Converting Bitcoins into hard cash

[FaT]

Hi,

I just discovered Bitcoin about a week ago and have been mining since

There is one big problem for me though (and many other people too). How do I get my Bitcoins converted into my native currency?
A lot of the ways of doing this seem to be tied to the US. I'm in South Africa, and there appears to be no easy way to do this.

So far, one of the most promising approaches appears to be converting Bitcoins into a Payoneer Debit card refill. However, thus far I have found no way to get a Payoneer card that isn't tied to a specific vendor's product.

The only other way seems to be: MtGox -> Liberty Reserve (some say this is dodgy?) -> Paypal (even more problems I read) -> SA Bank account.
This path introduces many..many fees.

Am I missing something here?

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[itsagas]

Can't Gox make an international wire directly to your SA bank account?

[FaT]

I'm sure it can, but from what I understand, there are considerable fees involved?
I'm not doing big transactions since I've just started mining. I'd like to get some cash in my hand before I invest more into Bitcoin mining, so I'm wanting to withdraw $150 odd.

[gmk80]

It seems to me you've found a money making opportunity. If there's no good way to convert bitcoin to rand, perhaps you should be the guy to do it. Instead of mining, you could be collecting up all the bitcoins throughout SA in exchange for depreciating currency and a nominal transaction fee. With a little marketing you could be rich before Friday. If you didn't want to hold the coins, you could at least send them to Mt Gox and convert them into the currency of your choice.

Can't you set up a US dollar (or Euro) account in South Africa for receiving dollar transfers and do the currency conversion at the bank?

[Meatpile]

I would say you should spend those bitcoins on actual things people are trying to sell (for bitcoins) instead of exchanging in and out between other currencies. That is what bitcoin was designed for. Otherwise you will be paying all types of fees guaranteed.

[Jonathan Ryan Owens]

I would say you should spend those bitcoins on actual things people are trying to sell (for bitcoins) instead of exchanging in and out between other currencies. That is what bitcoin was designed for. Otherwise you will be paying all types of fees guaranteed.

Your idealism is great, but the growth of Bitcoin is going to be dependent upon it being convertible to currency, especially since products for sale still need to be purchased in cash. Services are different, because we can provide those and assign them our own value, but unless a distributor takes Bitcoin as payment, at some set exchange rate (again, against other currencies), your idealism falls flat on its face, unfortunately. If Bitcoin once again trades at ~0.20 - 0.40, then you'll have your trade/exchange system back. Because people are willing to pay real money for Bitcoin, there's a real need to be able to quickly convert back and forth. Liquidity is king.

[Karmicads]

I just posted a similar thread out on Trading Discussions. http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15913.0 It's a pervasive issue.

[zdmas]

I found this site: https://www.bitcoin4cash.com/

Not sure if it's legitimate or not, it doesn't have any Google PageRank and it has a pretty high Alexa Rank, so it's a relatively new site, it might be worth trying though.

[nybitcoin]

hmm you could attempt to find another person in SA that also is interested in bitcoins and sell bitcoins to them in person for an amount specified by you or have them do a bank transfer to your account and then you send them the bitcoins or vice versa.  You could also attempt to exchange the points for an amazon or visa prepaid card(even though its not cash as you wanted).  I don't know if the visa's work in south africa (sorry)  This could be a temporary fix to your problem until a more suitable exchange comes to your country!

[spruce]

If you have a friend/relative in the UK, say, they could purchase something for you that you want using their regular Visa/MC credit card. You send them the BTC. They can then cash out the BTC directly to their bank account more easily than you can in South Africa. I've transferred money from my bank account to both Britcoin and Mt Gox and it's a painless 1-2 days total.

The reason for using a friend/relative is for trust. It could work with a stranger, but there is a big trust issue.

[Jonathan Ryan Owens]

I found this site: https://www.bitcoin4cash.com/

Not sure if it's legitimate or not, it doesn't have any Google PageRank and it has a pretty high Alexa Rank, so it's a relatively new site, it might be worth trying though.

Spam / Shill?

[zdmas]

I found this site: https://www.bitcoin4cash.com/

Not sure if it's legitimate or not, it doesn't have any Google PageRank and it has a pretty high Alexa Rank, so it's a relatively new site, it might be worth trying though.

Spam / Shill?

No? I'm just giving suggestions. I've found it hard to convert without a bank account and it's frustrating, it limits growth and the spread of newcomers.

[FaT]

I should really keep track of my threads!

For any other South Africans: I have yet to try this, but I think the easiest way is to use http://www.bitcoinexchange.cc/ and convert from Bitcoins to Western Union. If you have an Absa bank account, Absa can deposit the cash directly into your account!

There would be a 7.5% fee involved from bitcoinexchange.cc

Maybe I need to try persuade MtGox / Tradehill to allow direct deposits

[hamburger]

Hi,

You could also try to go to www.bitcoin.co.za/forum/index.php to do private exchanges with people in SA - no fees. There is also another exchange where you can find fellow SA people to exchange with

@FaT I also send you a PM


MtGox / Tradehill => not a good idea, just my opinion


Tnx,

Hamburger

[FaT]

Thanks - responded.

I'm glad I decided to hold back on selling earlier.

[Talon876]

This is the system I am using:

Selling coins on tradehill.com which turns in to usd in my tradehill account.
Send the usd from my tradehill account to my dwolla account for $0.25 fee.
Send from my dwolla account to my bank's checking account.

It takes a few days to verify your bank account with dwolla but that's a one time deal.
Also note that it takes 1-3 days to get the money from dwolla to your bank account but I think you'll run in to that in most cases.

[repentance]

This is the system I am using:

Selling coins on tradehill.com which turns in to usd in my tradehill account.
Send the usd from my tradehill account to my dwolla account for $0.25 fee.
Send from my dwolla account to my bank's checking account.

It takes a few days to verify your bank account with dwolla but that's a one time deal.
Also note that it takes 1-3 days to get the money from dwolla to your bank account but I think you'll run in to that in most cases.

Doesn't Dwolla only offer withdrawal to US bank accounts at the moment?

[Talon876]

This is the system I am using:

Selling coins on tradehill.com which turns in to usd in my tradehill account.
Send the usd from my tradehill account to my dwolla account for $0.25 fee.
Send from my dwolla account to my bank's checking account.

It takes a few days to verify your bank account with dwolla but that's a one time deal.
Also note that it takes 1-3 days to get the money from dwolla to your bank account but I think you'll run in to that in most cases.

Doesn't Dwolla only offer withdrawal to US bank accounts at the moment?

Ah that's true, I thought they weren't us-only. Sorry

[shmadz]

I feel your pain FaT, for a long time I had the same problem here in Canada.

Until a local exchange (virtex) started up there was really no easy way to exchange bitcoin for real dollars in your bank account. (or at least nothing that wasn't prohibitively expensive.)

Keep checking for a local SA exchange to pop up, or start making some connections and get one started! (legal help with that would be strongly advised

[FaT]

It isn't a local exchange, but https://bitmarket.eu/ allows trading of BTC for ZAR