Best way to buy and sell bitcoins from the UK?

[toweroflondon]

I want to buy some bitcoins as a buy-and-hold investment. Mt.Gox says that GBPs can only be transferred to it via banks in Poland or Japan. I do not like trusting my money to banks that I've never heard of before and which are several countries away or on the other side of the world. I'm concerned about the possibilities of fraud or theft.

Is it feasible to get my UK bank to convert my GBPs to USDs and transfer these to Mt.Gox via one of the large reputable banks in the US? And doing the reverse when I want to sell?

Can anyone in the UK with experience of buying and selling bitcoins tell me how they do it?

Thanks

[Kruncha]

May be check out https://localbitcoins.com/

K.

[eduk]

You could try a SEPA transfer to Bitstamp, but you may have to pay a fee at your bank to change into Euros

I used them a month or so ago, but through Transferwise, who have stopped sending money to Bitcoin exchanges, but SEPA still works.

There is http://quickbitcoin.co.uk/

I haven't tried them yet, because they are usually out of stock when I visit.

[BitshireHashaway]

There are lots of websites out there to buy and sell bitcoins especially in popular countries like the UK. I know Vircurex and Mt. Gox both work in the US, and I think they both work in the UK so you may want to check them out.

[toweroflondon]

Thanks for replies.

I've looked through the linked websites. Even Localbitcoins themselves write on their website that there are high levels of fraud regarding selling bitcoins, although you can buy them through escrow (which is a novel and unfamiliar concept to people in the UK). They say escrow is not possible when selling bitcoins, so someone could take your bitcoins and cancel their payment to you.

I've looked at the other link too. With any website, how can anyone tell if they are genuine? They may just be a front for crooks. Crooks would love to set up a fake online bank at little cost, and then at some point run off with everyone's money.

Mt.Gox used to have an account with one of the major banks in the UK, but the bank cancelled this, I have not found any convincing explaination of why this was. I think Mt. Gox say this was due to the bank charging them fees, but if that is the case then why did they not require the customer to pay the fee? Perhaps the bank felt they had a duty to protect the public from the risk of fraud etc.

I wish Mt. Gox would set up an account with a reputable British bank, as I am sure there would be a lot of demand.

Regretably unless there is a safe way to buy hold and sell bitcoins through reuptable banks (even if it involves converting GBP to USD or EUR) then I think the risks far oughtweigh the benefits. For example I can imagine the scenario where you hold bitcoins in some sort of account for five or ten years, and then suddenly its gone.

[gambit1]

mt gox has actually been more or less fine for me.

[azw409]

Have you tried bitbargain.co.uk ? I've bought some from there in the past and it's quick and painless via UK bank transfer or Barclays Pingit which costs nothing.

[FaradayC]

BitBargain.co.uk and OTC on IRC are both good...