's legitimate. I don't suppose you're planning to go into precious metals as well? Or just gems? Either way, kind of a neat service.

[Anonymous]

No interest in metals, theyre too expensive to invest in and the market is already saturated.

I think my prices will look like this:

Garnet 1btc
Peridot 1.5btc
Spessarite 3btc

The more precious stones I'll have in stock soon will drag the scale up from where it is, the sapphires will obviously be a bit more, as will the emeralds.

I am working on finding a reasonable fixed shipping rate.