Questions!

[Chizbang]

Hey guys!
Im new to Bitcoins. If I buy some Bitcoins on BitStamp and then later lets say the BTC value shoots up and I wanna sell, how long would it take to withdraw money to my UK bank account? (Im a UK citizen and the bank can be either Lloyds or Halifax)
If it takes a long time to complete the transaction, what if the BTC value drops dramaticly during the time of the transaction completion? When the transaction go through would I get the value of the BTCs at the time I sold the BTC or would it be the value at the time of the transaction completion?

Im also thinking of buying a Butterfly Labs 5Gh/s BTC miner. Think its worth it?

Thoughts?
Thanks guys!

[anonymous_hero]

I can't really answer your first question, but as to the second -- I would say probably not.  Buying any miner from them right now is a risky investment, since:

 1) it's hard to say when they will deliver; they initially promised shipments 7 months ago
 2) many, many other people (in the tens of thousands) will get their orders before you, and this will increase the difficulty of the network.  Basically, the more people mining, the harder it is for you to get rewarded for your contribution to a mining pool.  See here for a detailed explanation.
 3) they apparently are willing to give people their money back most of the time even though they say their sales are final, but the wording leaves them room to just flatly deny refund requests.
 4) the price of BTC may go up or down, making the investment worthwhile -- or worthless.

With that said, if you have the money to spare and want to participate, there's no harm.

[Malawi]

The transfer of your pounds after you have sold bitcoins may take a few days, but as soon as you have sold BTC at an exchange, you are holding the currency you sold them for(£).

Buying bitcoins may or may not be the same. You either get pounds into an exchange, and then buy BTC at the price you think is right (if there are sellers at that price). At any point, you can get your pounds back minus some fees.

There is also some options to buy bitcoins directly, then you pay a bit more, but profit from it if the BTC price rises. If the BTC price falls before your payment is confirmed, you loose some money.

BTW: It can be a bit of a hassle to buy BTC, but when you have got them, transfering them to others is a breeze. Same goes the other way, it can be a bit of a hassle to get your pounds to where you're at. So don't use money that you'll be needing next weekend.

[Chizbang]

Awesome! SO I suppose my best option is investment by buying them. So lets say I buy some Bitcoins through Bitstamp how long do you think it would take? Which is the best Bitcoin market in the UK where the transfers (assumingly) are instant?

[Point at Infinity]

Buying from a local seller should be the fastest way, but they will charge a higher rate than the exchanges, especially with the recent volatility.

[odolvlobo]

Newbies should try out mining with the computer that they have before the start buying mining equipment. Mining is not suited for most people. It takes a lot of time and money to be done properly.

[BitcoinPimp]

Isn't bitstamp main-office located in UK? Then I would presume getting your money back would be pretty fast, if theyr customer service are up to bar?

[blackbox]

not trying to sound rude, but you should title your post something better then "Questions!" ... maybe "questions about bitstamp withdrawl"

Because I have 0 idea what bitstamp is, but I clicked your post anyway, and it is slighly annoying