Fees and more fees... The cost of exchanging BitCoins

I know at some point a I saw a video or read a wiki that said how BitCoin is FREE to use etc. I now know that applies to trading and buying/selling things using bitcoins, but WOW try to exchange currency to BTC or vice versa and you are killed with fees and/or exchange rates with a nice spread built-in.

I have foudn BitInstant using the cash option through Moneygram services to work for me but at a 3.99% + $3.95 fee it kinda starts to add up Dollar-wise with large dollar amounts like $1,000 ($44 in fees).

Then when you want the money back out you get hit with either more fees or a 5-10 business day wait time. WOW fees for some exchanges to fiat is another 3-4%.

Now you may say, but think of all that money or increase your BTC made while you had it. True... and that is why I am ok with it all right now... but what about the future? When BTC setles down and it isn't always going UP UP UP!

I also found Dwolla to be a good way to get USD into my MtGOX account, but unfortunately they also use BitInstant for the transaction, it is not direct between MtGOX and Dwolla. And sure enough it got flagged as a fraud transaction and my $500 is floating around somewhere. Sad

So how about dem FEEs?

Topic: Fees and more fees... The cost of exchanging BitCoins (Read 644 times)