first purchase

[smokeydog]

To get started, I purchased 250 dollars worth of bitcoin from the coinbase exchange.  My hope is with this I can learn how to send and receive to a blockchian wallet on my iphone and the process of backup etc.  I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

[Wusolini]

To get started, I purchased 250 dollars worth of bitcoin from the coinbase exchange.  My hope is with this I can learn how to send and receive to a blockchian wallet on my iphone and the process of backup etc.  I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

What payment method you have used? I'm pretty sure the delay has been caused on the fiat side of this trade (coinbase waiting for receiving your money to their account).
BTC transaction is matter of minutes if sent with proper fee.

[guclu]

I have never experienced that. You must have paid with your credit card and they probably took their time to verify you are the actual owner or at least no refusal would come from the bank before you take off with your btc Try to get verified somewhere selling btc like that. It might go the same way for the first purchase but then on you can have sudden btc's.

[bitcoinbulk]

For my coinbase account it takes roughly 6 days for bank accounts. Credit card should be instant.

The tradeoff is that credit cards have a much lower limit. I believe bank accounts let you do $2000.

[smokeydog]

I am in the process of getting my bank account setup for electronic transfer but, this time I just used a credit card, with over a 3 dollar fee, around 1 percent.

[HabBear]

I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

The long time to settle the transaction with Coinbase is because you used a direct bank account transfer. If you had used your credit card the transaction would settle in half the time or less. Working with banks does actually take a few days...it's not all on Coinbase.

The spot where it's better than working with your stock broker, is that A) you're not paying for your stock broker's giant fee for the investment idea that they didn't come up with, and B) you're investing in Bitcoin, which your stock broker can't offer you.

What's a paper check? I'm kidding, but you must be too. A paper check?!

[santiPOGI]

never buy again there if you reallly experienced that ... bitcoin in minutes in most and some are just in a few seconds ..
i diid bought some bitcoin before twice for 200 bucks each and didnt had a problem .. i recieved a message in less than 10 seconds and an email too ...
then log into my account and saw it was loaded in just a gllimpse... find another to have transaction pal

[Velkro]

To get started, I purchased 250 dollars worth of bitcoin from the coinbase exchange.  My hope is with this I can learn how to send and receive

This is best learning curve out there. Congratulations to choosing right method.
Download wallet like Electrum which is currently one of the best if not best software wallet.
Send, receive, train, u will get it in no time.

[mdyso]

To get started, I purchased 250 dollars worth of bitcoin from the coinbase exchange.  My hope is with this I can learn how to send and receive to a blockchian wallet on my iphone and the process of backup etc.  I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

Congrats on starting small and getting involved. Keep learning and studying and finding coins you like. But yes, transfer from institutions to exchanges can take time.

[smokeydog]

never buy again there if you reallly experienced that ... bitcoin in minutes in most and some are just in a few seconds ..
i diid bought some bitcoin before twice for 200 bucks each and didnt had a problem .. i recieved a message in less than 10 seconds and an email too ...
then log into my account and saw it was loaded in just a gllimpse... find another to have transaction pal

It is now 4 days and my account has not been credited, 6 days is crazy.   I can sell any amount of stock, wait the now 2 days for trade settlement then transfer the fund to my bank in 3.   For a long time I have been hearing how bitcoin is minutes.  That's not what I'm finding out.  The only way in or out seems to be through the exchanges.   If I want to buy a car, I can't use bitcoin so I have to convert at an exchange.  This is not at all what I expected.

So I could use a better exchange but, starting out how would I know which one.   I can't spend hundreds and hundreds of hours plowing through forum posts to make this work, it's not practical,  I have too many other things to do.

I still have a lot to learn about using this stuff but to say this is currency is completely misleading.

I believe it's here to stay and has many great qualities, but it's going to take a lot to make it usable,  my wife, parents, most of my friends would not spend 5 minutes doing this.   They will just keep using their credit card, PayPal and put up with whatever the banks demand.

