Before I say anything, let me get this straight: I do NOT accuse either site of being a scam or not being trustworthy. This is just a list of concerns I have regarding the two that may be worth looking into, and my own reasons as to why I am wary of these exchanges.
Also, please leave out the matter of countries that the exchanges originate from. It has no use to use statistics to determine whether an exchange is trustable or not, instead it would be a better idea to look at concrete information and facts.
So recently two new exchanges, Bitcoin7 and Tradehill, have popped up. A few things that are bothering me.
Tradehill:
1. * Seems to have copied the design (CSS / page structure) from Mt. Gox and modified it.
2. * Copypasted the FAQ from BitcoinExchange.cc (using Google Cache you can see a version of their FAQ where in one place it actually said "BitcoinExchange" instead of "Tradehill")
3. * Set up out of nowhere by what looks like an unknown member within "the community", yet immediately looks very polished.
4. * Has a stable, almost artificial looking, volume, while on other exchanges the volume fluctuates a lot more
5. * Has a refferal system that offers discounts
6. * Grows from nowhere to reasonable big (compared to other exchanges) in a matter of days.
Also, please leave out the matter of countries that the exchanges originate from. It has no use to use statistics to determine whether an exchange is trustable or not, instead it would be a better idea to look at concrete information and facts.
So recently two new exchanges, Bitcoin7 and Tradehill, have popped up. A few things that are bothering me.
Tradehill:
1. * Seems to have copied the design (CSS / page structure) from Mt. Gox and modified it.
2. * Copypasted the FAQ from BitcoinExchange.cc (using Google Cache you can see a version of their FAQ where in one place it actually said "BitcoinExchange" instead of "Tradehill")
3. * Set up out of nowhere by what looks like an unknown member within "the community", yet immediately looks very polished.
4. * Has a stable, almost artificial looking, volume, while on other exchanges the volume fluctuates a lot more
5. * Has a refferal system that offers discounts
6. * Grows from nowhere to reasonable big (compared to other exchanges) in a matter of days.
I'm gonna respond to all your points here:
1. MtGox (Gox) barely has a page structure to begin with, the site is very simple with only a few links on the left. Once you login to TradeHill (TH) the site is wildly different than Gox
2. Not sure of this, however that dosent really make a difference. Most sites copy their competitors information
3. Being polished has nothing to do with being set up out of nowhere. TH has a team of excellent programmers based here in the United States.
4. Can't really answer this, they are a much smaller site although the second largest exchange.
5. Thats what made them grow. Its a pretty good marketing strategy actually.
6. I answered this above ^. They are growing fast because they have a good, American based team, they answer CS issues quickly, they have a nice site, and good business ethics. I think they will surpass Japanese based Gox in a few months forsure.
I must point out that I know the TradeHill team personally so my response is a tad biased towards them. My point being, I trust TradeHill more than Gox. The only reason we all use Gox is because they were the first ones.
1. Whether they "barely have a page structure" or not has nothing to do with it. It looks similar enough in layout and visual characteristics, for it to be likely that it was just copied and modified CSS and HTML. That someone doesn't consider it "special enough" does not mean you can blindly copy it - Mt. Gox definitely has a distinct page style, even if it's 'minimalistic'. I haven't seen the "members area".
2. I don't know what kind of businesses you are talking about, but I don't know of any industry where copying text (and obviously not even really changing it except for a find-and-replace on the name) is standard practice - or acceptable, for that matter.
3. If they indeed have an actual team working on it, point taken.
5. I tend to get a bit itchy when I see referal systems, because in my experience this is mostly because said site can otherwise not grow for some reason, be it a bad business model, shady underlying business, or just because it's impossible to get into a monopolized market. I hope it's the latter, but I can't discount past experiences with other reasons for referal systems.
6. The "American based team" seems irrelevant to me. While I understand that some people might have an (in my opinion unjust) aversion against for example east-european countries (and businesses originating there), I don't see how "American based" would be considered any more trustable by someone than for example "West European based" or even "Japan based". As for the customer support, I have no experience with this, and the same goes for their business ethics (do you have any examples?).
Thanks for responding!
1. I guess you missed my point, thats my fault. What I was getting at is they did not copy Mt.Gox, in fact, theres nothing about Mt.Gox to copy. Have you logged into TH? You'll see their site is wildly different then Gox
2. In pretty much every industry, something trivial like the FAQ, will be used as a basis for a competitor. Agreed, they should not have copy-pasted it, but if those are your grounds for being not trusted, then your gonna have to have more than that my friend!
3. Yup, a really good team! Thats why they will surpass Gox in a few months.
5. I assume thats your own personal opinion and not your professional one? I've been in the marketing industry for over 8 years and referral programs most defiantly do not mean that. Try to look at it like this, can you think of a more cost-effective method of marketing an exchange in such a new and young industry?
6. Again, are you someone who's in the e-commerce industry? If you are, you definitely know that an American company who is catering to an English speaking consumer base is much better than a Japanese one. ESPECIALLY a company in which your transferring thousands of dollars to! I don't know about you, but I'd rather the American one.
I hope I articulated my points, let me know if you have any questions!
There is definitely something about Mt. Gox to copy. Quick comparison of main layout elements, obviously showing things being copied:
Now I am not a particular supporter of copyright law as it stands, but I do believe that you can't simply copy the entire design (and make a few changes) for commercial purposes, especially not for a relatively lucrative business.
The thing about referal programs is just based on what I have experienced in the past few years, from an "internet user" viewpoint. It's all great that you look at it from an "ecommerce guy" viewpoint, but it's the "regular internet users" that have to deal with the consequences - and from a "regular internet user" viewpoint I've found that I (and many others with me) have usually found companies that rely this heavily on referal systems, are often shady in one way or another.
I understand your point about physical location, but I tried to make a point about American vs West-European mostly. I don't think that for example a UK-based business would be any different from a US-based business in that regard.
However, they deserve a chance, and I agree that we should not accuse anybody without proof.