Bitcoin Forum

What is the best way to buy bitcoins? and dont have to jump through hoops to get them.

bitinstant or mt gox?

yea mt gox got me confused... ill look into bitinstant

Local Bitcoins if you have anybody nearby. Check me out if you're in London - https://localbitcoins.com/ad/6912/buy-bitcoins-with-cash-sw8-1lt-united-kingdom

Online, Blockchain.info have really good customer service and was very easy to buy from the UK.

im a wee bit far from lonndon. im in the USA. in texas

So we got ourselves a regular cowboy huh ;D

Don't fancy a visit? I could sell you a fine bridge while you're here  ;)

Could you explain how the deal goes down? I'm not in London but have people local who are selling bitcoins. Is it just a case of handing over the cash and they transfer the money from their wallet to your wallet? What stops me from taking your computer and emptying your wallet?

far from being a cowboy... lol

why in the hell is it so dificult to buy bitcoins...

'Cause I ain't sellin' most of mine below $100... per millibitcoin. ;D

I bought mine here http://www.bitcoinspot.nl/bitonic.html with Ideal, which is a Dutch payment service. Probably as user friendly as it get (at this moment), but I bought at 64 dollar and paid 69... :-[ Next day it was 72 though.  :)

I meet in a public place (pub, cafe or whatever) and yes, they hand over the cash and I transfer the coins from my smartphone in an account which contains only the amount they're purchasing.

Thanks. Just deliberating whether to sell some stuff I don't use right now and buy bitcoins as a short/medium term investment.

In China, I buy Bitcoin on BTCChina.

As they say, only what you can afford to lose. That said, I'm still buying in for the time being. I think it's got a way to go before the next plateau, though there may be a dip or two on the way.

bitinnovate is good in australia. bought a few through them now.

I hear you man. It's stuff that I'd like to keep hold of ideally but it just isn't getting any use. What to do, what to do :)

Still useful if say a person was going to be in prison for a bit

I would say one way to go about it is to sell something for bitcoins, though lately nobody is too keen on spending bitcoins... guess VPN providers are profiting from the rising prices

+1 for localbitcoins.

I used bitinstant -> MtGox once by doing a WalMart Moneygram transfer into BitInstant.... Yeah, it only took an hour, but wow, those fees sure piled up on top of each other!

I'm considering trying https://www.bitcoinary.com/en/trades/public (https://www.bitcoinary.com/en/trades/public) next. Looks efficient.

I haven't witnessed this firsthand, but I heard on Free Talk Live that someone had a Bitcoin vending machine at the Liberty Forum in New Hampshire this year. You hold your phone up to the machine so it can scan your QR Code (presumably displayed through an app created by your online wallet host), insert cash into the machine, and it sends Bitcoin to your wallet. THAT has to be the easiest and quickest way I've heard of yet.

Unfortunately, these vending machines aren't all over the place yet, but if there was one at Liberty Forum, I would strongly speculate that there will be one at PorcFest this year (that's the Porcupine Freedom Festival held by the Free State Project in New Hampshire). Since I already have my motel room booked for PorcFest, it looks like I'll be loading up on Bitcoin if my speculation is correct.

"The best way to buy bitcoins is to buy them 4 years ago."
Vladimir.

Ha! Good one Vladimir.... let me go fire up the DeLorean. :-D

Alright, after considerable research I've found the answers you all seek and blogged about it here:

The best way to Buy Bitcoins (http://bitcoinfinger.wordpress.com/buying-bitcoins)

(Hint: I'm leaning towards BtcQuick now but everyone's situation is different.)

Enjoy!