Safest way to cash in?

[crazylikeafox]

I have a fair amount of bitcoins headed my way for a consulting job I did ($X,XXX worth).  The things I am reading about MtGox scare me to death - to the point where I wouldn't accept bitcoins at all for payment if I hadn't already told my customer that I would accept them.  I can't afford to not be able to cash them in within few days of receiving them, and I certainly can't afford for them to be arbitrarily confiscated.  I don't plan to verify my account with them...it appears that they are nothing more than a conduit to the government.

After reading everything, my plan is to sell less than $1K per day worth in an unverified account, and withdraw in the form of the MtGox redeemable coupons, then use the coupons at bitinstant to paypal it to myself.  Has anybody had problems getting MtGox to cough up a redeemable code?  How long does it take?  It seems like problems exist with them all around, but unfortunately if you want to sell a decent number of coins, they appear to be the only option.  At this point I'd send them to someone for 80 cents on the dollar in exchange for cold hard cash.

[TangibleCryptography]

You could just use FastCash4Bitcoins  https://fastcash4bitcoins.com
Send us your coins and we pay you.  Couldn't be simpler.  Well I guess it "could" be simpler but it is pretty easy.

No exchanges; no excuses; just fast payouts.

BTW if you are worried about getting scammed we have bought over 125,000 BTC (support thread).

Also please keep accepting Bitcoins for payment!

[crazylikeafox]

Thanks - I will definitely check out your service.  If I ask for a bank wire, do you send the wire the same day I send the coins (assuming I do it in the morning) or will it take longer?

[jwzguy]

You could just use FastCash4Bitcoins  https://fastcash4bitcoins.com
Send us your coins and we pay you.  Couldn't be simpler.  Well I guess it "could" be simpler but it is pretty easy.

No exchanges; no excuses; just fast payouts.

BTW if you are worried about getting scammed we have bought over 125,000 BTC (support thread).

Also please keep accepting Bitcoins for payment!

Safest, easiest way, by far.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Thanks - I will definitely check out your service.  If I ask for a bank wire, do you send the wire the same day I send the coins (assuming I do it in the morning) or will it take longer?

Generally speaking yes.  Our cutoff time is 4PM EST.  If your order CONFIRMS prior to 4PM EST then it will be sent the same day.  If it is after 4PM EST, on a weekend, or on a Bank Holiday it will be sent the next banking day (Mon to Friday excluding federal holidays).   Most banks will post a wire to your account the same day it is sent.  A few may delay the posting of funds until the following morning.  It has been our experience these tend to be smaller banks and credit unions.  Not sure if they have some internal undisclosed cutoff time.  Sadly there is no blockchain equivalent for bank wires.

[Stephen Gornick]

I don't plan to verify my account with them...

Their terms of service are essentially that they can freeze the account at any time for any reason until you verify your account.

If they were to freeze the account and you would refuse to verify it, you would essentially then forfeit any funds deposited.

There are many cash out methods.  

Depending on where you are, there may be one or more local, in-person, traders willing to buy your coins with cash.
 - http://www.LocalBitcoins.com

You can also buy MoneyPak and use that to load a prepaid debit card (and from there, withdraw cash at an ATM, or do whatever.)

There is a service that will deposit cash into your bank account:
- http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=82983.0

There are many options:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Selling_bitcoins

[thebaron]

I highly recommend FastCash4Bitcoins. Very highly. Very. The difference in price is worth it for the less stress alone.

[thebaron]

I don't plan to verify my account with them...

Their terms of service are that they can freeze the account for any time for any reason until you verify your account.

And they won't tell you it's frozen until you ask! The first time I used Mt.Gox, it was to buy $100 worth of coins. Sent in the Dwolla money. No balance showed in my account for days. E-mailed support. They said I had to verify my account. I got frustrated and said just return the Dwolla money. Can't do that they said, please verify your account.

[crazylikeafox]

Looks like fastcash4bitcoins is the ideal solution (at least for my situation).  Thanks for all the very fast and helpful responses.  This really is a fantastic community!

edit: Someone needs to try to explain to MtGox that they are scaring the kinds of people that need to be accepting bitcoin as payment away from accepting bitcoins with all of their nightmarish policies.  I've been a programmer for 18 years - I am extremely computer literate and have doing e-commerce of all manner since 1995.  Yet, being new to the Bitcoin universe, I was convinced that I wanted nothing to do with them after a few hours of research on the rigors of actually turning them into cash.

[jwzguy]

Looks like fastcash4bitcoins is the ideal solution (at least for my situation).  Thanks for all the very fast and helpful responses.  This really is a fantastic community!

edit: Someone needs to try to explain to MtGox that they are scaring the kinds of people that need to be accepting bitcoin as payment away from accepting bitcoins with all of their nightmarish policies.  I've been a programmer for 18 years - I am extremely computer literate and have doing e-commerce of all manner since 1995.  Yet, being new to the Bitcoin universe, I was convinced that I wanted nothing to do with them after a few hours of research on the rigors of actually turning them into cash.

Trust me, I've tried. They seem to think they can stay on top forever no matter who they upset or turn away.

We'll see.

[Ari]

Looks like fastcash4bitcoins is the ideal solution (at least for my situation).  Thanks for all the very fast and helpful responses.  This really is a fantastic community!

edit: Someone needs to try to explain to MtGox that they are scaring the kinds of people that need to be accepting bitcoin as payment away from accepting bitcoins with all of their nightmarish policies.  I've been a programmer for 18 years - I am extremely computer literate and have doing e-commerce of all manner since 1995.  Yet, being new to the Bitcoin universe, I was convinced that I wanted nothing to do with them after a few hours of research on the rigors of actually turning them into cash.

Trust me, I've tried. They seem to think they can stay on top forever no matter who they upset or turn away.

We'll see.

They are turning away a lot of customers.  Volume on MtGox is half what it was a few months ago.

[snoodles]

You could just use FastCash4Bitcoins  https://fastcash4bitcoins.com
Send us your coins and we pay you.  Couldn't be simpler.  Well I guess it "could" be simpler but it is pretty easy.

No exchanges; no excuses; just fast payouts.

BTW if you are worried about getting scammed we have bought over 125,000 BTC (support thread).

Also please keep accepting Bitcoins for payment!

Wow is this legit? I was getting ready to cash my first coins and was dreading the process of waiting days.

[RodeoX]

You could also just spend the bitcoins on things you need?

[jwzguy]

You could just use FastCash4Bitcoins  https://fastcash4bitcoins.com
Send us your coins and we pay you.  Couldn't be simpler.  Well I guess it "could" be simpler but it is pretty easy.

No exchanges; no excuses; just fast payouts.

BTW if you are worried about getting scammed we have bought over 125,000 BTC (support thread).

Also please keep accepting Bitcoins for payment!

Wow is this legit? I was getting ready to cash my first coins and was dreading the process of waiting days.

Extremely legit. I have used them many times and recommended them to several people I know IRL who use them as well.

[TangibleCryptography]

You could also just spend the bitcoins on things you need?

I always recommend that as the number one choice, and keeping some wealth in BTC is always a good idea. However sometimes clients just need some cash.  Miners for example have large electrical bills, and merchants often need to buy more inventory in good ole dollars Federal Reserve Notes.

[Eskimo]

Local btc perhaps, I've exchanged cash for btc and also used bank transfers.