Coinmama.com

[cloh76]

Has anyone used coinmama.com to purchase Bitcoin?

Im currently trying to purchase from them, but when i select Western Union, I notice a disclaimer: ATTENTION: RECEIVING SIDE MUST BE ABLE TO ACCEPT THE TRANSFER IN U.S DOLLARS.  Im not sure what this means and what has me concerned is when I start to process my payment through Western Union, it wont let me continue without having my USD converted to ILS, which I assume means it will be converted to Israel dollars for pickup.

I wanted to see if anyone else has done this before and what steps they took.   Thanks

P.S.  coinmama support outside my first initial support email has not responded to anymore of my emails.

[Milkcookie]

Has anyone used coinmama.com to purchase Bitcoin?

Im currently trying to purchase from them, but when i select Western Union, I notice a disclaimer: ATTENTION: RECEIVING SIDE MUST BE ABLE TO ACCEPT THE TRANSFER IN U.S DOLLARS.  Im not sure what this means and what has me concerned is when I start to process my payment through Western Union, it wont let me continue without having my USD converted to ILS, which I assume means it will be converted to Israel dollars for pickup.

I wanted to see if anyone else has done this before and what steps they took.   Thanks

P.S.  coinmama support outside my first initial support email has not responded to anymore of my emails.

No worries that message just warn you if for example you send money to a country where they may not payout in usd

since coinmama is based in the usa you not need to worry at all

[bitcoinminer007]

Is it a trusted site for buying and selling Bitcoin? Anyone use this site?

[Sunderland]

hmm im prefer use the ordinary trusted exchange than other new site without good review from some trusted users here

[melisande]

coinmama.com also have other payment method which you can use to order bitcoin apart from western union but i can not guaranteed their service because i have not use them before.

[Salmon1989]

Not sure if it is legit, but I don't see many people using it, and the site owner hasn't been active on bitcointalk for a long time (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=102228;sa=showPosts).

[ltbharley]

There are tons of similar website with much more trust than this, why someone would want to register in coinmama?

[NevilleRosalesfqkduw]

Do not work with CoinMamma. At least they are not serious, and at worse they are fraudulent guys. I have following story with them. I needed to pay with BitCoin for my hosting. Such payment must be made on time of course, it can not wait. So, I decided to try "officially licensed" seller with "good reputation". It is CoinMamma, of course, it is #1 result in Google for "buy bitcoin", so what may be better?

I registered. They ask to upload my documents (driver license) scan copy. Well, ok, they exchange money for me, so I can understand why do they need it. Anyway, it is bad idea to upload your documents to man in Internet who you don't know at all, and you don't know how can he use your documents, for example, can he register himself on another site with your documents? Well, he is "officially licensed", so of course not.

Next day after documents uploading they say that I am verified. Well, I have some days before hosting payment, so I am happy. I start to place order. Wow, for 0.2 bitcoins they want USD 65. Usual price was USD 50 at that time. Why is it so expensive? Well, of course, "officially licensed" company with "good reputation" may be more expensive, however, you get better service as a compensation. So I agreed. Next step is SMS verification. Is it OK to give your phone number to man you don't know? The question is rhetorical one. OK, I agree.

I see the message now "sorry, your payment may be delayed up to 17 hours due to overload". Hm... I need to pay for hosting, I can not wait, and it is not good for company with "good reputation". OK, I agree to wait (I don't have choice, they blocked funds on my credit card already).

I went to sleep, and next day I have to pay for my hosting. However, I see incoming email message when I stand up. And it says that: "Your payment request from CoinMama has been declined. Note that we do not disclose the cause of declined payments." Fortunately they refund my money.

Ops. So, how to pay for hosting? And why did they steal 2 days of my time?

From legal point of view they actually gain my driver license, phone number and email by deceit, because they claimed they need this information to sell me bitcoins, and they actually don't do that, they just got my documents, and it is a big question why do they need them if you don't sell me anything.

OK, I decided to contact them to solve the problem somehow. I go to contact form, write them about my issue and click Send. Now, I see following message:

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] An operation on a socket could not be performed because the system lacked sufficient buffer space or because a queue was full.

Wow!!! Theirs contact form doesn't even work. They stole my documents, and they even don't want to simulate they will read my support request.

Conclusion: remember my story and double think before you'll work with them. May be you'll be lucky and you'll have better experience. And may be not. May be you'll waste some days, and you'll get one more fraudulent company that owns your personal ID copy. You have to decide it for yourself.

[favdesu]

before using an unknown exchange make sure to do your due diligence. google them, search bitcointalk.

I wouldn't use them - there are more than enough legit and trustworthy exchanges to go to

[redsun114]

before using an unknown exchange make sure to do your due diligence. google them, search bitcointalk.

I wouldn't use them - there are more than enough legit and trustworthy exchanges to go to

Yes, when we have numerous trusted ways to buy or sell bitcoin what is the need to go for an unfamiliar sites.

