I've recently signed up for
Crypto-Trade because of
contests and giveaways on Reddit and they've really won me over. They have a livechat that's with attended by admins, and the users are really nice people who are quite helpful for people getting started in crypto-trading (even at 4am Hong Kong Time).
I used to use bter for trading my newer altcoins but I wasn't entirely convinced that I could trust that site to hold onto my money, since that URL was a porn-torrent site as recently as last year. (I found that out from my web-filter at work! Luckily I'm still employed.
NSFW Proof.) Another downside is that site doesn't have options to withdraw to USD while cryptotrade lets you withdraw using OKPay or Perfectmoney to cash out to a bank account, or directly/anonymously via moneygram or western union.
Even though I am reassured by having those options for cashing out, they all have the common problem of requiring me to leave the house, so what I usually end up doing is buying Amazon gift cards from Gyft in order to avoid fees or having to put on pants.
I just want to state that I don't work for either of those companies, in fact I am just some guy on the opposite side of the globe from them. I won 2 LTC in a giveaway contests on Reddit, and afterwards spent quite a while afterwards chatting with them on their site. I had a great time getting to know a total stranger on the other side of the planet, and they were extremely receptive to any suggestions I made about Reddit's most active times throughout the week, time zones, and designing their contest so to give new users a fair chance of winning. Because I can see that they have a great site run by great people, I know I'll be using it throughout the foreseeable future, and so I have no qualms about spreading the word about my good experiences.