Topic: SpeedyBitcoin - UK (GBP/EUR) - Safe, Fast and Convienent BTC purchases! - page 2. (Read 8604 times)

That's our company policy I'm afraid

And why must I be 18 to register an account with you?

I can't comment on your specific order as I don't have the details in-front of me, but basically our system works like this: Our system works by effectively buying-by-proxy - and its correct that we are not buying in BTC/GBP. We can't - only GOX has a GBP wallet and that through the Japanese bank deposit. So initially we fill our wallets with whatever the best value currency we can get is (EUR or USD typically) from our bank.  We then take GBP value of your deposit (less fee) - multiply it by whatever the exchange rate is for that currency (this is the exchange rate we got when we made our deposit - not the inter-bank lending rate) and create a BUY order for the resultant amount in the required currency at the target exchange. We only complete an order when we've consumed the full amount of fiat that we calculated the order was worth in the currency the exchange wallet is denominated in at whatever price is necessary to fulfill it. So technically, all or part of the order could (though unlikely) end up paying the exchange high price for that time period. When the exchange spits out a value to tell us how many coins we received for X fiat - we send you that value and record the details (which you can view in 'Recent Transactions' on our site).

We are designed to be a fast, reliable (hopefully) mechanism for purchasing BTC - but not necessarily the cheapest.

You can't really convert dollar/BTC to GBP/BTC that way.

I believe you are buying BTC for GBP. If you were buying BTC for USD, there would be a GBP to USD conversion and the associated costs with that. Even if there weren't costs, the multiplications don't all fall out neatly. This is how arbitrage works.

There may be another factor I'm missing too. I don't think these guys are trying to rip us off though. I'd be interested to hear their explanation if I haven't covered it though.

Edit: Though I see where you're coming from about the £52.10 now. Sorry, end of a long day. This is one reason I suggested they should show what you might expect to get when you trade.

EDIT: i am not saying there is anything wrong, i just see clarification.

Fast system. but their exchange rate or calculations seem off.

i done a £50 transaction which has £1.75 fee(3.5% reasonably acceptable). giving me £48.25 left over for bitcoins
which at current UK exchange rate of mtgox:
http://bitcoinity.org/markets?currency=GBP&exchange=mtgox
is under £49.1

but if using the live prices of the US or EU exchanges converted to UK GBP all calculations do NOT equal the £52.10 stated on my transaction.

even if all exchanges (for easy maths) were at £50 the 'fee' would have meant i would still have netted 0.965BTC, but where the exchanges prices were below £50 at the actual times, i should have netted OVER 0.965BTC

instead i received 0.92915039

at the time of the under 10 minutes from paying to receiving coins the prices were as such
MTGOX EURO 58.20 converted to GBP 49.31 (netting 0.9785BTC)
MTGOX dollar 73.75 converted to GBP 48.60 (netting 0.99285BTC)
Bitstamp dollar 75.35 converted to GBP 49.65 (netting 0.9718BTC)
even BTC-E, bitcoin-central were below £50 after conversion.

at no point did any exchange that is popular have a £52.10 price tag, let alone an above £50 price tag.

can you explain the high price tag (which exchange you use for comparison)

EDIT: at no point am i saying their is anything bad going on. but the pricing does not seem clear.

Bitcoin does provide a great level of transaction simplicity and pseudo anonymity, but sadly Fiat <-> Bitcoin services (like ours) cannot - not if we want to be around for any length of time. Don't forget you're not interacting with just Bitcoin, you're interacting with the traditional financial system and all the requirements it imposes as well.

Our approach from the outset has been to treat our Bitcoin <-> Fiat service as requiring regulatory oversight (It was a gamble) and therefore the processes and procedures we've put in place are designed to meet that requirement - at least to the level of a 'Small Payment Institution'. For a comparison; check out the client registration requirements at equivalent companies in the same sector albeit providing traditional currency conversion services such as Transfer-Wise, Currency Fair and 1st Contact Forex. You are unlikely to find one that operates without either FSA or HMRC approval within the United Kingdom or that provides significantly less identity requirements.

