P2P Virtual Currency Exchange Launches

miller60 writes "In the wake of eBay's decision to halt auctions of virtual property, new companies are entering the market to fill the void, including one allowing gamers to trade game currency directly with one another rather than buying from IGE or other exchanges. The company, Sparter, says this eBay-like "peer-to-peer" approach will result in lower prices as sellers compete. It incorporates a reputation system and escrow for gold delivery. Sparter received venture funding from Bessemer Capital, signaling that VCs still see opportunity in the virtual economy, even if eBay doesn't."

woohoo

[Romwell]

Common sense vs. stupid laws - 1:0

Re:woohoo

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh no, stupid laws haven't lost by a long shot. From what I've seen about tax law, the next step is to tax all item drops. When there is a functional selling space to trade items, then you can figure out a real-world fair market price for any random item in game. If the items can have an actual fair market value pinned to them, then the IRS has all the more power to tax them. They may go for taxing the items not when they are sold for real $, but when they are first "earned" in game. Above that, since the games are mostly dedicated to "grinding" to get those items, should Social Security and Medicare tax be paid on them as well?
If you want to read more, look into the crazy rules for Statutory, Non-Statutory, and Initial Stock Options. From those you can draw a pretty straight line to the endgame I've described.

Re:playerauctions.com

[jenxdigital]

There are at least 30 dirty jokes in that one sentence. And I don't think I've posted often enough to get away with any of them.