bandying about the idea of starting up a BTCweb service. name not included yet as i personally think its quite catchy and would not like to see it taken from me just yet...
in short, the webservice is a online trading post if you will... sorta like the old west, you order something and the postmaster finds it, and delivers it, whether that be through the mail or even able to be picked up if you so wish. most will likely have it mailed though. granted, it may not be as fast as buying something off of amazon, but the site will be useful more towards those who cannot or for their own reasons will not buy their said item off the internet through regular means. i am still working out a system to keep it all as anonymous as possible, but not shady. i would very much appreciate input on this, as the service is intended to be helpful to all netizens.
there wont be very many rules to follow, mostly guidelines. and as for what can and cannot be ordered, depends mostly on your region and willpower/nerve. im not condoning illegal activity, but lets face it, its not easy to find the things that one needs or wants easily all the time and thats where this service shines. I and/or other employee's will take that on for you, find it, buy it, recieve it, and resend it to you. think of the service as a proxy for online mail order.
yes this will come at a cost, but i am working out the logistics on this as i speak. a website has begun to be built. once again, that will be updated later, as i dont have the rights to the name or such yet. it will be a small while before i can get up and running, as i plan on making it a bitcoin funded operation. people have the option to pay fiat, but i would prefer bitcoins, litecoins and terracoins.
im not sure what else to say for now, but to put it lightly, it could become quite the service if deployed properly.
i will be starting with electronics and devices situated to mining and computers, as those seem a good place to start.
wait times, like searching for said item, shipping, handling, are always going to be personalized, being as such, so will orders. for this i plan on making the ordering easy to use, for both the customer and myself. the customer will be required to show pictures of the item requested if possible, barring such, as detailed an explanation as possible. most likely going the be order forms that you submit to a private inbox. which in turn gets sent myself as well. i will be checking the servers inbox on a routine basis of every 3-6 hours, plus automated emails to inform me of new orders.
keep in mind as well that i will never include the return address to my location on the parcel. the item is one way. so make sure you get your address done right the first time. the return address will instead be for a secondary address that you will supply as well, for the parcel to be delivered to incase it somehow doesn't make it to your first address. customers have the option to use puralator, ups, and other such mail services if they like. but of course this will cost extra.
as for the bit about picking it up in person, this would likely only work for people in canada, and north america if they really wanna travel that far. that being said, im not going to come to you, it would be you coming to me in this case. in the future when more people are part of the business, then that may become a reality, but even then, its not going to be me very likely. it could be, but chances are unless you live within 200 km of me, it wont be.
cost of service will be decided per item. but there are some baselines.
base cost of item, converted to bitcoins is the beginning. then comes the shipping. then service cost, handling, and later down the road, when governments recognize bitcoins more, taxes. (if i have to pay em, you will too)
so for example. lets say timmy bitty, wants a radeon 5950. well timmy bitty is in luck, because just so happens i know where to get one. but poor timmy bitty, being in new york, is nowhere near the store that i know of that has the item he wants. better yet, its on sale here. but timmy doesn't have that sale going on near him. so lets say the video card is
60$, and thats after the sale. timmy would have had to pay 90$ for this videocard where he lives. or 80$ on a site like newegg. well for timmy thats gonna cost him the current exchange rate for bitcoins. (0.7BTC) as of this moment + shipping which we will say comes to 27$ for 2-3 business days from day sent. now we are at about 1BTC. now what about service cost. service cost will be determined soon, but right now i figure something like 30% of total cost added on. another 26$. so now we are at about 1.3BTC. and handling. im not sure how most others determine this, but i will be makeing it something like 1% extra for each day it takes to see payment. so if timmy sends his 1.3BTC right away, he could have it in 2-3 business days after i have been able to acquire the item.
so after all of this. is my service cheaper. no. probably never will be. but im not doing it for free and that why it never will be cheaper than just going and buying it yourself... but its all about the service. its the same reason why people buy stuff on amazon, and newegg. convenience. and that is what i am trying to offer the BTC community.
pm me if you would like to know more.