Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: gingerballs on June 30, 2013, 04:04 am
-
i just wanna make sure i have this all down before i actually make a physical transaction.
1. do you send an SMS to a 3rd party (localbitcoins)?
2. as i understand it, once you make a request for an exchange, the buyer is given a verify code and the seller is given a release code. when you meet up, and cash is exchanged, the seller sends an SMS to release the bitcoins from his/her wallet to yours. the 3rd party (localbitcoins) then releases the funds into the buyer's wallet, and provides the seller with the verify code. if it matches the buyer's verify code, that assures the buyer that the BTC were sent to his wallet.
3. i may be paranoid, but do i exchange my phone number via localbitcoins.. or should i just tell him a time and place to meet? i would like to keep my phone private, but i don't really think there's a way around this.
4. is there any way to vet the guy im going to buy from? he has 0 feedback, probably because he does all in-person exchanges.. besides that, there's really no way for me to know that he's not some psycho who plans on robbing me. i don't think there's even a way for me to check how long an account has been active (imo that would be pretty useful to me.. the longer an account has remained on the site, the better).
-
1. do you send an SMS to a 3rd party (localbitcoins)?
Nope. Never. If you provide your SMS number to the LBC site it's kept private and secret there. You don't ever need to send any texts to LBC. It's there for receiving texts only at the close of every successful trade.
2. ...the 3rd party (localbitcoins) then releases the funds into the buyer's wallet, and provides the seller with the verify code. if it matches the buyer's verify code, that assures the buyer that the BTC were sent to his wallet.
After funding the trade the seller can release the coins any way they want (computer or text). If you provide your cell# to LBC then you'll receive a text with your own secret verify code when the coins are in your LBC holding wallet. You should also make sure you're logged in to LBC to make sure you can check your balance there after the trade is done.
3. ...i would like to keep my phone private, but i don't really think there's a way around this.
Sure there is: don't tell the guy your cell#! ;D Just arrange a time and place to meet while on LBC and meet there. That's it. No exchange of numbers needed.
4. is there any way to vet the guy im going to buy from? he has 0 feedback...
Yes. Don't trade with people who have 0 feedback. ::) The whole point of using LBC is for the feedback. If the seller doesn't have any you should steer clear. If you weren't using it for SR purposes then you could take a chance. Otherwise not.
-
thanks for the reply.. the problem is that people who do in-person transactions don't get feedback. he could be legit, but it's just that he doesn't go through the escrow system.. that's my problem. i have no way of knowing, since the site doesn't allow you to give feedback based on in-person transactions (at least this is what i'm led to believe).
-
Uh.... you are 100% off on the way LBC operates. :o The whole purpose of meeting up to conduct a trade is to leave each other mutual positive feedback!!! You don't need to use escrow. That's only for non-face to face trades (like on SR). You just go through the LBC system. The seller funds the transaction before meeting you. Then he releases the coins into your LBC holding wallet after you hand him your cash. I've made a number of posts about this. Search for them. Just do a small trade and you'll see what I mean.