Bitcoin Forum

www.paxful.com and www.localbitcoins.com both allow for an escrow system for exchanging bitcoins for cash with peer to peer

What are your experiences with each?

Which do you prefer?

Thanks

Personally I'd prefer Localbitcoins over paxful any day. It's more established and more trusted, and there are more advertisements and better rates in general.

However, in terms of privacy I think that paxful may have the upper edge. Localbitcoins has recently implemented a verification system that forces you to submit ID once you reach a certain threshold of trading volume, on top of the fact that they already force you to verify if you want to place any ads. From experience, there are also more ads on paxful that allow you to buy/sell with certain payment methods without needing to be verified.

I don't think that you can go wrong with either, I've heard some complaints about Paxful's support speed but I've never experienced it first hand. The most important thing that you should look for is probably rate if you're comparing the same payment method between the two.

Never used Paxful before . Did use Localbitcoin like 1-2 years ago quite often and had no problems at all with it . Just googled Paxful and there is loads of good reviews about it , so looks like just pick the one you are most comfortable with :) Why not try both ? =]

I would prefer Paxful simply because of the UI/UX which looks much better and more modern then Localbitcoins.

LB has definitely a bigger userbase and a wider set of payment methods so it depends on what you're planning to trade.

The support in Paxful is very fast from what I've seen, I've bought once some gift cards and It took only a few hours to take that scammer down after providing the necessary details to them.

Both platforms have an excellent reputation and a lot of ways to buy and sell Bitcoins.
It's up to you if you're looking for multiple options, I recommend LocalBitcoins, if you want a quick response and specific transactions without you being scammed, Paxful is the best.

I have tried them and through my experience, I prefer LocalBitcoins because they offer a lot of options for buying and selling in addition to plains of transactions.

Trying both things would be the best good option to be done since you would able to differentiate and able to know which do really suits your needs.
Basing into my own experience I would prefer LBC since you do have the option which you cant see on Paxful.

Paxful offers more anonimity for sellers as well. LBC for example requires every vendor to provide their ID, Paxful doesn't.

However, this might chance very soon again. https://paxful.com/blog/id-and-address-verification-update/


As others have mentioned, I personally prefer the UI of Paxful over that of LBC, but LBC is way more trustworthy(longer in the game) and has a lot more trade activity/vendors.



 :-\

Thanks for the replies everyone! What I have learned:

Paxful wins in the UI experience, anonymity factor, and trust factors

Localbitcoins wins in the speed, options available, and ability to profit off of price ranges

great answers everyone this has helped a lot!

This is the trade-off. It used to be a very obvious choice -- Localbitcoins, hands down. It has much more listings and also just a superior UI. But now that you need to do KYC with Localbitcoins and individual traders are sometimes asking for ID, it sucks for privacy reasons.

Bisq is an option to trade without KYC, but volume is lacking.

Next time I need to do a P2P cash transaction, I'm probably going to try Paxful so I can avoid giving up my ID, but I'm not sure how long that'll last.

Wait a minute, LBC makes you KYC with them yeah, but with the individual traders? So if you do a transaction on there whoever you traded with has your dox info? That doesn't seem quite right. The in person meetings are there for just that option. No need to dox yourself over one bitcoin trade to some random person. Seems weird.

I typically use Paxful over LBC as there are still vendors on Paxful that don't require KYC and trading on there in general does not require that you verify yourself. There's just less opportunities to buy without verification on LocalBitcoins. I don't really care about UI in the end since you tend to get used to things over time, but Paxful is indeed easier to use the first few times around and easier to view overall.

As for site support, I'm lucky that I've never had any major problems with any of my trading partners on both LocalBitcoins and Paxful, but the two times that I have needed to contact site support on Paxful, they came through very quickly after I provided all the evidence I could get.

I don't know, while I do prefer Paxful's UI, I just tend to avoid using them because their CEO has been involved in some shady stuff.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/paxful-exchange-ceo-and-cto-arrested-in-miami-on-weapons-and-drugs-charges

Look, I'm pretty libertarian myself, nothing against weapons or drugs, but I do consider it a liability when the CEO of a Bitcoin exchange gets caught with it.
So yeah, I'll gladly use LBC's outdated UI over Paxful any day.

Localbitcoin is my favourite because can find the traders at vatous payment option and good response from the site as well.But I am not preferring any of the site to store any bitcoin in it because faced and heard may stories about hacks occuring on LBCs.

