Entering the market

[SKOdd]

Hi guys

At first glance this may seem a topic that has been discussed ad nauseum, but bear with me.

I am a financial journalist and recently learned of BitCoin. I was surprised that I hadn't come across it before as I have been a Linux user for many years and talk of BitCoin is rife on user boards - which then made me realise how little community engagement I've been doing…

Having now done some research on the currency I am working on a story about it for a leading financial publication I write for. I thought it would be best if I wrote the article from the perspective of someone who is actively trading in BitCoin.

The problem is that it is impossible to get going. Mining coins now seems to be a waste of time unless you have your own data-centre. I live in a country where sending cash or checks (cheques) to the USA would be impossible or more difficult than it would be worth.

Services that used to accept PayPal for BitCoin have shut down and the community of traders online won't sell currency to anyone who isn't in their circle of trust - and getting into that increasingly closed circle is difficult if PayPal is all you have to offer.

The only viable option seems to be meeting someone in person and paying them cash, but in my country there are very few traders and no one in my city.

So my question is - how should I get started? I have no goods or services to sell for BitCoin, no way to buy BitCoin except PayPal - and I fully understand and agree with the community's reasons for not wanting to use PayPal. I also do not own my own data centre to mine with

Any suggestions would be welcome. But for an "open" currency system, this is all very closed at the moment…

[FreeMoney]

Welcome. I'm surprised to hear that it's possible to be a financial journalist in a country that can't get mail to the US.

[SKOdd]

I can get mail to the US. It will take at least two weeks to get there, is likely to be opened and stolen along the way since it contains money. And you'd want me to send you dollars right? Well here's a surprise: different countries have different currencies!

So I'd have to buy dollars first, and pay commission in the process. Need I continue?

[ataranlen]

Or you could find someone willing to use paypal. I know a way to avoid chargebacks on paypal, and it involves opening a chargeback I'd want to use clearcoin of course. How much were you wanting to buy anyway?

[xlcus]

I know a way to avoid chargebacks on paypal, and it involves opening a chargeback

Care to elaborate?

[ataranlen]

I know a way to avoid chargebacks on paypal, and it involves opening a chargeback

Care to elaborate?

Have whoever sent you money open then close a ticket. They can't open another once its closed.

[koin]

Have whoever sent you money open then close a ticket. They can't open another once its closed.

you are joking, right?

what happens then is paypal sees that i have a higher than average number of disputes for payments i've received and freezes my account.

[error]

It's difficult to help you since you have not provided the city or even the country where you are.

[Garrett Burgwardt]

Hi guys

At first glance this may seem a topic that has been discussed ad nauseum, but bear with me.

I am a financial journalist and recently learned of BitCoin. I was surprised that I hadn't come across it before as I have been a Linux user for many years and talk of BitCoin is rife on user boards - which then made me realise how little community engagement I've been doing…

Having now done some research on the currency I am working on a story about it for a leading financial publication I write for. I thought it would be best if I wrote the article from the perspective of someone who is actively trading in BitCoin.

The problem is that it is impossible to get going. Mining coins now seems to be a waste of time unless you have your own data-centre. I live in a country where sending cash or checks (cheques) to the USA would be impossible or more difficult than it would be worth.

Services that used to accept PayPal for BitCoin have shut down and the community of traders online won't sell currency to anyone who isn't in their circle of trust - and getting into that increasingly closed circle is difficult if PayPal is all you have to offer.

The only viable option seems to be meeting someone in person and paying them cash, but in my country there are very few traders and no one in my city.

So my question is - how should I get started? I have no goods or services to sell for BitCoin, no way to buy BitCoin except PayPal - and I fully understand and agree with the community's reasons for not wanting to use PayPal. I also do not own my own data centre to mine with

Any suggestions would be welcome. But for an "open" currency system, this is all very closed at the moment…

Many bitcoin news sources are interested in writers, I personally pay 2-3 btc for well written articles on any development feature, and I believe Kiba's bitcoinweekly is hiring still.

What about a bank wire? I know tons of people that would take them, and despite their fee, are fairly convenient.

[kiba]

I am interested in your writing labor. Willing to pay 1 BTC for an article: http://bitcoinweekly.com/pages/submission

[eMansipater]

Hi guys

At first glance this may seem a topic that has been discussed ad nauseum, but bear with me.

I am a financial journalist and recently learned of BitCoin. I was surprised that I hadn't come across it before as I have been a Linux user for many years and talk of BitCoin is rife on user boards - which then made me realise how little community engagement I've been doing…

Having now done some research on the currency I am working on a story about it for a leading financial publication I write for. I thought it would be best if I wrote the article from the perspective of someone who is actively trading in BitCoin.

The problem is that it is impossible to get going. Mining coins now seems to be a waste of time unless you have your own data-centre. I live in a country where sending cash or checks (cheques) to the USA would be impossible or more difficult than it would be worth.

Services that used to accept PayPal for BitCoin have shut down and the community of traders online won't sell currency to anyone who isn't in their circle of trust - and getting into that increasingly closed circle is difficult if PayPal is all you have to offer.

The only viable option seems to be meeting someone in person and paying them cash, but in my country there are very few traders and no one in my city.

So my question is - how should I get started? I have no goods or services to sell for BitCoin, no way to buy BitCoin except PayPal - and I fully understand and agree with the community's reasons for not wanting to use PayPal. I also do not own my own data centre to mine with

Any suggestions would be welcome. But for an "open" currency system, this is all very closed at the moment…

If you're a journalist for a respected entity and can verify through work contact info, I could probably do some trades for you using clearcoin.  What payment method would you be able to use?

[ataranlen]

Have whoever sent you money open then close a ticket. They can't open another once its closed.

you are joking, right?

what happens then is paypal sees that i have a higher than average number of disputes for payments i've received and freezes my account.

Ah, but there is the trick, You wouldn't have a higher than normal number of disputes, because none of them were ever escalated. Its when you have a high number of negative disputes that paypal starts checking into your account. A friend of mine showed me this trick a while back, he sells drugs and runs several illegal websites and such, and hasn't had his paypal frozen yet.

[SKOdd]

Thanks for the suggestions of writing for BitCoin, I will check out some of the links you have provided.

It's difficult to help you since you have not provided the city or even the country where you are.

I can tell you that I am in Africa, but I have a good reason for not wanting to disclose my exact location. And I have since been contacted by some local traders - turns out I was wrong about the local community. Bitcoin.local shows quite a few people in my city.

[MagicalTux]

Have whoever sent you money open then close a ticket. They can't open another once its closed.

you are joking, right?

what happens then is paypal sees that i have a higher than average number of disputes for payments i've received and freezes my account.

Ah, but there is the trick, You wouldn't have a higher than normal number of disputes, because none of them were ever escalated. Its when you have a high number of negative disputes that paypal starts checking into your account. A friend of mine showed me this trick a while back, he sells drugs and runs several illegal websites and such, and hasn't had his paypal frozen yet.

Doesn't stop chargeback (ie. via the financial institution)