Bitcoin Forum

I've been following BTC for over a year now and STILL there is no easy way to buy bitcoins in what the vast majority of people would class as being a normal way to pay.

It is very frustrating and prevents a broader take up.

Virwox doesn't count - the fees are too high.
Bank transfer is not a normal way to pay for things - I wouldn't use bank transfer to exchange $ to £ for instance.

Bitcoin is being hindered shocking - hopefully it will change soon.

Do your gov ban the BTC there and is there no exchang platform? you can go to localbitcoin.com!

Localbitcoin.com is not a proper way to buy something.

It should be as easy to buy BTC as in any other currency, go on a website, use debit card, get bitcoin.

You wouldn't meet up with some random person to buy anything that's not dodgy.

Exchanging normal currency is a pain, too: http://money.msn.com/saving-money-tips/post.aspx?post=0d925cca-d8d3-4c51-9e75-f4ee6fa8f6a9
I'd say that by comparison, and considering how minor Bitcoin is in comparison, buying BTC is pretty easy.
If you're in the US, https://coinbase.com is excellent (1% fee). If you're anywhere, https://localbitcoins.com/ is good (there are plenty of options besides meeting a stranger to exchange cash in person). Other countries may have easier options, too.

Perhaps I'm just being impatient  :)

I just want to be able to easily buy BTC safely - PayPal is ideal but not many people will accept (understandably).

I would like to see bitcoin gain a wider level of acceptance - I can only see this if there is a good way to get them.

The primary issue is reversible vs non-reversible transactions. The Bitcoin seller needs protection from fraud.
Coinbase is easy enough for many people, why not use them?

My biggest issue is that here in Thailand it is very difficult to transfer currency out of the country via a bank, leaving only a few options, Virwox is OK apart from the fees.

I fully understand the reversible argument but that could always be the case for anything not just bitcoin.

I understand now, and hope you have better options soon.
In 2011, I used Virwox more than once and "Yes" their fees are way too high. If they cut the fees in ~ half, perhaps they would make more money with many new customers?

It's easy to buy coins. You're probably just making it more difficult for yourself. You can buy coins within ten minutes on the marketplace here for many different forms of payment.

Are you able to give any examples of this?

I hope I am making it difficult for myself and I'm missing something that I perhaps shouldn't have missed.

What country are you in. There's some very simple exchnages like bittylicious where you get your coins within a few minutes after a bank transfer. You can also get coins at shops nearly everywhere in the UK and some other countries with zip-zap.

Where are you located? I don't think it gets any easier right now than Coinbase.com. In other countries I think services are popping up that offer the same

What do you need examples of? Types of payment? I've seen people accerpt alsorts here. Western Union, UKash, Skrill, bank transfers, even online top up credit cards and other e-vouchers. Take a look over there and see what you can find.

paypal and plastic cards are not "proper money". they are just convenient gimmicks of money.
once you realise that bank wire transfers and paper cash are the proper FIAT and that paypal and cards are just the gimmick for convenience which then take longer to actually remove the real fiat from bank accounts, then you will see that you have been fooled into the fake lessons of the FIAT world.

EG when you use a debit card, if you went straight to your bank and asked for a statement instantly you would see the funds are still in your account, but have been earmarked to move later
IE
Total balance: $1,000,000
Available balance: $998,000

same with paypal it take days to move funds from paypal into an actual bank account to then use. so wire transfers or bank notes are the only true and proper money movement methods that cant be charged back as easily. i know i have repeated myself a couple times in this post but after a couple decades of the FIAT economy pushing their gimmick upon you, it takes time and several attempts to be retrained to the truth.

so now you have this concept in your mind. there are many services that offer wire transfer(via coinbase/bitstamp etc) and cash in hand(duel direction bitcoin ATM's) exchange for bitcoin.

and lastly bitcoin is still new, most definitely still in the innovator/early adoptor stage. so where as FIAT has had a century to get where it has, bitcoin has only had a couple years. Thus it is not ready for mass adoption and the gimmicky convenience stuff yet. so keep this in mind that its not yet at the stage to be on every street. not yet anyways. but its happening

Walking into just any gook mart and buying Bitcoin like a long distance phone card is way off. It will likely be a tedious process for quite a few more years.

