[2013-12-09] eBay Loophole Allows Sale of Bitcoin

[LiteCoinGuy]

eBay Loophole Allows Sale of Bitcoin

Customer service employees from California-based online marketplace eBay have confirmed that virtual currencies like bitcoin and litecoin can be sold on the platform, provided they are housed in physical items (like USB sticks or hard drives).

...

The eBay representative went on to provide Hughes with tips on how he should post the item, suggesting the title “USB Stick with Free Litecoin Wallet,” as it would be optimized for search.

http://www.coindesk.com/ebay-loophole-virtual-currency-transactions/


good news! ebay allowes officialy the selling of crypto!

but i would not sell Litecoins or Bitcoins with paypal, even when they are on USB! be careful!  (and paypal sucks!)

[1714768476]

1714768476

[VforVictory]

This sounds scam worthy, though, just like that guy who bought a picture of an Xbox. <_<

[beetcoin]

yeah it sounds scammy. the seller would have access to the private key, even after the item is shipped. and why would anyone want to sell on ebay? you would get 85%-88% (after shipping and ebay/paypal taxes) of their value. im sure there would be a few people who are willing to do it, but i don't get what the point is.

[dontek]

This sounds scam worthy, though, just like that guy who bought a picture of an Xbox. <_<

Exactly. Wind up getting empty USB drives.

[bitcoin2k]

would never buy bitcoins from ebay ! Can`t trust them all !

[Pentax]

I've looked at those ads.  Generally they are selling fractions of bitcoin and jacking the price up ridiculously.  Whether or not anyone is buying I don't know, although if I were selling on ebay and getting 2-3X market value on my bitcoin I wouldn't scam people, as I'd want to keep right on doing that and building feedback by not screwing people would be the way to go.  of course there will be scammers, but there will be those looking to simply turn a buck.....

[grue]

horrible way of doing transactions. the buyer can scam by tracking the package and spend the funds once it arrives. the buyer can also scam by spending the funds, then claiming the buyer spent the funds.

[Mowcore]

there are other payment options! postal order that shit! lol

[patricktim]

I dont buy Bitcoins from eBay.

[empoweoqwj]

I've looked at those ads.  Generally they are selling fractions of bitcoin and jacking the price up ridiculously.  Whether or not anyone is buying I don't know, although if I were selling on ebay and getting 2-3X market value on my bitcoin I wouldn't scam people, as I'd want to keep right on doing that and building feedback by not screwing people would be the way to go.  of course there will be scammers, but there will be those looking to simply turn a buck.....

eBay is well known for having people that will buy just about anything, and at stupid prices. I don't know if you would call it scamming or just "natural selection" 

[ajax3592]

Lol who buys Bitcoins from ebay?  There are so many artists stiiting there with their baits.

Once a friend of mine order a power supply unit from ebay and all he got was a metal case filled with sand!  

[exstasie]

I understand the appeal to this, but would anyone in there right mind trust anyone buying stored Bitcoins over eBay??
I'm guessing there would be no way to get your money back or anything if you got screwed over.

[RodeoX]

Never buy a USB stick with a wallet on it. There is no way to confirm that the wallet file you bought has not been copied. It is a very, very bad idea.

[empoweoqwj]

Lol who buys Bitcoins from ebay?  There are so many artists stiiting there with their baits.

Once a friend of mine order a power supply unit from ebay and all he got was a metal case filled with sand!  

lol. That sums eBay up. Did he send the sand back?

[oakpacific]

Lol who buys Bitcoins from ebay?  There are so many artists stiiting there with their baits.

Once a friend of mine order a power supply unit from ebay and all he got was a metal case filled with sand!  

lol. That sums eBay up. Did he send the sand back?

That actually sums up the chargeback system so many people bashing Bitcoin for not having, it's a unfair system protects neither the buyer nor the seller.

[EnderHf]

Couldn't a seller just send a empty USB and win the transaction and then the buyer would lose their money. Or keep and copy of the wallet and once the seller confirms he got it and its as described the seller can get the bitcoins he sold.(This might happen to some retards)

[TheButterZone]

horrible way of doing transactions. the seller can scam by tracking the package and spend the funds once it arrives. the seller can also scam by spending the funds, then claiming the buyer spent the funds.

ftfy

[empoweoqwj]

Couldn't a seller just send a empty USB and win the transaction and then the buyer would lose their money. Or keep and copy of the wallet and once the seller confirms he got it and its as described the seller can get the bitcoins he sold.(This might happen to some retards)

Yep, or half a dozen other things. Stick a trojan on the USB stick claiming its "wallet software", there's enough scams in bitcoinland already without people selling bitcoin or bitcoin scams to eBay idiots.

[oakpacific]

It can be done, you just need to be a bit tech-savvy, e.g., see the part (1) of this: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=66862.0; . The seller should be asked to put his part of the private key on the outside of his package, in the form of, say, a QR code, and have it delivered to the buyer, the buyer will scan the QR code and verify that it indeed multiplies with his own key to create the correct private key, then he will sign the package, otherwise he will refuse it.

What is needed, though, is a phone app that can do all this automatically so that the postman won't have to wait for too long.

[ajax3592]

Lol who buys Bitcoins from ebay?  There are so many artists stiiting there with their baits.

Once a friend of mine order a power supply unit from ebay and all he got was a metal case filled with sand!  

lol. That sums eBay up. Did he send the sand back?

That was a case of a fraudlent dealer. My friend did not know that products should only be bought from >98% positive feedback dealers.

[altoz]

The strange thing is that while eBay allows the sale of physical bitcoin items (like usb sticks and casascius coins), paypal does not. They specifically state that you are not allowed to sell items with bitcoin value in it.

Yes, they're the same company, but that's what I've been told.