New owner - surprised and confused by fees charged when purchasing and selling

[JPP1967]

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased 1000 Euros worth of bitcoin (1.65 bitcoin at the time) on Bitpanda.  Before choosing Bitpanda, I did a lot of research to understand how bitcoin works, where to buy, security, etc.  My understanding was that Bitpanda charged 1% on purchase and then nothing else.

When I finally decided to take the plunge, I purchased 500 Euros on two consecutive days.  On both occasions, I was given 480 Euros worth of BC... so 4% less than what I had purchased... The first time it happened, I thought that the value may have dropped while I did the purchase but then the same thing happened the next day and then to a friend of mine who purchased BC from the same exchange a few weeks later.

So first question, I would like to understand why that happened.  I assume others have had a similar experience.

What happened next though is what concerns me the most.  My friend decided to sell his BC which was now valued at 530.  By the time he sold it and got it sent to his Paypal account, he was left with 494... So he ended up losing 6 euros despite the value of BC going up by 6% over the course of a few weeks.

That leads to my second question...  what is the least expensive way of selling BC in a secure manner without relying on these exchanges (or this one anyway) and in such a way as to simply getting your money deposited in a bank account or back onto a credit card?

I'd also like to understand what fees are charged on the way out by exchanges which claim to only charge on the way in (ie, when buying).

Any advice would be much appreciated as I'm still finding my way around this (just in case you hadn't figured that out...).

Thanks

JP

[franky1]

although exchanges may not claim fee's (personal profit) the exchange rate (spread) may differ.

many exchanges with no fee's have big spreads.

most of the time when you buy bitcoin you pay the highest price meaning you get less btc for your fiat.
and the exchange or seller then buys cheaper behind the scene. so they still profit.

exchanges that allow you to make an order that sits on the buy list gets you a better deal then instantly taking from someone elses sell order.

it takes a while to learn about spreads. and which exchange offers the best spread price with or without fee's.

but its things like spreads and withdrawal fee's that add on costs. even if there are no trade fee's. and that has caused a few issues in the remittance markets where people want to go from on FIAT<->BTC<->FIAT another currency, because they have to calculate in 2 exchange spreads, even if there are no "fees".
and also the time delay if you try to save value being a order "maker" rather than a "taker"