Bitmit - Bitcoin shopping mall - Bitcoin market place - Bitcoin auction house

[frozen]

I have a concern regarding bitmit's escrow service. I haven't used bitmit yet, but I am contemplating doing so to sell a few gold coins.

My concern is that the buyer could simply report that although a package was received, the coin was not contained within the package. How could I protect myself against this scenario? One idea I have is to video record placing the coin in the box, sealing it, and walking it into the post office, etc. Would that be overkill?

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[Anon136]

I have a concern regarding bitmit's escrow service. I haven't used bitmit yet, but I am contemplating doing so to sell a few gold coins.

My concern is that the buyer could simply report that although a package was received, the coin was not contained within the package. How could I protect myself against this scenario? One idea I have is to video record placing the coin in the box, sealing it, and walking it into the post office, etc. Would that be overkill?

I also have a similar question. I have a pretty strong rating on bitmit, almost 30 completed auctions with 100% positive feedback. If someone did try to pull this same stunt on me and all i had was a tracking number and a receipt from the post office showing that i shipped a package of the correct weight to the buyers address, would you rule in my favor if it went to arbitration?

[frozen]

It's really to the buyer's advantage to do something like this.

If the buyer wins arbitration, they get both the coins and the item. If they lose, they have the item and the coins go the seller.

If the seller loses arbitration, they lose the coins, the item(s) and possibly some reputation.

So it would be great to know how sellers can protect themselves from this scenario. Arbitration guidelines could be posted. A list of accepted evidences from both parties.

A buyer could conceivably record himself picking the package up at the post office and opening it on camera, showing the contents.

[Global BTC]

I can't send messages to my customers. The site says "please log in" even though I'm already logged in.

Does it still occur?

Yes. It happens when I'm sending a message from an order page. If I reply directly to a message from my inbox, I can send the reply.

There's also still some problem with product images. The last uploaded product image is used as a thumbnail, even if I select another image with the radio buttons.

[Global BTC]

Another thing: You need to add more decimals to your BTC shipping prices. With bitcoin at $250, 2 decimals isn't cutting it. I'm charging $2 for registered shipping, which is converted to 0.01 BTC. A good deal for me right now, not so good for my customers.

I think you should count all prices with 4 or 5 decimals on the BTC side. Why not make it 8 right now?

[tosaki]

It's really to the buyer's advantage to do something like this.

If the buyer wins arbitration, they get both the coins and the item. If they lose, they have the item and the coins go the seller.

If the seller loses arbitration, they lose the coins, the item(s) and possibly some reputation.

So it would be great to know how sellers can protect themselves from this scenario. Arbitration guidelines could be posted. A list of accepted evidences from both parties.

A buyer could conceivably record himself picking the package up at the post office and opening it on camera, showing the contents.

THe point is that we only refund the buyer if he have strong evidences that the seller has not shipped / he does not reply anymore / is a scammer. A fraudulent buyer would have no success when he claims that he has not received anything and the seller denies. Fortunately almost all of the dispute cases can be solved very quickly because it is easy for us to find the one who is justified. We also take the feedback of users into account and several other things so there is not always a clear rule.

Another thing: You need to add more decimals to your BTC shipping prices. With bitcoin at $250, 2 decimals isn't cutting it. I'm charging $2 for registered shipping, which is converted to 0.01 BTC. A good deal for me right now, not so good for my customers.

I think you should count all prices with 4 or 5 decimals on the BTC side. Why not make it 8 right now?

Yes you are right, I will improve this shortly and will also eliminate the nasty picture bugs forever i hope.



Update:
Because of the massiv btc crash we are using the last mtgox price to determine the exchange rate in the next 24 h (maybe longer) right now

[Anon136]

It's really to the buyer's advantage to do something like this.

If the buyer wins arbitration, they get both the coins and the item. If they lose, they have the item and the coins go the seller.

If the seller loses arbitration, they lose the coins, the item(s) and possibly some reputation.

So it would be great to know how sellers can protect themselves from this scenario. Arbitration guidelines could be posted. A list of accepted evidences from both parties.

A buyer could conceivably record himself picking the package up at the post office and opening it on camera, showing the contents.

THe point is that we only refund the buyer if he have strong evidences that the seller has not shipped / he does not reply anymore / is a scammer. A fraudulent buyer would have no success when he claims that he has not received anything and the seller denies. Fortunately almost all of the dispute cases can be solved very quickly because it is easy for us to find the one who is justified. We also take the feedback of users into account and several other things so there is not always a clear rule.

Another thing: You need to add more decimals to your BTC shipping prices. With bitcoin at $250, 2 decimals isn't cutting it. I'm charging $2 for registered shipping, which is converted to 0.01 BTC. A good deal for me right now, not so good for my customers.

I think you should count all prices with 4 or 5 decimals on the BTC side. Why not make it 8 right now?

Yes you are right, I will improve this shortly and will also eliminate the nasty picture bugs forever i hope.



