Bitcoin ATM - Owner lied about the fee

[kateryana81]

it's maybe why the dude stole the atm and fired in a store last year.

i never hear that news,is that really happen?
the owner put fee for his own,and maybe for closing maintance cost of that ATM,but that percentage was too high,imagine if each day people use that ATM 100 times,the owner should really make big profit.

How is that possible. Well anyway, that’s too much costly. But from the OP's post, it might be a lie. But if it’s true, the owner have made lots of money by charging such an amount.

[ahpku]

it's maybe why the dude stole the atm and fired in a store last year.

i never hear that news,is that really happen?
...

Sure.

Side-Channel Attack on Bitcoin? Sure, But Only If You Have A Gun.
Beretta-Brandishing Bitcoin Bandit Boosts Head Shop's Prized Bitcoin ATM; Flees In Chevy Cavalier Chuck-full Of Other Criminals.
You got it, more from our burgeoning 'Let's get sushi... and not pay!' department.

“I was like ‘what are you doing?! And that’s when he fired the shot and told me to back up,” recalled store manager Amanda McCollum, still visibly shaken by the ordeal. "I loved that Bitcoin ATM, it was seriously worth, like, $7,000! And it was full of money, too. Maybe $2,000 ...or $3,000... that's right, now that I think about it, it was  $30,000. There's no way they'll catch that hooded guy totally not my stoner boyfriend tho, which makes me sad." Atlanta Police Department Spokeswoman Elizabeth Epsy confirmed that while the firearm was drawn and shot, nobody was injured, before collapsing on the floor in fits of rollicking laughter.

[jostorres]

it's maybe why the dude stole the atm and fired in a store last year.

i never hear that news,is that really happen?
the owner put fee for his own,and maybe for closing maintance cost of that ATM,but that percentage was too high,imagine if each day people use that ATM 100 times,the owner should really make big profit.

How is that possible. Well anyway, that’s too much costly. But from the OP's post, it might be a lie. But if it’s true, the owner have made lots of money by charging such an amount.

Well, if it’s that way, maybe I should go get my own ATM. How can the fee be up to 20%, that’s too much. Lastly I checked it was 10% fee. I don’t really understand that.

[biggus dickus]

...

In my city, the few BTMs have a fee ranging from 9% to 14%-plus.  The fees were lower until recently.  It may be that when you add up all the costs (the machine itself, managing it (putting BTC in, taking cash out, electricity, rent, etc.), a very low fee would not sustain such a business.

To my knowledge the machine I have used DOES NOT show the fee either.

20% is very high.  Even the normal 14% I see drove me to using Circle when I want to buy.

Thanks for confirming another machine DOES NOT show the fee. I keep meaning to try a BTM, and this thread has given the good advice to do a small test transaction first so you don't get scammed by unstated high fees. Do you have to wait for a long time for your transaction to go through? If you do it could put people off doing a test transaction.

[h3rlihy]

20% is a complete p*sstake. I've never found myself having to use an ATM for bitcoin but with fees like this, with no warning or notice, I'm not going anywhere near one. But you should have definitely done a smaller test transaction first. When it comes to btc it pays to be sceptical.

[gentlemand]

It would be nice if there was more uniformity in how they operate. I know that's uncool in its own way but it's often the first point of contact for people and it does no good to leave a sour taste.

[OROBTC]

...

In my city, the few BTMs have a fee ranging from 9% to 14%-plus.  The fees were lower until recently.  It may be that when you add up all the costs (the machine itself, managing it (putting BTC in, taking cash out, electricity, rent, etc.), a very low fee would not sustain such a business.

To my knowledge the machine I have used DOES NOT show the fee either.

20% is very high.  Even the normal 14% I see drove me to using Circle when I want to buy.

Thanks for confirming another machine DOES NOT show the fee. I keep meaning to try a BTM, and this thread has given the good advice to do a small test transaction first so you don't get scammed by unstated high fees. Do you have to wait for a long time for your transaction to go through? If you do it could put people off doing a test transaction.

You raise a good point about doing a small test transaction to see how it goes.  I have used two BTC machines, both worked about the same (they scanned QR code off mobile device to send the BTC).  Transactions went just like any other BTC transaction, confirmation in (very) roughly 10 minutes or so.

