Topic: Bitcoin ATM Fees (Read 2061 times)

Well I'm interested to know if the fees are very high.  After watching a vid on Youtube about trying an ATM(Bitcoin) for the first time.  The video seemed pretty anti Bitcoin to me but I kept an open mind and the thing that really stood out to me was the person said they got charged 40 dollars near the end of the transaction.  That was the amount they were charged to cash out of the 1 Bitcoin they'd bought. 

I think part of the problem is that they didn't seem to have a clue what they were doing and immediately wanted to compare it to the ease of use of money on the street which is insane.

lol i truly laugh at you guy actually arguing over fee's and wanting to know that crap so lets play a game

ok make your choices which do you choose
A) i can easily make an ATM say "price based on campBX 10 minute average with 0% fee"
B) i can easily make an ATM say "price based on btc-E 10 minute average with 6% fee"
C) i can easily make an ATM say "price based on bitcoin-average 10 minute average with 3% fee"

make your choice before reading on







you do realise that a ATM using btc-e prices with a 1.5% fee is the same as using bitstamp with a 0% fee, right... hell vircurex and campBX are both at 6% above btce..

so let the world shout out that bitcoin ATM is priced at campBX with 0% fee.

lol if your not seeing my point, then you need to google dictionary the word volatile. and to realise that fee's are meaningless, they are an advertising ploy.
those mentioning a large fee are justifying their margin, those advertising a fee but showing it as low, are still making the same margin, but fooling you into thinking the price is reasonable. as are those not mentioning a fee at all. again same margin but not as smart as those shouting out 0% fee to get people to think its a great price.

now the answer to the choices of A,B or C....... well its all 3, as the price is the exact same. lol

if your going to rebuttle that bitcoin is worse than fiat due to this volatility. then guess what, your wrong.

i can go in 3 shops for a loaf of bread.
A) bread $2.40 (nice high end neighbourhood with tree's and grass and a family feel to the place)
b) bread $2.00 (store in no special location, just the average price of bread, milk baked beans, etc that youd expect)
c) bread 20% off was $2.40 now $2 (bad neighbourhood store offering lots of discounts)

so now imagine your rent, do you think every 3 bedroom apartment of the same square foot on the planet charges the same amount?

will all you sheeple get rid of the mindset of fee's and advertising gimmicks and instead realise your not going to buy bitcoin cheaper then the market price,

I used a Liberty Teller atm in Boston's South Station.  Just $5 to see how it worked and to show my support for the guys running it.  Had a good conversation with them too.  I can't remember exactly how much the fees were; since it was $5 I didn't really care, but I think it was something like 5%.  Competition will drive down the fees with time.

I also was given a person demonstration by one of the SkyHook creators before they hit the market, and in that instance I only put in $1.  It is a sweet little machine and I am happy to hear that SkyHook's are flying out the door.  They basically made the ATM as small and inexpensive as possible, and at the same time were the first company to open-source the software. Go LiberyTeller! Go SkyHook!  Go Tim! 

So has anyone used a bitcoin ATM yet?  I can't understand why it is so hard to find someone who knows the fees to buy and sell at an ATM!
SOMEBODY must have used one - they're popping up everywhere.

You could open a line of credit with the exchange or could use a letter of credit that would guarantee payment to the exchange in the event of your nonperformance.

I am so fucking tired of ATM fees.
I ate at a place last night that only took cash. Hope to hook them up with Cash 2.0 shortly.

Even if your ATM is connected to an exchange you will still need to keep fiat at the exchange. If someone puts in $100 to buy $100 worth of bitcoin, you have no way to instantly transfer that cash to the exchange to pay for the bitcoin you will pay them. Exchanges will often also not process bitcoin withdrawals instantly so the ATM itself will need to have some level of BTC in it's hot wallet so it can transfer bitcoin to your customer's wallets.

Yeah the one I was looking at was under $2000.

Most of the Bitcoin ATMs are connected to one of the major Bitcoin exchanges, although there is an option to store BTC as well. It is your choice. And some of the ATMs are really cheap. The Skyhook ATM comes for only $999.

Coming straight from an exchange or the ATM companies balance would make more sense. You're right about businesses losing out. What if they stock it up when btc is at a peak then it crashes and people snap all the cheap btc up.

I'd love to buy one of the cheap atms and can afford one, but who has to load it with BTC? I can see businesses losing out if they have to personally credit it.

Quadriga CX charges a fee of 3% in Vancouver and other Canadian cities for their ATMs. Out of that, half goes to the company (Quadriga CX) and the remaining half goes to the owner of the shop where the ATM is located. They use Lamassu ATMs and Lamassu doesn't charge anything for the Bitcoin purchases. Also, there are no taxes on Bitcoin ATMs in Canada.

Who actually gets the fees from the transactions? Do the owners of the ATMs have to keep them topped up with their own bitcoins or do the bitcoins come straight from an exchange or the company that created the ATM?

Yea, some ATM brands are easier to use than the other. But having said that, most of the ATMs are really easy to use.

With more and more ATMs being distributed around, we will see a higher acceptance rate for bitcoins as a whole.

No. It is not. In Localbitcoins, most of the sellers are charging fees ranging from 5% to 10%. There are newbie limitations and other restrictions. A Bitcoin ATM is more secure, and simpler to use.

I think they are targeted at less technical people who want to feel like they're buying something tangible. They can hold their slip of paper with their private key in their hand and know that it has whatever value they just loaded on to it.

If you had that much to spend at Vegas you would likely just take out a line of credit with the casino

Well  7% fee to use the ATM is a bit ridiculous. These guys needed some competition and I'm glad they got some http://www.wired.com/2014/01/bitcoin_atm/

It's 0.02%.

Second this.  Here in Oregon my experiences have been the same as this fellows.  Debit card functionality typically built into the other monthly fees they hit you with.