Update:
Because of the massiv btc crash we are using the last mtgox price to determine the exchange rate in the next 24 h (maybe longer) right now

thanks tosaki! this put my mind at ease

[Global BTC]

Update:
Because of the massiv btc crash we are using the last mtgox price to determine the exchange rate in the next 24 h (maybe longer) right now

You should switch to some other exchange, perhaps Bitcoin-24's EUR rate. Trading is suspended on Mt.Gox, and their last price is way higher than the other exchanges.

[Tekkna]

BitMit is up and running well  

Tosaki, I am slightly confused, right now there is an order for me(2 actually:)), and the order name is blank and amount is 0BTC. There is an order ID, I am slightly confused, is this normal behaviour?

Also, the USD/BTC counter et the top seems broken.

EDIT: This is my account: https://www.bitmit.net/en/item/24422-amazon-5-gift-card

[tosaki]

BitMit is up and running well  

Tosaki, I am slightly confused, right now there is an order for me(2 actually:)), and the order name is blank and amount is 0BTC. There is an order ID, I am slightly confused, is this normal behaviour?

Also, the USD/BTC counter et the top seems broken.

EDIT: This is my account: https://www.bitmit.net/en/item/24422-amazon-5-gift-card

Must be a rare bug, I will investigate and push you once I have news for you.

Update:
Because of the massiv btc crash we are using the last mtgox price to determine the exchange rate in the next 24 h (maybe longer) right now

You should switch to some other exchange, perhaps Bitcoin-24's EUR rate. Trading is suspended on Mt.Gox, and their last price is way higher than the other exchanges.

Until mtgox is back we are using bitcoin24 usd/eur rate from now.

Even the last day was a pain we have some positive newsfor you. Today bitmit reached a new peak of 30k unique visitors!

[Tekkna]

I just lost ~50% of value on the Gift Codes dues to price changes, Mt.Gox officially sucks.

[tosaki]

Due to the recent exchange fluctuations we want to improve our exchange rate system.

What exchange rate would you prefer on Bitmit?

a) Last Mtgox rate
b) 24h average of all exchanges
c) Own calc:
- If last mtgox is lower than the current bm rate, take last mtgox
- If last mtgox is higher than the current bm, take the mean value of last bm rate & last mtgox

We would love to hear your thoughts.

[zakoliverz]

Lets hope bitmit is a HIT. Otherwise someone will create another bitmit based site, and enjoy the epic potential.

[Nicolai Larsen]

D: Bitcoin-24 rates

[giszmo]

I want to be able to auto hide my items when mtgox went offline or value dropped by more than 10%/24h.

[Global BTC]

Due to the recent exchange fluctuations we want to improve our exchange rate system.

What exchange rate would you prefer on Bitmit?

a) Last Mtgox rate
b) 24h average of all exchanges
c) Own calc:
- If last mtgox is lower than the current bm rate, take last mtgox
- If last mtgox is higher than the current bm, take the mean value of last bm rate & last mtgox

We would love to hear your thoughts.

How about using the median value of the 24h average of 4-5 exchanges? Preferably from exchanges in different currencies (Mt.Gox for USD, Bitcoin-24 for EUR, some other exchange for some other currency (CNY, GBP etc)). This protects you from a single large exchange stopping trades. Also, even if you are using the 24h average, this should be updated every minute or so.

However, it can't protect you from the insane price swings we've had the last couple of days. I don't think there is a way to protect yourself from that, other than disabling orders. The price instability is pretty much something you will have to deal with if you want to accept bitcoins.

[Global BTC]

A user has managed to make orders from me, although I have put my account in out-of-office mode. Is that supposed to work? If so, I'd very much appreciate a feature to disable all sales.

[tosaki]

A user has managed to make orders from me, although I have put my account in out-of-office mode. Is that supposed to work? If so, I'd very much appreciate a feature to disable all sales.

So far this was possible but we disallow it from now on.

How about using the median value of the 24h average of 4-5 exchanges? Preferably from exchanges in different currencies (Mt.Gox for USD, Bitcoin-24 for EUR, some other exchange for some other currency (CNY, GBP etc)). This protects you from a single large exchange stopping trades. Also, even if you are using the 24h average, this should be updated every minute or so.

However, it can't protect you from the insane price swings we've had the last couple of days. I don't think there is a way to protect yourself from that, other than disabling orders. The price instability is pretty much something you will have to deal with if you want to accept bitcoins.

Hm, yes there is no real solution except you sell the received BTCs instantly. A hedged escrow service could be a solution...

So far we always used the last 24h avg rate of bitcoincharts.com. For the next days we will keep using latest mtgox rate.

Update:
- Set youth protection on item sell form
- Item picture uploader bug fixes
- Messaging system bug fixes
- Auto SSL redirect when user is logged in but navigates to non ssl bitmit url
- All emails should receive again (new server is not blacklisted on antispam lists anymore)
- Much better French translation
- Minor bug fixes

[leckey]

When adding listings for services, please remove the shipping options as being mandatory. Very annoying.

[Tekkna]

Tosaki, can you make an API? I am selling electronic goods, and it would be nice to instantly send items to customers once the money enters escrow/my account. Maybe make a page that I can read from every minute/10 minutes, JSON would be nice.