The Ultimate Newbie Question

[nickwit]

I've just set search-word tracking on my http://goldenmeancalipers.com - and the majority of people who visit, do so looking for ways to buy bitcoins.

And today I had a customer turn up... wants to buy using bitcoins, but doesn't know how to get bitcoins... and sad to say, I couldn't give a cogent answer.

If you're from the EU and have a bank-account, it's easy. You ring up your bank, ask for your IBAN and BIC numbers... then transfer straight to Mtgox. If you're in the UK you can transfer straight from your bank-account to Britcoins.com

So what about the US?

As far as I can see, it involves some convoluted route through Dwolla, Liberty Reserve etc... or "befriending someone" on a forum. Is there really no way of going straight from a bank account?

--

This one question seems to be foremost in people's minds... once that they've accepted that they're never going to understand how bitcoins work, and that this doesn't actually matter.

Would be good to have a single page somewhere... in big friendly letters. How Do I Buy Them?







So um... how?

[FooDSt4mP]

I've just set search-word tracking on my http://goldenmeancalipers.com - and the majority of people who visit, do so looking for ways to buy bitcoins.

And today I had a customer turn up... wants to buy using bitcoins, but doesn't know how to get bitcoins... and sad to say, I couldn't give a cogent answer.

If you're from the EU and have a bank-account, it's easy. You ring up your bank, ask for your IBAN and BIC numbers... then transfer straight to Mtgox. If you're in the UK you can transfer straight from your bank-account to Britcoins.com

So what about the US?

As far as I can see, it involves some convoluted route through Dwolla, Liberty Reserve etc... or "befriending someone" on a forum. Is there really no way of going straight from a bank account?

--

This one question seems to be foremost in people's minds... once that they've accepted that they're never going to understand how bitcoins work, and that this doesn't actually matter.

Would be good to have a single page somewhere... in big friendly letters. How Do I Buy Them?







So um... how?

Dwolla is Paypal's bank account integration (free transfers to and from), with a flat $0.25 fee for transfers between users.  Piece of cake.  Lots of people do bank account trades on #bitcoin-otc, but you have to be careful there.  There are trusted users with decent prices though, but they will want you to send first.

[broker11]

So for US users paypal to dwolla is the best option?

Is there a beginner's overview of all the options to go from dollars to BTC?

[Dude65535]

When I sent money to Mt Gox it went from my bank account to dwolla then to Mt Gox.

Edit: To be more detailed you first verify to dwolla that you are the owner of your bank account by reporting the exact values of 2 small deposits to your bank account. Then you tell them how much you want to move to dwolla and they do a pull from your bank account like paypal does. After that you send the money to Mt Gox with a comment including your mt gox account number (this is shown on the add funds page).