Bitcoin Forum

So I'm brand new to this bitcoin thing, but it really intrigued me, so I decided to try to get my hands on some.  It seems I've chosen a bad time to do this.  I tried to buy bitcoins with paypal various ways, but it looks like they've all been blocked.  I looked into using Liberty Dollars on Mt Gox, but it seems I have to sign up for yet another service just to fund Liberty Dollars. 

It's sad, but I'm thinking the best way to get Bitcoins will be to mine them.  Am I missing something, or just have bad timing?  Is there an easy way I can get some without having to mail cash/checks through snail mail?

You can accept them as payment.

How much you looking to buy?

I agree it's a problem for small amounts, though.  I have a feeling it will continue to be difficult for a while.

I have a feeling that in person for cash is going to be the best way in the future.

Depending on where you live there may be a local trader, see http://tradebitcoin.com/

I was looking to buy anywhere between 10-20 bitcoins.  It looks like there's no one in my area (Athens, GA) right now.  I'd love to be the local Bitcoin trader if I could buy more.  Is it easier to buy them in bulk?

Is this your site? Great idea, but it needs:

1) The ability to contact people by email (I would think this would be the primary method of contact)

2) The ability to list what you want to buy or sell.

It might be useful to discuss ways that we could improve the availability of getting Bitcoins to new people.  I think that's a pretty high priority.

I've seen the following methods, and have feedback about them:


1) Coinpal - shut down.  Great for getting started.
2) OTC trading - I haven't used this, heard good things, but a bit daunting for a new user.  I'm curious how the transfers are done here?  Are a lot on PayPal?  If so, it seems like playing with fire.
3)  Cash/check by mail.  If you can trust the guy, seems good, a bit slow, but tolerable.
4)  In person trades.  Somewhat sketchy, time consuming, hard to find people.
5)  Directly send money to exchanges - works for large orders, not wroth it for small ones.


I think the high volume traders can use the exchanges, and that works great for them.  However, bringing the little guy into the marketplace is what needs to be pursued.

In person trades are going to be the best way to avoid any trouble, scams, and frozen accounts.  It seems superior to me in the speed, although trading by mail could supplement this.

Traders are going to have to charge decent fees to make it worth their while, but I don't think we have much of a choice.  As far as I can tell, there is nothing illegal about this, although maybe for large volumes there are regulations to worry about?  Need legal advice on this one.  If you keep it small, it probably is not an issue.

There are other PayPal like services out there, but most people don't use them so it's hard to go too much in that direction.

Gift certificates on Ebay are also an interesting way to do things too.  I'd like to see if that takes off.

Anyone got any other creative ideas?  While that trade network website is good, it would be cool to get some feedback mechanism in there, possibly with web of trust in there as well.  That would be pretty cool to have.

Mtgox currently accepts wire transfers in euro for free. so, you can trade small amounts there.

The economy here is still pretty small---you could get a lot of bitcoins by providing some small but useful service or reselling goods, and probably make a profit at that. If there's anything you can get on the cheap, try reselling it.

I'll take checks in the mail, I'm up in Buffalo NY - http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7083.0