Coinbase. Thanx a bunch!!!

[drbrock]

Ok bit of back-story, sorry for the length

So I finally buy my first bitcoin in December 2014. And since then I have slowly increased my amount using various places on the internet that lets me buy it hassle-free. I am in the UK and banks here are really not helpful with exchanges etc. So I have a modest amount (about 6/7btc) and decided that I need to start trading little amounts here and there as I am not on a good wage to keep putting money into btc.

So Coinbase comes up but not for UK residents. However they have a Euro Wallet feature which I thought I would use to trade and try and slowly increase my holdings (as well as learn how to trade etc as this is a first)
I transferred some BTC into my coinbase account, sold some in exchange for Euros which then went into my Coinbase Euro Wallet.

Ok I thought, great, I have a simple way to buy and sell BTC using coinbase without actually using the exchange.

What happens? Price starts going crazy last week and I figure ok now is a chance to sell say 0.25 or 0.5 btc and IF the price drops I can buy some BTC back (you know sell 0.25 this weekend just gone and buy say during this week IF price goes back down and hopefully I turn my 0.25btc into say 0.3btc). I know its small amounts but like I say I'm not super-rich and for the most want to hold (trade with say 10% of my btc) as well as being new to trading.

What happens? SORRY, in order to sell btc I need to verify my UK bank account??? What? Even though I sold 0.25btc on the 13th of FEB as a TEST just to make sure it all works. So what's the deal? price starts to go up so now they won't let me sell my btc but hey I can BUY NO PROBLEM.

So now I am waiting and waiting and waiting for my useless UK bank to send the funds via international money transfer (and with a hefty charge from my bank, thanks banksters) over to the Coinbase bank making my first official FIAT deposit in order to verify my bank account so I can buy/sell btc using the Euro wallet.

So here goes a possible opportunity to slightly increase my BTC gone thanks to coinbase deciding to stop my ability to sell BTC even though my limit to buy/sell is 500EUR worth per day. So sick of the FIAT money system as well as un-impressed with Coinbase for making me jump through hoops for no reason except the price of BTC went up.

Ok rant over...

I guess I'm writing this mostly due to frustration. But also wondering if anyone else in the UK is having issues buying/selling or day-trading btc or is it just me? Also are there any UK based exchanges using faster-payments that I am unaware of?

Share ur experiences people

[najzenmajsen]

i thought this was gonna be an actual thankful post to coinbase , i've personally never used coinbase. However , i think its your UK'S bank fault and not coinbase's fault.

[BitCoinNutJob]

I guess I'm writing this mostly due to frustration. But also wondering if anyone else in the UK is having issues buying/selling or day-trading btc or is it just me? Also are there any UK based exchanges using faster-payments that I am unaware of?

Share ur experiences people

UK here ive done a little trading, i first moved money into gox and moved BTC from there, went to BTC-e, Bitfinex and others.  Banking is very difficult for us.  We have UK exchanges like coinfloor but you still have to SEPA transfer your money i think.

[drbrock]

i thought this was gonna be an actual thankful post to coinbase , i've personally never used coinbase. However , i think its your UK'S bank fault and not coinbase's fault.

Oh don't get me wrong absolutely my UK bank is at fault, which is why I didn't verify my UK bank account in the first place by making a deposit. I was not even planning to sell the bitcoins for pounds (essentially cashing out), I wanted to sell some for euroes (which I did about a month ago) and when price drops buy back in.

My point is when the price was flat for the most part over Feb I was able to sell my bitcoins in exchange for euroes to coinbase. It's just a little funny how when the price started to go up pretty quick that when I tried again my ability was blocked.

[coinpr0n]

So before you can have full access to Coinbase's features you'll have to verify your bank account which we all know is a hassle. Good to know, so I can maybe plan ahead. But Coinbase isn't really the most attractive option in EU anyway. Is it?

[drbrock]

I guess I'm writing this mostly due to frustration. But also wondering if anyone else in the UK is having issues buying/selling or day-trading btc or is it just me? Also are there any UK based exchanges using faster-payments that I am unaware of?

Share ur experiences people

UK here ive done a little trading, i first moved money into gox and moved BTC from there, went to BTC-e, Bitfinex and others.  Banking is very difficult for us.  We have UK exchanges like coinfloor but you still have to SEPA transfer your money i think.

yep thought so, thats my issue. Not quick and easy, For instance Im sure being in the UK you are aware of bittylicious where you can use faster payments and buy btc in about 10 minutes. was just about setup on another exchange (Safello I think) but just as my account was verified the UK shut down their faster payments arrangment. This is why I was going to use coinbase to essentially increase my btc amount. SEPA etc is just too much hassle especially when Im not trading obscene amounts of money.

Ok Ill look into coinfloor thanks for reminder, I didn't bother as it was SEPA but I guess for now UK residents lke us don't really have a choice

[drbrock]

So before you can have full access to Coinbase's features you'll have to verify your bank account which we all know is a hassle. Good to know, so I can maybe plan ahead. But Coinbase isn't really the most attractive option in EU anyway. Is it?

Well that seems to be the case NOW... in fact if I log on to my account it still sais my daily buy/sell limit using the Euro wallet is 500 euroes per day. Except the sell btc tab is blocked. You can certainly buy no problem. My issue really isnt that I have to fully verify my UK bank. It's that the rules changed as the price went up.

