WTF is this Ballet wallet on ebay?

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Someone please tell me I'm not losing my mind or something.  I was just idly browsing the crypto collectible crap on feebay and came across what looks to be a standard Ballet BTC wallet--only the seller put in the description that it's a "first day of issue" limited edition:



The seller's description is one of those fucking horrible AI-generated ones that all end up sounding the same whilst giving absolutely no information about the specific item you're looking at (like if a cat pissed on it or it's been through a house fire).



So I'm just askin' here whether this is bullshit or not.  When I get my answer, I'll lock this thread up like it was Bill Cosby.

[Cookdata]

That's a cold storage with a pre-generated private key, there is a corresponding wallet address to put Bitcoin. This way, you are putting trust to whoever created/sold the wallet that the private key is not exposed and don't have it hidden somewhere. You can't say for sure if this private key has been scanned and kept somewhere.

By the way, why is the seller giving this for $77 when the official website is selling for $147 $99 discount. Seems like instead of trusting the company, you have to trust two people if you buy the one from Ebay.

https://www.ballet.com/

[Charles-Tim]

Are there scam on eBay than price hikes which is common on online stores?

When I searched for Ballet wallet on eBay, that was the link I first saw, $75 is too expensive for the steel version of it. I can see some people selling it $50 to $55 on eBay. But it is sold at $41.65 on the official site

I do not like the idea of collectibles like this because their private keys or seed phrases are generated by the company that created the wallet. That is against how bitcoin keys and addresses supposed to be generated which supposed to be trustless.

[PX-Z]

It's basically a physical wallet, public and private (hidden behind a sticker) address is printed. But just like any physical wallet or collectibles, you need to trust the manufacturer since the private keys probably held or have a back up list of the manufacturer, and just like that, cold key like incident is higher chance to happen.

[promise444c5]

The seller is out of his mind, look at the last part where it’s written:
 “This wallet does not require mining hardware”.. No wallet requires a mining hardware before, wonder why it was included..

By the way, why is the seller giving this for $77 when the official website is selling for $147 $99 discount. Seems like instead of trusting the company, you have to trust two people if you buy the one from Ebay.

https://www.ballet.com/

$147 is for the three-pack bundle… A single item costs much less, around $49 per Coldcard, which is stainless steel (as shown in the image by OP). Even with the discount, it goes for about $42.



The 24k-Gold platter cost around $299 and with discount $254.15..

[bitmover]

I wonder why someone would buy an unknown hardware wallet with suspicious security mechanism.

There are so good and well established hardware wallets out there. Such as Trezor and coldcard.

I wouldn't recommend anyone to try new models with their money.

[Cookdata]

By the way, why is the seller giving this for $77 when the official website is selling for $147 $99 discount. Seems like instead of trusting the company, you have to trust two people if you buy the one from Ebay.

https://www.ballet.com/

$147 is for the three-pack bundle… A single item costs much less, around $49 per Coldcard, which is stainless steel (as shown in the image by OP). Even with the discount, it goes for about $42.

I just saw that. Apparently, they produce cold storage for other coins and each cost is different, the BTC First Day of Issue logo cost more than other logos. Spending dollars on aesthetic over security, lmao

The 24k-Gold platter cost around $299 and with discount $254.15..

I don't like this to be honest. The Bitcoin first logo cost $399 for 24k-Gold plated, sounded like a VIP thing that isn't worth it.

[satscraper]

~

Just one option. Someone who has no idea about BTC received this as Merry Christmas present and ^{not knowing what to do with it} decided to convert it into tangible cash ^{to at least buy themselves a beer}.

Is this bullshit or not can only be verified after opening the wrapping holder, importing private key into some wallet and checking the associated BTC address.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

GUYS:

I know what a Ballet wallet is, and I've owned a few so I guess I must have gotten the wrong message across with the question I was seeking the answer to, which is what the "first day of issue" thing is all about?  Never have I ever seen that with a Ballet wallet before.

And man are there a lot of idiotic card wallets very similar to the Ballet on ebay and Amazon as well.  This one looks pretty, but just like with Ballet if you don't know that the manufacturer doesn't have a master list of all the private keys...you might be fucked.



And oh boy, look at this piece of kak:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FX58673P




And I've seen many more.  It makes me wonder if there are actually people buying these, using them, and getting their coins stolen.  I've not heard of a case of it yet, but perhaps it's just a matter of time.

[Lucius]

~snip~
And I've seen many more.  It makes me wonder if there are actually people buying these, using them, and getting their coins stolen.  I've not heard of a case of it yet, but perhaps it's just a matter of time.

