OpenBazaar - decentralized eBay

[czechkid]

If its free how will they pay for their servers and any other cost

[Amph]

If its free how will they pay for their servers and any other cost

i think it was said, that some future structure can build on top of it, they want to start it for free to gain more popularity but they can aways change that if this exchange will really take off

in that case i'm willing to pay a small fee in the size of the standard bitcoin fee to help escrower or arbiters, for example

[Dr. Pepper]

If its free how will they pay for their servers and any other cost

How do torrents work? Everyone hosts and runs the software themselves so no need for a central authority. Maybe they could implement adds or something but doubt it since it's meant to be decentralized. They could also just accept donations to further development but it's already got a million dollars in funding I think.

[HCLivess]

why go shop on the nxt decentralized market when you can wait for openbazaar 

[knowhow]

my only question is if reliable, but not reputation has value but always has someone with intentions but looking for an opportunity to harm the neighbor and unlike the cards commonly used in bitcoins transactions do not have to take it back, not sent There are options of dispute .... or whatever openzbazar will have to have a specialized team to manage the payments and that bitcoins should stay with them and only after sending and receiving the bitcoins are released , I know not how it will be done but still have enough time to run .

[knight22]

my only question is if reliable, but not reputation has value but always has someone with intentions but looking for an opportunity to harm the neighbor and unlike the cards commonly used in bitcoins transactions do not have to take it back, not sent There are options of dispute .... or whatever openzbazar will have to have a specialized team to manage the payments and that bitcoins should stay with them and only after sending and receiving the bitcoins are released , I know not how it will be done but still have enough time to run .

There will be a decentralised escrow system combined with a reputation system for escrow agents.

[Acidyo]

I have no problem paying a small fee to use this service!

[knowhow]

well the shedule already looks promising hope this project starts soon even paying a fee to use im pretty sure it will be much less then any other place .

[bitcoinmar]

well the shedule already looks promising hope this project starts soon even paying a fee to use im pretty sure it will be much less then any other place .

They doing great job after some time if they impose some fees then still many peoples happy to use this because they will feel better security and good service from them

[paulthetafy]

I am HUGELY in favor of OpenBazaar .. but I'm not entirely sure how it will attract mainstream users to compete with eBay and Amazon. Mainstream users still use paypal and CC.  OpenBazaar will no doubt give darknet markets pause for concern, but I don't see mainstream users flocking to it, unfortunately. I hope I am WRONG

Bitmit was a bitcoin based ebay and it had a lot of users. There is definitely a need. Others pop up here and there but without everyone rallying around one service it does not have the seller and customer base needed to take off.

Yeah I liked using Bitmit back in the day, never did find out why they decided to shut down.

Cryptothrift isn't a bad alternative, I've used them a lot recently but you're right they haven't got nowhere near as many buyers/sellers and as far as I can see.

I'd love to know how many users bitmit had...  CryptoThrift has over 40,000 at the moment and is growing all the time. 

[ObscureBean]

The idea of OpenBazaar sounds great but I have some doubts as to whether it will work smoothly enough to attract lots of people. I don't have all the facts but from what I understand, it's not actually possible to trade directly with another person, you need to have an arbiter which is understandable. So what does the arbiter get in return for his service and time (other than good rep)? I couldn't find anything on the website. They say scammers will get bad reputation and rating but if this is an anonymous platform how difficult will it be to create new accounts? Ratings will only mean something if it impossible for someone to create as many accounts as they want. Also, what would stop 2 friends from teaming up to game the system? Say if someone were to build impeccable rep of a long period of time and wait for a massive transaction from his partner to scam and run?
I've been scammed on eBay before but all it took was a few clicks and I got a refund. I have no problems trusting eBay as arbiter but trusting an anonymous third party doesn't sound very reassuring.
Again, I don't know this project very well, I suppose they might have security measures in place that I haven't read about.

[1K]

I have no problem paying a small fee to use this service!

Why would you pay when it's going to be free? No fees is what makes this great as anywhere that charges a fee will just likely rip you off like ebay and paypal does.

[Amph]

I have no problem paying a small fee to use this service!

Why would you pay when it's going to be free? No fees is what makes this great as anywhere that charges a fee will just likely rip you off like ebay and paypal does.

it depend on the amount, if everything they will ask will be around the same fee that you pay for a transaction, say the usual 10k satoshi, i don't see any problem in paying that fee if it can help arbiters or escrowers or an automatized bot for securing both buyers and sellers

[knight22]

The idea of OpenBazaar sounds great but I have some doubts as to whether it will work smoothly enough to attract lots of people. I don't have all the facts but from what I understand, it's not actually possible to trade directly with another person, you need to have an arbiter which is understandable. So what does the arbiter get in return for his service and time (other than good rep)? I couldn't find anything on the website. They say scammers will get bad reputation and rating but if this is an anonymous platform how difficult will it be to create new accounts? Ratings will only mean something if it impossible for someone to create as many accounts as they want. Also, what would stop 2 friends from teaming up to game the system? Say if someone were to build impeccable rep of a long period of time and wait for a massive transaction from his partner to scam and run?
I've been scammed on eBay before but all it took was a few clicks and I got a refund. I have no problems trusting eBay as arbiter but trusting an anonymous third party doesn't sound very reassuring.
Again, I don't know this project very well, I suppose they might have security measures in place that I haven't read about.

Third party escrows won't necessarily be anonymous on OpenBazaar. As per example OB1 which received the funding to finish the platform and create the first business on top of it will offer escrow services and they won't be anonymous. People will be free to choose their own escrow agent. Ebay doesn't give you the choice. 

