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Board Beginners & Help
Re: I'm selling BTC through PayPal!
by
JeremyTrice
on 05/09/2011, 23:30:31 UTC
I hate to be a wet blanket, but you do know that selling BTC through PayPal violates their acceptable use policy https://cms.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&content_ID=ua/AcceptableUse_full. See Sec. 3(f) prohibiting currency exchanges. Although not everyone feels that BTC meets the definition of currency, PayPal feels that it's close enough to violate their policy.

That's a rational remark, but consider the following:

1) Bitcoin is not a currency (or at least it's matter of dispute).

2)I am not selling Bitcoins, I am selling a position in a Hall of Fame. The fact that belonging to this Hall of Fame implies that Bitcoins had been sent does not make that I am selling Bitcoins. This is not a retoric recourse to bypass Paypal's policies. On the contrary, it clearly states the service I am offering and what the client is paying for. Since the block chain and all the Bitcoin's formalities cannot serve as evidence for Paypal, I have to give a similar service, both easy to explain to newcomers and equally secure for experienced clients.

3) Someone could cite that Coinpal used to sell Bitcoins and now its account is frozen (or even closed). But my service is not the same. Consider the following example:
Instead of belonging to a "Hall of Fame" imagine that I'm selling "pixels" in a "Hall of Fame" (people pay for some pixels in a "privileged" space). Does it sound familiar? It was the Million Dollar Homepage, which Paypal used to accept.

With that I mean that what will happen is not clear, but I have ways to get scammers away and to prove that my service complies with Paypal terms of service. Anyway, the worst that can happen to you as clients is to receive an error message like "This merchant's account is no longer available", so take advantage while it is online, I'll handle the rest  Smiley

Yeah I actually considered doing something similar to this.  The thing is you're kind of in a lose/lose situation.  If paypal doesn't accept your premise, your account is frozen.  If they do accept your premise than you've just created a model for anyone to duplicate.  That being said.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  Good Luck