[zzaza]

before using an unknown exchange make sure to do your due diligence. google them, search bitcointalk.

I wouldn't use them - there are more than enough legit and trustworthy exchanges to go to

Yes, when we have numerous trusted ways to buy or sell bitcoin what is the need to go for an unfamiliar sites.

Agreed, you should stick to the most reliable ways. Thare are many already which you can "trust". Of course in Bitcoin world i wouldnt say you can trust anyone 100% but still...

[martha5dool]

People will go and buy or sell bitcoin even the site name is getscamed.com or webuybitcoimfromfools.com
There are lot of ways to do buy sell bitcoin safely after checking the reliability of dealing person or site, we must use those.

[avatar_kiyoshi]

People will go and buy or sell bitcoin even the site name is getscamed.com or webuybitcoimfromfools.com
There are lot of ways to do buy sell bitcoin safely after checking the reliability of dealing person or site, we must use those.

LoL, unfortunately this is true, as far as i see there are people who complaint about bitcoin exchanges site which  the name is unknown and the reputation is less, they too lazy to research first.

Anyway i always scan first when i visit a strange site and google it when i try to do some trade/exchanges, if it can't find at google, then ask on this forum.

[Mickeyb]

before using an unknown exchange make sure to do your due diligence. google them, search bitcointalk.

I wouldn't use them - there are more than enough legit and trustworthy exchanges to go to

Their mark-ups are also out of control. Why would people pay 15-20% more than the preev.com price is out of my mind, especially when there are so many easier and cheaper ways to buy bitcoins nowadays. They are just too expensive!

[coinmama]

Hi guys,

It's Nimi from Coinmama here.
I'll address the things NevilleRosalesfqkduw mentioned in Red below each paragraph;

Do not work with CoinMamma. At least they are not serious, and at worse they are fraudulent guys. I have following story with them. I needed to pay with BitCoin for my hosting. Such payment must be made on time of course, it can not wait. So, I decided to try "officially licensed" seller with "good reputation". It is CoinMamma, of course, it is #1 result in Google for "buy bitcoin", so what may be better?
Coinmama has been operating since 2013 and has managed to preserve a good, positive reputation in a tough neighborhood, thanks to our fast and safe service within the Bitcoin community. I think you may have jumped the gun, calling us "fraudulent guys", especially as we'll see below how this story unfolds.

I registered. They ask to upload my documents (driver license) scan copy. Well, ok, they exchange money for me, so I can understand why do they need it. Anyway, it is bad idea to upload your documents to man in Internet who you don't know at all, and you don't know how can he use your documents, for example, can he register himself on another site with your documents? Well, he is "officially licensed", so of course not.
That is a real concern and a good one, when giving away any personal info online, there will always have to be some trust involved. We also agree that in some cases it makes less sense, however when it comes to Bitcoin, it's not an odd request at all. In order to comply with the law we are required to identify our clients. Whether you'd like to share the info or not, is entirely up to you.

Next day after documents uploading they say that I am verified. Well, I have some days before hosting payment, so I am happy. I start to place order. Wow, for 0.2 bitcoins they want USD 65. Usual price was USD 50 at that time. Why is it so expensive? Well, of course, "officially licensed" company with "good reputation" may be more expensive, however, you get better service as a compensation. So I agreed. Next step is SMS verification. Is it OK to give your phone number to man you don't know? The question is rhetorical one. OK, I agree.
CoinMama offers a number of methods of payment. In your case, you chose to buy Bitcoins with credit card. If in fact these numbers are correct and you calculated a 15 dollar delta, please know that there is a minimum fee of $10 from the credit card processor(which you have been notified of prior to submitting the payment form) not CoinMama, which raises the cost when using this method of payment. The credit card processor is also responsible for SMS verification. Both events occur in order to prevent fraud and charge backs, enabling CC payments in the bitcoin sphere. We're hoping for less friction in the future.

I see the message now "sorry, your payment may be delayed up to 17 hours due to overload". Hm... I need to pay for hosting, I can not wait, and it is not good for company with "good reputation". OK, I agree to wait (I don't have choice, they blocked funds on my credit card already).
If to be exact, the message was; "Current payment requests will be queued and handled in X hours. You may experience delays on some occasions. You may continue and submit the payment as usual and we will process it as soon as possible.". This message was shown to you prior to completing the payment form. Which makes a big difference to your argument. This means that we notified you, explaining that your order may take longer than usual, giving you the choice to make a decision, to either continue with us or to buy somewhere else. Furthermore, your money was never blocked. You could have reached out to us and ask for the payment to be cancelled, it would have happened quickly.

I went to sleep, and next day I have to pay for my hosting. However, I see incoming email message when I stand up. And it says that: "Your payment request from CoinMama has been declined. Note that we do not disclose the cause of declined payments." Fortunately they refund my money.
It wasn't really fortune, that's just what legitimate companies do. Of course we'll return money that wasn't exchanged for Bitcoins. The question is - why did you get declined?

