Bitcoin Forum

Well Coinpal has been down for a while, and Paypal is really bitchy in the business it does, exchanging currency via the internet, you guys know.

I am an honest person, but since sending money from paypal in exchange for BTC to other traders is a risky business for the Bitcoin supplier, as Paypal payments can be refunded, whereas Bitcoin cannot.

So, I have all the requirements to be a purchaser of bitcoin, except for the paypal ordeal.

To get to the point, I am a completely legitimate and honest person, but for financial reasons I do not have any other forms of electronic payment other than Paypal. How does someone with paypal-only go about making a trade that feels safe for both parties?

What I was thinking, was that I could find a highly-reputable BTC supplier, probably over BitcoinTalk, of course. Then I would then purchase, for example, a $125 Gift Card to ebay, and since eBay giftcards are not irreversible, I could send the giftcard to the supplier, and have them add those funds to their paypal account, or eBay, either way confirming that the giftcard is legitimate and is there's. Then, the supplier, now knowing well that I am a respectable customer, sends the bitcoin to my address and when I have received it, the trade is finished with a virtual handshake.

For a paypal to bitcoin trade though, the gift card would have more value in USD than it would in bitcoin, so the bitcoin supplier would actually be gaining some value from the trade, thus making the trade an even better investment. I have absolutely no problem with trading a $125 eBay giftcard for $118 worth of bitcoins.

Would this work? If I offered to send a gift card FIRST, that is worth more than the bitcoins you offer, would you engage in such a deal? I don't see why not as there is no risk factor involved.

(Hypothetical)

So, good plan or not?

Roger Ver with MemoryDealers.com is selling the Cascascius coins at his site for CC and Paypal:  http://www.memorydealers.com/bieq.html

I have done many paypal transactions and haven't been burned yet.
This is how I do mine...

• Agree on amount to be purchased and a purchase price via PM, board, email
• Buyer (verified paypal only) makes payment to sellers paypal account as gift payment
• After payment is confirmed received, partial BTC payment is sent to buyers wallet (5%-25% depending on purchasing amount)
• After payment clears from paypal to another account (3-4 business days), remainder sum of BTC is sent to purchasers wallet

Cost per BTC is greater than current ask/bid on the exchanges and a mining fee of 5%-10% is placed on top of total cost.

I hold a bank account for this purpose only and keep no money in it, paypal cannot request return of funds, and no cc's are tied to my paypal account. I've spoken with a friend at a local credit union and he informed me that it does not matter what was purchased, if you supply proof and agreement of purchase paypal has no recourse to return funds to the buyer. I keep all records of emails and board messages for 60 days.

No.

It works, but not because PayPal works. You are doing something that doesn't even have to involve PayPal.

You're buying a gift. Then selling the gift card. As long as neither paypal, nor ebay can cancel or withdraw funds from the account that the ebay giftcard goes to, this would be a viable transaction.

I don't think they would revoke the funds on the giftcard or account, but they would certainly go after the original buyer of the giftcard for bouncing a ~125 purchase.

If I were you, I wouldn't mention how you bought the giftcard.

I disagree,
I think the premium on the 25BTC coin is not too bad.  (About 12% over the current ask price)
There is free shipping anywhere inside the USA,   so considering the paypal fees and chargeback risk,  this seems very reasonable.

The fact that we sold around 1,000 coins in the first few days means lots of other people agree.

Please give it a try:

http://www.memorydealers.com/bieq.html

Good luck memorydealers, remember that paypal can still happily close your account if they wish...

No, it won't work and I'll tell you why no one should exchange in that way. #1 rule never deal in gift cards, 99% chance the card is bought with a stolen CC or hacked paypal, it will get canceled with in the hour, if not within 15 minutes.

virwox.com

Paypal and Moneybookers

Virwox rocks!  ;D

+1

you should take extreme care buying Cascascius coin from any other than him because it can be forged or duplicated by a motivated person.
I could sell 10 or more clones of the same physical coin linking to the same bitcoins in the blockchain and the firsts person who redeems their coin gets the value the other 9 would be left nothing more than a nice shiny coin  :o