Bitcoin Forum

I buy and sell smaller amounts of bitcoins, so I make lots of transactions.

Intersango charge .65% for all transaction, and Mt.Gox charge .6%.  Intersango on these boards say that they still offer a competitive service if you think of the bigger picture (transfering monies in and out of your account) but Mt.Gox doesn't charge for GBP.

Is there a reason that anyone can see why I shouldn't start using Mt.Gox instead of Intersango?  Every little helps because I can't afford to leave my monies for too long in bitcoins so .05 is noticable.

Are there any other companies I should consider looking at as well?

Thanks in advance.

I set up GBP accounts with both of them a few months ago (back when Intersango was still FREEEEE!!!1!1!!) and did a few toy transactions with them.

So far I have only withdrawn GBP from Intersango. In that case, if you specify a UK bank account, the transaction is also free in the sense above. I have not yet tried withdrawing GBP from MtGox but I understand that you can only do it by wire transfer, there will be a fee involved somewhere along the chain and I am worried about how much it will be.

Can anyone who's transferred GBP from MtGox to a UK bank account chime in and say how much it cost?

Another point that works in MtGox's favour (IF you trade a lot) is that their trading fee goes down in increments as your trading volume goes up. My fee is 0.5% at the mo, and would shortly go down to 0.46% if I trade a bit more soon. Having said that, I don't really intend to, as I've tried 'timing the market' (especially on that stupid January evening when the price went bouncing like crazy because of something Bitcoinica related), and had more failure than success (nothing too big either way). So for now I've just 'bought-and-held', in which case the MtGox volume savings don't really help.

It's probably best to open an account with both of them because the market in GBP/BTC is thinly traded and not efficient yet. There is often a significant difference in price between the two exchanges. You can compare the exchange rates here:

http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/

When you have an account with both of them then you can choose the one that gives you a better deal.

I prefer Intersango's interface, mainly due to the fact that I can see bids/offers while buying/selling bitcoins, whereas for mtgox I have to use external webpages which only seem to offer the prices in USD, meaning you have to factor in conversion rate + 2.5% conversion fee... However I haven't actually conducted any trading using Mtgox, since I'm still waiting for them to process my GBP deposit (Intersango took around 2 hours to process a GBP deposit, with MtGox I've been waiting at least 7 hours -- on the other hand this is only 2 transfers, so I can't say what is typical for either exchange).

For smaller amount of bitcoins, you should choose an exchange based on the transfer costs in/out of the exchange instead of the trade commission.  This means you should primarily choose based on location, because Mtgox will hit you will hit you with a 2.5% exchange fee on non USD transfers and you will pay an international wire transfer fee, so generally if you live in Europe choose Intersango and their free transfers, in Australia use cryptoxchange, and in the US use Mtgox via dwolla.

Intersango is better for GBP plus it never got hacked

the biggest advantage of intersango for me (and all other users in europe?) is that you don't have to send intersango a copy of your passport to be able to do business.

I am having a terrible time trying to withdrawal GBP from Intersango atm, I requested on sunday last, now tuesday, whereas it should take under 2 hours via internet banking 'faster transfer' in the UK & they bank with lloyds as I do - how hard can that be, plus all I'm getting from them is auto replies & the site says withdrawal being processed which it has been for over a day, will update on any progress  >:(

Thanks for the responses, guys.  I have sent an email to Mt.Gox asking for more information, like fees for transfering monies back in to my bank account (they allow you to transfer in for free.  Does't mention about transfering back out).

Cheers

I'm also interested about this info. Please share when you have a response.

If anyone is into the trading and exchanges of currencies, you should have an account on every single exchange that you can get on, with low funding in all of them.  These aren't banks people, you are limiting who and when you can trade with if you are only in one exchange.

In the UK, I couldn't find anything even close to Intersango in terms of fees, ease of use etc.
Importantly, Intersango is run by some smart people who clearly believe in and are interested in promoting Bitcoin just as much if not more than they are in making a profit. What could be more reassuring?
Check out Amir Taaki on Max Keiser:http://maxkeiser.com/tag/amir-taaki/ (http://maxkeiser.com/tag/amir-taaki/)

I am in the same boat.  I have two outstanding withdrawals since the weekend, both are still pending which I presume means, yet to be processed.

Anytime now, Intersango would be nice!

I am still waiting for my withdrawal to be processed since last sunday, now 3 days instead of the under 2 hours it should actually take, I asked yesterday that they just visit their bank or an ATM & physically take my money out of their account & pay it in to mine at the same bank, Lloyds, but of course this hasn't happened & they haven't replied as I insisted they do - pathetic really

finally they seem to have sorted this out & the funds have been sent at last & cleared, not that they bothered to advise me of this as I had requested or any notification at all - the very least I can say is that it could have been handled better

Intersango is terrible.  Just a terrible exchange.  Bad coders.

Works for me. Care to elaborate what's wrong about it? not enough computer-bogging heavy javascript?

Same here.  Mine have now been sent.

From Mt.Gox:
Thank you for your inquiry and welcome to Mt.Gox.

To withdraw GBP back to your account, you have to initiate an international wire transfer. Please find information regarding our international wire transfer below.

Withdrawals typically take 2-5 full business days to reach your bank, provided that you have included all required information such as your full name and address as it appears on your bank statement.

Processing Fees

Our bank charges a fee of up to 15 USD. There is no fixed charge on withdrawals. Fees may vary according to the amount, currency and destination of the transaction.

Regarding the Fill and Kill option, we regret to inform you that we currently do not have this option in place. However, we are working on more advanced trading features and will make an announcement about it if it is to be implemented.

We look forward to being able to serve you soon.

**Please note that these costs do not include intermediate bank fees, or exchange fees. If you withdraw into a different currency, an exchange fee of 2.5% will be charged.

Thanks,

MtGox.com Team

Pros and cons really.  Still, I think you can play one off against the other and get the best deal.

These guys should not be flipping out about intersango taking 4 days to do a withdrawl when there are a few people waiting weeks for an mtgox wire.

For anybody wondering the trouble with sending out UK bank transfer was that Lloyds online banking becomes unusable once you have a significant number of transactions within the last 3 months.

I've only had good service from Intersango so far, transfers and withdrawals have all taken up to a few hours to arrive / be credited.

I can also fully agree that British Banks are utterly useless...

One thing I think could be improved with Intersango though is in the Buy-Sell Interface, whereby currently you can only define amount to buy and price per unit; Mt. Gox on the other hand lets you put in any two of price per unit, number of units, or total price, and calculates the last one. E.g. when I want to buy £20 of bitcoin I would rather type in a price per bitcoin, and select £20 total price -- letting the page calculate the number of bitcoins I can buy, rather than select a price per bitcoin, then go calculate the number of bitcoins I can buy externally, before entering this number.

I am going to create an account right now. What is the bank fee for transfers?

https://intersango.com/fees.php

I'll be available for the next roughly 12 hours on irc and skype if you have any more questions https://intersango.com/contact.php