CoinJar - Australia's first VC-backed Bitcoin startup

[zhoutong]

Very interested in the Checkout feature and paypal compatible API, but why does that need to be restricted to Australia only.

I work with several online merchants that would add bitcoin as a method of payment to their sites if there was an easy way to integrate with what they are already using and this sounds like it might make that possible.

We didn't restrict to Australia only. Our system supports over 10 different currencies and everything was designed to be global. However, we can only do daily settlement to Australian bank accounts at the moment as we don't have bank accounts elsewhere. International wire transfer will cost $20-$25 per transaction for us. We are happy to take any international client onboard if he is willing accept the wire fees.

EDIT: We will definitely expand into more countries in the future. At this moment we can't overcome the geographical and legal limitation to support international clients globally. We're also interested in partnerships (Email us).

[Monetizer]

Are you accepting customers as of now? I am really tempted to buy a couple BTC from you

[ninjaboon]

Nice to see you back and best wishes on the new venture.  You coined the word "zhoutonged"

zhoutonged- no wonder his name was familiar.
I thought he was still in Singapore.

[zhoutong]

Are you accepting customers as of now? I am really tempted to buy a couple BTC from you

Yes. Definitely.

[goose20]

I have transferred my $$'s. Fingers crossed it all goes smoothly. Am tired of getting paypal scammed.

Will let everyone know over next couple of days how it goes

[🏰 TradeFortress 🏰]

goose20: This is definitely legit.

[goose20]

Well it looked good enough for me to send them my cash. Definitely needed in oz.

[Monetizer]

Well it looked good enough for me to send them my cash. Definitely needed in oz.

Any updates? It'll be great if it does work, I'll be sure to use them soon.

[goose20]

Yep, all good. Easy and smooth. If this was one of my eBay transactions, it'd be positive A+++.
 

[Stephan21]

You guys claim to be instant, but I have been told by friends that have tried to use this service, that it is not instant. 

One of my friends deposited money on a Friday and could not get bitcoins from you guys until Monday!!  (you guys really should not be claiming instant bitcoins - It's false advertising)


I also really don't like the fact that we have to put so much personal information into your website before being able to buy coins, that is why people hate using Mt Gox.

None of the other bitcoin sellers in Australia demand any personal info...

[felix123]

None of the other bitcoin sellers in Australia demand any personal info...

None of the other sellers only charge you a 2% fee either.

[b!z]

Zhou tong is back? This will be interesting. 

[Stephan21]

Zhou tong is back? This will be interesting. 

Yeah man, I am really concerned after reading about the founder of this website.
I read on many threads that he has scammed many people with previous websites...
[search Zhoutong]

Some have actually coined the term: "getting Zhoutonged" meaning to get ripped off or raped... "to loose all your BTC"
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=63831.0

I have always been a big believer in "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually isn't"... 2% fee just doesn't sound like it is a sustainable business model.  All the other websites charge much higher fees, SpendBitcoin is the highest and his website explains very well why the fees are so high in Australia.

To be fair, I have friends who have used this new CoinJar service and got their Bitcoins fine (although not instantly as claimed)...  However, that is how scams usually work, build everyone's trust and then scam hard for heaps of money.

The fact that all the money and bitcoins in your CoinJar account are held in their possession is very scarey.

 

[goose20]

Damn it... I just got caught in their NON-instant btc.

I've been only positive of coin jar as I've made several transactions. All have been quick smooth and instant. All have been for $100.

I just transferred $500 into btc but no instant coins...

I had an online purchase already to go and now I dont have enough btc to buy.

Damn it, I thought you guys were INSTANT coin jar.

[asically]

Welcome home

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pID03RrmKowy

[zhoutong]

You guys claim to be instant, but I have been told by friends that have tried to use this service, that it is not instant. 

One of my friends deposited money on a Friday and could not get bitcoins from you guys until Monday!!  (you guys really should not be claiming instant bitcoins - It's false advertising)


I also really don't like the fact that we have to put so much personal information into your website before being able to buy coins, that is why people hate using Mt Gox.

None of the other bitcoin sellers in Australia demand any personal info...

