b) is ripple (I already commented about it in this thread) - it really is amazing technology that I hope becomes mainstream. It solves a lot of the major problems of BTC and other Altcoins.
No, the ripple protocol and ledger are decentralized. The aspects which are more "centralized" than bitcoin are the XRP distribution scheme (with OpenCoin/Ripple Labs initially owning 100%), and that ledger consensus relies on a hardcoded list of validator nodes (unique node list aka UNL), rather than proof-of-work.
Redemption of IOUs is still a centralized process - you can only redeem IOUs through the issuing gateway. So the difference on ripple is that the order book for trading the IOU is decentralized, and the IOUs can freely circulate. For example, you can't send mtgox USD to another mtgox user (this used to be possible, but mtgox removed their "mtgox codes" feature). But you can do this on bitstamp, because bitstamp is a ripple gateway that issues USD IOUs.
No, the Ripple ledger is not decentralized in any meaningful way. The ledger consensus is entirely decided on by a cluster of nodes explicitly approved by OpenCoin Inc (and in many cases run by them too). There is no way for any non-approved node to influence their ledger consensus; all non-OpenCoin nodes can do is double-check the ledger agreed on by the OpenCoin nodes.
In practice this means that they can freeze arbitrary coins and accounts and there's nothing anyone can do about it. What's more, unlike in Bitcoin it has protocol-mandated fees that are effectively paid to OpenCoin Inc (they have to be paid using XRP which is then destroyed, and the only source of new XRP is OpenCoin Inc) - and those fees are set as part of the ledger consensus. So if it takes off they can ramp up the fees they charge to use Ripple arbitrarily and no-one can do anything about it.
Anyone can run a validator node, and you have total control over your own UNL (usually published as ripple.txt). It is true that the current network of validator nodes isn't very diverse, but rippled has only been open source a couple of months. That will change as more gateways come online (e.g. the xrptalk validator node has snapswap in its UNL, as you can see https://xrptalk.org/ripple.txt).
OpenCoin/Ripple Labs can't steal funds at any account (unless they have the private keys to that account). They could attempt to freeze an arbitrary account by ignoring any broadcasted transactions associated with that account, and only voting on candidate sets which don't include them. But that would be noticeable, as the transactions would get stuck in the candidate sets of all the honest nodes. If there are enough honest nodes with overlapping UNL's, then the Ripple Labs nodes would have to accept it, or be split/forked from the network.
The paid transaction fees are destroyed, so they are effectively paid to all XRP holders, in proportion to their holdings. This is actually similar to the proof-of-stake scheme in ppcoin.
Also, the base fee gets changed by upgrading rippled. There is a pseudo-transaction associated with changing the base fee and the minimum reserve, but these pseudo-transactions are used to prevent the network from agreeing to a fee change (or implementation of new features) until enough validator nodes have the upgraded ripple (upgraded nodes will "vote" on the fee change).
There is a fixed/finite amount of XRP, just like there is a fixed amount of BTC.
The Ripple protocol destroys negligibly small amounts of XRP with each transaction as an "anti-transaction SPAM" measure. It's a negligible amount of money. This anti-SPAM fee currently equates to about $0.0000001 per transaction. If you hypothetically applied that fee to every single bitcoin transaction that has ever occurred, it would total a whopping $2.64. [1]
It's pretty misleading to suggest that fees are "effectively paid to" Ripple Labs (formerly Opencoin) as if it's some greedy scheme. It's actually quite an elegant design to protect the Ripple network from DDOS attacks.
Yes, this does very incrementally benefit ALL holders of XRP, since it has the effect of decreasing supply. And yes, Ripple Labs is the largest holder of XRP.
But no one is laughing their way to the bank collecting some sneaky fees....
I'd argue that Altcoins can definitely become a store of value regardless of Bitcoins network effect.
Check out http://ripple.com - they pretty much solve this problem, although its VERY beta. Expect really cool things from them in ~6 months.
Ripple is fiat agnostic and allows seamless conversion between currencies. This means I can buy something in Yen and you can receive payment in LTC. Amazing system if it gets up and running.
I looked through the site and watched the video - I think you don't handle the logistics of it?
One of the things that most appealed about Sold is that they send you a box, you put the thing in it, and that's it. For me, that's the biggest pain point.
