guidance on buying first BCT

[legend018]

I'm looking for a little extra guidance deciding on the best way to buy my first coin or I guess super small fraction of a coin (lol).  I'll be sticking with bitcoin for now. I thought about meeting up with someone and paying cash and doing it that way, but I don't exactly have a ton of people in my area doing it (from New Hampshire, United States). If I do it online - won't I have to give some form of payment?  How do you do that without a bank being involved somehow? Doesn't that sort of go against Banks being involved? Anyway here are some questions:

1. Is there a recommended form of payment? I'd like to be prepared for my first transaction.
2. Is there any recommended online sources?  I looked at localbitcoins and there are barely any participants near me. I did start reading through this.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=695082.0

I'm a beginner so I'm going to start small (say $50 to $100) and will use Mycelium. I am also thinking about contributing and downloading the full BitCoin Core on a computer or in a VM and I guess eventually figuring out how to maintain a wallet through there instead of Mycelium. 

[Theb]

You can go to the Marketplace > Currency Exchange in the forum and try to find out who is willing to trade with you, with your current rank and activity you will most likely need an escrow in order to have someone selling their Bitcoin to you. Also with an escrow involve in your transaction meeting with the seller is not needed anymore, just remember that when picking an escrow it must be a trusted one with a good reputation. In the currency exchange you can offer any kind of payment as long as the seller is accepting it, try to find out yourself.

[legend018]

ok thanks. not exactly the kind of information that is staring at you in the face when researching about starting with bitcoin.
I checked out that link - hard to tell what is real and not real in there with some of the posts.  I'm guising localbit coins has it's own built in Escrow.  I'll see what I can figure out. Hard for a newbie to get into buying their first fraction of bitcoin these days, bet it was easier when bitcoin first arrived.  

[Spendulus]

ok thanks. not exactly the kind of information that is staring at you in the face when researching about starting with bitcoin.
I checked out that link - hard to tell what is real and not real in there with some of the posts.  I'm guising localbit coins has it's own built in Escrow.  I'll see what I can figure out. Hard for a newbie to get into buying their first fraction of bitcoin these days, bet it was easier when bitcoin first arrived.  

Coinbase is my usual recommendation to get started.

[legend018]

Coinbase is my usual recommendation to get started.

Isn't Coinbase similar to having a bank in a way? At that is what I have read. I was more going toward using Mycelium and was
trying to learn the base way to buy my first coin using that.  I'm not sure in what case I need to hire an Escrow. Looking at one example: localbitcoins.com and I think that has a built in Escrow. Not sure if I understanding hiring an escrow and how that would work exactly. Still researching.

[cr1776]

Coinbase is my usual recommendation to get started.

Isn't Coinbase similar to having a bank in a way? At that is what I have read. I was more going toward using Mycelium and was
trying to learn the base way to buy my first coin using that.  I'm not sure in what case I need to hire an Escrow. Looking at one example: localbitcoins.com and I think that has a built in Escrow. Not sure if I understanding hiring an escrow and how that would work exactly. Still researching.

Coinbase and localbitcoins are both good ways to buy a bitcoin or fraction thereof. Once you do at Coinbase for example, then you would transfer it out of coinbase to your own wallet such as Bitcoin Core or Electrum or Mycelium (I haven’t used Mycelium myself).  If you left it at coinbase, that might be similar to leaving cash at a bank, yes. 

Coinbase is easiest in my view, although some people aren’t fans.

[legend018]

You can go to the Marketplace > Currency Exchange in the forum and try to find out who is willing to trade with you, with your current rank and activity you will most likely need an escrow in order to have someone selling their Bitcoin to you. Also with an escrow involve in your transaction meeting with the seller is not needed anymore, just remember that when picking an escrow it must be a trusted one with a good reputation. In the currency exchange you can offer any kind of payment as long as the seller is accepting it, try to find out yourself.

Is an Escrow similar to a Brokerage Service?  Are those terms the same or different? If difference, what are the differences?  Thanks

[AltCreators]

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin, is going to a local ATM.
They usually do not require any identification and you guy buy some bitcoins hassle free in under 2 minutes.

It is depending where you live.

[Hamphser]

You can go to the Marketplace > Currency Exchange in the forum and try to find out who is willing to trade with you, with your current rank and activity you will most likely need an escrow in order to have someone selling their Bitcoin to you. Also with an escrow involve in your transaction meeting with the seller is not needed anymore, just remember that when picking an escrow it must be a trusted one with a good reputation. In the currency exchange you can offer any kind of payment as long as the seller is accepting it, try to find out yourself.

Is an Escrow similar to a Brokerage Service?  Are those terms the same or different? If difference, what are the differences?  Thanks

Escrow do acts as a middle man in your transaction among the other party you have made an agreement. Both would really require to send bitcoin and the payment of yours equivalent on how much you did bought since you are buying bitcoin then seller will give you up on the latest or the recent exchange price of bitcoin at that moments.Once all required things have been set out then you will recieve those coins and also using escrows do have some fees but not to worry since they do charge up small amounts.

[legend018]

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin, is going to a local ATM.
They usually do not require any identification and you guy buy some bitcoins hassle free in under 2 minutes.

It is depending where you live.

I checked one out for curiosity. Buy: 8.3%. That seems like a lot. Is that the norm?

[AdolfinWolf]

The easiest way to buy Bitcoin, is going to a local ATM.
They usually do not require any identification and you guy buy some bitcoins hassle free in under 2 minutes.

It is depending where you live.

I checked one out for curiosity. Buy: 8.3%. That seems like a lot. Is that the norm?

It is the norm for ATM machines, yes.

For lower rates you will need to verify your identity using your passport, http://coinbase.com for example charges anywhere from 1.4% to 4%, depending on what you use to buy your bitcoins with.

see https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/2109597-buy-sell-bank-transfer-fees for reference.

OR, find someone P2P who's willing to do the deal with you, but i wouldn't recommend that especially if you're extremely new to bitcoin. Chances of being scammed are much higher.