It's not ready for prime time yet, not until I can easily use it to buy a 2 dollar 16 ounce cup of coffee or buy my food at Costco.

I'm going to stick with it and hope for a continuing evolution.

[odolvlobo]

The fault is entirely the U.S. banking system. It take many days to send money from one U.S. bank to another U.S. bank. During that time, Coinbase is just waiting for its bank to tell them that they have received your money.

[smokeydog]

The fault is entirely the U.S. banking system. It take many days to send money from one U.S. bank to another U.S. bank. During that time, Coinbase is just waiting for its bank to tell them that they have received your money.

I don't think so, this was a credit card transaction. 

[smokeydog]

I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

The long time to settle the transaction with Coinbase is because you used a direct bank account transfer. If you had used your credit card the transaction would settle in half the time or less. Working with banks does actually take a few days...it's not all on Coinbase.

The spot where it's better than working with your stock broker, is that A) you're not paying for your stock broker's giant fee for the investment idea that they didn't come up with, and B) you're investing in Bitcoin, which your stock broker can't offer you.

What's a paper check? I'm kidding, but you must be too. A paper check?!

This, my first bitcoin aqusition, was a credit card transaction, which came with 1 percent overhead.  I really don't know what's going on but the process is broken be it the bank or coinbase.  My goal was to made a 50,000 dollar acquisition but I'm going to need to see better performance then this one before I drop 50k.  Once this transaction clears, I plan to send and receive some small amounts to different wallets to learn the mechanics.   If it's all like this I will walk away for a year or so.

As for stock broker's fees, my last brokerage transaction with Vanguard was 7 dollars on a 350,000 dollar trade.  I don't "work with a broker"  I click, fill in the number of shares, then click place order.  The commission is 7 dollare for 100 to 10 million dollars worth of GLD, T, IBM or any other stock.   Where did you get the notion of "giant fees"?

[eternalgloom]

I personally just wouldn't use Coinbase, I have far better options for buying and selling Bitcoin in my own country.
Can just pay via debit card and receive coins after 2 minutes through bitonic.nl everything without verification.

There should be similar options for the US or not? Doesn't the US have any options for buying Bitcoin instantly?

[smokeydog]

I personally just wouldn't use Coinbase, I have far better options for buying and selling Bitcoin in my own country.
Can just pay via debit card and receive coins after 2 minutes through bitonic.nl everything without verification.

There should be similar options for the US or not? Doesn't the US have any options for buying Bitcoin instantly?

Sadly, I think you are right.   Once I send my bitcoins to my hardware wallet, I seriously doubt I will use coinbase again.   So, now I still need to keep looking for another exchange. 

[Rahar02]

I personally just wouldn't use Coinbase, I have far better options for buying and selling Bitcoin in my own country.
Can just pay via debit card and receive coins after 2 minutes through bitonic.nl everything without verification.

There should be similar options for the US or not? Doesn't the US have any options for buying Bitcoin instantly?

Sadly, I think you are right.   Once I send my bitcoins to my hardware wallet, I seriously doubt I will use coinbase again.   So, now I still need to keep looking for another exchange. 

Yes, there are some issues about coinbase, don't know why it could happen but they have bad service about withdrawal.
You can read it here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2135637.msg21431912#msg21431912
I'm not sure about US regulations, coinbase FAQ and the requirements to withdraw but it seems so shady.
Local exchange in my country doing far better than coinbase, easily to deposit and withdrawal within hours.
There are a lot of exchanges out there which support US dollar such as Bitstamp, just check their FAQ before decide to deposit $$.

[warningsigns]

If you use Coinbase you can count on transactions being delayed, especially outbound ones. It is easier to inject funds into their system and they will take their own sweet time in processing inward funds. When it comes to any attempt to remove funds or resources from their coffers, it would be faster, figuratively and literally, to learn to fly a 747 than the time Coinbase takes to process your withdrawal. Well, that was somewhat exaggerated but the point is you cannot expect same-day or even same-week service with Coinbase. You can almost sense, feel and smell that they don't like doing withdrawals.

