Buying Bitcoin: The easiest fast way without huge markup for confused newbies.

[evilfunnystuff]

There was some interest and someone complimented my response, so I figured I would make a thread to make it easy to find, though it may get easier on the 29th with CoinLabs new partnership with MtGox https://mtgox.com/press_release_20130228.html

The easiest fast way without huge markup for newbies, that I would recommend...

1 Create a new wallet for free at https://blockchain.info/

2 Go to https://www.bitinstant.com

3 Select Walmart in the pay from box

4 Select Bitcoin address from pay to box

5 Fill out the info asked for, use your address from the wallet you created. When selecting amount to pay remember there will be an additional 4 dollars added on.

6 Follow through the prompts and select the Walmart closest to you, it will generate a payment slip with the info you need. It will send the payment slip to your email within 5 minutes, copy the info under zipzap biller info or have the slip accessible on your phone. The amount to pay here is the full amount you will pay at Walmart.

7 Go to Walmart grab a blue moneygram slip. Fill out your info in the top portion, fill the info from the payment slip into the bottom portion.

8 Hand it to the person at the counter and pay.

Bitcoins are automatically bought at current market price on MtGox, and forwarded to your wallet.

Fees with this method, 4% to bitinstant 4 dollars to zipzap.


Alternatively you can start an Mtgox account, go to bitinstant and select MtGox in the pay to field, enter your MtGox account number. You then have Us Dollars in your MtGox account, and can choose when to buy coins based on price fluctuation.


There are ways to get a little more for your money but that is probably the easiest way to get them without too much additional cost.


There are many other ways to acquire some, but for a unsure newbie these are probly the best methods for a first purchase, and the companies involved are well known and reliable.

[anaconda]

^Thank you.

One question: Why are bitcoins trading at a variety of prices at any given moment?

https://localbitcoins.com/buy_bitcoins

One more question: Why did bitcoins suddenly jump from $40 to $70?

[evilfunnystuff]

No problem

For the same reason the value of the dollar fluctuates vs other currencies, like the Euro and even silver and gold.

Why did it go that high? Supply and demand, more businesses accepting it, recent news, etc

[anaconda]

For the same reason the value of the dollar fluctuates vs other currencies, like the Euro and even silver and gold.

I would expect it to fluctuate like the Euro, silver, and gold. What I'm not understanding is why there are different quotes at the same moment in time? Are there several different quotes for silver at the same time on the same day?

Why did it go that high? Supply and demand, more businesses accepting it, recent news, etc

But a sudden 75% increase?

[evilfunnystuff]

What I'm not understanding is why there are different quotes at the same moment in time? Are there several different quotes for silver at the same time on the same day?

Different exchanges and sellers will have different prices that tend to follow one another. MtGox is the largest exchange. If you go to different silver dealers and exchanges you will pay different prices.

But a sudden 75% increase?

Lots of factors at play, as more products and services available for bitcoin pop up demand will increase, as that happens prices will rise.

Much more detail than what I gave you would amount to speculation.

Here is bicoins large increase over the last 3 months (you can adjust the time peiod on the site)
http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgo...zm1g10zm2g25zv

Here is a gold chart for the last year.
It went up 200 dollars an ounce in 3 months thats alot and explaining every single factor in detail is speculation.
https://www.igolder.com/gold-charts/...=180&months=12

Heres a gold all time chart.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZLZsY-057c...old+8-2011.PNG

Gold Silver and BTC have all hd there dips as well.

[anaconda]

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgo...zm1g10zm2g25zv

Not sure what the pink vs. green color difference indicates on the graph..

[Petar]

Thanks for the guide man, I'm kicking myself for not adapting earlier. I am now on a mission to collect as many of these things as I can, and I will gladly accept them in return for web-development work.

[evilfunnystuff]

Not sure what the pink vs. green color difference indicates on the graph..

The longer pink and green bars are trade volume denoted on the right the shorter red and green bars are price denoted on the right.

[anaconda]

The link died. Bummer.

http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgo...zm1g10zm2g25zv

[RickyJ]

Thanks for the guide man, I'm kicking myself for not adapting earlier. I am now on a mission to collect as many of these things as I can, and I will gladly accept them in return for web-development work.

Not me, but I will take gold and silver for web development work though.

[ronpaulfollower999]

Was lurking the Bitcoin Reddit (some good stuff there btw) and found a real good post by Hazek on how to secure the living $#@! out of my wallet. It's pretty basic, and not laced some insane technology jumbo that I can hardly understand, so definitely recommended reading for the new guys coming into Bitcoin.

[Jordan]

You know a top is near when a certain "invstment" gets talked up day after day...

[ronpaulfollower999]

You know a top is near when a certain "invstment" gets talked up day after day...

Bitcoin is not an investment, it's the future.

[Dianne]

So I know absolutely nothing about bc's, but I looked locally in my area and found this:

Buy Bitcoins with Cash near 28104, United States! So the cheapest is 83.94 for one? Am I reading this right?

