Coinbase has thousands of complaints with D- rating on BBB

[headingnorth]

The other major exchange Gemini has many similar complaints of people's money disappearing on these exchanges.
Makes me afraid to invest in crypto. Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto? Are there safer ways to do it?

==========================

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/coinbase.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/technology/coinbase-bitcoin-complaints.html#commentsContainer

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/financial-services/coinbase-inc-1116-454104

[Coin_trader]

The other major exchange Gemini has many similar complaints of people's money disappearing on these exchanges.
Makes me afraid to invest in crypto. Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto? Are there safer ways to do it?

==========================

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/coinbase.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/technology/coinbase-bitcoin-complaints.html#commentsContainer

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/san-francisco/profile/financial-services/coinbase-inc-1116-454104

All exchange has this kind of issues. It's either this complaint is from there competitors that trying to ruin there reputation or an Isolated case which user account has an error which is normal for a big exchange with huge database.

Try using DEX instead of CEX, most of the exchange you mention was CEX. In DEX, You have full control to your wallet so this kind of issue is not a problem at all.

[Dave1]

Not only Coinbase though, not defending them, but there are a lot of exchanges right now, so to each its own. Why don't you just buy bitcoin and put it in your own wallet which you have total control of? Why used a third party like Paypal.

You can go P2P or go to other exchanges like Binance to buy and then withdraw in wallet like Electrum or better yet a hardware wallet.

[BitcoinGirl.Club]

Makes me afraid to invest in crypto. Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto? Are there safer ways to do it?

With paypal you are not buying actual crypto it's just a token. The bitcoin bought from paypal can not be moved to your own wallet but only to use in paypal payment. So you are getting a false taste of having crypto.

With Gemini, coinbase buy those bitcoin and move them to your own non-custodial wallet. Your moneu is safe.

[DeathAngel]

Coinbase I have had zero issues with, it’s fast & very easy to use. I saw somebody above my post mention Gemini, they are the least favourable exchange for me that I am KYC’d on. I only used them once & they were very slow crediting my account (fiat withdrawal) compared to others.

[Lucius]

I read the first ten reviews on TrustPilot and I have the impression that they were written by the same person (see keyword/s) - but what is even weirder are the ratings that give only 2 stars for a great experience, and 3 stars for a bad one

Far from being Coinbase’s ideal crypto exchange, but I believe most reviews have nothing to do with the actual user experience so the end result is certainly not authoritative for someone to draw an objective conclusion.


headingnorth, If you play by the rules, I believe that you will not have problems on any of the well-known crypto exchanges, but as is the case with everything else in life, you have to take a certain risk. Be sure to read the terms of use and frequently asked questions, and you can definitely avoid having your account blocked for something you didn't know.

[AmoreJaz]

Coinbase I have had zero issues with, it’s fast & very easy to use. I saw somebody above my post mention Gemini, they are the least favourable exchange for me that I am KYC’d on. I only used them once & they were very slow crediting my account (fiat withdrawal) compared to others.

i dont think some of those complaints towards coinbase are valid. if they have piled up complaints, i dont think they will reach their status as one of the top exchanges. and btw, there is another go-to exchange, which is binance, why go to paypal? binance is much much better.
seems that the OP doesnt know yet the difference of using paypal and top exchanges like binance. soon, he will know the advantages of using cryptoexchange like binance over paypal. also, once you got your coins, just store it in your own wallet

[TopTort777]

All complaints from the links you provided are similar. They are "I have invested, have issue, support did not help me or it took them to much time to help me". If you think that with PayPal you will have less problems and their support will be quicker, then I will disappoint you. Also reviewers like to blame Coinbase for altcoin value loss lol. And most funny review - they are scam. Of course every exchange is a scam, we just dont know when they will perform exit scam.

[Tytanowy Janusz]

I guess (like previous posted) that its black marketing. Just other exchanges spam negative comments. Coinbase is one of the most reputable crypto exchanges.

Some people also blame crypto exchanges for loses that they have from not understanding leverage, fees, simple math (percentage) etc.

[mk4]

Literally every single business or service, inside or outside the cryptocurrency industry, are going to have complaints here and there. Well, why does Coinbase have A LOT of complaints? It's pretty simple — because they also have a crap ton of users. It's literally one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide, and the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. Of course they will have a lot of complaints.

[NeuroticFish]

The other major exchange Gemini has many similar complaints of people's money disappearing on these exchanges.
Makes me afraid to invest in crypto. Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto? Are there safer ways to do it?

