Am I got ripped off by Coinbase?

[cdawson023]

This is my first post here. I am from /r/bitcoin. I have had no problems whatsoever with Coinbase. They have been nothing but professional with me. I started trading with them in January. I'd rather not state how much I've purchased from them, but I've had no high risk flags, just smooth sailing. I've also made one sale and confirmed that they paid my bank account.

I use a diverse selection of exchanges, as I find that each exchange has its own unique strengths and weakness, some more obvious than others.

[FreeMeBTC]

I would avoid Coinbase.  My experience is that BTC purchases with them take 5 days.  You don't know what BTC value will be in 5 days.  If the transaction is favorable to Coinbase the transaction goes through.  If it's favorable to you, (a lot of BTC per $), then they say you've been flagged as high risk and cancel it at the last minute.

This is completely wrong. Coinbase is legitimate and reputable and I've used them for about a dozen purchases. In fact, one of the main reasons to use Coinbase is because you lock in the price at the time that you place your order and the bitcoins are then later released to you after the ACH transfer clears. Compare that to say, using Dwolla and Mt.Gox, where it takes just as long, if not longer, and you'll be paying the price a week from today instead of today's price.

I opened an account with Coinbase a couple weeks back.  I made 2 small buys so far.  The first one went well.  On the second purchase I bought right before the price went way back up and they sent me a notice that they had to cancel that purchase because they thought it was high risk somehow. They suggested trying back in a few weeks.

Usually if you contact them about a cancelled transaction they'll push it through.  They're still training their fraud detection algorithm so that happens sometimes.

+1

I've had this happen a few times and it seems to happen on transactions for <1BTC. Sometimes it takes longer than I would like, but they've always restored the transaction when I requested it. The real trick is to ask for your account to be white-listed, to avoid having your orders caught by the fraud detection system.

[SilverandBitcoins]

I would avoid Coinbase.  My experience is that BTC purchases with them take 5 days.  You don't know what BTC value will be in 5 days.  If the transaction is favorable to Coinbase the transaction goes through.  If it's favorable to you, (a lot of BTC per $), then they say you've been flagged as high risk and cancel it at the last minute.

This is completely wrong. Coinbase is legitimate and reputable and I've used them for about a dozen purchases. In fact, one of the main reasons to use Coinbase is because you lock in the price at the time that you place your order and the bitcoins are then later released to you after the ACH transfer clears. Compare that to say, using Dwolla and Mt.Gox, where it takes just as long, if not longer, and you'll be paying the price a week from today instead of today's price.

I opened an account with Coinbase a couple weeks back.  I made 2 small buys so far.  The first one went well.  On the second purchase I bought right before the price went way back up and they sent me a notice that they had to cancel that purchase because they thought it was high risk somehow. They suggested trying back in a few weeks.

Usually if you contact them about a cancelled transaction they'll push it through.  They're still training their fraud detection algorithm so that happens sometimes.

+1

I've had this happen a few times and it seems to happen on transactions for <1BTC. Sometimes it takes longer than I would like, but they've always restored the transaction when I requested it. The real trick is to ask for your account to be white-listed, to avoid having your orders caught by the fraud detection system.

Ask to have your account white listed?  Contact them when a transaction doesn't go through?  what are you suppose to do, email them?

[Wingman4l7]

Ask to have your account white listed?  Contact them when a transaction doesn't go through?  what are you suppose to do, email them?

Yup!  Here's the link: http://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/emails/new

[valzav]

An update on this issue - it's not solved yet, account balance is still zero. The only thing I've got from Coinbase 2 days ago is an email saying "Sorry for the delay, we are working on this". I'll keep you posted, hope they can solve it.

[cleverchickens]

An update on this issue - it's not solved yet, account balance is still zero. The only thing I've got from Coinbase 2 days ago is an email saying "Sorry for the delay, we are working on this". I'll keep you posted, hope they can solve it.

I've had account balance issues before, but they have always taken care of it.
Hope they can fix these issues for good, because otherwise they are a super convenient way to buy/sell bitcoins.

[Quantum_Negatum]

Coinbase's business model is doomed.

