Topic: Why does it feel so complicated/frustrating to buy bitcoins for the first time? - page 3. (Read 4823 times)

Bitstamp, Kraken, Circle, Coinbase are the best.

Soon you will be able to buy BTC in the supermarket (via gift cards).

Buying is pretty easy (depending on where you are) 

In the US just attach a bank account to Circle.Com or Coinbase.  Pretty much click buy and you will have your coins instantly(if you use that option) or you have a small delay period until payments go through.

I am sure someone from another country can help you purchase them if that is the case.

Once you know thwe methods, its pretty easy, but yeah its complicated for first timers to find a reliable place to buy.
Too complicated.

Circle.com , Cex.io , Virwox.com

Pay with Visa 

Keep in mind Virwox might take up to 48hours to send your coins if a new account.

Easiest as far as verifications go is localbitcoins.

If you're in the US CoinBase is about the best route for bank transfers.

I have had to deal with a few companies since moving to Europe.

I have had to send:
a copy of my passport
a copy of the back of my passport
a picture of me holding up my passport
a copy of my debit card (I forgot which service required that)
a copy of my bank statement
proof of address

In the end I was denied on 2 out of the 4 that I tried. One of them costs me money to wire my money to them because they are in Hong Kong, the other was working for 2 weeks and then halted euro deposits. They opened euro deposits for a week and now dropped my verification level because they upgraded their verification process. This includes a new questionnaire with the following questions:
Are you a politicaly exposed person?
Are your family members politically exposed?
Are you working as an executive staff, acting board member or current shareholder (>10%) of any licensed financial institution?
Have you ever been charged with a financial crime, tax evasion cases, involved in falsification of auditor documents or are currently a person of interest in a financial crime(s) case?

What does "politically exposed person" even mean?


I went to get a bank account. Walked in, showed my ID, signed some papers, got an account.
It seems to me that the Bitcoin exchanges are under much more restrictions than banks when it comes to proof of identity.


But, by jumping through all of those hoops you are able to charge people using localbitcoins a premium because you deal with all of the bullshit so they don't have to.

I am looking to purchase a crypto related Christmas gift this season for some people I'd like to spread the crypto to and the seller is only accepting payment in BTC/LTC/DOGE.  The problem lies in the fact that the item I want to purchase is ~$75 shipped (yes, the price is given in USD) but I cannot pay with my USD and must somehow convert my fiat to crypto if I want this specific crypto related gift. 

Now the timing sucks because I am finding out all these places to do this want some sort of crazy verification that takes multiple days, I need to take a picture of my passport, residency documentation, etc.  Time is of the essence (yes, late holiday shopping!) and I don't feel I should need to do that for such a small amount.  I have amazing eBay and PayPal records (over 1000+ at 100% positive and yes, I do sell items quite often) but I see there really isn't a good way to buy it on eBay either as it seems sketchy.  Some people are asking for $500+ for a BTC delivered directly to my wallet and the weird instructions I get in the description about doing some sort of micro-transaction process over the course of multiple days is pretty awkward.  Nonetheless when I'm essentially trying to get 0.25 BTC, or ~$85 worth (as of this posting), I'm not sure why the hassle is turning out to be so great and I may not get to use BTC for a Christmas gift this year.

I actually have BTC/LTC/DOGE that I mined, but between the 3 combined I have less than what I need to purchase the item and still feel good about my mining efforts.  I wholly understand that the seller is choosing to only accept crypto as I asked if I could pay via PayPal as an option but dang it is tough.

In light of me joining the BTC forum very recently (I've been reduced to a newbie - for now!) I figured I'd share my first experience trying to acquire a small amount of BTC for a purchase. 
I made an account on Circle.com since it "seemed" the easiest, got through all the steps and entered the information listed here:
===========================
1. Email, Full Name & Address
2. Phone number for verification
3. Birth-date and last 4-digits of my SS#
4. Debit Card/Credit Card Information, exactly the same information I made to purchase something substantial a couple weeks ago at an online retailer
===========================

And it didn't work. 

I was pretty disappointed when I couldn't add funds as I am an avid internet user and understand I just handed over a ton of PII and they wouldn't let me follow through on my purchase of 0.25 BTC.  I am stuck on "We are working on connecting your credit card." when any other online retailer would have said OK and processed my payment.  If it was a large enough amount I understand I would have gotten a phone call to the home number that is attached to my Bank Card for verbal verification.  I have waited over 2 hours since landing on that page with nothing to show except for a waiting message and I'm a little frustrated that I may not be able to make a BTC Christmas purchase as I don't want to turn this circle.com thing into a 24-48 hour ordeal for a $75 item.  I will not be hooking up a bank account to that site, I was just willing to use a Bank Card but now I am contemplating dumping the whole idea and having that "account" deleted. 

I need to live up to my name of digicoinuser and freaking obtain some BTC to use but it's very difficult right now from my perspective.  I like the whole anonymous idea behind bitcoin, but feel that sites like the aforementioned devalue that whole train of thought.  I didn't trust cex.io to go through the process they have and don't plan on signing up on any more websites that require a level of information where I'd want to keep tabs on that site/system due to having a high level of PII filed for me.

Is there a safer and easier way I could get 0.25 BTC from a trusted source and start my journey purchasing items with BTC? 

Sincerely,
digicoinuser (hopefully an official one soon)