Bitcoin Forum

I am not a fan of Gox. Don't trust it, read too many bad things... so, what options are there? Please help me out, I will update the OP to be an up to date reference. If you know more about any of these sites or can explain better, post and I will try to keep the OP as accurate as possible.

**I am personally trying to buy some more bitcoins on our current discount sale, if there is a way to do so with Ca$h or credit, or instantly with a bank wire please let me know. I would rather not wait 3-4 days for my money to be available.


BTCTC Site .............how you can fund your account

Bitinstant   Currently allowing funds to MtGox or to a wallet, doesn't allow to wallet if gox is down
                      **When gox was down, will only send funds to a MTGOX account
                      (so they must send btc out of a gox account)
BTC-E     HAS  VISA & PAYPAL LOGO, can you fund with these? if so I don't see an option to do so.
                  BTC-E Codes (can you get these instantly for cash anywhere?)  
                 OKPAY ** (which doesn't accept USD)
                Bitinstant (which will only send funds to MTGOX)
               interkassa- not in English. I have a google translated page up, but haven't fine tooth combed it,
               ???anyone familiar with interkassa?
               Do they take USD, or credit cards as payment?
               Do they send bitstamp codes?

BitStamp Needs to be funded by bitstamp code

Vircurex funded through vouchX which is through AurumXchange  

Aurum Exchange-  you can't wire funds until account is verified  (I will update with how long my verification takes)

bitcoin-24.com - SEPA Bank wire (1-2 days)

localbitcoins.com


Bitfloor           takes cash deposits at Bank of America branches (in theory, I cant get their site open)

 Money transfer Sites


Dwolla-    Can wire funds with verified account, takes 3-4 days (in writing, not confirmed yet)


Interkassa- not in English. I have a google translated page up, but page is not english.
                    Anyone know the deal?
               I am not comfortable making a financial transaction in a language I don't know, so this is out for me.


Aurum Exchange-  you can't wire funds until account is verified  (I will update with how long my verification takes)

** Is there anywhere that you can buy bitcoin or codes/vouchers with paypal or visa?

** What main sites am I missing? (I know there are a bunch)



Feel free to add, correct etc.....I will update

Thanks
S.D.

Localbitcoins.com

Can I use MTGOX to move currency somewhere else to buy bitcoin and litecoin?


as in Bitinstant > MtGox> BTC-E   

will gox send a voucher or a code.... or can gox send USD to another of these sites?

good to know, how do you pay? In person?

bitcoin-24.com - SEPA Bank wire (1-2 days)

bitcoin-24.com - SEPA Bank wire (1-2 days)

The rather fucking annoying conclusion that I am coming to is that there is absolutely no fucking way to buy Bitcoins without already having money in an online bitcoin trading account and there is no way to fund an account in less than 3-4 days....rrrrrggh

If someone is able to explain an option that I am not aware of that is working now it would make me really happy. If it works I will send you a tip.

SD

The rather fucking annoying conclusion that I am coming to is that there is absolutely no fucking way to buy Bitcoins without already having money in an online bitcoin trading account and there is no way to fund an account in less than 3-4 days....rrrrrggh

If someone is able to explain an option that I am not aware of that is working now it would make me really happy. If it works I will send you a tip.

SD

Sometimes you can do it. On good days, Bitinstant can get dollars into your Mt Gox account, and LocalTill can get dollars into your Bitfloor account within about half an hour.

Unfortunately "good days" means the days in which demand is low, also known as "only on the days you don't desperately want to add dollars to your trading account right away".

Today just ins't a good day then.


Icing on the cake- MtGox froze my account for (failed login attempts)

I hate Gox. I hate it even more that it seems like we are being forced to do business there.
The MTGox monopoly has to go, it is against what Bitcoin stands for....

FYI... BitInstant allows depositing directly to a bitcoin address.  You don't have to deposit into gox.

It doesn't allow that option currently. Check it out.  When you go into the "pay to" box the ONLY option is MtGox

Dafuq?

The man does not lie:
http://puu.sh/2yiGx

It isn't even clear that the drop down is 'dropped' but it is.

