> Bootstrapping such a marketplace is obviously difficult, since it's never safe to buy from someone without reputation but everybody starts without reputation - it might be possible to demand some proof-of-work-money to establish a marketplace identity, but I'm not sure where the money would go.
I think this is a sensible approach. The money (bitcoins) could simply be destroyed in a transaction associating an identity with the "burn". It would act as the equivalent of a fidelity bond, except the funds would not be recoverable. Perhaps it would make sense to only require this for new vendors, since the cost of a single "burn" for a vendor would be small compared to future revenue, but large for a potential customer, who might not know if they will ever use the service again.
I think this is a sensible approach. The money (bitcoins) could simply be destroyed in a transaction associating an identity with the "burn". It would act as the equivalent of a fidelity bond, except the funds would not be recoverable. Perhaps it would make sense to only require this for new vendors, since the cost of a single "burn" for a vendor would be small compared to future revenue, but large for a potential customer, who might not know if they will ever use the service again.