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Out of the half dozen times I've purchased with bitcoins, I was ripped off every single time. I stopped using it. I'm a supporter of bitcoins and want it to su

Out of the half dozen times I've purchased with bitcoins, I was ripped off every single time. I stopped using it. I'm a supporter of bitcoins and want it to succeed, I just don't trust a lot of the vendors that use it.

MacsHeadroom 13y ago
What were you buying? Out of the dozens of times I've purchased with Bitcoins I have never been ripped off. Buy from reputable companies or use an escrow service. A homeless guy asked me for my car keys the other day. He said he'd clean the inside of my car and bring me the keys. I didn't give him my keys. Something tells me you would have.
- chris_wot 13y ago
  Well that escalated quickly.
- rmc 13y ago
  use an escrow service. Something like PayPal for Bitcoins? Sounds like we're back to square one. What's the point of bitcoin again?
  - jedunnigan 13y ago
    Not exactly. Bitcoin enables multi signature transactions, so power rests not only with the escrow service, but also with the parties involved. There can also be more than one dispute mediator involved, as to maintain a balance. For the delivery of real world goods you can write small scripts in the tx that monitor tracking numbers, have time locks, and the like as to maintain more control over the flow of money. Bitcoin is trustless, but only to an extent. Just like anything there will be point of failures, but Bitcoin minimizes them to a large extent and brings with it the opportunity to distribute power among many third parties, not just one. I won't even bother answering you last question though, because I'm sure you realize how ridiculous that sounds in the context of this thread. Namely, if MailPile only accepted Bitcoin this would have never happened.
    - rmc 13y ago
      A script in the transaction cannot check if the the item sent was as described. No matter what, you will need people/courts/judges involved.
- ubernostrum 13y ago
  So fraud is perfectly OK, in your view, as long as the person defrauded meets a certain minimum standard of deserving stupidity?

MacsHeadroom 13y ago

What were you buying? Out of the dozens of times I've purchased with Bitcoins I have never been ripped off. Buy from reputable companies or use an escrow service. A homeless guy asked me for my car keys the other day. He said he'd clean the inside of my car and bring me the keys. I didn't give him my keys. Something tells me you would have.

chris_wot 13y ago
Well that escalated quickly.
rmc 13y ago
use an escrow service. Something like PayPal for Bitcoins? Sounds like we're back to square one. What's the point of bitcoin again?
- jedunnigan 13y ago
  Not exactly. Bitcoin enables multi signature transactions, so power rests not only with the escrow service, but also with the parties involved. There can also be more than one dispute mediator involved, as to maintain a balance. For the delivery of real world goods you can write small scripts in the tx that monitor tracking numbers, have time locks, and the like as to maintain more control over the flow of money. Bitcoin is trustless, but only to an extent. Just like anything there will be point of failures, but Bitcoin minimizes them to a large extent and brings with it the opportunity to distribute power among many third parties, not just one. I won't even bother answering you last question though, because I'm sure you realize how ridiculous that sounds in the context of this thread. Namely, if MailPile only accepted Bitcoin this would have never happened.
  - rmc 13y ago
    A script in the transaction cannot check if the the item sent was as described. No matter what, you will need people/courts/judges involved.
ubernostrum 13y ago
So fraud is perfectly OK, in your view, as long as the person defrauded meets a certain minimum standard of deserving stupidity?