I got an order for a #HestiaPi kit today. The payment processing fee was $4.07. According to bitcoinfees[.]net, the payment processing fee would have been somewhere between $0.27 and $0.91 if it was made on-chain.

Honestly, this doesn't seem like that big of a difference. Sure, it could have been $3 cheaper, but on a $120 thermostat, that's not a huge deal.

Adding in the fee to Tindie, we're now up to just over $10 for them to host the website, deal with the order tracking, email me when an order comes in, emailing the buying when it ships, and so on. Also, Tindie has way more people looking at it than any Bitcoin or Monero marketplace. Plus, people feel more comfortable if there's a company inbetween them and the buyer so they have someone to turn to if they get ripped off. Whether that's justified or not doesn't really matter.

Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer a p2p based system with a mediator that only steps in if there is a dispute. I'd also prefer to be paid in Bitcoin on Monero.

OpenBazaar had this (at least for Bitcoin, not sure about Monero), but it never caught on. Perhaps they were too early? Heck, it might still be too early now. I'd be happy to pay a fee to the platform to host all this, just like I do with Tindie. It'd be a valuable service and they deserve to get paid for providing it. **sigh** Maybe someday...