I was wondering the same thing about BitInstant. WTF is up with the constant changing of what they can/can't or will/won't fund to?

Earlier today, it was MTGOX only.
Then there was an option for Bitcoin Address
Now it's back to MTGOX only.

What's up with that?

You can deposit to btc-e using your credit card by using the liqpay website/app. I heard that it usually only takes a few hours.

From their website: "With giropay you can instantly deposit from most banks in Germany Your deposit will be instantly available for trade on Bitcoin-24."

it is BULLSHIT. 

I snuck an order in yesterday but definitely didn't get it timed the way I wanted to get the price I wanted because I had to sit at my fucking computer refreshing for over an hour before a miraculous window of opportunity opened up to get some coins.

I am pissed at Bitinstant right now.  Spent a LOT of time researching other ways to fund BTC purchases.  I am not thrilled with the idea of having cash sitting in an account, especially with all the stories of gox and btw-e getting hacked... hence the appeal to BitInstant, especially when prices where going up so fast that it was worth getting fucked on the fees since it was better than waiting a week and getting coins at 2-3x the price.

Now it looks like I need to leave money somewhere. I am thinking btc-e since I like their trading options for litecoin and terra. Fuck Gox. I don't like the forced monopoly that has been created and Bitinstant forcing you to send money to gox as the only option to buy is FUCKING BULLSHIT.


Anyway, I'll stop venting, as I would like this thread to serve as a resource to people looking to buy.

Hit me with info people. Where else can you buy, what are the methods? Maybe this can become a sticky but at least it could be a great resource for people to save them from having to research 15 websites.

  /\
 /  \
/SD \

If it went to right to Bitcoin Address, then how would know what exchange rate you are getting?  They probably don't want to do this at the moment with the price being so volatile.

I guess OTC or buying local seem like the only really viable options to get btc quick.

This seams reasonable...

I also had another thought... if their (fiat) funds are in gox and they just do a market sell and send to address via the API then gox closing would also kill that option.

i have a blockchain.info wallet. it allows me to use bitinstant > mtgox > blockchain wallet. But mtgox and bit instant are down right now. i wouldnt want to use them to buy anyway cause their spot price is $124, while btc-e, bitstamp, and bitmit are $60.
You can always buy coinage on ebay for twice the price of spot.
Btc-e says they accept paypal buy i cant get it to work

liqpay is not an option right now, or I am a dumbass maybe both...

Bitinstant back to allowing purchase to wallet

You can try CampBX. They accept USPS money orders. You could overnight or 2nd day one down to them in Atlanta.

But I feel you. It's taken me a month to get stuff set up. I just spammed a bunch of different services (dwolla, different exchanges, verifications, blah, blah...).
It is all slow and expensive. The fiat to BTC link is ridiculous.
Right now I'm doing business on bitfinex. They are in Hong Kong and I'm just doing international wires. The cost sucks (like $30 a pop).
At least the wires are getting there in a day and a half.

once its BTC, tho, its all golden. fast and easy.

It's a convoluted process, but you can indirectly buy BTC with credit cards using Virwox:
https://www.virwox.com/

Basically, the process is deposit USD instantaneously through credit card using Skrill/Moneybookers. Exchange $ for SLL (Second Life Linden dollars). Exchange SLL for BTC. YMMV on what the final USD/BTC exchange rate will turn out to be.

**EDIT 4/21/2013: My credit card company (Citi in this case) charged a foreign transaction fee of around $2.50 for each payment using Skrill/Moneybookers. Seems that although Skrill has a NYC office, they are an international payment processor and as such are subject to the foreign transaction fee by some credit card companies. Citi wouldn't budge on this. I haven't tried instead using PayPal to fund the VirWox account, but that might be an option.**

The only catch is there's a daily and monthly credit card deposit limit in Virwox, but this increases over time.

You can get around the limits by buying SLL at any online retailer who accepts credit cards for SLL. The problem is the only way to transfer SLL to Virwox is through the in-game Virwox ATMs, and this functionality is only available once your character is more than 30 days old (it's free to download and install the game and create a character).
**EDIT again: Even after my character being 30 days old, the Second Life Risk API wouldn't let me deposit SLL into Virwox through the in-game ATMs. I emailed Virwox and they were able to manually put in an exception for me which allows me to deposit up to SLL 5000 per week.**

Told you it was convoluted.

