BitMarket.eu - should we accept USD? (USD added)

[Mahkul]

We are considering adding support for USD to BitMarket.eu. Does anyone know how expensive it is to transfer USD onto an European account? Would this help the US users in any way or should we not bother? Thanks for any advice/suggestion.

EDIT: We don't want to open a bank account in the USA, but we can open an European one accepting USD.

[BioMike]

Question is if US people are going to use it. MtGox also accepts USD bank transfers, so you will have to compete with them (and MtGox being US based they have an advantage in that respect).

[Mahkul]

I think one of the biggest advantages would be that we would be operating under EU laws, not US laws. So even if the USA government decides to try and shut down our exchange they won't be able to do anything.

Actually, I don't undetstand why bitcoin-central never actually took off on a larger scale? The trades there are liquid and they accept deposits. Any idea?

[ribuck]

I don't undetstand why bitcoin-central never actually took off on a larger scale?

The site asks for a PGP-encrypted email before you deposit Euros. That rules out 90% of potential customers.

[S3052]

Question is if US people are going to use it. MtGox also accepts USD bank transfers, so you will have to compete with them (and MtGox being US based they have an advantage in that respect).

Mt Gox is based in Japan now since owner changed.

[bitdragon]

The USD currency can be used among buyers and sellers in US without bitmarket serving as an escrow?
Bitmarket acting as an escrow should probably focus on one currency first, the Euro.
Regardless of the currency being submitted, funds arriving in the account can all be turned into Euros.

I don't see the advantage of having a separate USD account for now at least,

[BioMike]

I don't undetstand why bitcoin-central never actually took off on a larger scale?

The site asks for a PGP-encrypted email before you deposit Euros. That rules out 90% of potential customers.

The PGP wasn't IMHO not really a big problem (never knew that that was required). The site owner told me he didn't like running it. In the end it took weeks to get reply from him.

[ribuck]

The PGP wasn't IMHO not really a big problem (never knew that that was required). The site owner told me he didn't like running it. In the end it took weeks to get reply from him.

I have also transacted without using PGP, but the "Deposit Funds" page says that PGP is required and that will frighten away many potential users.

It's a pity he's not very interested in the service, because he has coded it up nicely.

[Ulysses]

Of course you should, more competition is good.

BTW - i'd like to see liberty reserve too.

[BioMike]

It's a pity he's not very interested in the service, because he has coded it up nicely.

Agree... if I only had a bit more time and knew how to code ruby I would have offered to buy the service over from him. And the ruby coding wouldn't even be such big problem. Time, time, time...

[ribuck]

And the ruby coding wouldn't even be such big problem.

Ruby is delightful.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Anytime USD is used in commerce anywhere on the globe, the US govt. can, and sometimes does take an interest. You may be under EU laws but the US has final say on how USD is used, unless it is cash of course. I would stay out of it for now if I was you ....

You could look at expanding your euro currencies, CHF is a big one not covered and used internationally, norwegian kroner and other smaller ones that are not in euro also, maybe rubles ...

[Mahkul]

Please take a look at this post: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6992.0 and tell me what you guys think of this idea. Thanks.

[Darth Severus]

I plan to start a new thread tomorrow, with ideas how these BTC exchange services could become better by using other payment services. Only for now: With liqpay.com your customers would need only their debit or cc, a cellphone to be able to receive and send money. Why not paying and get paid for BTC over this? They only had to give their phonenumber to the trading partner, and their db/cc data to liqpay to withdrawal the money. If some don´t trust liqpay, they shalt get some free debitcard.

[sniper_sniperson]

We are considering adding support for USD to BitMarket.eu. Does anyone know how expensive it is to transfer USD onto an European account? Would this help the US users in any way or should we not bother? Thanks for any advice/suggestion.

EDIT: We don't want to open a bank account in the USA, but we can open an European one accepting USD.

A little off topic ...

Can you guarrantee the transactions when someone receives the BTCs and "forgot" to pay them?

[HostFat]

I plan to start a new thread tomorrow, with ideas how these BTC exchange services could become better by using other payment services. Only for now: With liqpay.com your customers would need only their debit or cc, a cellphone to be able to receive and send money. Why not paying and get paid for BTC over this? They only had to give their phonenumber to the trading partner, and their db/cc data to liqpay to withdrawal the money. If some don´t trust liqpay, they shalt get some free debitcard.

I think that this can be a good idea.
BitMarket should just suggest that this has some more risks, and as you said it's better to use it with a debitcard.
Users will have the choice to use it or not

[Mahkul]

We are considering adding support for USD to BitMarket.eu. Does anyone know how expensive it is to transfer USD onto an European account? Would this help the US users in any way or should we not bother? Thanks for any advice/suggestion.

EDIT: We don't want to open a bank account in the USA, but we can open an European one accepting USD.

A little off topic ...

Can you guarrantee the transactions when someone receives the BTCs and "forgot" to pay them?

With the current system that we use it is not possible to receive Bitcoins without paying for them. We hold the BTC in Escrow until the buyer pays - then the seller has an option of releasing the coins from Escrow.

[sniper_sniperson]

With the current system that we use it is not possible to receive Bitcoins without paying for them. We hold the BTC in Escrow until the buyer pays - then the seller has an option of releasing the coins from Escrow.

Well, I read about Escrow ... So must not worry about "good" guys cause I'll receive sooner or later (within a week) the money transfer.

Or I'm wrong?

Ok, a little example:

1st step - I sent the IBAN and my name
2nd step - Buyer's bank doesn't validate this information. It asks for BIC of the bank. The validation time is 3 or 4 days, which may trigger the rollback on bitmarket.eu (not sure about the timeout, it may be around 3 days)

It seems the seller cannot be able to complete the transaction or I'm still wrong?

[SmokeTooMuch]

BitMarket.eu - should we accept USD?

Oh, I don't know ...
I can't seem to find the right words to describe why I think this is a bad idea.
Somehow I feel like the EUR trades will really get affected by that and will get fixed to the USD/BTC rate on other exchanges even more.

I somehow like having a "European only" market.


Well, we'll see what future brings.

[Mahkul]

We are considering splitting the site in two:

- one: leaving the payment methods and arrangement to the seller and buyer the way it is now (plus the Paypal verification feature we're working on and the feedback system etc). This one would accept USD, AUD and whatever else currencies that people require since we wouldn't be involved in the money transfers in any way.
- second: accepting EUR deposits and doing trades the mtgox way in real time. This one would not accept USD - only: EUR, GBP, PLN and CHF

What do you guys think of this, does it make sense to split bitmarket like that? I don't see liquid trading together with payments taking ~3 days on the same site; the graphs would be all over the place and there would probably be some confusion, but I could be wrong.