Buying btc from a forum member

[Billybanjo5]

A trusted member messaged me after I asked about buying btc and said we could do a transaction. They assured me because they were a trusted member and had a reputation to keep, that I could feel safer about getting my coin. I was paying pay pal and because I had no recourse I only wanted to do a fairly small transaction to test it. The trade went fine and the btc was delivered as promised. I did one or two more transactions over the next week or two and again it went smooth. So my question is, is a trusted forum reputation enough to trust someone? I’m at the point now where I want to buy a substantial amount and it is too much money for me to feel comfortable doing the same type of trade. What should I do or suggest to the seller? An escrow of some kind? Thanks for your help.

[1715297603]

1715297603

[1715297603]

1715297603

[1715297603]

1715297603

[Plaguedeath]

So my question is, is a trusted forum reputation enough to trust someone?

Not really, only few trust feedback on this forum doesn't mean they're very trusted person. You can easily get trust feedback from DT member after you trade him (but not all DT will give it)

I don't want to judge the user who have trade with you, but like you said it's "small amount money", their rank and reputation in this forum is not worth to scam a small amount money. If you trade a huge amount money (like 0,01 btc above) and not using escrow, he can probably scam you.

You're right if you want to trade huge amount money with someone, you should use trusted escrow. Here are some few trusted escrow in this forum Few Trusted Escrow Provider

[hd49728]

Who is a trusted member?
In my opinion, if one user is a trusted one, he will do reply in your trading thread rather than send you a PM.
Next, don't trust, verify their trust counters and their trust feedback. Pay attention on trust feedback on their past tradings with others.
There are some Escrow services above but if you want to go with a free on, check [FREE ESCROW] DireWolfM14’s Escrow Service [FREE ESCROW]

[Little Mouse]

If you are saying the the green feedback is equal to trusted, then I would say no. Check this- https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5200663.0
This is just an example, there are a lot of such scammers who are looking for using the green feedback to scam a big amount. So, it is always better to use the escrow service.
However, I do not think any of the forum escrow provide paypal escrow because it can be reversed.

[pealr12]

A trusted member messaged me after I asked about buying btc and said we could do a transaction. They assured me because they were a trusted member and had a reputation to keep, that I could feel safer about getting my coin. I was paying pay pal and because I had no recourse I only wanted to do a fairly small transaction to test it. The trade went fine and the btc was delivered as promised. I did one or two more transactions over the next week or two and again it went smooth. So my question is, is a trusted forum reputation enough to trust someone? I’m at the point now where I want to buy a substantial amount and it is too much money for me to feel comfortable doing the same type of trade. What should I do or suggest to the seller? An escrow of some kind? Thanks for your help.

Even a trusted member sometimes can do bad things if big amount of money is involve.  Always be careful in dealing to person you dont know because in these times were a lot of people need money , they can do bad things.

[crwth]

Just use an escrow and make sure you are the one who chooses. Before choosing any escrow, make sure to check the review first.

This is a link of the escrows thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=855778.0

I'm not sure if some of them are still active with that. Make sure to research them first and then make a deal before anything else. Document everything and save it on your personal device. You can never know if something is going sideways or not. Stay safe.

[Chikito]

So my question is, is a trusted forum reputation enough to trust someone?

No, don't believe right away, verify it first, you have to learn how this work. Read more post on scam accusations you will find user have trusted and reputation has defaulted loan, scamming and etc. this is just example one and many more out there.

[cryptoaddictchie]

If going for huge transaction, escrow is the best solution. Dont hesitate to use this to be sure when it comes to dealing big money. It's a precaution actually and we must always do background check. There are some users that even becomes rouge about paying up for a deal even though they are trusted member here.

Head to Lending and Services youll be able to find there trusted and reputable members that use escrow.

This is a link of the escrows thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=855778.0

^{In addition to this, OP you can I also recommend this one and still active} Escrow Service of Bl4nkcode [Active]

[iamsheikhadil]

If you are using paypal for buying, the risk is on the seller because paypal payments are reversible while bitcoin payments aren't.

Still, it's best to use escrow for every time of trades. Even traders with reputation might have their account hacked or stolen or sold and scammers might use the reputation of that account to gain trust and scam people. Always use an escrow!

[Rodeo02]

A trusted member messaged me after I asked about buying btc and said we could do a transaction. They assured me because they were a trusted member and had a reputation to keep, that I could feel safer about getting my coin. I was paying pay pal and because I had no recourse I only wanted to do a fairly small transaction to test it. The trade went fine and the btc was delivered as promised. I did one or two more transactions over the next week or two and again it went smooth. So my question is, is a trusted forum reputation enough to trust someone? I’m at the point now where I want to buy a substantial amount and it is too much money for me to feel comfortable doing the same type of trade. What should I do or suggest to the seller? An escrow of some kind? Thanks for your help.

I suggest to buy directly in exchange than bough  it in individual members here.
Reputation is very important  here in this forum however it will not guarantee  that they will not going to scam you someday. Having an escrow is big help but you need to also paid fees for the service they provide instead of paying fees why not use exchange its almost the same.

