Setting up a bitcoin online sale advertisement
This guide is for people who are looking to be actively involved in bitcoin trade, become a trader on LocalBitcoins.com and have their own bitcoin online trade advertisements running. If you are looking for sell bitcoins more seldom it is easier to reply one of the existing Sell bitcoins with cash and Sell bitcoins online advertisements.
Why trade on LocalBitcoins?
On LocalBitcoins.com, you are exchanging bitcoins to traditional currencies in person-to-person fashion. This is also known as over-the-counter (OTC) trading.
People prefer to buy and sell bitcoins OTC, because it allows fast transactions and more diverse payment options. Centralized bitcoin exchanges are often slow, so selling directly to users of the same bank or payment provider makes the money move faster. The wide variety of payment methods enables a wider audience to access the bitcoin trade. Many people are willing to pay extra for this service.
Pricing your bitcoins happens dynamically, against the bitcoin market rates. You set a price equation that determines the exchange rate of the trade on the moment the trade request arrives. Read more about dynamic pricing.
Benefits when trading on LocalBitcoins.com
Quick and easy way to trade bitcoins
Reputation system for finding and filtering trustworthy traders
Protection for both the seller and buyer: seller can't run with bitcoins after payment, seller can hold the bitcoins in escrow until the payment is cleared.
Automated process for the seller.
Strenghten your local bitcoin community.
Online sell process
How selling bitcoins online on LocalBitcoins.com goes:
Create a sell bitcoins online advertisement. Choose a payment method you are comfortable with (see the details below). Set the terms of your trade in a free form message. E.g. contact hours, inform you might require a copy of an id from new buyers.
Make sure your LocalBitcoins.com wallet has enough balance to automatically fund the escrow when someone replies to your advertisement. People can only buy at most the amount of bitcoins you have in your LocalBitcoins.com wallet.
Save and publish the advertisement and see how it looks like. On the public advertisement page you see the listings where your advertisement appears.
You will receive email and SMS notifications when someone replies to your advertisement. The buyer either contacts you for further payment instructions or does the payment directly with the provided details. The bitcoins the user wishes to buy are reserved for the trade for the duration of the payment window (usually 90 minutes).
Use LocalBitcoins.com messaging system in Dashboard to reply to the buyer. Guide the buyer how to pay and how long it usually takes for the payment to arrive.
When the buyer presses Mark payment complete the required amount of bitcoins are permanently reserved in the escrow. In this point, the deal can no longer be automatically cancelled.
After you confirm the payment has arrived on your account release the bitcoins.
Leave feedback on the trade about the buyer and encourage the buyer to do the same.
Notes
Buyer too is slow or non-responsive: The escrow is automatically cancelled unless the buyer presses Mark payment done within the payment window (usually 90 minutes). If this was a mistake in this case you can reopen the escrow if you want to finish the trade with this buyer.
Disputes: In the case the trade cannot be finished e.g. due to unresponsiveness of the seller you can open a dispute. You can still release the bitcoins and finish the trade after the dispute has been started e.g. in the case the payment took longer than usual to arrive and dispute was opened prematurely.
Released bitcoins cannot be disputed: if the bitcoins have been released from the escrow the deal is considered to be finished by LocalBitcoins.com and can no longer be disputed.
Setting up an advertisement
First of all, you should carefully consider what payment methods you are going to provide. Very good start is to advertise payments with specific bank. People are usually willing to pay extra, when:
You can offer quick and convenient payments.
You can offer support with your local language.
People feel safe when they see familiar bank name and advertisement with their local language.
It is easier to identify the legitimacy of the customer if you live relatively close.
Check the risk assesment guide for your payment method choice.
Different payment methods have different risk levels.
You should adjust the price according to the risk level, as this can yield high profits when done successfully.
To set up an advertisement with specific bank, choose "Transfers with specific bank" from Payment method listing. See an example screenshot below:
https://localbitcoins.com/guides/how-to-sell-bitcoins-online#toc6