Seller Distance Location Price/BTC Amount
GORMO69 (0) 22.9 miles Charlotte, United States 83.94 USD 1 - 1000 USD Buy bitcoins!

LiftLight (0) 97.7 miles Blythewood Road, Blythewood, SC 29016, USA, Blythwood, United States 99.93 USD 25 - 800 USD
Buy bitcoins!
zouvluch (0) 140.7 miles 27021, King, United States 91.24 USD 20 - 200 USD Buy bitcoins!

barbarousrelic (0) 153.1 miles 29607, Greenville, United States 90.37 USD 25 - 500 USD Buy bitcoins!

GimEEE (2; 100%) 172.9 miles 27302, Mebane, United States 95.92 USD Buy bitcoins!
Show more

[anaconda]

Fees with this method, 4% to bitinstant

I'm very naive about all of this, but 4% sounds kind of high. So it would cost someone $404 to buy $10K in bitcoins? Is there anyone that charges a flat fee?

[anaconda]

Alternatively you can start an Mtgox account, go to bitinstant and select MtGox in the pay to field, enter your MtGox account number. You then have Us Dollars in your MtGox account, and can choose when to buy coins based on price fluctuation.

Is there a 4% commission here? Like with bitinstant?

[anaconda]

The longer pink and green bars are trade volume denoted on the right the shorter red and green bars are price denoted on the right.

But what's the difference between pink and green?

[anaconda]

How do I know what price I'm getting on my bitcoin purchase? Does Bitinstant give you a quote?

[hazek]

How do I know what price I'm getting on my bitcoin purchase? Does Bitinstant give you a quote?

Some services give you a quote others don't and you have to look it up and calculate it on your own. If it's 1 bitcoin you need to pay then you just look up the price, if it's something else, you multiply the current exchange rate by the amount bitcoins you need to pay.

[anaconda]

I don't understand these categories for fees. Is this saying that bitinstant only charges 0.89% if you use MtGox?

https://www.bitinstant.com/fees

[hazek]

But what's the difference between pink and green?

Pink is when volume is generated because bids were filled and green is when volume is generate because asks were filled. When a bid is filled it's usually called a sale and therefor signals selling and when asks are filled it's usually called a buy and signals buying.

[anaconda]

Pink is when volume is generated because bids were filled and green is when volume is generate because asks were filled. When a bid is filled it's usually called a sale and therefor signals selling and when asks are filled it's usually called a buy and signals buying.

Aren't the bids & asks satisfied simultaneously? Like a pit trader finding a match on their list of asks & bids? I don't understand how these can be conceptually separated.

[evilfunnystuff]

Throught this method ythe max transacion is capped at 1 or 2 k I think.

For that much dwolla would be much cheaper if they do not have similar caps.

[evilfunnystuff]

Is the

re a 4% commission here? Like with bitinstant?

.6% gets cheaper with higher volume.

[anaconda]

I was watching a tutorial video and when the Bitcoin purchaser went to CVS Pharmacy to send the Moneygram, she apparently had to give her name, address, and phone number. Doesn't this make the Bitcoin owner traceable by the government (since the transaction also involves the Merchant number and a "receive code")? Seems like all the Feds would need to do is search the transactions by Merchant code to identify every Bitcoin transaction by an individual. This seems to undermine the "anonymity" of Bitcoin. Thoughts?

Here's the vid:

[evilfunnystuff]

I was watching a tutorial video and when the Bitcoin purchaser went to CVS Pharmacy to send the Moneygram, she apparently had to give her name, address, and phone number. Doesn't this make the Bitcoin owner traceable by the government (since the transaction also involves the Merchant number and a "receive code")? Seems like all the Feds would need to do is search the transactions by Merchant code to identify every Bitcoin transaction by an individual. This seems to undermine the "anonymity" of Bitcoin. Thoughts?

There are ways to get them anon and to make them anon but that wasnt the intent of this post.

[anaconda]

Is the

.6% gets cheaper with higher volume.

When I begin a transaction on Bitinstant is says there is a 3.99% fee, as if there is no other option. Which is why I don't understand the fee schedule at the link in post #20 above.

[dannno]

There are ways to get them anon and to make them anon but that wasnt the intent of this post.

What about creating another anon wallet and transferring them to your other wallet?

[evilfunnystuff]

How do I know what price I'm getting on my bitcoin purchase? Does Bitinstant give you a quote?

If yuou do bitinstant to bitcoin address it just buys at current market price, go bitinstant to mtgox then u can choose to buy wwhen u like the price.

[evilfunnystuff]

[QUOTE=anaconda;4950059]When I begin a transaction on Bitinstant is says there is a 3.99% fee, as if there is no other option. Which is why I don't understand the fee schedule at the link in post #20 above.[/QUOT

On that schedule you would be lookin for zipzap to mtgox zipzap processes your payment to bitinstant.