We have a different system - but yes, we do help with that.
Instead of sending a box, we automatically purchase a shipping label for your item using the shipment method of your choice (USPS, UPS, FedEx). The shipping label already has the address of the buyer and everything filled out.
All you need to do is drop off the package (we'll show you the closest shipping locations).
From there we automatically track the package and show both the buyer & seller realtime updates of the package location & delivery.
We're calling this service "ShipSimple" and it's bundled into the overarching SellSimple platform.
The ShipSimple feature will be released in version 1.4 (coming very soon).
Nice! But I didn't get that information by looking at your site (as apparently parent didn't either), so you might want to look into that. And while you are at it, where do I find more information about the process, about the company behind it, the provisions,...? Other than that, nice concept.
Really interesting article - I doubt she will hold "the key" to practical immortality, but researching her case may allow us to reverse engineer one or more of the many processes that contribute to aging.
I recently wrote a blog post on practical immortality that presents several arguments for age being a curable disease, and breaks down the things we'd need to do to cure the disease of age.
It looks like what Ribbon submitted to the Twitter validator was a video using the "player" card: http://cl.ly/image/2R2i1J302Z2g
The player card is designed to handle embedding videos, which is what Ribbon initially showed, however when they launched their new feature they morphed the embedding options to display a custom in-stream purchase button / unit.
In reality, they should have just used a 'product' card (granted, they would not have the added ability to purchase in stream - it would need to link back to their website).
Using the player card was a pretty clever way to get the payments to happen directly on twitter, but it seems that it bent too many of their rules. They'll probably just have to use the product card like everyone else.
Spot on. It was a bait and switch and violation of TOS.
Chirpify has been enabling in-stream commerce and payments on Twitter for over a year now. Also in-stream on Instagram and Facebook. No TOS violations http://chirpify.com
Interesting to see this move by eBay - we've found that high fees for casual sellers is a huge pain point. By focusing their fee structure towards power-sellers they also happen to be alienating a large group of casual sellers.
We're trying to solve this problem (among others) with our product SellSimple. Free app, free postings, and 5% if it sells.
What are you doing for fraud? I can tell you from (too much) experience that as soon as you gain any traction in being the "broker" between parties in transactions, you will become a magnet for a non-stop, cat-and-mouse, painful game of fraud.
After years of fighting and with a dedicated team, eBay is still losing that battle.
And, as the "conduit" for this fraud, you will be blamed by both buyers and sellers, which is obviously no good for your brand.
Not to be negative, but fraud can literally put you out of business.
Totally valid points and it's something we're building for everyday.
We've already encountered a bunch of fraud early when our system was less developed. Luckily we caught all of those and have had time to grow / build a plan of attack.
We'll never be able to eliminate fraud - but we can make it a pain in the a for a black-hatter to use SellSimple over the hundreds of alternative places.
Few ways:
1. Escrow via Balanced
2. Shipment Purchasing, Tracking & Confirmation all in-app.
3. QR code scanning to release payments for meetups.
4. Verified sellers.
5. Fraud API's - https://siftscience.com/ & https://www.signifyd.com/
If they do get passed all of the systems, there is still large chance they screwed up somewhere and it will be pretty obvious to us what happened. That said - its an uphill battle.
Good to see that you're trying to get out ahead of it. It's unfortunate because as a small startup, you'd rather put your time into building the business.
But, fraudsters are relentless and they come in waves. You beat them back, all goes silent, then they come back with a vengeance. It never stops and they are inventive. Much of the fraud comes from outside the U.S. as well (China-big time in our experience), so there's virtually zero chance of prosecution. So, these guys have nothing to lose and everything to gain. If they get busted, they just don't get their money. It's all upside for them.
BTW, I used to think that raising the bar so they'll go elsewhere would be sufficient. It definitely helps, but it's not how it works. If there is any opportunity, there will be parties who persistently work you to find it, such that it will be a constant fight for you.
In any event, you are right that you will most likely be able to detect them at some point. It's just the cost/time involved and the damage to your brand/customers as they keep changing tactics. One thing you should assume is that whatever you put in place, they will defeat at some point. It is guaranteed.
Finally, services like siftscience also help, but they tend to just raise the signal and/or help you to corroborate suspicions. It can still take quite a bit of effort and invariably human interaction to interpret those signals.
