I didn't do a deal here, but I would like to comment on the business model.
First off, the negative... these guys want to sell over stamp and buy under... so if you're a oppertunistic seller or buyer, this probably won't work for you....
Okay, the positives....
This is a totally viable business model. I don't personally have any history so I can't offer my assurances that they are not gonna screw you over... but my feeling is no. These guys seem to have figured out that they can make a viable business by being an exchange for those w/o the ability to deal with anyone but coinbase. I am not trying to be too glowing here, but my gut tells me these guys are real and running a real business.
Word of caution to the OP: Please make sure you are registered as a money transmitter, or msb, or that you deal mostly in cash and silver and are careful. You have a viable business idea here, but, you run the risk of running afoul of the regulators. Always act as the white hat and you should be fine, but look into it.
Okay /uselesspost
Thanks Jake for the words of caution, we definitely have all of our ducks in a row when it comes to bitcoin trading and we make sure of it.
You are right as far as our business model, we are here to make a profit. We cannot sell and buy at the same price, as much would be expected. We sometimes although do have great buys and great sells it just all depends on our current holdings. Some times we want to leverage risk and we will liquidate a large portion of Bitcoin for merely 1-3% over Spot depending on our volume at the time and vice versa.
We encourage escrow for all of our users, that is not a problem for us. We do however wish that our customers use Localbitcoins.com. In our opinion LBC is the longest running honest Escrow in all of bitcoin land, they have earned a true trustworthy award. It seems that even the faithful John K. on this forum has somewhat vanished and been unheard from, so this again reinforces our idea of only using Localbitcoins.com as our escrow service. Their fees are 1% and we, the advertisers, are the ones who will always pay it.
If a customer wants a little better deal then we can of course deal outside of escrow for an extra 1%+ in their favor. It doesn't matter to us, escrow or not we pass the savings onto you. As Jake has stated we have a business model in place and continued volume through happy customers is what generates our revenue and keeps us going.
Our rates may sometimes not be the best as others, but we will always be the best when it comes to quality, quick, and safe service. We want to let transactions be as seamless as possible when going from BTC <---> USD and we're always here to walk anyone through the process. There is one thing that is our golden rule and it will always remain: Your privacy is our main concern. We understand it's none of our damn business what you do with your bitcoins or money, so we don't ask or want to know anything more than we need to.
So if you are looking to either buy or sell, let us know. We look forward to more future business.
Thanks!
BitcoinTristate