Bitcoin has always been about speed. The goal was and is transacting in the speed of light. But this is the idealist view. In reality, buying or selling bitcoins these days is more cumbersome and bureaucratic than a bank transfer. There are so many processes and steps involved. It's the scam factor which makes it difficult to transact quickly and painlessly.

[smokeydog]

If you use Coinbase you can count on transactions being delayed, especially outbound ones. It is easier to inject funds into their system and they will take their own sweet time in processing inward funds. When it comes to any attempt to remove funds or resources from their coffers, it would be faster, figuratively and literally, to learn to fly a 747 than the time Coinbase takes to process your withdrawal. Well, that was somewhat exaggerated but the point is you cannot expect same-day or even same-week service with Coinbase. You can almost sense, feel and smell that they don't like doing withdrawals.

Bitcoin has always been about speed. The goal was and is transacting in the speed of light. But this is the idealist view. In reality, buying or selling bitcoins these days is more cumbersome and bureaucratic than a bank transfer. There are so many processes and steps involved. It's the scam factor which makes it difficult to transact quickly and painlessly.

My account finally got credited with my bitcoin purchase.  I went to work learning the ropes of sending and receiving.  That went fine.   I moved some to my blockchain.info wallet in just minutes.   But, ultimately, if I need to cash in to buy a car or who knows what, I need an exchange which will process my request in a reasonable time with reasonable service if there is a problem.  Without a quality exchange, I don't see much use in this technology until I can pay for things by sending bitcoins directly.  Last week I purchased a car for 40,000 dollars, I moved the funds from a brokerage account to my bank with ACH in just 2 days.   If I can't match that with bitcoin or pay for the car directly with bit coin, it has no value to me.

Next step, find a quality exchange.

[Addisonbt]

If you use Coinbase you can count on transactions being delayed, especially outbound ones. It is easier to inject funds into their system and they will take their own sweet time in processing inward funds. When it comes to any attempt to remove funds or resources from their coffers, it would be faster, figuratively and literally, to learn to fly a 747 than the time Coinbase takes to process your withdrawal. Well, that was somewhat exaggerated but the point is you cannot expect same-day or even same-week service with Coinbase. You can almost sense, feel and smell that they don't like doing withdrawals.

Bitcoin has always been about speed. The goal was and is transacting in the speed of light. But this is the idealist view. In reality, buying or selling bitcoins these days is more cumbersome and bureaucratic than a bank transfer. There are so many processes and steps involved. It's the scam factor which makes it difficult to transact quickly and painlessly.

My account finally got credited with my bitcoin purchase.  I went to work learning the ropes of sending and receiving.  That went fine.   I moved some to my blockchain.info wallet in just minutes.   But, ultimately, if I need to cash in to buy a car or who knows what, I need an exchange which will process my request in a reasonable time with reasonable service if there is a problem.  Without a quality exchange, I don't see much use in this technology until I can pay for things by sending bitcoins directly.  Last week I purchased a car for 40,000 dollars, I moved the funds from a brokerage account to my bank with ACH in just 2 days.   If I can't match that with bitcoin or pay for the car directly with bit coin, it has no value to me.

Next step, find a quality exchange.

BBB bitpay
https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-exchange-rates

[Sweetbtc]

To get started, I purchased 250 dollars worth of bitcoin from the coinbase exchange.  My hope is with this I can learn how to send and receive to a blockchian wallet on my iphone and the process of backup etc.  I made the purchase Sept 10. and my account now shows funds available Sept 16.  6 days?  this is worse then moving money from a bank to my stock broker.  A paper check is faster.

Is there a simple explanation? Is this normal for most exchanges?

I guess your fee is so low, and so it varies, with that. The lower the fee the lower the chance you can get your money fast because there is prescribe or recommended fee for your transaction but you can put how much fee you want, and so it delays.