Gumtree doesn’t recognize bitcoin as real money

UK-based classifieds site Gumtree continued to show that it doesn’t recognize bitcoin as a real currency when it suspended a user’s account yesterday, the Merkle reports.

The suspension came after the user posted an ad asking for bitcoin as payment for a book.

Gumtree has, in the past, taken similar actions against users asking for bitcoin as payment. Last year, a user’s ad was removed because he was willing to accept bitcoin for the Wimbledon tickets he posted for sale

The user whose account was suspended yesterday uploaded on Reddit an image of the email he received from Gumtree. Comments from other Reddit users on that thread expressed similar complaints about Gumtree and its stance on bitcoin.

Gumtree customer service representative Pierre stated in a chat with a user last year, “We only allow real money and this is the reason why bitcoin payments are not allowed.”

Nowhere in the site’s Terms of Service does it state that bitcoin isn’t allowed, resulting in one-off cases where users have to rely on customer service explanations to understand Gumtree’s position. However, Gumtree is owned by eBay, which also doesn’t allow bitcoin. The community speculates this is why Gumtree has such an unclear stance on the cryptocurrency (eBay also owns payment processor giant PayPal).

One Redditor commented that, after having their own ad removed due to bitcoin, they posted on Reddit, where someone else was able to speak to the same Gumtree service rep:

“I posted a thread on here and someone went on live chat and showed them the thread. We both spoke to the same guy and then eventually he seemed to realise that it was allowed.”

Nevertheless, the continuing removal of ads that mention bitcoin payments clearly shows this is something Gumtree is not alright with.

Image credit – Public domain image by Satoshi