[M83]

The idea of OpenBazaar sounds great but I have some doubts as to whether it will work smoothly enough to attract lots of people. I don't have all the facts but from what I understand, it's not actually possible to trade directly with another person, you need to have an arbiter which is understandable. So what does the arbiter get in return for his service and time (other than good rep)? I couldn't find anything on the website. They say scammers will get bad reputation and rating but if this is an anonymous platform how difficult will it be to create new accounts? Ratings will only mean something if it impossible for someone to create as many accounts as they want. Also, what would stop 2 friends from teaming up to game the system? Say if someone were to build impeccable rep of a long period of time and wait for a massive transaction from his partner to scam and run?
I've been scammed on eBay before but all it took was a few clicks and I got a refund. I have no problems trusting eBay as arbiter but trusting an anonymous third party doesn't sound very reassuring.
Again, I don't know this project very well, I suppose they might have security measures in place that I haven't read about.

Third party escrows won't necessarily be anonymous on OpenBazaar. As per example OB1 which received the funding to finish the platform and create the first business on top of it will offer escrow services and they won't be anonymous. People will be free to choose their own escrow agent. Ebay doesn't give you the choice. 

Choosing an escrow could lead to people setting up scams. It would be better to be assigned one so no manipulation imo

[knight22]

The idea of OpenBazaar sounds great but I have some doubts as to whether it will work smoothly enough to attract lots of people. I don't have all the facts but from what I understand, it's not actually possible to trade directly with another person, you need to have an arbiter which is understandable. So what does the arbiter get in return for his service and time (other than good rep)? I couldn't find anything on the website. They say scammers will get bad reputation and rating but if this is an anonymous platform how difficult will it be to create new accounts? Ratings will only mean something if it impossible for someone to create as many accounts as they want. Also, what would stop 2 friends from teaming up to game the system? Say if someone were to build impeccable rep of a long period of time and wait for a massive transaction from his partner to scam and run?
I've been scammed on eBay before but all it took was a few clicks and I got a refund. I have no problems trusting eBay as arbiter but trusting an anonymous third party doesn't sound very reassuring.
Again, I don't know this project very well, I suppose they might have security measures in place that I haven't read about.

Third party escrows won't necessarily be anonymous on OpenBazaar. As per example OB1 which received the funding to finish the platform and create the first business on top of it will offer escrow services and they won't be anonymous. People will be free to choose their own escrow agent. Ebay doesn't give you the choice. 

Choosing an escrow could lead to people setting up scams. It would be better to be assigned one so no manipulation imo

You won't be scammed if you choose a reputable escrow. Having choices is always better than no choice IMO.

[Amph]

You won't be scammed if you choose a reputable escrow. Having choices is always better than no choice IMO.

there will be a way to checks this aside from the known trust which isn't a 100% secure way? because...what if one non-reputable escrow play the "trusted guy early in the game" to scam later a big amount?

[Finchy]

The idea of OpenBazaar sounds great but I have some doubts as to whether it will work smoothly enough to attract lots of people. I don't have all the facts but from what I understand, it's not actually possible to trade directly with another person, you need to have an arbiter which is understandable. So what does the arbiter get in return for his service and time (other than good rep)? I couldn't find anything on the website. They say scammers will get bad reputation and rating but if this is an anonymous platform how difficult will it be to create new accounts? Ratings will only mean something if it impossible for someone to create as many accounts as they want. Also, what would stop 2 friends from teaming up to game the system? Say if someone were to build impeccable rep of a long period of time and wait for a massive transaction from his partner to scam and run?
I've been scammed on eBay before but all it took was a few clicks and I got a refund. I have no problems trusting eBay as arbiter but trusting an anonymous third party doesn't sound very reassuring.
Again, I don't know this project very well, I suppose they might have security measures in place that I haven't read about.

Third party escrows won't necessarily be anonymous on OpenBazaar. As per example OB1 which received the funding to finish the platform and create the first business on top of it will offer escrow services and they won't be anonymous. People will be free to choose their own escrow agent. Ebay doesn't give you the choice. 

Choosing an escrow could lead to people setting up scams. It would be better to be assigned one so no manipulation imo

You won't be scammed if you choose a reputable escrow. Having choices is always better than no choice IMO.

It will take quite some time for escrows to build up reputation on there, but people could build up rep doing trades whether fake or legit then once they manage to set up a big deal they choose the escrow of their choice and scam. Imagine if it would be like this on ebay. If people get to choose their own escrow they could just choose a friend or one they know. Would take time to build up trust as an escrow in the first place but the long con game is the most rewarding for scammers.

[Submotion]

The escrow system on OB is definitely going to be the weak link. I think with any transaction involving bitcoin someone is going to have to trust someone else somewhere but that's where the opportunity is for something bad to happen. Escrow is also going to be really difficult for them to judge certain things as well (buyer says he received the item but it was a box of bricks and not a macbook etc - what do they do then?).

[Elwar]

The escrow system on OB is definitely going to be the weak link. I think with any transaction involving bitcoin someone is going to have to trust someone else somewhere but that's where the opportunity is for something bad to happen. Escrow is also going to be really difficult for them to judge certain things as well (buyer says he received the item but it was a box of bricks and not a macbook etc - what do they do then?).

Same as ebay customer service does. Scanned receipts, pictures of the item, delivery tracking, etc.

Then finally there's the rating system. As a former ebay merchant, if I used to eat some bad transactions because I valued the 100% rating more than the money I lost.