Bitcoin Forum

Hi!
I am curious about this whole bitcoin thing and am interested in purchasing a few bitcoins. I am a complete newbie, however, and I have not found any clear guides or tutorials for how to do this.

I would like to use bitinstant to send bitcoins to my email.

Most seem to mention bank deposits; the only banks which BitInstant lists (Citi, Bank of America, other big-name chain banks) are not available in my area; we only have smaller state banks.

How can I use BitInstant to purchase my bitcoins? I do have a bank account and debit card however they both belong to smaller local banks, not big chain banks.

EDIT: I have a new question; is there a safe/secure way for me to obtain bitcoins in the US, entirely on-line? Without having to go in to any stores or banks to do in-person deposists? ALSO, how do I buy bitcoins with moneyPak? I keep hearing that but I'm not sure how to do it.

Any help / suggestions / tips are MUCH appreciated!

Personally I can recommend intersango.com (an exchange to buy & sell bitcoins for USD / EUR / etc). As far as I know they also support U.S. customers.

By the way, I don't live in the U.S. myself, exactly what is the deal with all those US bank chains? Do you people in the USofA have normal internet banking, i.e. can you simply wire transfer money from your bank account to any other regular bank account in the world? (it's the de facto standard way of doing payments here in Europe)

try this site http://www.btcwallet.org/ (http://www.btcwallet.org/)
a lot of info about how to buy bitcoins

I think you can buy Bitinstant credit at WallMart or some similar shops.
Just look at the drop down on the bitintsnt website.

Thanks for the reply! :)

How do I use Intersango? Does it need to be connected to my bank account? What is the process of paying like? (sorry, I am new to all of this).

There are major bank chains here in the US like Bank of America and Citi Bank, and then smaller regional banks. I believe we can do wire transfers as you described but honestly I am not too familiar with this kind of thing, I just got very curious and decided to look into it. :)

Walmart is listed under the "Cash Deposit" option, but I'm not sure what this entails. How do I deposit cash at a Walmart? Has anyone here had any first-hand experience with using bitInstant?

Thanks!

Everything you need to know is at Bitinstant's website https://www.bitinstant.com/howitworks/cash
I also didn't knew and it took me 30 seconds to find out.

Right, I've read through that multiple times. It doesn't answer my questions, which is why I posted here. :)

How does one deposit money at a Walmart or 7-Eleven? I've never heard of that being done. It always says you can deposit at "bank branches", but what banks? Could I make the deposit from my local bank, or does it need to be Bank of America/the other big chain banks? BitInstant also lists "other locations" as a deposit option, but states nowhere what these "other locations" are.

I just want an easy way to purchase bitcoins... Preferably without having to jump through a bunch of hoops and go to the bank..?

Just like any other bitcoin exchange I know:

1. Open an account (just register with your email address or something, some exchanges may require you to provide more info than others, intersango.com happens to require only an email address).

2. Deposit money to them by doing a wire transfer. Your account will contain detailed instructions how to go about this. In case of intersango.com they have a generic bank account number, that I have to wire the money to, making sure to include a reference number in the payment description so they can tie my payment to my intersango account.

3. Once the euros or dollars appear on your account's balance (this can take a few days, due to fucking banks deliberately delaying transactions, meanwhile gobbling up interest on your money), you can place orders to buy bitcoins.

4. Once the order comes through (i.e. if anybody decides to sell their bitcoins for the price I'm offering, just common trading market practice) you get bitcoins on your balance, which you can then withdraw to my own bitcoin address.

5. Finally, your money is now free from banks and governments woth their monopoly and control and hidden agendas and crap!

You may also get in touch with intersango.com's support, so far they've been very helpful to me.

Those instructions are pretty clear to me.
Especially Step 2:

Have you tryed to follow the steps? It says they'll give you more instructions as per the part that I bolded above. Max that can happen is that you won't deposit if there is a mistake or you can't go to your chosen location and it will become invalid ;)

Also, there is a Live Help assistant at their website.
https://www.bitinstant.com/contact
You can't get better than that.

you can always use http://mtgox.com

that is what i use to buy and sell my bitcoins.

Haha I'm sorry friend, maybe I'm just stupid :p but I'm having a hard time figuring all this out. I have not actually gotten that far yet, because the banks they list are not in my area, and there are no Walmarts or 7-Elevens for at least a 40 minute drive (I live in a rural area).

I guess I really just have 2 questions I can't find the answer for;

1) Under the "Cash Deposit" option for BitInstant, there is an "Other Locations" option. What are the possible other locations?
2) When I select "Cash Deposit" and "BitCoin to Email" on BitInstant, I need to input 3 things; Destination Account, Amount in USD, and "Email Address / Mobile Phone Number". I understand the 1st is the email you're sending the money to, the 2nd is how much (duh), however what is the 3rd input for? Can it be the same email address as the destination address? Confused as to what that is for.

Thanks for your help everyone :) Sorry I am such a noob but I am trying to learn.