As an aside; we sought FSA approval (you can read more about that here: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/why-is-uk-so-slow-to-jump-on-this-158010), but did not receive it because Bitcoin falls into the grey area with regards to their current definition of money - however everything we've put in place ensures that we meet this requirements when regulation becomes mandatory (I personally believe this will be in a matter of months given the exponential growth of 'Virtual Currencies' and the guidance issued by FinCen in the United States). I'd also add we still have an HMRC application still in progress. 

Its understandable that not everyone feels comfortable giving this amount of information to a third party; but it's a double edged sword. Wild west business ventures thrown up in a week are likely to last as long - with a generally rougher experience and no recourse for customers when things go wrong. When we say things like we have a 'segregated client funds account' - it means just that. But all this comes at a price. Obviously, if you judge it to be beyond what you're willing to pay there are thankfully plenty of other avenues available to perform transactions (but without as nice as an experience as ours ).

Is SpeedyBitcoin a department of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

From your site:
"Convenient
No forms, no quotes - Once you've setup your account, you can convert your currencies to Bitcoins using just your internet banking!"

"Simply Register...
If you're looking for a fast, convenient and secure solution for managing your Bitcoin transactions, look no further; Speedy Bitcoin makes it easy! Just follow these few simple steps and you could be exchanging your currency to Bitcoins in the next five minutes!

Register with our service
Retrieve your unique reference that will send exchanged funds to your chosen Bitcoin Address"

Then you proceed to ask for as much personal  info as if I was trying to adopt a baby!

What's all that about?
I thought Bitcoin was all about ease of transaction and anonymity.

We've increased our transaction limits to give you guys' better flexibility in buying Bitcoins! Effective immediately all new and existing accounts can transact up to 200 GBP for Verified users and 50 GBP for unverified. All with the same great service

Any questions, give me a shout.

- SBC

Competitive fees.

I will try at some point I'm sure 

Thanks!

Surprisingly fast service. Genuinely impressed

If you've used us - please do post your comments. All feedback (good or bad) is appreciated

If you've submitted some they should be done by 18:00 today - the system gathers everything together and does a batch update once they're all reviewed and approved/declined etc. Once they're approved the changes should be reflected instantly on your account. If its not done by today, give me a shout.

How often do you check the verification docs?

To be honest, if I were at home and not at work, I'd have all the verification stuff in already. The confusion with buying bitcoins could probably have been alleviated with a couple of shortcuts or "buy bitcoin" labels. It was not immediately obvious that the bank reference was where to click to get the info for that (it is in your instructions but who reads those? )

Much obliged. Limits are an unfortunate side effect of dealing with money; and its mostly to do with fraud. Where money is involved someone eventually tries to take advantage, sadly We've added a fairly straightforward verification system if you want to go the extra step and verify your account; that provides 100 GBP base rate. I should add that our system is pretty flexible and we can accommodate personal limits for repeat customers with which we have established a few smooth transactions (just contact [email protected]).

New features; yep - they're in the pipe - list as long as my arm Basically, the ethos from the outset has been to try and do one thing (Buying BTC) really well, rather than a multitude .... less well. However hopefully as we grow you'll start seeing a range of great new features made available!

Thanks again for your candid feedback

Having a prod around the site a bit more, some of my concerns have been alleviated. It would be nice if you had some way to show what kind of exchange rate could be expected though I know you can't guarantee anything given that you check several exchanges.

Great thing was that I was able to deposit funds quickly. I've registered with two exchanges today to replace some BTC I spent but my funds would either not be registered in good time or I could find no way to actually deposit funds online. With your site, I had BTC in my wallet within 5 minutes of completing the registration process.

The £20 limit for unverified users is unfortunate but understandable.

I do wish you had a few more exchangey features but I think you've done what you set out to do in a pretty solid manner. Thumbs up.

Great! - let us know how you find the service.

Edit: Thanks alot for that - I've sent you a PM for some more detailed feedback (if you're willing to give it). Much appreciated!

Can't work out how to deposit GBP!

Edit: Worked it out. A little confusing.

Exchange rate seems to be reasonable but not easily seen. Got £43.82 at 20/03/2013 17:57:00

In all, I'm a little concerned about the lack of information and transparency of this site. It's nice and clean otherwise though.

If you've used our service please post some feedback here - good or bad! We'd love to know what you think!