My experience with investing through CoinBase ... It there a better way?

[HashFace]

 I'm a long term investor.  I'm making this part of my retirement plan.  I'm slowly moving a small percentage of my investment/retirement portfolio into Bitcoin and a few other "blue chip" alt coins, putting them into cold storage, and forgetting about them.  

First off, I did my research and found CoinBase to be a reputable company, and I like that they supply litecoin and etherium directly, too, so I don't have to pay additional premiums to shapeshift them.

But in the downside, I'm limited to how much I can buy a week, and fees are a killer.  If I buy $150 in Bitcoin, I get a $5.98 purchase fee, and my Debit card companies charges me a $4.68 international fee, then there is a $2-3 fee to transfer the Bitcoin to my control.  

All totaled, it costs me $160.66 to get about $147.5 to my wallet.  That puts my investment about 9% in the hole from day 1.  And since the fees are mostly percentage based, larger purchases wouldn't solve the problem.  

I get that in 20-30 years if Bitcoin continues to grow I might be laughing at myself for worrying about $13 in fees per transaction, but they add up and are pretty significant... so I have to ask if there is a better way purchase bitcoins with dollars?

Thanks.

[andrei56]

I'm a long term investor.  I'm making this part of my retirement plan.  I'm slowly moving a small percentage of my investment/retirement portfolio into Bitcoin and a few other "blue chip" alt coins, putting them into cold storage, and forgetting about them.  

First off, I did my research and found CoinBase to be a reputable company, and I like that they supply litecoin and etherium directly, too, so I don't have to pay additional premiums to shapeshift them.

But in the downside, I'm limited to how much I can buy a week, and fees are a killer.  If I buy $150 in Bitcoin, I get a $5.98 purchase fee, and my Debit card companies charges me a $4.68 international fee, then there is a $2-3 fee to transfer the Bitcoin to my control.  

All totaled, it costs me $160.66 to get about $147.5 to my wallet.  That puts my investment about 9% in the hole from day 1.  And since the fees are mostly percentage based, larger purchases wouldn't solve the problem.  

I get that in 20-30 years if Bitcoin continues to grow I might be laughing at myself for worrying about $13 in fees per transaction, but they add up and are pretty significant... so I have to ask if there is a better way purchase bitcoins with dollars?

Thanks.

You can try local bitcoins, the sellers there are going to sell the bitcoin for an higher price so you are going to lose some money there but if you pay with cash or a bank deposit then you do not have to pay the bank fees and then you can withdraw, I don't know if this is cheaper but you could make your research.

[illinest]

But in the downside, I'm limited to how much I can buy a week, and fees are a killer.  If I buy $150 in Bitcoin, I get a $5.98 purchase fee, and my Debit card companies charges me a $4.68 international fee, then there is a $2-3 fee to transfer the Bitcoin to my control.  

I was under the impression that you could transfer USD to Coinbase by ACH for free, and transfer to GDAX, which has lower fees (including 0% fees for limit orders). I haven't verified for myself yet, but I've heard this from multiple sources and plan on doing it soon.

They also accept SEPA. I'm not sure where you're buying from if you are incurring an international fee.

[Yuuto]

I'm a long term investor.  I'm making this part of my retirement plan.  I'm slowly moving a small percentage of my investment/retirement portfolio into Bitcoin and a few other "blue chip" alt coins, putting them into cold storage, and forgetting about them.  

First off, I did my research and found CoinBase to be a reputable company, and I like that they supply litecoin and etherium directly, too, so I don't have to pay additional premiums to shapeshift them.

But in the downside, I'm limited to how much I can buy a week, and fees are a killer.  If I buy $150 in Bitcoin, I get a $5.98 purchase fee, and my Debit card companies charges me a $4.68 international fee, then there is a $2-3 fee to transfer the Bitcoin to my control.  

All totaled, it costs me $160.66 to get about $147.5 to my wallet.  That puts my investment about 9% in the hole from day 1.  And since the fees are mostly percentage based, larger purchases wouldn't solve the problem.  

I get that in 20-30 years if Bitcoin continues to grow I might be laughing at myself for worrying about $13 in fees per transaction, but they add up and are pretty significant... so I have to ask if there is a better way purchase bitcoins with dollars?

Thanks.

What payment methods are you willing to pay by?

Coinbase's rates are usually higher than most other exchanges to begin with. Plus the fact that they charge quite a large fee, and have low limits, i can tell why you are so frustrated with their service. Trust me i've tried them too.

Thing is that if you are purchasing small amounts, like under 0.1 BTC then coinbase might actually be one of the better options because all the other ways to obtain bitcoin requires you to at least be able to pay like $500.

My advice: Trade on localbitcoins. Make a buy bitcoin order and put it there. People sometimes need to unload their bitcoins for cash too, and you should take advantage of that. Offer psot rate at first, and when you build up a rep then you can actually give them less than spot rate. But thing is sometimes you might not get anyone selling for days, other times you have so many sellers that you can't manage.

[gentlemand]

Depending on which state you're in, go to Gemini instead.

Coinbase is retail, Gemini and GDAX are exchanges. The retail operations will always be more constricted. And regardless of where you are, paying with a card is going to attract some nasty, nasty fees.

[aardvark15]

I'm a long term investor.  I'm making this part of my retirement plan.  I'm slowly moving a small percentage of my investment/retirement portfolio into Bitcoin and a few other "blue chip" alt coins, putting them into cold storage, and forgetting about them.  

First off, I did my research and found CoinBase to be a reputable company, and I like that they supply litecoin and etherium directly, too, so I don't have to pay additional premiums to shapeshift them.

But in the downside, I'm limited to how much I can buy a week, and fees are a killer.  If I buy $150 in Bitcoin, I get a $5.98 purchase fee, and my Debit card companies charges me a $4.68 international fee, then there is a $2-3 fee to transfer the Bitcoin to my control.  

All totaled, it costs me $160.66 to get about $147.5 to my wallet.  That puts my investment about 9% in the hole from day 1.  And since the fees are mostly percentage based, larger purchases wouldn't solve the problem.  

I get that in 20-30 years if Bitcoin continues to grow I might be laughing at myself for worrying about $13 in fees per transaction, but they add up and are pretty significant... so I have to ask if there is a better way purchase bitcoins with dollars?

Thanks.

I have used Coinbase like you have but since I'm an American customer, I don't pay a debit card fee. I just have my bank account linked so the funds come directly from there. I still pay the Coinbase fee though. The alternative might be localbitcoins if it is available in your area.

Another option is buying directly from someone you know that has Bitcoins to sell. Otherwise, you are just stuck with the fees. You should make enough profit to overcome them and make good profits eventually.

[alani123]

Where are you located, US? Check out which exchange would be more suitable for your needs. For US citizens Bitstamp is one of the most reputable and bigger ones. Fees for USD trades are negligible compared to Coinbase. Other than that, if you want to stick with Coinbase stick with GDAX, it's Coinbase's exchange and has better rates.