[SilverandBitcoins]

Coinbase's business model is doomed.

.   I hope not.  Maybe they should raise their fees? I think it's a great concept - bitcoins for the non-geek average person.  I wish them well.

[SilverandBitcoins]

I posted earlier in the thread that my second order to Coinbase was declined as suspicious.  I took your advice and emailed them and the emailed back saying that they are reversing their decision and will honor my purchase at the low price!  They are also putting me on the white list, so I shouldn't have any further trouble.  I am as happy as can be and will continue to utilize their service!

[WearsMyLiberty]

I would avoid Coinbase.  My experience is that BTC purchases with them take 5 days.  You don't know what BTC value will be in 5 days.  If the transaction is favorable to Coinbase the transaction goes through.  If it's favorable to you, (a lot of BTC per $), then they say you've been flagged as high risk and cancel it at the last minute.

That's unsubstantiated.

I've read on reddit of people buying BTC then having it delivered even in a rising market. However, I do question there business model.

It's supposed to be buy low sell high, not the other way around. Probably heading for bankruptcy.

Yup, definitely unsubstantiated.  In fact, there was a case on Reddit recently where a transaction was cancelled for fraud when it would have massively been in their favor.  FWIW, I've bought BTC at least twice from them, and when it was delivered it was worth more than the price I purchased it at. 

As for the purchases taking 5 days, there's a perfectly good reason for that, and it's kinda tiresome to keep explaining it -- it's not some huge secret or conspiracy or due to horrible customer service.  You buy BTC from them via ACH bank transfer.  Those typically take 2-3 days to clear (that's the same for ACH transfers from anyone, anywhere).  I think they may tack on another day or two to make sure your ACH bank transfer to them clears without error.  They have to do this to mitigate fraud, as they're dealing with exchanging USD via a reversible payment (ACH transfer) for BTC, an inherently non-reversible payment -- very risky for them.

As for their business model, they make their money off their transaction fees -- and I can imagine ways of handling the transactions so that they would not be exposed to the risks of market swings.

I've also bought from them twice where the price had risen significantly by the time the coins were to be delivered and both times they showed up exactly on time.

I had heard about that happening to people so I was a little nervous but it went very smoothly.

I know that others have had problems with coinbase and they still have things to improve but from what I can tell they are reputable and will try to make everything right if they make a mistake.

[valzav]

I need advice.
I've bought 10BTC 2 weeks ago via Coinbase, money came from my Chase account, transaction was shown in my account on Coinbase and balance was 10BTC.
But to my surprise when I've checked my account 5 days ago it was totally clean - no transactions, no linked bank accounts, 0BTC balance.
I've contacted Coinbase support, next day I've got the following reply:

APR 22, 2013  |  05:36PM PDT
Julian L replied:

hello,
we are looking into the issue, but i can already see you made one successful 10 btc order 6 days ago. this is probably only a disaplaying issue and will resolve soon.
kind regards,
julian

The issue is not resolved until today, they don't answer my emails anymore.
What should I do? Maybe somebody already has dealt with this kind of situations?
Is it possible to cancel/withdraw ACH transaction in my bank two weeks later?

One more update - they've resolved the issue this night and my account was credited 10BTC after I PMed Fred on Reddit. Hope this was technical issue and they don't experience any funding problems. Nonetheless I'm going to withdraw my money and close my account. Be careful with Coinbase, I think it makes sense to wait until the service mature (or go bunkrupt).

[WearsMyLiberty]

Glad to see that you got it resolved.

I can understand being cautious with them right now but I do think they'll eventually work out their problems.  They're still in beta right now and like a lot of Bitcoin related businesses couldn't handle the rapid growth. 

Their model is pretty much the simplest way to buy and sell for people just getting in to Bitcoin so hopefully they get everything fixed soon.

And they are still hiring:

http://coinbase.com/jobs

[Bit-Ter]

I will watch out for them

[GrinthTaco]

Coinbase seems like bitcoin dumbed down for the masses.   I don't care for it because of this reason.

[Jakewell]

Try to buy from another more popular site next time