I used LocalBitcoins for a while and never used Paxful. LocalBitcoins is quite convenient, but for me is more profitable to use changenow with their low fee

What is the link for changenow please? Thanks for the advice

Changenow is not a trading platform like LBC,which is an anonymous exchange let the users to  trade without any verification but I heard that they turned into scam so using it is really not advisable.

oh wow okay! Wow I am glad I asked and you advised to not use it!!! I hate getting scammed or seeing others scammed! Good looking out.

I only use LocalBitcoins, and I never used Paxful. I don't know about Paxful services, but in LocalBitcoins, I can found local sellers who can help me to send fiat or buy bitcoin from him. So far, I don't have any problem with LocalBitcoins, and I am delighted with them.

But I think in Paxful, we need to verify our account before we can make a transaction, but I am not sure of this. If you are curious with both Paxful and LocalBitcoins, you can try to register both and follow the instruction in making a transaction and try to verify first, so you don't have any problem with both websites.

And after you were done, you can give a review on here, so we know what the advantages and disadvantage between those websites are.

That's a good idea. When I get some more fiat to feed into my portfolio I will have to do this and report back here so everyone can know what the experiences were like as of recent using both platforms. Thanks for the recommendation.

it probably depends what country you're in. in the USA, lots of traders have been arrested and jailed for ignoring AML laws. i don't think LBC having a trader's KYC on file is good enough to satisfy the requirements from FINCEN and the bank secrecy act (https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/shared/bsa_quickrefguide.pdf). the law requires the exchanger to record the buyer's information, not just rely on a third party like LBC to do that.

I am using localbitcoin for very long time and never faced any issues while selling or buying bitcoin,even if there is a chance of scam the escrow will save your money but you need to take care while you becoming a merchant there (posting a trade),you need to be careful while picking up the trades because newbies may come with someone's proof to steal money from you.

I used them many times to examine these charges. The user received a refund, and I did not see fraud in this, so I decided to check them out and was satisfied. I decided to try them for the reason that I found their rate more profitable. I do not see any problems with them, every exchange has problems, if we will try to avoid it, we will have nothing to use.

Use at your own risk,because already they has a problem with huge amount hold by them illegally,so when you are preferring this exchange for huge amount,make sure you can wait long time if there is any issues happened.
You can try our forum's currency exchange for converting your coins anonymously,maybe it will take few hours or days to find the trader but it is worth to wait than going for a risky exchange.

changenow.io. I'm using it for a while without problems. it's a non-custodial trading platform. and according to scam - it's just a competitor's gossip, I think.

Right from the very first day i went into cryptocurrency i have been a good fans of localbitcoins.com and had account with them till when i lost my account details. Paxful.com in the other hand is good but not to be compared to litbitcoin.com were huge amount of bitcoin can be exchange without any fear, also, that has been in existing over the year now. Though not too conversant with that of paxful.com.

LocalBitcoins any fukin day! Like is there even a comparison? The site is in operations since I started to trade bitcoins and haven't had a single bad experience to date. Like try searching for scam accusations against them and you'd find nothing. The case is not the same with Paxful.

Just like you have rightly said, they both offer the same kind of service and localbitcoin has higher volume and more presence that paxful. For me, I have only used paxful even though I have an account also on localbitcoin and I found it very interesting and straight forward without any hassles. The registration process is also straight forward although they are starting verification soon as welll. In all, I would pick paxful over others.

they say changenow is scam  and we dont talking any other exchange here only paxful and localbitcoins   . anyway , i dont use both paxful and localbitcoins but i do heard that both platforms are verry legit although ive been hearing many complaints on localbitcoins  .  so overall my vote will go to paxful  .

by the way here is the thread about the issue of localbitcoins   : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5118335.0  , i find that on the same board  .

https://changenow.io/ though haven't used the said exchange, would like you research into the exchange before start trade on their platform. There are many accusations against them as scam exchange, do due diligence into what they stand for will equally help. Don't make your deposit before research, please.

I don't like localbitcoins or paxful because they both want you to deposit about 200 USD worth of btc and I don't have that much I have way less than 100 USD btc. I'm trying to currency exchange on here to see if anyone is interested.

Currency exchange subforum is where you should post if you are trying to make a trade of USD to BTC or visa versa. That's interesting I did not know that they have a minimum of deposit. Thanks for the info.

Been involved in Paxful since 2018. I have some research for you, their security system and trust level much good as completed a couple of exchanges safely! Personally, I'd prefer Paxful since never used Localbitcoins before. But, At the end of the day you made your own decision. You can’t blame anyone but yourself.

IMHO, LocalEthereum.com is better than both.

I am using LBC since 2015 I had awesome experience than local trader as well. Then how I can able to compare paxful or some other exchanges.

