I've been working on this for about a year now and I think it's time to let some people test it and give me some feedback.
Overview: A while back i was considering the use of Bitcoin and how people could interact with each other. I realized that part of the reason why things are going so slow in the adoption of Bitcoin is the fact that so many other systems other then just the "money" need to be changed. Having decentralized money without a decentralized marketplace doesn't make sense. Sooo many other things need to be built to make Bitcoin really useful, that it's going to be a while before it's all done. So I decided to do my part by trying to build a decentralized market. This was before i heard of the darkmarket and openbazaar projects. So to anyone wanting to know if LiteMarket has anything to do with Darkmarket, it does NOT. I didn't even know of that project when I started on this one. It was more relating to LiteCoin which I was going to use for the payment system originally.
My idea for the marketplace was to create a new kind of website system. Rather then needing to build a new website and shopping cart for every store. I thought: wouldn't it be better if we just used a kind of "LimeWire" system to sell to each other. Where everyone could set up a store in a matter of minutes and sell to other Bitcoin users. One of the biggest issues in making a website is setting up the shopping cart and payment system. I thought we should have a standard version that everyone could use. Sort of like Magento in some ways, but in an application format.
The LiteMarket platform is a desktop app that can be used to buy things or sell things in the same system. You can connect to a store or host your own store. There's no need for page decoration or optimization problems for the average user. And eventually, once the bugs have been worked out, it will be far more secure then what's out there now.
When I first started building the program I was using standard IP socket calls between the programs. But I ran into some issues when i realized it was going to be difficult for the average user to host their own site. So many internet connections are behind firewalls or 3G or whatever that only a few people would be able to set up a store. Thankfully, I decided to take a look at TOR and realized that it's ability to hide a website could also be used as a way of allowing all internet connections to host a website. Even those that are behind firewalls or shared Wifi. And since it's a desktop app anyway, the drawbacks are minimal.
I've been working with this idea for so long that I'm sure I've forgotten to explain some important parts to new users. So I'm here to give this out to the Bitcoin community and get some feedback if anyone is interested. Let me try to give an example of how to use the program and then perhaps you can have a better picture of what I'm trying to do.
When you download the program and install it. You will see the screenshot I added at the bottom of this page. That's the BUY section where you can view the items other people have for sale. There are 3 other sections: SELL, ORDERS, and PURCHASED. You should see all those right at the top left part of the program. The two main "tabs" are the important ones, BUY and SELL. If you go to SELL you will see the same screen but you will be given the option to create items by clicking "new" here you can create database items of what you want to sell. Title, Price,... Once you put your store online other people will see these items. If you go to the BUY tab, you will be given the option to connect to someone's store. Up at the top RIGHT there is a place to put in a store URL and then the "CONNECT" button. In the picture there you see my .onion address: foomfoumyoi37qly.onion I don't always have it running but you can try to connect to it as a test. None of this stuff is really for sale it's just a list of examples. Once you put in the address you can click connect. It will take a while for Orchid to start TOR. But after a min or 2 it will say Connected to Litemarket 20 items. Then the search box below the connect button will open up and you can search for what you want to buy. Or you can leave it blank and just get all the items the store is selling.
I've put the code for LiteMarket up on github
https://github.com/litemarket/LiteMarket/And you can download the .exe from sourceforge:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/litemarket/files/latest/download There are 2 ways to use the program to buy things from the seller. You can connect a Blockchain.info account or you can use the Bitcoin QT client. Most of my testing has been with the Blockchain.info version so that's what works best. If you go to "Account" up at the top and then Account Settings you will be able to add your address and Blockchain.info details. You don't need to add these details to use the program but if you want to buy something you would.
If you buy something from someone. Your details would be sent to them and you would see the order under PURCHASED. And they would see the order under ORDERS.
There is much much more to this but I'll wait to see if anyone wants to ask questions before I continue. I hope that a few people out there will be able to fork this and add their own modifications to make it much better.
