BitBoost Marketplace is designed for physical goods, similar to Etsy or eBay. It is not intended to be a blockchain-based version of iTunes or an app store. Some merchants may try to use it this way, but the marketplace was not designed with the hosting and other protections necessary for listing digital downloads.

We sometimes get questions from sellers along the following lines:

‘I’m interested in selling digital goods, created by myself, such as music and ebooks. Will there be some kind of hosting mechanism where I upload the content, perhaps have some blockchain licencing attached, and then sell directly through BitBoost? Or is there some kind of third party you can recommend to do that?’

While marketplaces for digital and physical goods appear superficially similar, they require very different functionality. BitBoost’s solution is not designed to support digital downloads.

Features designed and crafted just for physical items.

When a user buys a physical item, the seller receives the funds, takes the item from their own inventory, and ships it to the destination address. BitBoost plays no part in this process, other than to provide the software that connects buyer and seller directly.

A digital store that sells music downloads, ebooks, and apps is a very different kind of system. The store has to provide hosting for the third party content. They also have to protect it from being copied and distributed more widely. This means implementing a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system – a whole other level of functionality and complexity.

So, while it is technically possible for merchants to sell digital items on the BitBoost Marketplace – by simply sending a digital file to buyers – we do not advise it. There is no way to prevent users from copying downloads and distributing them more widely. The same is true of selling services. Our system is not designed to ensure that services are delivered as promised, not in the same way that we can facilitate the delivery of physical items and verify they meet expectations.

To reiterate: our focus is on physical goods. Our escrow and arbitration systems are built for this use case. Use of the marketplace for other types of products or services is very much at the buyer’s/seller’s own risk!