easiest way to purchase bitcoins?

[Thunderbit]

would buying a prepaid credit card and trading for bitcoins an easy transaction? or do i have to go through someone like mt.gox or bitinstant?

[BCB]

What is your objective.

1. Cheapest Price
2. Anonymity (FYI - there is NO such think as anonymity in the 21C regardless of what we could like to believe [even with bitcoin]) 
3. Speed

[miernik]

would buying a prepaid credit card and trading for bitcoins an easy transaction? or do i have to go through someone like mt.gox or bitinstant?

No, not much people would want a prepaid credit card, and if at all you;d have to mail it physically and then wait for the person to withdraw cash in an ATM.

All depends on the amount you want to trade, and what bank accounts you have, and where are you physically.

Without that its impossible to say which method will be "easiest".

[Thunderbit]

ahh i see ... when i do buy some it will only be between 20 and 50 usd at a time...ive never deposited before so im not sure what the best plan of action is....i was kind of looking into bitinstant..   i just want to avoid as many fees as i can and preferably just buy them direct from someone onthe forum.

[TangibleCryptography]

Generally fees are going to be higher on small tx.  We offer 1% below MtGox but it is only on deposits of $500 or more.

On small purchases I would recommend:
BitInstant - for easiest/fastest.
Bitfloor - for lowest fees.

There probably will never be a "the fastest & easiest & cheapest" option involving small tx for the obvious reason.

[evlew]

If you don't have $500 for TC (who i would highly recommend) then I would say bitfloor is much easier than mtgox.
you can do direct deposit/withdraw from your banking account.. took about a day to setup for me.

[rjbtc]

I needed around $30 worth of BTC a few weeks back, and bitinstant worked great. I went to a BoA branch with a pre-printed deposit slip, handed them the cash and in about an hour had the BTC. Not bad, and I guess it's pretty anonymous (I never showed any ID) but I really didn't care about that, just the speed of the whole transaction.

[Stephen Gornick]

ahh i see ... when i do buy some it will only be between 20 and 50 usd at a time...ive never deposited before so im not sure what the best plan of action is....i was kind of looking into bitinstant..   i just want to avoid as many fees as i can and preferably just buy them direct from someone onthe forum.

Quite simply, depositing cash at a bank or 7-11, Walmart, CVS is going to be the fastest and easiest way.

 - http://www.Bitfloor.com (Deposit cash at any Chase or Wells Fargo. No fee)
 - http://www.BitInstant.com (Deposit at major banks, 7-11, Walmart, CVS, Moneygram, etc., or in Brazil using Boleto or Banco Recomendito, or in Russia, using Qiwi or Cyberplat.)
 - http://www.CAVirtEx.com (Deposit cash at several banks)
 - http://www.Spendbitcoins.com (Deposit cash at a bank in Australia)
 - http://www.MrBitcoins.com (Deposit at a bank in U.S., India, Australia)
 - http://BitcoinNordic.com (Purchase CashU or UKash in dozens of countries)


The fees aren't trivial but you can use a credit card to purchase by using VirWoX where you can buy SLL using your Serve card as a credit card, then trade SLL for BTC:
 - http://www.VirWoX.com

This probably does't help you if you are looking to spend the coins anytime soon, but you can buy physical Bitcoin, paid for with credit card:
 - http://memorydealers.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=bitcoin

d preferably just buy them direct from someone onthe forum.

Or find a local trade:

 - http://www.localbitcoins.com

All kinds of options:

- http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Buying_bitcoins