So far trade volume on localbitcoins increased 10+ BTC now and got great number trusted feedbacks there. That is really awesome may I may get such feedback here too. LOL. ;D

If you want to post a trade on LBC you need minimum amount of 0.04BTC on your LBC wallet,but you no need that much amount of bitcoins to sell it for fiat while you are contacting an advertiser through localbitcoin.You can even sell 0.000001BTC if advertiser accept it.

The both are exchange are good in terms of operations and i would live to suggest www.localbitcoins.com to any bitcoiner who is interested on peer to peer. The very first place to hear of escrow was on localbitcoin and will strongly recommend it for bitcoin transactions. Though www.paxful.com is a good exchange but not to be compare in terms of reputation with www.localbitcoins.com 

I have discovered paxful recently and was surprised to see some buyers are willing to buy btc at much higher price than market.
I have seen buy order upto $17,000 per btc while market price was still $11k.
I wonder why would someone buy at such a high price when he could have bought it at market rate ???

Because he often can't. Paxful serves a lot of people from third world countries where they really don't have access to ibans/sepa, paypal, or a bank account for that matter.

In nigeria for example, a lot of people deal in itunes giftcards as a form of currency. don't ask me why, it just is.

Due to high carding rates and such the actual value of those giftcards is highly depreciated, which is why they're asking 17k per BTC for them as conversion rate.

a. sometimes it's because only small amounts are involved;
b. to compensate for the risk of fraud;
c. and yeah, there are a lot of fraudsters doing business on paxful, even with the ones with numerous positive reviews, if I googled their usernames, I'd see links to their profiles on carding or social engineering forums, so you might find out that whatever you received in exchange for BTC has been chargebacked/clawed back/blocked/etc.;
d. 3rd world countries with limited banking capabilities to send fiat in exchange for bitcoin is also one of the reasons, true.

P.S. no need embolden your entire post, use the tags if you feel the need to emphasize an important point.

It's fraud. 100 percent. Unless they are only for small amounts and just need to get some quick funds.

The way those work is that they usually get access to hacked or frauded bank accounts or credit cards and then purchase large amounts of crypto-currencies before they get banned and the amount becomes illegal.

Anyway. I'd pick localbitcoins any day of the week if your able to verify your ID. I usually find doing trades their easier and the spreads mean easier profits.

Honestly, I don't use either. Personally, my go-to P2P platform is Vertex (https://vertex.market). They have around 1000 different cryptocurrencies on offer so I can always find what I am looking for and the fact that they don't require KYC makes it very easy.

You cannot call everything a scam, you have the option to purchase the coins at a very high valuation, there are countries that ban the entire flow of bitcoin and if they want to purchase bitcoin they will purchase from these exchanges and mostly they run for exchanging your gift cards and that too at a premium and if you have spare gift cards you can convert to bitcoin.

I guess that user talking about scamming from a trader who uses hacked bank accounts to buy bitcoin then they will hide away but you will be get caught since you only received money from that bank account.You will lose your money and also have to face legal issues.

But this will not happen if you buy from a verified account and also verify the name from received bank account is the same or not. Never accept third party bak transactions.

I have used both before equally, and are both good.
Even though fraudulent activities occur on both websites, i prefer paxful, it is more direct easy and fast to trade your tokens.

And if you do everything right on the platform, you will win any false disputes against you.
None the less, dyor and figure out whatever is best for you as an individual

or then that seller can use those same documents to supplant you...
there are cases
send and receive a selfie
and they cheated the next by sending this last selfie and receiving a new one.
It is dangerous to send documentation.

You look very bad
Localbitcoin is full of scammers
And localbitcoin to a high degree is complicit.

A scammer buys a localbitcoin account.
localbitcoin account changes phone, ip, country
and that new account buys bitcoin. many bitcoin
from methods that allow refund

localbitcoin knowing how to operate these scammers. It does not block the account, it does not mark with caution sign, no ...
Look the other way. charges its 1%
And when the scammer steals tens of thousands of euros from localbitcoin users.
ok, closed and go for the next ...

That to a high degree, is to be complicit

It is very lucrative

before it was different
localbitcoin became greedy
and every time it offers worse service

scam
they buy
receive the bitcoin
remove the bitcoin
and so with dozens of users
Then they ask for a refund in the payment method
and they keep the bitcoin and the money

For such large markup rates, this could be true, but i'd like to point out that i've done a great number of btc - > paypal deals on Paxful, where the buyer bought from me for ~20-40% markup rates, using a random paypal account that i had no KYC data from.

I've never had someone chargeback on me. Granted: i did ask them for some additional security steps and only did trades below triple digits.

