Bitcoin Forum

Can anyone inform me on the safest/best way to buy Bitcoin?

If you're in the US, coinbase is a decent enough.  I also hear bitstamp is good.

If you don't want to use exchanges, you can try localbitcoins.com and find people in your area who are selling them for cash

But whatever you do, do not use PayPal.

BTCquick, Coinbase, localbitcoins, are 3 I have used before.  You can also try doing it on this forum, if you'd like.

If you are located anywhere near Chicago, I'll meet up with you and sell you some.

Sounds obvious, but definitely only buy from established sellers on sites like localbitcoins, even if it costs a little more - it can be very difficult to get your money back.

Bitstamp is very good.

complete noob here to . i bought 2.9bitcoins  on coinbase this morning.

it was very easy but they have to either log into your bank for instant or deposit / withdraw which takes a few days.

its still gonna take a few days for the transfer to complete .

kinda sucks i was ready to get in on a group buy for some usb sticks.

Could have sent me the cash (Western Union? MoneyGram? Express Mail?) and the bitcoins would have been sent within a few seconds of me receiving the cash.

Coinbase.com

I tried localbitcoin today for the first time. It only takes under 2 minutes for the whole process. Once I sent the payment to the person, I got the bitcoin within seconds.

safest? probably coinbase. best? P2P for localbitcoins. IMO of course!

guess i should have posted here first lol .

Do you saying you have to give them access to your internet banking ? Is it ever legal what they request?

they had two options from what i could tell.

let them log into your banking account for instant access.
let them do some small transactions ( like paypal did when i signed up) . they don't need to login to your account if you use this option.

i'm sure better options exist if that makes you a bit paranoid .

You actually have to let them log in to your bank account? That's not asking for trouble at all!

I've always used Localbitcoins.com

But you should enable the escrow and buy only from sellers with good reputation.

I use coinbase.

i like to do it p2p -- after all, that is what bitcoin is!!!  :)

lots of offers in the marketplace, that is where i will go when i want to buy some more crypto-coins.  8)

What if your payment method?
If bank wire, try an exchange like bitstamp, mt.gox and so on ....

Cash: localbitcoins.com

I trade on BTC-E.  getting money on there -- good luck.  ;)

i like to do p2p with someone i trust. that is the easiest way. it helps to have friends that always have btc though.  :)

If you meet in person, escrow is unnecessary. If they point a gun at your head, you will give them your coin, escrowed or not.

that's why you should bring "Friends"

I used Coinbase for my first purchase. It was a smooth transaction.

In my opinion coinbase is the best!

I bring friends with me everywhere I go.

(although it has been explained to me that some of them are "imaginary")

The Safest way is to buy using blockchain.info. I heard you can buy directly in the wallet. That's what i know. They use some third party gateway to accept payment from usa.

So, you can buy easily with them.

I usually buy my bitcoins at Bitstamp.

Surprisingly, Bitcoins are trading there at about 10% lower than at MtGox, the most wellknown exchange. (So for selling I would consider MtGox rather than Bitstamp.) Furthermore, at Bitstamp, fees are lower and validation is less complicated than at MtGox.

I recommend to have more than one option for buying or selling bitcoins, because exchange sites are occasionally down.

Mt. Gox is becoming insolvent. They have no U.S. funds anymore, I would be careful. Withdrawals haven't worked for over a month.

I would like to recomend you btc-e i dident try it but my friend tried it and he sayed that it worked just perfect.

Why did you just quote the exact same thing he just said? It isn't changed, right? If you change a quote, bold/underline what you change, to make it obvious :)

To be honest, the best way to buy Bitcoin is with a physical item on Bitcointalk. It seems like it'll take a while, but it'll work. Maybe a gram of gold, or a gift card. Just let people choose what they want.