Quote from: pattim on January 08, 2018, 05:11:54 PM

I was looking at buying a miner with Btc - but I realized I have no guarantees at all about what I will get. You know, with Amazon there's that return guarantee and all, but there's nothing with bitcoin. If you order something, send the Btc, then don't receive the product, you can't ever get the Btc back - how do you know an online sale isn't actually a scam?

Thanks!
noob

You never know... If you're using crypto currencies to pay somebody, there is no way to cancel your transaction, there is no central authority to reimburse you if things go south... That's basically both one of the strongest features and one of the biggest problems for crypto's in online retail shops.

For the shop owner, it's a big pro, since he can eliminate the man in the middle, the fees used to be really cheap, transactions are broadcasted allmost instant and they used to be included in the blockchain in a matter of 5-10 minutes, there are no chargebacks, there are no country restrictions,... These pro's could (theoretically) allow a shop owner to add a smaller margin to their products...
For the buyer the pro's are not as big: theoretically, the products "could" be cheaper, you can invest in crypto's while using BTC as a payment method, you can avoid some taxes or country regulations,...

If you plan on using BTC as a payment method, you need to educate yourself about the shop you're shopping at BEFORE paying.