Bitcoin Forum

I'm thinking about buying .01 btc to test my new wallet.

No, ebay and paypal does not allow currency exchange, it's risky even if you find a willing seller.

0.01 btc is like 1 usd.
Even if it was risky to buy on ebay, why would you even care for 1 usd?!!

Huh.

Agreed.

But honestly I'd recommend using one of the exchanges like MtGox. Thus far they are safer, though a bit slower. The problem is that as far as I know both eBay and Paypal forbid cryptocurrency exchanging in their ToS. This forum is full of stories by people getting their paypal accounts frozen over it.

Or just take a look at stuff like coinworker or tasks4dollars. 0.01 BTC are made there quite quick.

Buying is legit. Selling is a NIGHTMARE.

I used localbitcoins.com
which was a link i got from the Newbie FAQ on this forum :0)

it was very painless.
I setup an account.
Picked someone with a good rep and the same bank as me
tranferrred them money, waited about an hour.
got bitcoins in my localbitcoins wallet
then i sent them from there to my computer wallet.

one thing i have noticed which doesn't jump out at you is transferring bitcoins is not instant.
mine took about 3 hours to confirm.
You can pay a fee (it's under settings, main, Pay transaction Fee) and then it goes much faster but if i wanted to pay banking fees i'd just use a bank.

who gets those transaction fees anyway?

Transaction fees go to the miners who confirm your transaction. If you don't include a fee your transaction is rejected automagically by most miners, thus it takes a lot longer to confirm.

Buying from ebay can be risky if the staff catch you.

What are they going to do, return your money?

lots of people are selling them there

No just suspend your Paypal account

I haven't bought bitcoins off ebay. But in the beginning I sold. and I learned the hard way. Esp when about 19 chargebacks popped up.  I even went as far as to go and ship out the bitcoin in paper form..like a bitcoin bill/voucher.  and most of the chargebacks went in my favor. Or so I thought, turns out the creditcard company can still counteract that too and they take the side of the buyer. I lost out because I am not a miner, I purchased the bitcoins and then jacked the price up on ebay.  but again. Lesson learned!    a hard hard lesson.

That sounds like a serious lesson. As I said ebay isn't a good place to sell or purchase bitcoin.

Really shows you how strong of a grip PayPal have on all online transactions. They essentially brought down any competition before Bitcoin started and now we are left with this.

There is no free lunch in this world.  The block subsidy will continue to decline (as there is a limit on max number of Bitcoins) and fees will play an increased role in suporting the cost of running the network.

Let me know when your bank allows you to wire an unlimited amount of money anywhere in the world in an hour with a cost of $0.01 or less. :)

i am not sure, paypal is not bitcoin friendly, may be they fear that it is gonna take over them

Yeah, they consider it as another currency and currency exchanges aren't allowed in Paypal.

I'd be careful selling any irreversible currency for a reversible payment. Seems like a no brainer to me.

It actually is. Pretty simple stuff here.

ebay is very anti-bitcoin. there is a thread on reddit somewhere where someone was selling mining equipment, not bitcoins, but computer hardware, and the auction got shut down.

yeah, its apparent that you don't want to sell just a bitcoin..by sending it to a bitcoin address.  you need to have it on paper form like a currency voucher to prove you shipped something...BUT that's not even working now. so it wouldn't matter what the item is.   And be careful, there are people hijacking other peoples paypal account and paying that way.

I would say no there are a couple instances that I can remember of ebay canceling listing selling bitcoin related anything as well as freezing others' paypal accounts

I don't recommend it personally, the price premium and time it takes doesn't seem like it is worth it.

No. Be careful out there. Try buying from an actual exchange.

Seller, yes. Buyer, I've not heard of that happening.
Know anyone who had their account suspended for buying?

Suppose to suspend seller , buyer don realy have to know much .

No, I believe ebay does not allow currency exchange.. Will check into though.

Well if you sell paper wallets and ship them to your customer then maybe.

Not much point. There are sites (bitbargain for example) which store money in escrow and ensure the btc is sent before taking money from you. It's very safe and you loose about £2  -£3 in the process which is comparable to what you might have to pay to get them on ebay if not less. Payments are done using Barclays pingit, bank draft or natwest pay your contact (similar to pingit).

I bought 0.1 BTC on ebay and it was a fairly smooth transaction.  Not sure that I'd do it again - I was just wanted something to get me started.  I'd agree with other posts and use a proper exchange next time.

+1 Selling is risky, but buying small amounts from reputable sellers is fairly simple.

+1 Buying local is always the best if feasible.

Buy locally or with other users rather than ebay. Ebay is reallly sketchy when it comes to these "Currency" Transactions

Never buy BTC on ebay

No one is more qualified than you are to decide how you live; no one should be able to vote on what you do with your time and your potential unless you invite them to.

You might get away with it if you happen to find an honest seller, but it's generally a very bad idea. The potential for being scammed is extremely high.

It is legit. But you know that, paypal is risky processors. Scammers will buy bitcoin and will return their paypal money using dispute. So be careful.

It is a bit safer for the buyer, although the huge premium you will pay isn't worth it.
Selling Bitcoins on eBay is a very bad idea though, as there are many scammers using stolen credit cards and hacked PP accounts. Also, just because the buyer has a high amount of feedback doesn't make it legit. Ebay accounts can easily be bought on many forums and then used for various scammy purposes.

Some are still legit but most are scam.