So I wonder if I wake up tomorrow and the price is 50dollars per btc (I know.. just making a point) will the SELL btc feature be 'unlocked' and the BUY btc option dissapear? lol

Honestly not sure which exchange is good for Euroes/Pounds. Seems unless you are in the US or China you are going to have a hard time daytrading or just buying bitcoins both fast and at a price lose to the actual value on exchanges.

[ChuckBuck]

I think for most of the major exchanges like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, Kraken, etc you have to be verified somehow either by your bank or other documents, before you can actively trade.

If you want to trade with minimal verification probably BTC-E or Cryptsy will do.

[maku]

I think for most of the major exchanges like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, Kraken, etc you have to be verified somehow either by your bank or other documents, before you can actively trade.

If you want to trade with minimal verification probably BTC-E or Cryptsy will do.

I am not an user of those big exchanges but as far as my experience goes with my local EU exchange I can trade without authentication as much as I am under certain threshold - for example: I can freely seling bitcoin until I reach 300 euro in transactions.

[drbrock]

I think for most of the major exchanges like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, Kraken, etc you have to be verified somehow either by your bank or other documents, before you can actively trade.

If you want to trade with minimal verification probably BTC-E or Cryptsy will do.

I am fully verified with coinbase as in proof of ID and residence. Buy doing this I was able to buy and sell btc for euroes until last week. I realize if I wanted to sell for euroes and then transfer the euroes into my UK bank I would have needed to verify my UK bank account. This was not my plan however as I was going to buy back into btc using the euroes in my coinbase euro wallet. and then when I have say doubled my bitcoins using this method I was going to transfer the bitcoins back into my own bitcoin wallet

I am not an user of those big exchanges but as far as my experience goes with my local EU exchange I can trade without authentication as much as I am under certain threshold - for example: I can freely seling bitcoin until I reach 300 euro in transactions.

Yep that's correct.

[ajareselde]

lol its hard to believe someone could have such bad luck, and not to be able to sell bitcoins because of verification of bank account? nonsence.
If i were you i would just switch to another exchange, i know its harder to get funds to btc-e, but its worth it, never had a single problem with them.

cheers

[coinpr0n]

So before you can have full access to Coinbase's features you'll have to verify your bank account which we all know is a hassle. Good to know, so I can maybe plan ahead. But Coinbase isn't really the most attractive option in EU anyway. Is it?

Well that seems to be the case NOW... in fact if I log on to my account it still sais my daily buy/sell limit using the Euro wallet is 500 euroes per day. Except the sell btc tab is blocked. You can certainly buy no problem. My issue really isnt that I have to fully verify my UK bank. It's that the rules changed as the price went up.

So I wonder if I wake up tomorrow and the price is 50dollars per btc (I know.. just making a point) will the SELL btc feature be 'unlocked' and the BUY btc option dissapear? lol

Honestly not sure which exchange is good for Euroes/Pounds. Seems unless you are in the US or China you are going to have a hard time daytrading or just buying bitcoins both fast and at a price lose to the actual value on exchanges.

Yeah, I understand the frustration. I also think Coinbase already has a reputation in the past of "ceasing trading" when price skyrocketed. Many people had their money in limbo right in the most critical moment.

[runpaint]

I like using Coinbase, but if they can take the money out of your account then they should have no problem putting money in. 

[Chef Ramsay]

Doesn't sound like there's much difference in the Coinbase experience in the UK than in the US. Just have your bank account lined up and you'll have your daily $500 buy/sell limit. Then, the extra steps (it's been a while, don't remember exactly) allow you to up that to $50k per day. Never had a problem w/ Coinbase nor any banks I've tried linking to them. Especially after their recent funding round of $75 mill by prominent people/companies, they seem to be the safest and most legit way of acquiring coins. But, that's just my take. I know over in the UK there's a startup called CryptoVest Financial Services that manages crypto accounts for people as they grow but don't know all the details. Check them out if they're of interest to you.

[mrhelpful]

Coinbase is only a attractive to U.S residents, everyone else outside will have a similar struggle.

I would make a post on wanting a btc-e code for the value you want. Then paying okpay or something in your preferred cash payment w. proper escrow.

[koshgel]

I haven't had any issues or experienced other Coinbase related horror stories. Didn't realize they had a Euro Wallet though.

[drbrock]

Ok yeah thanks for the feedback people. So my fnuds were deposited finally and I am able to sell bitcoins now, Damn unfortunately its a day too late. Was gonna sell some while it is at $280 but its dropped a bit now so Im in two minds wether to sell a little bit now or maybe wait a few days see if price goes back over 280 again. tick tock tick tock

And yes Euro wallet is pretty cool (now I am allowed to use it fully)

[ChuckBuck]

Ok yeah thanks for the feedback people. So my fnuds were deposited finally and I am able to sell bitcoins now, Damn unfortunately its a day too late. Was gonna sell some while it is at $280 but its dropped a bit now so Im in two minds wether to sell a little bit now or maybe wait a few days see if price goes back over 280 again. tick tock tick tock

And yes Euro wallet is pretty cool (now I am allowed to use it fully)

Wait until the Marshall Auction today is over to see if there's any violent swings before deciding.

I have a feeling most of the auction winners will just hold onto their coin, but you never know.