I would like to make a proposition. I know we were in the process of standing up an eBay style online marketplace for Zeit a few months ago, but unfortunately it fell through. I understand that there are fairly significant costs associated with that, and that it is still within the realm of possibility in the near future. So in the meantime, maybe we can make a few buy/sell transactions amongst ourselves that we could advertise somehow to show the marketability of Zeit in the form of a true currency, as opposed to something that we are currently only buying and selling for other currencies. I mean, if the ultimate end goal is to have Zeit be used as a currency for trading goods, then we need to start making steps in that direction now.
So what I am proposing is something that we can call our "beta phase" in this regard. We can make a few small transactions with a very basic spreadsheet to track the transactions. And these don't even have to be "at value" transactions. Meaning, say I want to sell a book that costs $6.00, I don't actually have to request $6.00 worth of Zeit. I could ask maybe only 100,000 Zeit or something like that which is far less than the actual face value of the book. I could eat the cost of shipping, which would be next to nothing anyway, myself. Lastly, in the absence of an online payment service I could use a proxy to hold the funds until the buyer receives the goods. Example, I sell the book to Ray. Ray sends the agreed upon funds to Lion (because we both trust him). Lion sends me a PM or email confirming receipt of funds. I mail the package to Ray. Ray sends Lion and me a PM or email confirming receipt of the package. Lion transfers the funds to me. I send Lion and Ray a PM or email confirming receipt of funds. Transaction complete. Spreadsheet gets updated with sender, receiver names, transaction amount, transaction ids (which doubting Thomas' can use to verify legitimacy of transaction on the blockchain) and item(s) sold.
Like I said, this is only an idea that I am proposing for discussion. Any ideas and comments are more than welcome.
Nice idea , does anyone know of some free or low price classified ad type sites that we could setup to help get this started. One that requires little maintenance on our part.
Also would like to expand on your thought Steve, and add some type of Listings for Yard Sales or Bazaars where people will accept Zeitcoins in exchange for items or services. For them since they will be dealing with each other face to face , if they provide a wifi access or meet in a public place that provides wifi, then someone with a laptop could pay them right at the moment of exchange. Next Year after we get our android wallet , it would be even easier.
Some type of Escrow service would have to be setup for any exchanges not in person, does anyone know of any companies or individuals who currently offer this type of service?
Or any other ideas that might work in place of an escrow service?
we will be in touch