One advantage of Bitcoin is that transfers are fast and cheap, while transfers in fiat currencies are much slower and/or expensive.

Ironically, that makes it frustrating to try to get into Bitcoin.

Coinbase.com is probably the fastest way.  Unfortunately, they have a system-wide daily limit, so you sometimes have to keep trying over and over for hours to sneak in a trade.  And they severely restrict how many you can buy.

BitInstant seems to be a fast way to get money to Mt.Gox, if you're willing to pay them a 3.99% fee, plus 3.95 to ZipZap, plus the 0.6% Mt.Gox exchange fee.  That's a lot of fees to pay, but when everything goes smoothly, you can have coins in less than an hour.  They also have limits on how much and often you can move money.

On the slow end, Dwolla is extremely inexpensive and seems to be reliable.  It works with multiple exchanges.  However, it takes a week.

uuhhhhhh wut?

Forgive me, as I am not a gamer, but are you saying that I have to get a video game, create a character (site says I have to link to avatar to join and then confirn as the avatar or some shit like that...), then I can buy bitcoins with a credit card or paypal.....

For realsies? You were not kidding about that being convoluted!!! How in the fuck can I explain that in a concise manner in the OP??



Ok, I got three free video game coupons with my mining rig, will any of these work?

Tomb Raider
BioShock infinte
Dirt Showdown

You only can use the game Second Life as SLL is that game's currency. Yeah, I don't play it either.

I think you can register on Virwox without a character name or you can just make it up, but I'm not sure.

TBH I more trust MtGox than any of those but that's just me.

IIRC, Bitcoin-24 can also be funded using Liqpay, which can in turn be funded using MasterCard.

Intersango and BTC-e for me.

I am mining LTC at the moment, and trading them for BTC on BTC-e. Then to my wallet, and finally to Intersango to be sold.

Gox pee'd me off in 2011, so I changed to a local exchange, that being Intersango.

Do all transfers on Localbitcoins go through Escrow. Could you tell me abit about the process from the moment I select a person I would like to trade from. i.e how I transfer the funds.

Thank you.

No, it's more like, you meet someone in person (face to face), hand them cash and they send coins.

Could you elaborate on the actual process of funding your account on Intersango? (so I can update the OP) I have not used that site before.

+1 to the overall intent of this thread!!  I agree, being mostly decentralized already on my own (very proud!)  I'm a supporter of bitcoin and the whole concept as it's inline with the way I like to be.
  Trying to get bitcoin from my perspective has been tougher than pulling teeth.  I was brought up being taught that I should never buy something I don't have money for.  Never got into loans ever; e.g I already don't use banks, CC etc.  It does seem odd that I must re-centralize to buy decentralized coin?
   I'll be watching the various avenues you find with interest.  Until I can find an option suitable I'm just trying to get into mining I guess.  It seems my only way, even though it will be much more costly at this point.

Why does it say Bank transfer on there though as a method of payment? I think face to face is only one of many options.

Yes, you can also buy online through the site, but I have never tried.

THIS (https://localbitcoins.com/faq#howto_buy) may answer a few more questions.

I was just about to put some money into the bitcoin-24.com account today then I see now their bank account was seized!

As a newbie trying to get money up on an exchange other than mtgox to buy some coins, I am very weary and lost as to where to begin. Thanks for this thread, its very helpful!

I found with localbitcoins, that the sellers were pretty unresponsive, especially during the price rise. They were all trying to get the biggest deals at the highest prices, leaving us little $2000-4000 buyers in the dust, no pun intended. Maybe now they are more eager, who knows?

I thought it would be a quicker, cheaper way to buy, too; but lost as much time waiting for these opportunists to not respond as I did crawling through the exchange sites trying to figure out how to transfer my USD to something the bitcoin world would accept.

