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Author Topic: What if you sold usb bitcoin drives on ebay ?  (Read 5049 times)
Anonymous
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February 07, 2011, 12:59:42 AM
 #1

1. Load a usb drive containing a file with username and password to a mybitcoin account containing bitcoins.
2. List on ebay for the price of the drive + the price of the bitcoins.
3.Have proof you posted and it was received by customers.
4. $profit Huh

Is this a pipe dream ? lol
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February 07, 2011, 01:01:28 AM
 #2

Someone else mentioned it - it sounds like a fantastic retail idea, perhaps even more so than eBay.

Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable.  I never believe them.  If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins.  I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion.  Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice.  Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead.
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February 07, 2011, 01:07:35 AM
 #3

Problem is taking payment. Once scammers find out you have unrevokable currency they will use hundreds of stolen paypal accounts to buy your drives. Verified address means nothing, you simply order 10 custom IDs for $30 and wait outside the address to sign for it. Carders do this all the time to get laptops, or they simply get verified drops and fund that account with stolen money

You can also phone paypal 6mos after buying something, say your kid bought it while you were out of the room and transaction is reversed, seller out of luck. You could however buy an ad on ebay that redirects to your site to sell them

Also it's probably against paypal TOS to trade digital currency since it's their rival. Limited account incoming...

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February 07, 2011, 04:38:47 AM
 #4

Why bother with a USB drive when you could email the mybitcoin account and password?
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February 07, 2011, 04:50:37 AM
 #5

1. Load a usb drive containing a file with username and password to a mybitcoin account containing bitcoins.
2. List on ebay for the price of the drive + the price of the bitcoins.
3.Have proof you posted and it was received by customers.
4. $profit Huh

Is this a pipe dream ? lol


What's the point? 

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
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February 07, 2011, 05:30:21 AM
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I'm thinking that this would be a cool idea for in-person exchanges of bitcoin for cash.  Does anyone know of a source for cheap, low-capacity USB drives?

"A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." --Gandhi
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February 07, 2011, 05:53:26 AM
 #7

Why do they have to be usb drives? Can't you use a CD-R? No ability to rewrite the data stored on the disc (for fraud purposes I suppose) and they are much cheaper.

Or maybe those mini cd-r discs.

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February 07, 2011, 06:18:00 AM
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I'm thinking that this would be a cool idea for in-person exchanges of bitcoin for cash.  Does anyone know of a source for cheap, low-capacity USB drives?

You can get craploads of 128 meg drives on ebay, cheaper by the dozen, but tere is no safe way for the receiver to know that the disk contains the info that you claim it does without actually plugging it in to his own computer to look at it.

"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."

- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
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February 07, 2011, 06:28:38 AM
 #9

I'm thinking that this would be a cool idea for in-person exchanges of bitcoin for cash.  Does anyone know of a source for cheap, low-capacity USB drives?

You can get craploads of 128 meg drives on ebay, cheaper by the dozen, but tere is no safe way for the receiver to know that the disk contains the info that you claim it does without actually plugging it in to his own computer to look at it.

I do wonder though, why would anyone buy it?  I can't picture myself in the mindset of being someone who has never heard of Bitcoin and thinking - WOW - I want this.  The purpose of the flash drive when I heard this at first, was to make it a plausible item for sale on eBay that would be a "tangible item" and be less likely to trip their radar.

If it were sold in a vendor booth at the next DefCon, I could see the appeal...

If I picture someone wanting to "buy" bitcoins, I picture them wanting a sort of prepaid card at 7-Eleven, sort of how they can buy FarmVille credits and prepaid cellular minutes, which they then redeem online.

for in-person exchanges of bitcoin for cash, I see two people whipping out their smartphones and doing (and confirming) their exchange that way... keeps both parties safe.

Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable.  I never believe them.  If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins.  I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion.  Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice.  Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead.
mndrix
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February 07, 2011, 04:39:14 PM
 #10

1. Load a usb drive containing a file with username and password to a mybitcoin account containing bitcoins.
2. List on ebay for the price of the drive + the price of the bitcoins.
3.Have proof you posted and it was received by customers.
4. $profit Huh

Is this a pipe dream ? lol


I think this is a good idea.  If you ship (with delivery confirmation) only to PayPal confirmed addresses, you're covered by PayPal's seller protection program and chargebacks are not an issue.  Even if the buyer charges back, you're not liable.  The only major risk is that PayPal decides you weren't really selling tangible goods in the first place.  In my experience though, all they really care about is the shipping address and delivery confirmation.
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February 07, 2011, 05:01:18 PM
 #11

A piece of paper is cheaper than a usb drive .........

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February 07, 2011, 05:03:46 PM
 #12

I do wonder though, why would anyone buy it?  I can't picture myself in the mindset of being someone who has never heard of Bitcoin and thinking - WOW - I want this.

I think it would be great for newbies who hear about bitcoin and decide they want to try it.

USB stick is better than a CD because you could include a recent copy of Bitcoin (with most of the block chain), already configured, for Windows and Mac.

So the user plugs in the USB drive, double-clicks the bitcoin app, and they're up and running.

The seller would need to establish a reputation for no-viruses/trojans, no already-spent coins in the wallet on the stick, etc etc etc....
... all the stuff that newbies are probably to clueless to worry about anyway.

The value is both the "starter" bitcoins in the wallet AND the convenience of not having to download/install/configure bitcoin.  If PayPal asked, I'd say that I'm selling bitcoin software on USB sticks, and that the bitcoins in the wallet are just there because you can't use the software without having a few bitcoins to start....

How often do you get the chance to work on a potentially world-changing project?
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February 07, 2011, 06:38:09 PM
Last edit: February 07, 2011, 08:48:11 PM by dingus
 #13

I do wonder though, why would anyone buy it?  I can't picture myself in the mindset of being someone who has never heard of Bitcoin and thinking - WOW - I want this.

I think it would be great for newbies who hear about bitcoin and decide they want to try it.

USB stick is better than a CD because you could include a recent copy of Bitcoin (with most of the block chain), already configured, for Windows and Mac.

So the user plugs in the USB drive, double-clicks the bitcoin app, and they're up and running.

The seller would need to establish a reputation for no-viruses/trojans, no already-spent coins in the wallet on the stick, etc etc etc....
... all the stuff that newbies are probably to clueless to worry about anyway.

The value is both the "starter" bitcoins in the wallet AND the convenience of not having to download/install/configure bitcoin.  If PayPal asked, I'd say that I'm selling bitcoin software on USB sticks, and that the bitcoins in the wallet are just there because you can't use the software without having a few bitcoins to start....


A CD can do all of that, though. A CD cannot be erased, like a USB drive can. Also, if you are buying USB drives in bulk, CD's will be cheaper comparatively. You can also have artwork on the label of the CD if you wanted, or advertisements.

edit: I am talking about having the installer of the bitcoin software on the CD, in order to install it on the user's computer. Or, possibly having a script that copies the wallet.dat from the CD to it's respective folder on the user's computer.

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February 17, 2011, 08:22:32 PM
 #14

1. Load a usb drive containing a file with username and password to a mybitcoin account containing bitcoins.
2. List on ebay for the price of the drive + the price of the bitcoins.
3.Have proof you posted and it was received by customers.
4. $profit Huh

Is this a pipe dream ? lol


How about this:

1 . Sell a usb drive on ebay that you say has bitcoins...
2 . load with autorun virus that TAKES the bitcoins from that user (since you know they are a bitcoin)
3 . have proof of mailing
4 . withdraw money from paypal FAST (because they will take it away fast as well when the buyer reports)
5 . double profit!!

The moral of the story:
USB drives from strangers are dangerous ( well at least for windows users )
PAYPAL is even more dangerous
EBAY will take a fee that is too big for anyone to make a profit

Use bitcoins for trusted merchants, in person or electronic exchanges with friends, a direct point of sale replacement for cash



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February 18, 2011, 06:02:42 AM
 #15

Better idea: Modify autorun virus to steal their bitcoins and their ebay account to avoid negative rep.
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May 06, 2011, 04:59:46 PM
 #16

I'm trying selling bitcoin gift certificates on Ebay:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7072.0

I know this is an old thread, but I want this link here for posterity.

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