Topic: Ebay-like websites with Bitcoin: Why haven't they taken off? - page 3. (Read 5080 times)

Several attempts of varying signifance and seriousness were attempted with other alternate currencies.  As far as I am aware the most successful of them was SFBOT/Liberty Auctions, which catered to the Liberty Dollar economy.  At its height it had around a hundred active users.  

As far as why these sites universally fell flat despite being heavily promoted in their respective markets, and generally met with approval on forums, mailing lists etc. -- it's just a matter of economic scale.   Even the most popular alternate currencies still don't (and certainly didn't ten years ago) have sufficient traction to get a market going.   Bear in mind, there are literally thousands of sites trying to compete with eBay while using mainstream payment methods -- very few can pay their light bills off of what they make.   It's just a behemoth of an operation, one with which it is very difficult to compete, and if you throw in the odd angle of an alternate currency -- well, let's face it, you just pushed away 99.5% or so of your potential userbase.  

There are a lot of other factors involved in eBay's capture and keeping of dominance in its field, more than really are worthwhile to get into.   It's a much more difficult market to break into than people realise.   Take heart though -- eBay is increasingly becoming like a Big Three automotive company, ie. a company that is known for one thing but actually makes its money doing something else.   Perhaps in time eBay's domination of its market will go the same route as the Big Three's domination of the auto industry did, as they devote less and less focus on the auction platform due to its primary value being novelty and nostalgia.


Frank

Or someone should create a system that piggybacks onto ebay, but allows people to transact in bitcoins.

I agree this is a shoe-in as Bitcoin servicing websites go. Bitmit.net is what I would bet on now. It's got a good interface and the developer is responsive.

It's difficult to compete with eBay where you can get everything, no matter how exotic. And a number of ppl just hoard the Bitcoins, they don't use them. Takes time to get used to the fact that you can actually *use* Bitcoin.

But I think Bitmit looks quite promising. But something in there myself...

This seems to be a prime use for Bitcoin: A place for online auctions but without the Ebay restrictions and fees. A few have been made, like Biddingpond, bitbid, and a few others I can't remember, but none of them seem to have more than a small handful of auctions at any time.

What is missing from these websites that would make them take off?