Topic: Why does it feel so complicated/frustrating to buy bitcoins for the first time? - page 2. (Read 4810 times)

Circle.com

Debit card, credit card or bank account.

Instant service(no days to wait like Coinbase.com......Instant Bitcoin.

Note: on my bank statement Circle shows up as "US financial institution Circle(with some gov financial license number)", not just Circle.com. I think this is going to solve the issue my last bank had with large sums of money going to and comming from just Coinbase.com's bank account.(Im sure coinbase probably has these license by now also, I'm not bashing them)

The only time I get fees with Circle is when using it with debit card and of course miner fees.

Have used Coinvase in Europe and it does take a bit of work to connect and purchase but it is doable.

Localbitcoins purchase can be extremely easy if both of the trader use mobile payment solution. Typically a mobile payment solution already have built-in user identification (AML and KYC rules are followed by those mobile payment processors), a phone call is enough to verify the buyer's legitimacy

Try out circle.com. There is no complicated verification process and you can use a credit or debit card. 

Why don't you just buy them here in the Marketplace from a Trusted member in BitcoinTalk forum?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=53.0

Lots of sellers here for cash, paypal, amex, bank wire, WU, etc.

Just make sure they're a Hero Member or above and have a great Trust rating and Trust History.

Not so complicated, and if you don't trust the seller even with all that green, then get a trusted Escrow service from this forum to be an intermediary.

I have just responded to your PM a few minutes prior.

It took me a little bit of time to go through all the previous posts and check out some of what everyone was talking about but I am glad I took the time to write the initial post in such a way that it fostered great community responses.

@digicoinuser: I sent you a PM a couple of hours ago.  Did you miss it?

Virwox has ridiculous fees.

In general its hard and counterintuitive because its all still very new.

Elwar,
Thanks for the info.  I checked out localbitcoins and it looked alright except some of the postings looked similar to this:

I am going to avoid trying anymore of these places than just Circle as multi-level forms are heinous inventions. 

Like the gift card idea for ease of purchase but not for the centralization!



I saw that but I can't surely trust anyone quite yet, but trust can be earned. 



This one looks very promising on the site, but I would have to get some more info before making a decision on that.  The sales pitch was pretty good and I'd have to see what their "processing fee" is.  Does anyone else have experience with trucoin?



Mid East Coast, USA.  This would be true if I knew people personally who had bitcoin.    Unfortunately the people I mentioned it to recently thought it came out this year.  I read this small book about bitcoin that I will be sharing with some friends but it is a little advanced for a few of them I believe.  Any exposure would be good exposure though.



Thanks for all the other responses.  I am still awaiting the confirmation of whatever needs to happen on the sites end, but hopefully that works out shortly.

I can see why it is so difficult and am still researching some of this related to purchasing as I didn't expect to hit this type of timeline based roadblock for a sub $100 purchase.

i can buy bitcoins alot faster then buying a different FIAT.

local bitcoins is the service with least KYC restrictions (they ask for least amount of ID) and in comparison to getting in my car, driving into town, parking up, walking into a travel agent/bureau de change and waiting in queue to be served. bitcoins is far superior.

the bitcoin ATM's are becoming more readily available and as others have said soon you'll be able to by bitcoins in multiple places locally. but the thing to remember is that bitcoin is not 200 years old (pound) its not even 90 year old (dollar(non gold backed)) its not even 20 years old(euro).

yet dollar only serves 320million people (under 5%) of the world
yet euro only serves 335million people (under 5%) of the world

so when was the last time you were in england and able to buy things with dollar or euro directly.
so when was the last time you were in america and able to buy things with ponds or euro directly.

bitcoin is international and has many features, benefits and advantages that exceed what fiat could ever try to provide, so although bitcoin is not at 5% world wide coverage yet. it has grown from being a couple dozen people to a couple million people in just 4 year. and this has happened without any government rule that forced people to use it.

we are still in the innovation phase of adoption, and thus expect bigger and better things in the future.

but for now, localbitcoins is the closest thing to a bureau de change where it comes to easiest access to funds that you can actually handle. and then if you wish to compare the hassle of FIAT swapping using bank transfers.. i dare you, in america to try setting up a european bank account to then fund that account with euro's so that you can go buy stuff in france, belgium, germany.

As an aside, I can't wait to try this out as soon as it is ready for real trades:
https://bitsquare.io/

Where are you located?

If you want "simple", how about this...

Give me cash.  I give you BTC.  Done.

Seems simple enough to me.

To me coinbase is the easiest once your verified. But my http://Trucoin.com account I set up in 30 seconds and was able to make credit card purchases, they're the quickest if you don't mind paying their processing fee.

1. Because it's a nascent technology restricted by outdated and inappropriate laws and rules.
2. Because "real money" that follows programmatic rules has never existed before, and it's difficult to exchange "almost real money" (fiat cash) for real money.

I have found Coinbase and Bitquick.co to be the easiest and reasonably private ways to buy BTC in the US, but there are many other small services where you can send cash in the mail, etc. although I have not tried them. I tried and failed to setup accounts at many of the major exchanges (and Circle, which I think sucks in many ways), so I simply avoid them. Localbitcoins was not an option for me either as I seem to be the only person within 100km that uses BTC.

Coinbase only requires your bank account number, TIN, and company name if you register as a business. They probably require more info if you buy frequently or large amounts. You guys that send your pictures, passport, stool samples etc. to these exchanges are crazy  

For US/UK customers Circle will probably be easier than CoinBase.

OP should consider doing an off-exchange purchase. It is definitely a lot easier than trying to jump through all those hoops.

You can instant buy with Coinbase depending on where you are, I haven't tried it yet but I swear I read about it somewhere. You just have to have a credit card in order to do so.

Coinbase is very slow the first time, but super easy.

What about purchasing Bitcoin the first time makes it hard?  Granted I am from the US and the first time I purchased it was very easy, just like buying any other item from any website. 

Its very frustrating to buy for the 1st time. Its why I don't think bitcoin will never reach its potential unless their is atm's readily available for everyone to safely buy and sell btc quickly - it just takes was to much info and time to buy btc these days.

even with local bitcoin making bank transfers which make it easier - some banks I read on here are closing accounts which make it very scary to use that method