3 ms·
Serious question: What's to prevent me, as a US citizen, to buy bitcoins on Coinbase, then setup an online store where I sell bitcoins at a 10-20% markup, paya
by sixQuarks 13y ago
Serious question: What's to prevent me, as a US citizen, to buy bitcoins on Coinbase, then setup an online store where I sell bitcoins at a 10-20% markup, payable by credit card?
1. I realize I'd be taking a risk with chargbacks. Any way to minimize this? Perhaps hold onto the bitcoin for a period of time?
Seems like the demand from ordinary people is so high, they wouldn't mind paying $100 - $200 per bitcoin if they can pay with a credit card.
- modeless 13y agoEven if you weren't bankrupted by chargebacks, which you definitely would be, the credit card companies would shut down your account. They don't want people buying bitcoins; it's a threat to them.
- cdcarter 13y agoIt's simpler and less conspiratorial than that. It's the same reason you can't buy a money order or cashier's check with a credit card. You're not selling a product, you're creating a situation where your customer can get a cash advance on a line of credit that you did not approve.
- lucaspiller 13y agoAs modeless said chargebacks. Think about it this way: If you can buy Bitcoins online without verification you are basically opening up a goldmine to people with stolen credit cards. A user may make 100 fraudulent purchases on 100 different cards through 100 different accounts to 100 different Bitcoin addresses from 100 different IPs. You are stuck with 100 chargebacks, and he is stuck with a nice chunk of anonymous money. Now if you can find a way to avoid that, you have hit the jackpot :)
- sixQuarks 13y agoTrue, I didn't think about stolen credit cards.