[SFR10]

However, I do not think any of the forum escrow provide paypal escrow because it can be reversed.

Correct.

I’m at the point now where I want to buy a substantial amount and it is too much money for me to feel comfortable doing the same type of trade.

Continue with doing smaller trades or do what "Rodeo02" mentioned ^{[on an exchange]}...

What should I do or suggest to the seller? An escrow of some kind? Thanks for your help.

By doing that, the escrow provider can only protect your part of the deal ^{[since you're the one with reversible method]} and not the other involved party ^[seller] which means, it defeats the purpose of having a middle man for protection.

PayPal - regular   Most world currencies   0   Extremely easy to charge back. Also, since trading bitcoin is against their ToS, good luck disputing the chargeback. Do not use.

On a side note:
- Since I noticed some users posted an outdated list of escrow providers, here are the latest threads:

• Recommended bitcointalk escrow services
• ★LIST★ BitcoinTalk's ESCROW Providers: Ranking & Blacklist ☠ Avoid Scam ☠

[UserU]

However, I do not think any of the forum escrow provide paypal escrow because it can be reversed.

Aren't friends and family payments non-disputable?

The only issue is that this option has been discontinued in many non-US countries

[joniboini]

I suggest to buy directly in exchange than bough  it in individual members here.
Reputation is very important  here in this forum however it will not guarantee  that they will not going to scam you someday. Having an escrow is big help but you need to also paid fees for the service they provide instead of paying fees why not use exchange its almost the same.

If buying here involves fiat, then OP would need to do some KYC and that might be a problem. Paying fees for escrow is worth it if you don't want to send KYC details, especially because you'd still need to pay the exchange fees later.

I think most escrow here won't ask you for KYC even if you deal with a large amount of bitcoin.

[Malvika_sitlani]

Why don't you buy through some particular exchange instead of any member? Nowadays you can find many reputed exchanges are there in the market like Binance, hitbtc, CoinSwitch, Kucoin, etc. It is always good to invest your money through some trusted exchange rather than a human being. Be cautious and happy trading:)

[akhjob]

Why don't you buy through some particular exchange instead of any member? Nowadays you can find many reputed exchanges are there in the market like Binance, hitbtc, CoinSwitch, Kucoin, etc. It is always good to invest your money through some trusted exchange rather than a human being. Be cautious and happy trading:)

The exchanges suggested by you might require KYC to purchase substantial amounts. That's why it's better to go for P2P deals with trusted users or use non-custodial exchange like localcryptos.com.

OP, if you planning to purchase substantial amounts of Bitcoin from the said user, it's better to use a trusted Escrow as suggested by others. If not, you should try localcryptos.com/. It's a noncustodial P2P exchange, without the need for KYC. And yeah sellers accept PayPal and other payment methods.

[ShowOff]

The forum and its members provide facilities for you to make transactions that involve money. Users who have a number of positive trust in profile are characteristics of users who can be trusted when you trade in small quantities and in large numbers. You can consider them if you want to trade. But of course you have to take a few steps before you decide to do a transaction such as verifying signed messages and using Escrow if you are making a large transaction.

But if I am in your position now, I will not make transactions with anyone, even though I believe they are trusted members because I can buy it directly on the exchange and it is safer for me and does not require escrow services. Trusting someone you dont know, I think takes courage and can also take all the risks, and I believe that buying it on the exchange wont make us worry.

[boyptc]

Actually, the 'forum member' that you are dealing with is the one taking too much risk here dealing with you. He's sending you bitcoin in which transactions are irreversible.

Whilst you paying in PayPal, you can reverse the transaction.

If both of you agreed to hire an escrow, then it's good. But the terms of the escrow for both of you will depend on him.

[LbtalkL]

Doing a transaction on Members with a good reputation is safer also consider their ranks and an active forum member. But ranks do not define anything so be careful. If you plan to do a big transaction, you right get an escrow it is the safest option. We have plenty of trusted escrow here in the forum just go to services board and you can find some trusted escrow services there.

[Theb]

Continue with doing smaller trades or do what "Rodeo02" mentioned ^{[on an exchange]}...

What should I do or suggest to the seller? An escrow of some kind? Thanks for your help.

By doing that, the escrow provider can only protect your part of the deal ^{[since you're the one with reversible method]} and not the other involved party ^[seller] which means, it defeats the purpose of having a middle man for protection.

PayPal - regular   Most world currencies   0   Extremely easy to charge back. Also, since trading bitcoin is against their ToS, good luck disputing the chargeback. Do not use.

This will always be in the discretion of the seller, since they have been doing a Paypal for Bitcoin exchange without an escrow for several times now I highly doubt that he/she would even deny the OP if he requested an escrow for their next transaction especially if it would be a substantial amount as said by the OP after all the seller is the one who is accepting Paypal payments for his/her Bitcoin in the first place and I think he/she is aware of the risks involve with it. @OP if you are still having doubts with the person even though he is a trusted member you can never go wrong by availing an escrow service since it's your money we are talking about you will always have the right to protect it from any potential scams.

[Sohyun Park]

I think this not the right board for this discussion. You can try it here you can get offers: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=53.0