My sister periodically sends money from here to germany and pays all the fees so I'm wondering....
If she gets coinbase linked to her account... and buys the bitcoins from coinbase then sends them to someone in germany... what's the best way for that person in germany to cash them out? I suppose they use Euros so it would be in euros?
There are many options for cash out with SEPA withdrawal:
BITSTAMP.net is one of the more widely used methods (going by their exchange volume):
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http://www.BITSTAMP.netThere is also the market exchanges Bitcoin-Central.net, Bitcoin-24.com, and BTC-e.com.
Others that cash-out bitcoins for EUR include:
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http://bitcoinsinberlin.com -
http://www.Bitcoin.deThere may even be a local buyer to find someone with coins to sell:
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https://localbitcoins.com/country/DE/And a few others as well:
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http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Selling_bitcoinsWhat's great is that the SEPA transfer is fairly inexpensive, and with Coinbase it is a flat 1% fee, so a test can be performed on a smaller amount (e.g., $50 or $100) at little cost.
One drawback to using Coinbase, however, is that the price is locked in at the time of purchase but the bitcoins aren't delivered for several days. This means that you would be exposing yourself to the bitcoin exchange rate risk during that period of time. Also, for the first 30 days, a Coinbase customer has a probationary period where the buying limit is $100 worth of coins per day.
There is another option available -- and that is to use Dwolla. With Dwolla you link a bank account, much like you do with Coinbase, except that after you have USD funds at Dwolla you can then send from Dwolla to an exchange (e.g., Camp BX or Mt. Gox), and the transfer is credited to your exchange account promptly. Then coins can be bought and the bitcoins transferred and cashed out all occurring within minutes.