Ops. So, how to pay for hosting? And why did they steal 2 days of my time?
In most cases, payments are declined due to fraud suspicion.


From legal point of view they actually gain my driver license, phone number and email by deceit, because they claimed they need this information to sell me bitcoins, and they actually don't do that, they just got my documents, and it is a big question why do they need them if you don't sell me anything.
As you did not manage to complete your order, we do not "need" to keep a record of your documents. If you'd like to try out our service again, you're welcome to give us a go, your account is verified. However, if you no longer wish to use our service, simply send us an email requesting to delete your account and we'll permanently deleted all your records.

OK, I decided to contact them to solve the problem somehow. I go to contact form, write them about my issue and click Send. Now, I see following message:
SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] An operation on a socket could not be performed because the system lacked sufficient buffer space or because a queue was full.
Wow!!! Theirs contact form doesn't even work. They stole my documents, and they even don't want to simulate they will read my support request.
During the past couple of days we experienced a major DDOS attack. During this time which was unfortunately long, the website suffered several issues including downtime which led to the message mentioned above. We're sorry some of our users saw this nasty error and have already fixed it. We understand it came a bad time and contributed to your confusion, but these things happen and we can only do our best to prevent them from happening again.

Conclusion: remember my story and double think before you'll work with them. May be you'll be lucky and you'll have better experience. And may be not. May be you'll waste some days, and you'll get one more fraudulent company that owns your personal ID copy. You have to decide it for yourself.
Our conclusion is: CoinMama is here for the long run. CoinMama's target is to offer the easiest way to buy Bitcoins. You don't get far screwing over clients for a couple of dollars a day. We're here to keep on serving our Bitcoin community loyally. We're working on improving our service and reducing our fees and hope to keep on serving you all for many years to come!

Best,
Nimi
CoinMama

[melnsee]

I also had problem with coinmama affiliate program. They quoted 15% on the purchases of my referrals. What I received is just 1,1%. I sent feeback. They gave me no respond

[arlene05973]

Hi guys,

It's Nimi from Coinmama here.
I'll address the things NevilleRosalesfqkduw mentioned in Red below each paragraph;........

OK, I decided to contact them to solve the problem somehow. I go to contact form, write them about my issue and click Send. Now, I see following message:   .................


Best,
Nimi
CoinMama
[/color]

[/i]


@coinmama, i know such site do exist because i've come across them on several occasione during the course of research.

Well, i stop using  localbitcoin for same reason upload proof of doc from lbc support team,individual member's are requesting for proof of this & that. Anyone who intend to build online business within btc niche should know that the main objective of bitcoins is to be anonymous same applies to bitcoins user's.

It make no sense asking someone who prefer the use virtual currency to physical to provide proof of doc & proof of that.. when he/she knows it unsafe to do so. This does not necessary mean that most trader's who choose not to share  sensitive data's are into illegal business. We should always keep & respect the main objective of this virtual currency.

Thanks

[btccashacc]

People will go and buy or sell bitcoin even the site name is getscamed.com or webuybitcoimfromfools.com
There are lot of ways to do buy sell bitcoin safely after checking the reliability of dealing person or site, we must use those.

LoL, unfortunately this is true, as far as i see there are people who complaint about bitcoin exchanges site which  the name is unknown and the reputation is less, they too lazy to research first.

Anyway i always scan first when i visit a strange site and google it when i try to do some trade/exchanges, if it can't find at google, then ask on this forum.

that's what i though, i'll preffer using famous or popullar exchanger
anyways this is my first time heard "coinmama" infact the owner mentioned that they has been operating since 2013, it's a long journey, i think if they promote their site here more people will be using their service, just saying

[melnsee]

Coinmama just protect their income not their words. When words on their site are against them when deputing with customers, they just simply change it (so easy) instead of taking resposibility for their words. They quoted
"15% on ALL referrals sales". When I asked them why just 1,1%, they just corrected "15% of Coinmama's commission". Oh my god. How can they fool me in this way

[coinmama]

Coinmama just protect their income not their words. When words on their site are against them when deputing with customers, they just simply change it (so easy) instead of taking resposibility for their words. They quoted
"15% on ALL referrals sales". When I asked them why just 1,1%, they just corrected "15% of Coinmama's commission". Oh my god. How can they fool me in this way

Hi melnsee, Martin from Coinmama here.

Coinmama is one of the oldest companies in the industry, and we've always put a lot of emphasis on the community. This includes participating in forums like bitcointalk and listening to customer feedback, but also - when justified - admitting that we were wrong.

To address your comment, I haven't heard of a company that are close to offering 15% of all referral sales. That would exceed their fee by an order of magnitude and as such they would go out of business very soon, so I hope you see how it could never be the model you mentioned. If that wasn't communicated clearly enough on our website, I do apologize.