We can assume that someone is buying such wallets because they say that every good has its buyer, but the only truth we could find out was if we asked those who sell them (if they would answer us honestly). Another thing is that such wallets are certainly not bought by those who understand the risks to which they will be exposed by using them, and because of this I would conclude that even if a scam happens, those customers will not say anything because they are ashamed to admit what happened.

I would never buy something like that, and I personally believe that anything other than true air-gapped devices is not secure storage.

[ABCbits]

This one looks pretty, but just like with Ballet if you don't know that the manufacturer doesn't have a master list of all the private keys...you might be fucked.
--snip--

I found company for the "Burner Bitcoin Cards" on burner dot pro, but the first one doesn't even mention the brand.

--snip--
It makes me wonder if there are actually people buying these, using them, and getting their coins stolen.  I've not heard of a case of it yet, but perhaps it's just a matter of time.

You made few similar thread in past,
One of the worst examples of a "HW wallet" on ebay I've ever seen
Odd eBay find, not sure what to think
Another crap Amazon wallet find: Material Bitcoin

So the fact people keep selling those means they sell enough to make profit that worth their time. It also means both marketplace very unlikely to remove such shady listing either.

[stompix]

GUYS:

I know what a Ballet wallet is, and I've owned a few so I guess I must have gotten the wrong message across with the question I was seeking the answer to, which is what the "first day of issue" thing is all about?  Never have I ever seen that with a Ballet wallet before.

You should have asked in collectibles about this!

It's a special edition that was created at the start of the business, 1100 gold ones and 3100 normal ones
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/balletcrypto/ballet-cryptocurrency-hardware-wallet

So that's what it is, just like the title says, a limited edition wallet with 1361 whatever probably being the wallet number

[u20bf]

Someone please tell me I'm not losing my mind or something.  I was just idly browsing the crypto collectible crap on feebay and came across what looks to be a standard Ballet BTC wallet--only the seller put in the description that it's a "first day of issue" limited edition:
The seller's description is one of those fucking horrible AI-generated ones that all end up sounding the same whilst giving absolutely no information about the specific item you're looking at (like if a cat pissed on it or it's been through a house fire).
So I'm just askin' here whether this is bullshit or not.  When I get my answer, I'll lock this thread up like it was Bill Cosby.

I know ballot from the past. The ebay seller i'm unsure.

Ballet was the spin off to the hard asset BTCC who manufactured the first Redeemable Bitcoin in a Gold, Silver, Bronze US Mint Certified collectable coin. I own silver dollars stamped with ETH AND BITCOIN that are commemorative and not a redeemable crypto like BTCC were.

BTCC now just deals in Digital Cash wallets. Setting the standard for crypto wallets.

If a digital crypto wallet doesn't have a "cash" address in digital wallet it's not a real digital cash system.

I would pull out my crypto if the digital wallet does not have a cash address.

The facts are that it's NOT in anyone's KEYS in the cash address, and it's not in a crypto. so even if a CEX or what how we they have to return it do to regulations or some group behaviors that undermine accessibility laws you are insured by the government fiat acts for insuring fiat and is safe during radicalization ownership. cash is not tracked on any blockchain.

The reality of Hard assets like the mineral bronze coins was to realize the crypto as a world exchangeable asset by pairing Fiat back Minerals US minted and Digital cash systems of publicly tracking on a Blockchain called Bitcoin.

The hard assets in The "COLD" storage is real space and in reality it's Cold.

Ballet took over after BTCC stopped making the coins and therefore sold the Digital Cash COLD wallets instead. You may find that some Ballet Cold wallets are in fact US MINTED GOLD SILVER AND BRONZE traceable and tradeable on the blockchain.

YOu can buy Poker chips at auctions now.

they don't make real US minted Redeemable crypto coins anymore. You may stamp Gold bars with a redeemable Bitcoin address.

They are in fact two currencies. The US MINTED HARD ASSET GOLD and the BITCOIN. two pieces of money. redeeming the Bitcoin has no affect on the GOLD it's on and you can still transfer the gold on the blockchain forever.

I'm tracking multi auctions daily.

All are over bid. and many of the auctions are of non redeemable Bronze Bitcoins.

Every bitcoin poker chip with a redeemable address in bitcoin is of a certain block. Going back all the way to the Genesis block. worth millions to some collectors.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

You should have asked in collectibles about this!

With some of these wallets I see on Amazon or ebay (and I browse both sites for crappy wallets and oddities that I think will go down in bitcoin history, some way, some how) I'm not sure which section I should start threads in.  My experience is that I get replies from members in this section faster and more frequently than the Collectibles section, so maybe that's why I've always chosen this excellent corner of bitcointalk.

