Are there any newbie friendly bitcoin buying sites yet?

[Hunterbunter]

As the title asks,

are there any good, trustworthy fiat->bitcoin currency websites that complete newbies can use yet?

What are the obstacles? merchant facilities won't let people use credit cards for bitcoins? not talking paypal, just normal cc.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

Using BitInstant.com you can walk into any bank, CitiBank, Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America, deposit CASH and within 30 minutes be instantly credited on your MtGox.com, TradeHill.com, CryptoXChange.com, or VirWox.com exchange account. You have 4 banks with over 10,000 branches in the USA and 4 different exchanges to choose from.

Does it get any simpler than that my brother?  

We even have a helpful guide: https://www.bitinstant.com/howitworks

[Revalin]

Accepting credit cards exposes you to chargeback fraud.  It's the same problem as PayPal.  A few places will accept cards in person like Memory Dealers, but if you did it online you'll be scammed to death.

That's why all the exchanges use irrevocable funds of one kind or another - ACH, wire transfers, cash deposits, etc.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

This is very location specific, and you haven't specified your location. In US there are some good options. You could use bitinstant to facilitate the deposit as Yankee suggests. I think tradehill is a bit more newbie-friendly than mtgox but both can work.

If I may say so myself, in Israel it's fairly easy to buy bitcoins, too.

Credit cards are very problematic, but I don't think it has been proven conclusively that you can't make them work by taking the right precautions.

[yossarian]

If you wanna get your hands on some BTC in Europe, check out https://www.bitcoinmarket24.com The site offers instant BTC transfers for SEPA wires.

[Hunterbunter]

oic, thanks for the replies. I'm not asking for myself, since I get them via dd/gox, so the question was more in line of "people who cbf doing the deposit thing, and just want btc in a fairly short timeframe". While bitinstant is fast, it isn't convenient at 2am, for example.

Going the deposit way is a bit archaic, I guess I was specifically asking about online transactions via CC.

Accepting credit cards exposes you to chargeback fraud.  It's the same problem as PayPal.  A few places will accept cards in person like Memory Dealers, but if you did it online you'll be scammed to death.

That's why all the exchanges use irrevocable funds of one kind or another - ACH, wire transfers, cash deposits, etc.

This is interesting, and more in line with my question. Wouldn't this be a problem for *all* online stores that accept CCs, though? I imagine chargebacks happen quite frequently...so CC companies treat constant chargebackers as suspicious...but what can any company do if a $3000 item is ordered online via CC and chargebacked? Proof of sale and shipping doesn't mean anything since the CC could have been stolen.

There's no real quick way to check non-anonymous credentials is there?

[Revalin]

Wouldn't this be a problem for *all* online stores that accept CCs, though?

It is, but it's especially a problem for selling Bitcoins because they are highly liquid, fungible and can be moved quickly.  With a credit card you found on the sidewalk you could buy coins, take delivery and sell them on a market before the card's owner gets home.  If using your own card there's very little paper trail that the goods were delivered.  By comparison buying a laptop is much slower and requires exposing a shipping address.

Further, selling currency is a very thin-margin business, so losing a few percent to credit card fees hurts and every chargeback hurts a lot, whereas selling physical goods has much better margins.  Some people sell coins on eBay with a significant markup so perhaps it's workable at some price, but most buyers want to pay closer to market rate.

[Hunterbunter]

Wouldn't this be a problem for *all* online stores that accept CCs, though?

It is, but it's especially a problem for selling Bitcoins because they are highly liquid, fungible and can be moved quickly.  With a credit card you found on the sidewalk you could buy coins, take delivery and sell them on a market before the card's owner gets home.  If using your own card there's very little paper trail that the goods were delivered.  By comparison buying a laptop is much slower and requires exposing a shipping address.

Yeah so having no shipping address at all makes it harder for both the retailer and cc company to track down a thief. I wonder if some sort of primary validation (eg mt.gox scan and send your personal details if you want more than $1k/day, although identity theft = easy?), plus a purchase validation (sms/yubikey) could help protect against someone stealing your card to purchase with it. I guess it would be hard to convince a newbie to submit personal details aka drivers license to strangers, though. This could be a fundamental problem.

Further, selling currency is a very thin-margin business, so losing a few percent to credit card fees hurts and every chargeback hurts a lot, whereas selling physical goods has much better margins.  Some people sell coins on eBay with a significant markup so perhaps it's workable at some price, but most buyers want to pay closer to market rate.

I imagine this would be a case of "charge what you need for a profit" and see if you make a profit. I'm also suggesting this usage for people who are more interested in casual impulse buying.

[Stn]

usage for people who are more interested in casual impulse buying.

www.centraw.com/?page=express is exactly for this case

[istar]

You also have.

www.dialcoin.com

Very easy to use.

A bit expensive but if you are only buying one or two.

Havn´t tried it though.

[zer0]

Are there any UK fixed rate sites? I know of Intersango and exchanges.. who does bank deposit or cash in UK?

[Hunterbunter]

usage for people who are more interested in casual impulse buying.

www.centraw.com/?page=express is exactly for this case

You also have www.dialcoin.com

Very easy to use.

Interesting, those two are what I was asking about. First one uses heavy fees and it seems is a mini-exchange (not sure who takes the burden of risk there, whether bitcoin seller or site), and the other charges your phone bill...good ideas.

[gewure]

newbie friendly = exspensive

..mostly