Not that it can't be done. Just encouraging you to brace yourself for the fight ahead. While you may be starting out to build a marketplace, you will likely find that you spend more time in the fraud-detection business.
But why does someone have to sign-in to buy? That is a major turn-off. I can't use something that people need to register an account for to buy. Just take a CC and shipping info and pass it to me.
Seems to be a fraud deterrent. I once had an eBay listing that was "purchased" by a Nigerian scammer. Buyers need to have a reputation system as well in a viable eBay replacement.
Yup - I think from a technical aspect we could totally have a user purchase before creating an account / signing in, however this limits us when it comes to dealing with fraud as well as brings up problems with the escrow system.
Since all payments enter escrow, without an account, the buyer can't release the payment to the seller.
No Bitcoins yet - but it's definitely something I'm personally interested in and when the time is right would consider implementing. Still a bunch of un-tested use cases IMHO.
Right now we're using Balanced (awesome product - http://balancedpayments.com) to process payments & escrow funds.
Do you know of any API's that are similar to Balanced but for Bitcoins?
Few ways currently, and more to come in the next few months. Basically:
1. Sharing your listing on social networks (good, not great for driving traffic).
2. Ability to list on multiple marketplaces, so you don't NEED to sell it through SellSimple - you can still list it on ebay, craigslist, etsy, etc. If it sells on one of those marketplaces, we'll auto-delete your item from SellSimple and all the other marketplaces. You're also not charged any SellSimple fee if it sells somewhere else.
3. Retention features on iOS - can't compare to eBays network, but downloads are growing quickly and users are buying items.
This is more a long-term strategy help to help us overcome chicken - egg. If we can exist long enough for that to happen through a free posting tool - we'll be able to (eventually) have enough traffic on our own listings to generate a high sell-through rate.
Your fees are 5%, eBay users will soon be charged 13% (including PayPal fee). So give your sellers the option to list on SellSimple for a price 5% less than eBay. For example, a $100 item on eBay would sell for $95 on your site.
Then in the ebay listing description add some key phrase like "Heyy Folks Be Quick" - the buyers will quickly learn that such a phrase means "get a 5% discount by making your purchase through SellSimple".
Your idea is against eBay's Link Policy[1] and eBay actively remove listings (and in some cases limit users ability to sell on eBay) as their Policy states if you link to non-eBay sites where other items are offered for sale.
Likewise, adding a phrase which may even suggest purchasing for less on another marketplace will probably lead to them editing or removing the listing from eBay as well.
If you are going to do that idea then, do it as a marketing campaign, not on eBay listings.
Cool, though I wouldn't use it because of the listing page. Your formatting is great for an image search if how the image looks was my only criteria I was looking for. But to find out the price, where it's shipping from, who's selling it, etc. I have to hover over each and every item, and that's rather daunting when it comes to hundreds of results.
I'd really want to be able to scan over hundreds of results in seconds. Not tediously hover over each and every result to see what it's worth. It takes too long.
looks like a good product, downloading now - always willing to try a sales competitor! quick typo in your App Store update description, though! separate. anyone have an easy mnemonic for that?
Limited to US only for now - our main limitation is on the payment processing / bank account side. Once our processor (balanced) is ready for international payments we should be able to jump in pretty quickly (they're working hard on it now - hopefully its ready soon!)
Seeking Freelancer - Rails Developer (Los Angeles or Remote)
Our IOS app / website is getting ready for beta launch in the next week and we're looking for a rails developer to join our existing team.
Your job would be to further build out our backend, help manage / scale server side, and also possibly do some front-end web work.
This would start as a freelance job, although ideally would turn full-time if your work is high quality.
We're using:
- Ruby on Rails 3 (3.1)
- Memcached
- Redis and Resque
- Heroku
- Amazon AWS
- PostgreSQL
This could be a really exciting opportunity - we're growing pretty fast, have some powerful / celebrity investors, and a street team of 50+ waiting & ready to go.
If you're in LA we have an awesome office in West Hollywood you can work from - but remote works as well as long as you can communicate daily via Skype / BaseCamp.
Shoot an email to Julian@novacorp.us with some info (website, blog, github, etc.) and we can chat to see if you'd be a good fit.
- J