I know ballot from the past. The ebay seller i'm unsure.
<snip>

All right, I'm going to say straight up that my brain is fatigued, caffeine-deprived, and my attention span as well as critical reading skills are a bit impaired.  Can someone please tell me if the above post is chock full of interesting facts or is looney tunes crazy.  I'm asking because said fatigued brain is telling me it's the latter but I'd rather not insult a genius or lunatic.  There are downsides to both, don't you know.

[DireWolfM14]

I wonder why someone would buy an unknown hardware wallet with suspicious security mechanism.

It's not a hardware wallet, it a cold storage card with a private key hidden behind a security scratch-off or hologram.  And they're not unknown, Ballet has been around for a quite a while and Bobby Lee, the guy running the company is a well known public figure who's been trustworthy thus far.

Still, why trust someone with your stack of coins when bitcoin makes it so easy to avoid trusting anyone other than yourself?

what the "first day of issue" thing is all about?  Never have I ever seen that with a Ballet wallet before.

Probably just a marketing ploy by the seller to drum up hype.  I'm not familiar enough with Ballet to know if this was "a thing" when the wallets were released.  Maybe there's desirability for low low serial number.  The only Ballet wallet I have is one that I won from Kgrothmanhattan's free raffles, he's probably the best person to ask.  It makes me think this thread may have been better suited in the Collectables Board.

Also worth noting; buying any wallets from EBay is probably a bad idea.  The more links in the supply chain the more opportunities for some bad actor to compromise security.  If you're looking to buy these types of wallets, I suggest buying directly from the source, or a trusted reseller here on the forum.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Also worth noting; buying any wallets from EBay is probably a bad idea.  The more links in the supply chain the more opportunities for some bad actor to compromise security.  If you're looking to buy these types of wallets, I suggest buying directly from the source, or a trusted reseller here on the forum.

Now DireWolfM14, I just have to say that I've learned not to use any sort of HW wallet or storage card (like the Ballet) that was purchased from Amazon or a similar retailer, and certainly not ebay.  My interest in these is purely for my own, perhaps incomprehensible, view of them as future pieces of bitcoin history.  Even the really obviously scammy ones, although I definitely do my best not to support the creators of such turds.

One day I might have a collage of Ballet-type wallets hanging on my wall.  The future hasn't been written yet.

[DireWolfM14]

Now DireWolfM14, I just have to say that I've learned not to use any sort of HW wallet or storage card (like the Ballet) that was purchased from Amazon or a similar retailer, and certainly not ebay.

If the manufacturer has their own Amazon store, then there's really little risk of ordering from them that way.  There was a time (i don't know if this is still the case) when Trezor had their own Amazon store, so an order placed specifically with them through Amazon was almost as secure as buying from Trezor themselves.  I say "almost," because the units were housed in an Amazon warehouse waiting to be ordered, and didn't come directly from Trezor to the purchaser.  Regardless, since Amazon was also the shipping company, then there's no other middle man such as USPS to add another link in the supply chain.

Ebay is definitely high risk, and is worth avoiding for anything bitcoin that's intended for use.

My interest in these is purely for my own, perhaps incomprehensible, view of them as future pieces of bitcoin history.  Even the really obviously scammy ones, although I definitely do my best not to support the creators of such turds.

One day I might have a collage of Ballet-type wallets hanging on my wall.  The future hasn't been written yet.

Even if you don't intend to use them, then purely for authenticity reasons it may be worth avoiding ebay.  You never know if the objects are forgeries or not.

[bitmover]

Still, why trust someone with your stack of coins when bitcoin makes it so easy to avoid trusting anyone other than yourself?

I wouldn't call using a good hardware wallet such as trezor trust.

They are open source , and they have proved over time that they are safe.

You can have the same security level of coinbase  with just a few bucks, at home, for your personal stash.

[Mitchell]

I am sure MoparMiningLLC could answer your questions, since he is big on Ballet wallets.

[MoparMiningLLC]

I have not read all of the above but I will say that there are "First Day of Issue" wallets.

I have both a stainless steel one and a Gold plated stainless steel one.

It is on the card directly under the BTC

and that card in the OP - you can see under the BTC that there is nothing visible

here is an image.




Ballet is ran by Bobby Lee - the original owner of BTCC - the only exchange to close and pay out 100% of account holders 100% of their funds. BTCC is now still open but with a different owner.  He is also brother of Charlie Lee (creator of Litecoin).

They have been around for quite a few years.