Nov 26 - LocalBitcoins admins are still supporting the seller to back out of the trade (I bought 13 BTC with $7367.23 AUD on Nov 18),
saying they will return the amount of BTC that is remaining in escrow to the seller, and let him return the AUD to my bank account! This would be outrageous.
If I had to buy the 13 BTC today with AUD bank transfer, they would cost me $13000 AUD or more.
Quote
Nov. 26, 2013, 11:20 a.m. ADMIN
LB_Support: Apparently the seller issued a refund for the payments made by the buyer ($7367.23 AUD).
In general, all trades should happen as a mutual agreement between the buyer the and the seller, so that both parties agree with the deal, and both parties have a feeling that the trade is beneficial.
The buyer did not initiate the payment within the requested timeframe. Granted, it was not the buyer's fault and there are no reason to believe that it was not the buyer's intention to make the payment fully within the required timeframe. Regardless of what were the intentions of the buyer, when requirements of the initial trade are not fully met, it is a good trading practice to re-negotiate the terms of the trade.
The seller did suggest a fair resolution to the situation, that the price is updated to match the market price at the time the payment was fully completed. As the seller pointed out, his/her price was still really competitive, and the suggestion was not out of the line anyhow.
The buyer completely ignored the suggestion made by the seller. Additionally the seller's account was very likely hacked by a malicious party, which very likely sent those messages to the buyer with German language.
The dispute was initiated, which resulted that a little bit better deal was offered to the buyer, so that the initial 5000 AUD was counted with the price the trade was initiated, and only the price of the latter payment was adjusted. However, the buyer denied this opportunity as well.
While it is perfectly ok to publicly question and criticize the fairness and execution level of localbitcoins support and dispute resolution process, it is really unwise to publicly share details of the seller while the dispute is still ongoing. While we are unable to evaluate what is the possible harm affected to the seller, it is imminent that it did not help to get any kind of agreement with this trade.
We completely agree that localbitcoins is not a perfect in many ways, and usually flaws of the system are more imminent when the market price is really volatile. In general, the escrow system protects that the money is not stolen, and in case of the dispute, first of all we want to ensure that buyer will either receive the invested money back or the bitcoins in the escrow. Right now we cannot fully protect the buyer or the seller against market price movements.
Considering the legal issues and strong disagreement with the buyer and the seller, we think that it is safest resolution that the legal tenders (AUD) are fully refunded to the original owner, and bitcoins from the escrow are returned to the seller. We kindly ask the buyer to confirm when the refund have been issued to the bank account, and cancel the trade.
LB_Support: Apparently the seller issued a refund for the payments made by the buyer ($7367.23 AUD).
In general, all trades should happen as a mutual agreement between the buyer the and the seller, so that both parties agree with the deal, and both parties have a feeling that the trade is beneficial.
The buyer did not initiate the payment within the requested timeframe. Granted, it was not the buyer's fault and there are no reason to believe that it was not the buyer's intention to make the payment fully within the required timeframe. Regardless of what were the intentions of the buyer, when requirements of the initial trade are not fully met, it is a good trading practice to re-negotiate the terms of the trade.
The seller did suggest a fair resolution to the situation, that the price is updated to match the market price at the time the payment was fully completed. As the seller pointed out, his/her price was still really competitive, and the suggestion was not out of the line anyhow.
The buyer completely ignored the suggestion made by the seller. Additionally the seller's account was very likely hacked by a malicious party, which very likely sent those messages to the buyer with German language.
The dispute was initiated, which resulted that a little bit better deal was offered to the buyer, so that the initial 5000 AUD was counted with the price the trade was initiated, and only the price of the latter payment was adjusted. However, the buyer denied this opportunity as well.
While it is perfectly ok to publicly question and criticize the fairness and execution level of localbitcoins support and dispute resolution process, it is really unwise to publicly share details of the seller while the dispute is still ongoing. While we are unable to evaluate what is the possible harm affected to the seller, it is imminent that it did not help to get any kind of agreement with this trade.
We completely agree that localbitcoins is not a perfect in many ways, and usually flaws of the system are more imminent when the market price is really volatile. In general, the escrow system protects that the money is not stolen, and in case of the dispute, first of all we want to ensure that buyer will either receive the invested money back or the bitcoins in the escrow. Right now we cannot fully protect the buyer or the seller against market price movements.
Considering the legal issues and strong disagreement with the buyer and the seller, we think that it is safest resolution that the legal tenders (AUD) are fully refunded to the original owner, and bitcoins from the escrow are returned to the seller. We kindly ask the buyer to confirm when the refund have been issued to the bank account, and cancel the trade.
)))).
. F2F aren't comfortable at all since there are physical risks when meeting a total stranger and each of you holding x.xxx$ or more.