Even if the BTMs charge a high amount, a small transaction would not be painful.

Also, if the BTM is your only handy alternative, then you may not have a choice, until recently the BTMs were my "best" option for a year or two.

[Wendigo]

If there are no stickers on the Bitcoin ATM warning you of the high fees and there are no on-screen prompts either I think this is borderline criminal activity and you are in your right to seek your lost money back in fees. You could videotape another smaller transaction just to display the misleading process and then show the footage to the local police or a news station or something. The ATM operator will land in hot water in no time because this is outright scamming.

[Kprawn]

Whoever this is, has to be trashed in public... they are ruining adoption by doing this. Your friend will tell everyone about this and he might think this is the norm. F#$% them and the horse they rode

into town with. We are trying to tell people that Bitcoin is cheap and these scamming MF's are killing off all our attempts at doing this. The Remittance services has been doing this for years and they

got away with that, because they had a monopoly. I would contact the competition and tell them about this and ask them to install a BTM with a lower fee close to that machine and kill off all it's

business in the area. We do not need bad operators like this.... get rid of them.

[1Referee]

That's why some of use don't like to Bitcoin ATM
If the owner put low fees, he can't get profit, but if the owner put big fees, no one use his/her ATM.

The problem with Bitcoin related ATM's is that they are very centralized at this point as just a few companies/entities own nearly all of them. I do understand that they have to make profit, but the high fees and the combination with you having to verify yourself in some cases are a good reason for me to not use them.

If there are plenty of different companies with these ATM's around the world you will see them battle against each other with lowering their fees to attract people. But at this point they are too expensive to use.

[es2thekay]

it's maybe why the dude stole the atm and fired in a store last year.

i never hear that news,is that really happen?
the owner put fee for his own,and maybe for closing maintance cost of that ATM,but that percentage was too high,imagine if each day people use that ATM 100 times,the owner should really make big profit.

yup, true story.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b46_1446731881

[CoinATMRadar]

Thanks for confirming another machine DOES NOT show the fee.

It might not show the fee, but it always shows you the price of bitcoin you purchase at. I don't know a single machine, which doesn't do this.
Which type of machine are you talking about?

[Nahl]

I wanted to see what you guys think or what to do?

I'm helping out a new user who just got into bitcoin. He was at an ATM and talked to the owner and said it was a 1% fee to Sell bitcoins. The machine itself didn't have any fee information. Anyhow, when he went to proceed it charged him 20% fee or a little over couple hundred dollar fee when selling 1k of btc. Afterwards, he called the number for support but all they do is hang up even after they just talked.

He's now asking what he can do and if that is even legal? But I am still skeptical as it could have been user error. Normally doesn't it say the fee even on the screen prior to confirming a sell or purchase? However, he says there was no fee warning stickers on the machine and there was no fee % warning while on screen. Any help appreciated.

20% transactions fee even it's legal but for me it was like robbery because i didn't use bitcoin ATM and only convert my bitcoin into my local currency but the fee is not so big and i think ATM companies doesn't dishonest about informations of fee and better stay away from those bitcoin ATM

[JaneEverycunt]

<>
20% transactions fee even it's legal but for me it was like robbery
<>

Some think 3% credit card fees are robbery

[alyssa85]

I wonder if it is foreign exchange fees. The dollar has been rising in the last year against every currency on the planet. So if the BTC in the ATM was priced in dollars, and your friend used a local currency to pay, they would have had to change the local currency to dollars, incurred an exchange fee on top of that, and then incurred the 1% fee the ATM charged.

I don't know why people use ATMs, just use an exchange. Yes you have to give your name to the exchange, but that's no different to giving your name to Amazon when you buy something from them.

[Junko]

OP, please give us more details. Your thread title accuses the owner of the bitcoin atm of lying about the fee and you say he subsequently hangs up on you when you tried to call him. If this is true then fuck that guy.

Give us the location, city, state, store, owner name, bitcointalk.org username, phone number, anything, everything. And let him know you did so. Otherwise this kind of shady shit will continue to happen to others and possibly turn off new bitcoiners. There are two btc atm's in my city (Dallas,Tx) and I would like to know for future reference. Thanks.