Interbank deposits usually take 1 business day. If you want the deposits to clear as soon as possible, please transfer from a CBA account or before your bank's cut-off time.

Bitcoin purchases are instant. Once you have the deposit in your account, you can buy Bitcoin and get any number of instant exchange rate quotes. If you confirm the quotes within 30 seconds, they are locked in and the Bitcoins are automatically sent to your wallet.

The only personal information we collect includes your name, email and phone number. And we accept cash deposit.

[zhoutong]

Damn it... I just got caught in their NON-instant btc.

I've been only positive of coin jar as I've made several transactions. All have been quick smooth and instant. All have been for $100.

I just transferred $500 into btc but no instant coins...

I had an online purchase already to go and now I dont have enough btc to buy.

Damn it, I thought you guys were INSTANT coin jar.

Unfortunately, due to huge spikes in demand, we had to fall back to manual processing to deliver the Bitcoin purchases. This usually takes no more than a few hours and we have arranged a source to continuously supply Bitcoin in large amounts. We're already doing something like $5k a day within 2 weeks of launch. It's expected that instances like this will be very infrequent in the future.

Thanks for your support BTW. :-)

[zhoutong]

Zhou tong is back? This will be interesting.  

Yeah man, I am really concerned after reading about the founder of this website.
I read on many threads that he has scammed many people with previous websites...
[search Zhoutong]

Some have actually coined the term: "getting Zhoutonged" meaning to get ripped off or raped... "to loose all your BTC"
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=63831.0

I have always been a big believer in "if it sounds too good to be true, it usually isn't"... 2% fee just doesn't sound like it is a sustainable business model.  All the other websites charge much higher fees, SpendBitcoin is the highest and his website explains very well why the fees are so high in Australia.

To be fair, I have friends who have used this new CoinJar service and got their Bitcoins fine (although not instantly as claimed)...  However, that is how scams usually work, build everyone's trust and then scam hard for heaps of money.

The fact that all the money and bitcoins in your CoinJar account are held in their possession is very scarey.

 

CoinJar is backed by Melbourne-based startup accelerator AngelCube (can be verified from their press release). Please be assured that VCs do due diligence much more carefully and responsibly than a few random forum members.

You're under no obligation to use CoinJar Filler or keep your Bitcoins with CoinJar. We discourage our users from saving excessive amount in their CoinJar Bitcoin wallet (and any hosted wallet in general). There's nothing scary about it. We want to facilitate instant transfers and innovative use cases of Bitcoin, and we made the decision that we need to hold the private keys.

CoinJar's business model is to make money from Bitcoin-fiat transactions, mainly from our Filler and Checkout services. 2% is very sustainable because we have access to wholesale foreign exchange rates (1-2 pips vs 300-400 pips by Big 4). We have been gross profit positive since the launch of Filler and our investors are quite happy with our progress.

A key thing to remember is that CoinJar has a long term vision that prevents us from taking excessive short-term profits. Instead of asking whether 2% is sustainable for CoinJar, you probably want to ask yourself whether 10% fee is sustainable for Bitcoin's growth in Australia. CoinJar is not simply a place for you buy Bitcoins in Australia. It represents our vision to bring innovation to Bitcoin and potentially the financial services industry. We are keen to solve problems for Bitcoiners, and buying Bitcoin is just one of them.

It'll be great if you can spend some time to learn more about our products at https://coinjar.io. If you come to Melbourne, you're welcome to come to our office or join a meetup organized by us as well. Our business is tied to the broader market (that is Bitcoin) and it's in our every incentive to grow with the Bitcoin economy and we will never work against this principle.

[hamiltino]

I hope all the success to you guys, you have done an amazing job with the website, unbeatable fees and a very user friendly experience.

Best Regards,

[redmetal]

Hi, love the process and the fees, a bit slow with all the manual inputs ect. but this time when I have purchased BTC it says "We will send you ฿ 1.0653 within 24 hours."

the other times I have bought BTC it has been instant (after the bank transfer)

I will use in the future, and I hope you guys introduce a withdrawal(AUD) system at some point too