Cheers

Yes, the 3rd input can be the same email as the 1st input. Only reason it would be different when you use Coinapult is if you're sending the bitcoins to someone else ;)
As for the other locations, I don't know.
I imagine that's such a specific case that probably most people here never used it, and the ones that did most likely won't see you asking about it in the newbies forum lol
Try to contact their Live Help, I bet you'll get your questions answered very fast there.
After all, who will know those things better than them?
Ofcourse you can be unlucky and there's nobody there to answer you, it's Sunday, people sometimes don't like to work on Sundays :P

EDIT: I tried it myself, the Other Locations option. In no time I was at ZipZap website where it asked me for my Country, Location/Postal Code and showed me where to pay for it on a nearby place. Ofcourse I didn't completed it.

Just do it man. It will be faster ;)

I'm sad to report that the nearest deposit location to me is over 45 minutes away :( Not having a car of my own that makes this very difficult.

Are there any completely-online methods to get bitcoins? Without having to go to banks/stores for in-person deposists? Please share with me, I am but a lowly noob :)

If you can do a bank transfer from the internet, any exchange that people told you about will do. Ofcourse it will take some days and probably be more expensive.

The only one I have experience with is https://bitstamp.net but it's an European exchange
Being in the US, don't know which one would be best for you.

Drudgeboat,

If you have downloaded the Bitcoin client, I will send you .01 BTC to get you started.  It's not much, but it's something :)

Just post your Bitcoin address and it will be on its way.

Hmm, I thought my bank allowed transfers from the internet, however when I log in to their portal and select Express Transfers, I am only able to transfer money between my accounts. Not sure how to set up online wiring (or if my bank can even do that. I think that's more common over with you guys than it is here)


The Joint, that is very generous of you, thank you!  ;D my address is 1CeoBMn9Qn7wygecmBybQ5WCRLDxrcoQnq

There are several sites where you can get a small amount of bitcoins (more like fractions of bitcoins, really) for entering a captcha or clicking an ad. Find out more in this topic (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83057.0;all).

It's by no means 'worth the pay' (i.e. it's quite not enough to make a living with it :)) but just consider it a test to get yourself started with some bitcoin pennies. Some are stupid and require you to waste lots of time, some are plain and simple, just enter a captcha or click an ad or something, and you'll receive coins within a few hours.
 

very cool, thank you for the tip !

I keep hearing about being able to use "MoneyPak" refillable debit cards (liike the kind you can buy from a convenience store), and these can bve used to buy BTC. Is this true? How could I go about doing that? There is a store right near me which sells these GreenDot MoneyPak cards, I just need to know how to turn that into BTC.

.01 BTC sent :)

Mail me $11, I'll send you 2 BTC.

You don't need to go through exchanges and such, like other currencies, you can sell stuff to obtain Bitcoins or trade with individuals.

The typical route though is to transfer USD currency into a currency exchange, complete a trade, and withdraw Bitcoins to your wallet address.

Sent you some loose change.

WOW such a generous Community! Thank you both! :D

OK, so I have the Bitcoin Client Wallet from here - http://bitcoin.org/ . The address I gave you fine folks was the address it listed for me under "receive coins" tab. The coins you guys sent me have not appeared however. Does this just take some time to propagate, or did I mess up somewhere? Also my wallet is still synchronizing with network (although it's about 98% done).

I decided to buy a MoneyPak card to trade for coins with someone on here. What should I do to ensure the trade goes smoothly? Do I just give him a newly generated address and he deposits it right in my wallet?

Thanks!!!

When it finishes synchronizing you'll see the coins, don't worry.

Yes, generate a new address for every received transaction, that way it will be easier for you to keep track of who paid you what.
Only deal with trusted sellers, the ones with good reputation, remember.

Thank you for all your help Psy :) I appreciate it.

So it is is safe for me to do business while my wallet is still syncing? Or is it best to wait until it is finished? I assume it doesn't really matter (since it seems like the transaction would just be tagged on the end of the update regardless) but maybe for peace of minds sake..

You don't need to wait to use your Bitcoin addresses. It's only that before the synching ends, or until it reaches the blocks where the transactions were confirmed you won't see them in your wallet and be able to spend them. But you can se them in a block explorer site.

For instance, the address where the kind people here sent you those little bitcoin gifts, you can see it here: http://blockchain.info/address/1CeoBMn9Qn7wygecmBybQ5WCRLDxrcoQnq
See the money already there? ;)

Thank you!

I just wanted to take a minute and say I really appreciate how helpful, friendly and outright generous this community is! Not only did you all help out so much with my nooby questions, but 3 of you were awesome enough to even give me a bit of coins to start. You guys ROCK! :)

I have just finished my first real trade transaction and should hopefully have some full coins in my wallet soon. I'm excited to explore the world of bitcoins!

Best regards and I'll be sure to tell my friends to come here if the are ever curious. :)

That's really cool Drudge

Some small coins for you: https://www.instawallet.org/w/C2dIGoVrXbaaEe6DZgEPYx1IzjvN4OCUw
You can use this wallet if you like, but never put much in it.

Step 1. Set up Mt.Gox account

Step 2. Go to bit instant and send coins to your name at Mt.Gox

Step 3. Bring your payment slip to one of the 700k banks, stores, etc. and pay.

By the time you get home your Mt.Gox account will be funded.

I think you missed the part where he said the closest bitinstant deposit place was at a 45 min. drive from him lol

Oops, I did miss that.  :-[  Although it still may be the quickest option.

intersango doesn't seem to be accepting new members. Can anyone recommend another painless USD to BTC exchange? One that works with say, direct deposit wire transfers and sepa transfers?