What i'm trying to say is, for paypal/paysafecard/ etc, some people are actually willing to pay what in your eyes are absurd markup rates.

It's actually a very interesting business model if you can establish a trade route (convert the paypal you get from Paxful users back in to BTC). Lots of money to be made if you can solve the equation between markup = risk



Although i think Paxful is also enforcing KYC nowadays, (haven't used them in awhile), so this ship might've sailed already.

If you release bitcoin before you received money into your bank account then it's not their fault.

Localbitcoin does offer support even after the trades completed if there are any chargebacks but all they can do is suspend the user's account until the dispute gets resolved.

I guess they might also have the ability to reverse the funds in case of a dispute by considering each and every report send by the users. They have the authority to access the user account and ban the account until the dispute is solved. But in case, where user released bitcoins before confirming the payment than in this case, whole and sole mistake is of the user who released bitcoins before time. This would perhaps be an unsolvable dispute.

I remember once I was selling some amount of bitcoin and I received the same payment two times in my bank account but nor the seller asked me to return it back and nor did the localbitcoins. I kept those funds for a long time but got no response and this might be because the mistake was of the seller and even localbitcoins can't help at this situation.

This happened to me as well couple of times but I didn't keep the funds,I just returned to the users even before they asked me to do so, since then they always trust me and buy bitcoins from me whenever they want so this kind of reputation matters for someone who trades regularly on localbitcoin.

I don't find this reliable. Paxful too has an inbuilt escrow service on their platform so how would they allow something like this happening on their platform? This might even ruin their reputation amongst the market competitors which would leave a negative impact.

Exchanges like localbitcoins or paxful take majority care of such things and they would never anything like this occur in their markets. Even on localbitcoins, there are some orders which are usually much higher above the normal price but it depends on the margin of profit set by the advertiser and the price displays accordingly. They have hardly any sale due to such high prices.

In the third page of this topic, i wish am not posting off topic reply by suggesting to use localcrypto.com (old localethereum) as the best alternative. For several reasons, i would think twice before to send my money to both platforms;
- Both platforms require a deep kyc verification when localcrypto require just a simple level of verification using an email address + phone number.
- Paxful has a bad reputation history and should not be fully trusted.
- Localbitcoin has no intention about its reputation as we can see what has just recently happened by freezing thousands of accounts from different countries.

If you have a pro trader account in one of the two platforms or you just have a nice record of successful dealings, you can export your reputation to localcrypto and enjoy peer to peer trading in a safe place (hope doesn't also turn to ban users) .

They are both pretty good imo for buying and selling bitcoin.

Paxful (https://www.smartbitcoininvestments.com/paxful-review/) and LocalBitcoins (https://www.smartbitcoininvestments.com/localbitcoins-review/) are both global marketplaces for people to buy and sell bitcoin with any payment method. Paxful offers over 300+ payment methods and has a seamless escrow system for purchases, while LocalBitcoins has a wide variety of payment methods and you must interact with each seller directly on their terms.

Paxful is available for most countries while LocalBitcoins includes every country in the world. Paxful charges a minimal fee to sellers on transactions, while LocalBitcoins is free for users and charges a minimal 1% fee for advertisements.

I have used LBC for over 5 years. It was ok. For about a year, a tragedy. Incompetent Admins, more and more idiots and cheats. You get a negative for not knowing what, admin does grace if he removes it. I strongly advise against. I moved to Paxful.

Recently I received an email from Paxful requesting that I upload a new KYC document for proof of address. Is it a normal experience of anyone that Paxful requests more KYC documents if you have provided them in the past? This is making me weary of using them any more.

Did you verify your address back when you first sent your ID? If you haven't, and your trading volume just exceeded 10,000$ then that's normal. They implemented a new KYC policy on the 19th of March 2019.

If you've already sent all the documents (ID + proof of address) after that date, then they might have detected some suspicious activity in your account.

Yes, I was fully verified ID and address. My trading volume is under 10k. I'll have to review the new KYC policy and my account creation date. It's also possible that someone was trying to log in using my email. (I have 2FA and a very randomized password so it would be very unlikely of any success) Sad to say that top creditor database breaches have affected me worse than any crypto site breach. I guess that could be looked at as a positive though. Major creditor databases are seemingly less safe than major crypto databases.  :D

I am also against their anonymous feedback reports, people can open trade and cancel it immediately then can leave untrustworthy feedback for nothing still LBC count it as valid feedback and will show them on our profile if they got enough trading volume under their profile. It hurts though when someone calls me "scammer,don't trust him" for nothing.