theblacksquid/pseudo-nodes.md

## pseudo-nodes.md

      
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              pseudo-nodes.md
            
          
    Buyer-Only OpenBazaar Front-End

Problem:

Our current implementation of OpenBazaar requires both Buyers and sellers to have a full node running. Though this might make sense for for sellers to have a node up to guarantee full exposure to OB's network, it might not make sense for a casual buyer to have to download a desktop application in order to buy online, because there are already existing marketplaces for that (except for smartphone users, for whom every little thing is an app on your phone).
/u/alphamystic007 said on the subreddit :  "... can my online store use openbazaar as a backend while keeping my frontend the same?"
And while @SamPatt has given a very good answer on how to kind of implement that, the prospective buyer would still need to have the full OB client on their PC before hand. That's not necesarily a bad thing, but being a market at its beta stages, its highly unlikely that the buyer would have the full client (or the patience to download one.).
Possible solution:

Build a standalone "pseudo-node" that creates an instance of itself whenever a buyer visits the seller's own website and goes to their "Store" section. This node would only have access to the seller's own OB market (node), but still has the full protection offered by OB's multi-sig escrow and dispute resolution process.
Scope and Limitation:

This is written under the assumption that the seller has his/her own website, and has full access to the website's code, with the full OB daemon installed and running on the server. This solution alone does not provide the buyer with the ability to utilize the entire OpenBazaar network, though this may be made possible using this solution, paired with the already-existing OB search engines.

This falls under the "External Comms" described in @drwasho's OBMP proposal
Implementation:

The pseudo-node would need to be able to do (but is not limited to) the following:


Communicate with the seller's OB server in an encrypted way (with certain restrictions for security purposes.)


View the item/service listings in a human friendly way.


Create One-time signatures for the buyer, to be included in the receipt the buyer receives after placing and paying for their order. (there has to be a way to do this w/o the seller having access to said keys, possibly a downloadable txt file created in-browser)


Be able to use the seller's OB instance to automatically connect to notaries and arbiters in the network to notarize the contract, create the escrow address and (hopefully it doesnt come up to) dispute resolution.


Provide an interface for buyers to open an inquiry or dispute if problems arise from the purchase (using the one-time signatures mentioned above)


All the above is theoretically possible in .js as it can run natively on the buyer's browser, and generating sensitive info like signing keys and one-time signatures are independent of the server. (One of the reasons why I am reluctantly learning how to use javascript.)
Use Cases & Benefits


Buyers will have more places to spend their bitcoins (and other cryptocurrencies), raising awareness about Bitcoin and the entire decentralization movement,


Sellers with an existing customer base can offer to take bitcoin as a payment method, and provide their customers with a better form of consumer protection.


There is a possibility that once this is built and the entire project has reached a critical mass, entire eCommerce platforms might make their listings available on the OB network (Still a pipe dream in the current state of things, though).


And there, there's my several cents and a smattering of my gray matter. Any input is appreciated.