All major companies have complaints. There are at least 2 known problems with the exchanges:
- they have way undersized support for the number of users they have (and people will complain if their problems are not handled rather quick)
- many users are not technical and will make mistakes the hackers can exploit, then they'll blame the exchange


PayPal doesn't sell actual crypto, since doesn't allow you withdraw it. If this is OK for you, fine.
People have told you use DEX. I will tell you especially read more.
That's because the "safe ways" depend not that much on the exchanges (the big known exchanges are pretty much safe), it's more on what you do after buying the crypto.
And that's because crypto can be easily stolen and you'll need to know how to withdraw safely (not your keys, not your coins <- search for this) into wallets safely generated and kept (you may want to also read about hardware wallets).

[jerry0]

Well isn't coinbase the most popular one for US citizens?  Then its probably gemini/kraken/binance.US?


Not sure why they have so many complaints if they are the main site?

[Husires]

The other major exchange Gemini has many similar complaints of people's money disappearing on these exchanges.
Makes me afraid to invest in crypto. Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto? Are there safer ways to do it?

All the allegations of the disappearance of the money were from individuals who had kept those coins for a long time and it was their misfortune that the site was hacked at that time.
Buying and withdrawing currencies is safe, as the platform fears for its reputation.
If you are afraid and worried about protecting the private key, use PayPal, but you do not buy bitcoin you buy a share that has Bitcoin value.

[dkbit98]

I am not using Coinbase exchange myself, and I heard some complains about them, but I don't blindly trust any trustpilot feedbacks especially after reading some of them.
They are probably on top of the list for trading volume for all regulated exchanges, but you can always use other ways to buy bitcoin, maybe something like p2p localcryptos.oom or use trusted escrow and buy BTC in bitcointalk forum.

Maybe Paypal is safer way to buy bitcoin/crypto?

No it's not.
Paypal is a black hole for Bitcoin and you can't send it anywhere from their account, plus they can always freeze your account and funds if they don't like you or your activity.

[buwaytress]

Can't say I've used Coinbase OR Gemini, they both aren't able to service me (that could have changed recently especially with Coinbase EU but I've never bothered checking again).

I can, however, speak about PayPal, whom I've been a customer of almost as soon as they were available in my country (circa 2006 IIRC). If you think Coinbase, etc has bad customer support, you will not be happier at PayPal.

Not once in my entire history of being with them did they actually address any of my issues or complaints. Once blocked (which happened frequently due to nature of my work always shifting location), I'd have to wait 3 months or 6 months for it to be auto unblocked. And this is from an account that was fully verified multiple times, never marked for fraud, never had a complaint against etc.

It's not a coincidence at all I moved to Bitcoin about 10 years after that, chiefly because I was urgently in need of a PayPal alternative.

[sunsilk]

It's a good use case if you're a beginner to try investing in crypto with the use of PayPal. But there are some points that you may want to consider if you want to purchase your crypto there.

The main one is you don't actually own when you purchase there. Why is that? they won't allow you to withdraw it from their platform. Can you think of it, buying crypto there and they will not allow you to transfer it to your own wallet?

Coinbase isn't perfect and there really are a lot of complaints and other exchanges experience it as well.

If you're from us, Binance.us will do.

[The Sceptical Chymist]

Well, I'm not sure Coinbase would be the first company going public that has had a lot of bad customer reviews--but since this is crypto we're talking about, apparently it's a headline-making story. 

I'm also not sure that Coinbase going public will change anything about their notoriously terrible customer service.  Shareholders only care about profits and not necessarily how a business treats their customers (unless it's so bad that the company starts losing those customers).  In any case, it doesn't surprise me one iota that their BBB rating is so lousy, as I've personally had a bad experience with them (though I never lost any funds).

And as has already been mentioned, you can't buy bitcoin through PayPal.  It'd be great if you could, and maybe one day that'll be a possibility, but right now they're not letting anyone have access to whatever bitcoin their customers are "buying".  Just like Robinhood.

[magneto]

Who said that you had to buy BTC through Coinbase?

Honestly, if you are willing to verify yourself there are plenty of established exchanges with much lower spreads (Kraken, Bitstamp, Polo, Bittrex, Binance etc.). If you are not, then you've always got LBC or OTC trading as a reliable backup option.

Coinbase's customer service has been known to be notorious and I would not recommend them to anyone. Who knows how they managed to get their valuations up this high and go public...