I've bought 99% of my BTC on bitfloor with cash deposits--the money has always gotten into my account by the time I got home from the bank (BofA)-- and the branch is only 5 min away. Commissions are about 1-2%. 

BitInstant is having issues with deposits and sending funds...There are tons of people missing money right now::

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128314.5160

https://plus.google.com/communities/112177264311909940483#communities/112177264311909940483

www.BitinstantScam.com

Yeah I don't see any way to use liqpay with BTC-e, and bitcoin-24 had their bank account seized.

Anyone know of a way to use liqpay?

OP:  You are not alone in being frustrated,  but you should look at this as an opportunity.  I bet 80% of people just give up.  It's also why we see huge swings in BTC prices.

Suck it up and wire your funds into Gox.  You can always wire it back.  By the time all this becomes easy, the price will be a magnitude higher.

As far as security, setup two-factor authentication, and send your savings coins to a paper wallet.

I've also had luck with coinbase.com, but I've heard recently that they often run out of coins.  

I can vouch for this method. You lose money with some transfer fees, but it's definitely the fastest way to get Bitcoins in under 10 minutes if you already have a Second Life account.

The second fastest way is to sell goods and services in the market here...
Use Bitcoin for its intended use! Provide something to the community and be honest, and you'll EARN Bitcoins!

I forgot to mention BTCQuick.com
They are often out of stock, but they do accept credit cards through Google Checkout for BTC. You do have to go through a verification process that involves uploading a photo of your ID. The price is always a bit above the exchange that shall not be named, but I don't think it's unreasonable given the convenience. Their support is very good too. It sometimes takes a couple of days to get your bitcoins, but the price is locked in the moment you buy.

As for coinbase, I really wanted to like them but the only time I was actually able to place an order before they hit their daily limit it was rejected a few days later due to "suspicious activity"  ::) meanwhile my cash was tied up with them and I got to watch the price rise.

Regarding Virwox, I'd highly recommend starting a Second Life character today just so that you can add it as another option with higher limits once your 30-day wait passes.

You can withdraw to liqpay but you can't deposit with it unfortunately.
The onlly place I found that takes Visa is virwox.com and they limit you
to about $100 USD per day. Plus with virwox you need to transfer to
Linden dollars and then to BTC.  wtf?  more fees for them. 

Liqpay.com themselves take Visa but where do you spend the liqpay ?

Cavirtex.com

Go to meetup.com and find a local meetup group for bitcoins. They exist in most major cities. At the end of most meetups, it turns into a light form of an exchange floor, where you can buy or sell bitcoins.

You can deposit to btc-e with liqpay.. I've used it a couple of times. It's a manual process, contact btc-e support to get their phone number and then send money from your card to that phone number using liqpay (all liqpay accounts are phone numbers).. It's a bit of a pain because my bank always declines the charge and then I have to phone them and then do it again, but it does work eventually. Also btc-e processes the payments manually when they get around to it.. sometimes it happens very quickly (within a few hours) sometimes it takes a couple of days.

I haven't tried it, but liqpay also allows you to withdraw money directly *to* your credit card.. ie, once there is money in your liqpay account/phone number you can send it to your credit card (or anyone's credit card, actually). Apparently it doesn't work with some visa cards, but does with most so I don't think getting money out of liqpay is a problem.. probably easier than getting it in.

THANKS for all the replies everybody!

I will update the OP later on, a little busy right now!

SD

Have you been able to do this recently? The reason I ask is that they posted the following on 4/11:
"Deposit with LiqPay on stock exchange is not performed."
https://btc-e.com/news/135

It's still listed as an option.. email their support if you want to use it.. whether it's accepted or not changes frequently.. often their wallet is full and they can't accept any more funds.

I remember the good ol' days where you would have a dealer you trust and you'd just use paypal.

bump for good info

Hey, most orders are transferred within a few hours, I'm sorry if you have an issue.

True, we send Bitcoins from various exchanges.

Let me know how I can help

-Charlie

P.S. "Bitcoin Address and Bitcoin-to-email are enabled now."

well, i'm sure there are probably half a dozen or more shady exchanges that provide liqpay->perfect money services

alas, i have no experience with any of them