Bitcoin Forum

1) Never, never do trust a reputation of the service that you haven't thoroughly tested yourself. Your friends may tell you it is great. But when you ask them how many  Bitcoins have they actually purchased from a service they go quiet. I am not suggesting your friends suggesting you a good service are morons. But they are people. They may have a stake in Bitcoin (not necessarily a financial one, it may be an ideological one) and they may not be fully aware of the risk that you are about to undertake. Maybe they are just trying to impress a girl listening to the conversation with their 'knowledge' and making you look like a chickenshit. Granted, they are not really friends in that case, but you know...

2) Once you join a service/exchange/whatever first purchase only a few Bitcoins. 1-5 should be more than enough. Now try to 'abuse' the service, make all kinds of mistakes. Try to send a Bitcoin to your dead dog's email address. Or to Bitcoin address kIwanttoFuckyouintheAss. See where does it get you. See how does technical support respond to your 'stupidity'. If they are slow or arrogant in their responses, that is probably not a service that you wish to service you.

3) Once you have purchased Bitcoins try to cash some of them, and often. Buy, cash in. Eliminate the whole account and go in cash. Then get back and purchase more BTCs. See where does it get you. See how long do you have to wait for any of the services provided. Can you actually get cash back for the cash you put in and how fast?

4) Demand an extraordinarily good service and fast support responses. Keep in mind, many of Bitcoin services are startups. If they expect you to wait for 5-6 business days to respond, something is probably wrong. They are not American Express. If they behave like one, something is probably wrong with their entire work ethics - meaning your Bitcoins are endangered. They should be siting their asses online 24/7 to prove themselves worthy of your trust in this scam infested Bitcoin business.

I know that some will not agree, calling for a patience, but, well..  I disagree with that.

Seems like sound advice.

Do your own research.  In the end, only you are responsible for your own money.

Start small and make sure that everything works the way you expect it to.

Test the process regularly to confirm that the service hasn't changed recently.

Choose the services that provide the most value relative to the cost.

That can all be said about pretty much any service that exists, regardless of whether it is a bitcoin service or not.