Firstly I never said fiat was proper money  :)

You are right - I perhaps should have titled the topic 'Desperately need 'CONVENIENT' way to buy BTC.

I agree we are in the early stages - but allowing for convenient ways to buy BTC will sure only be good for mass adoption?

You dont really need to meetup. Just do it online. I think localbitcoins or similar type of exchanges are safest across the world. They dont need your ID.

Have you tried any of the locals?

http://bahtcoin.com/

https://bitcoin.co.th/en/

I've had good experiences with localbitcoin where I don't have to meet up with anyone.  A lot of people take bank transfers so you can go into a bank and deposit cash in someone's account and then they "release" the bitcoin to you.  

I know what you mean though, it'd be nice to be able to do it very easily online with the click of a button, like paying a bill.  Some people take Western Union and you can sometimes do that online.

that the issue. people of the fiat world want to get bitcoin and have mass adoption, not because they love bitcoin, but purely for a price spike to then cash back to fiat. so they are too eager to push for mass adoption purely for profit.

bitcoin needs to build stable and reliable infrastructure FIRST. before mass adoption. this means secure, professional exchanges with high-grade servers and security, liability insurance. and staff that know and are experienced in handling millions in funds value. not the basement dwelling teenager wrote PHP exchanges we have seen from 2009 until recent.

bitcoin needs proper ATM companies that have franchises so that each state or country can have a agent/franchisee operating and managing th local ATM's under the umbrella license of the main company.

bitcoin needs merchants that sell groceries, toilet paper, car fuel etc in most towns.

all of which will then make bitcoin have more usefulness than last year. once a few more of these are in place or even during developing these infrastructures, you will see the convenience side increase for average joe to get bitcoin at a local store (much like 'bureau de change').

dont get me wrong, it is happening. but you sir are the lucky one if you start to think as a bitcoin investor wanting bitcoin success, instead of a fiat investor hoping for a quick increase of fiat holdings. because you have found out about bitcoin before the ship sets sail. so dont think about fiat profits and convenience. think about the fact that your buying in before mass market convenience. which will be good for you in the long run.

and lastly its worth you signing up to bitstamp/coinbase. because if there is no local service in your town to get bitcoin conveniently. then you sir have a MASSIVE opportunity to become your towns convenience. you can open a little shop or buy an ATM and operate it for your town, making you the come-to business for bitcoins in your area, simply put YOU are your towns newest niche market. where people buy from you at a small margin extra and you buy from coinbase/bitstamp (keeping the profit margin in bitcoin for yourself)

Thanks for that - bahtcoin look reasonable, I'll have to try for a small amount first and see how it goes  :)

No problem. I'd be interested to hear how it went.

Some more ideas:
I do know that there are meetups in BKK and Phuket at least. Check the meet up section on here and also meetup.com. From my experience you'll have a good chance to meet a seller at a meet up.

Also: https://localbitcoins.com/buy-bitcoins-online/th/thailand/national-bank-transfer/

In addition to the above, several people above have mentioned localbitcoins. They seem to be active in Thailand, though it looks like you'd need to do a bank transfer (unless you met the seller face-to-face). I've had good results (in the UK) with localbitcoins and bank transfers, but obviously my experience in the UK may differ from yours in Thailand!

One issue people tend to have with localbitcoins (apart from the assumption that you can only trade face-to-face) is the wide price variation - right now I'm seeing anything from 18900 to 26800 THB per BTC. My advice here is to be patient and consider buying several small amounts instead of one large amount - which is probably good advice in general, since it spreads any counterparty risk. It might not suit your needs, though.

Edit: and, of course, Newar said exactly the same far more succintly and earlier :o Ignore me, I'm a slow reader!

Not necessarily. Once you have a (to you) comfortable level of trust established with a seller, just ask them if they are willing to come down on the price if you buy in bulk. Also, keep in mind that localbitcoins charges 1% of the trade to the seller, so some might give you a discount if you are willing to trade off-site. This of course brings us back to the issue of trust :-)

Bitcoin is still in the early stage, after some development, I believe the problem you have described will be fixed.

You could try contacting some of the escrows on the forum with outstanding track records and ask them who they have done business with that may be able to help you and possibly you could find someone near you.  It is a big forum and worth looking into.