Easy Come, Easy Go
Let’s start the new year off right: with bitcoins! When last we heard from our long-suffering friends, they were waiting for CaVirtEx to complete a transfer to a bank account.
So more stuff on trying to cash out of bitcoins and how “simple” it is.
Virtex responded to my friends ticket, and said yesterday said that the transfer that was fucking requested on the 18th, was cleared. However today my friend’s bank has not received a anything. So he calls them and apparently they can’t deal with this over the phone and will only help him if he puts in a ticket. Even though he pointed out that it takes them a week to respond to tickets.
Also my friend decided to try and just sell 2 of his bitcoins on localbitcoins through their online escrow because apparently people keep telling him e-transfers are safe, because interac e-transfers cannot be reversed! So perfectly safe! Yesterday he accepted an e-transfer and was able to add the money to his account and release the escrow.
Then this morning apparently he was notified by his bank that his account and all associated cards are frozen, and he must come into his local branch and speak to someone. They apparently wouldn’t explain why over the phone. Apparently the person he spoke to had some idea of what bitcoins were (), and after explaining how he sold them. The guy apparently explained that:
– Selling stuff online and using e-transfer for payment apparently violates some part of interac’s terms of service.
– The e-transfer he accepted was fraudulent so it was reversed (i thought it wasn’t reversible!)
– His account is to be unfrozen but he is permanently banned from ever using e-transfers againIt is funny because all the “low” risk methods of selling on localbitcoins, are terrible that nobody really uses. I love how many people messaged me about how safe localbitcoins are.
Nobody here is shocked in the least. More about the local bitcoin sales and the trustworthy individuals involved with them:
Pretty much all the methods of payment on localbitcoins are ether unsafe, or terrible from what i can tell. The two exceptions are cash (we know how well that worked out), or a cash deposit (pretty massive pain in the ass), which both are pretty inconvient.
However localbitcoins lists some other payment methods, and ranks them on “low”, “medium”, or “high” risk. The low risk includes well known and “trustworthy” payment services like EGOPay, OkPay, and Perfect Money. Ironically there is also Western Union, a service which bitcoiners declared bitcoin will kill off. The funny part is, nobody uses the low risk payment methods really, because they are all a massive pain in the ass.
Pretty much all the people on Localbitcoins (and there really is not very many in Canada, less than 200 including people who have not logged on in a month), want you to use something like e-transfers, wire transfers, paypal, etc. Which are all not safe at all. Since one party can cry fraud and boom, you loose your money and they walk off with the bitcoins. Well obviously the best solution is to let your feedback/reputation dictate if your a scammer or not. I see this everywhere:
quote:
If your LocalBitcoins profile has less than 10 confirmed trades or at least 1 negative feedback then you must send/release Bitcoins first.quote:
Unless you have a feedback rating of 10 or higher, coins will be sent to me first direct to my receiving address. If you have a feedback of 10 or higher then we may use the escrow system (although I will pay 0.5% more if you send it direct).quote:
Because of our established credibility, if you have a feedback score below 10 we’ll require the BTC to be sent first, either directly to our receiving address or released via trade request.Fuck you pleb, escrow is only for us captains of the industry
OKPay: Does Localbitcoins even know that OKPay does not allow people to use their service for selling crypto-currencies?
quote:
Please note that due to the card issuer bank restrictions OKPAY Card order and funding becomes impossible if you perform operations related with crypto-currencies or crypto-currencies exchange.Our financial provider for GBP bank transfers restricts further usage of funds for purchasing or exchanging crypto-currencies.
If you look around there is some nice whining from people that OKPay has cancelled and closed their accounts for selling bitcoins. But you know, its “low risk”.
Perfect Money: A virtual wallet service, that nobody seems to use. You need to make an account, get verified, get the money into your account, then wait 3-5 days for the transaction to be approved they also apparently do not allow you to withdraw all your money in one shot and you must keep a minimum balance of 300$ at all times. Also from what i can gather the only way to send money is by sending someone an e-voucher. There is no way to verify the value of an e-voucher, nor is there a way to reverse it. So of course this means that all the buyers want you to send them the bitcoins first then they will send you the voucher and not disappear. Apparently only 3 people on localbitcoins is willing to use this method.
Ego Pay: Some sort of virtual online wallet service. Requires you to become verified to withdraw money from there. Also there is some really sketchy stuff in their terms and conditions:
quote:
EgoPay reserves the right to terminate accounts that act as unauthorized e-currency exchangers and all of the related accounts.Would selling bitcoin count as an e-currency exchanger? I don’t know i can’t find a single post about someone using EGOPay. However the single most stupid thing about Ego Pay is:
quote:
EgoPay account holders can withdraw funds from EgoPay by using Payza or e-currency exchangers. Times to complete a withdrawal may vary due to security reasons, please visit our FAQ for current information.So let me get this straight, Ego Pay doesn’t even let you withdraw money to your bank account. You need to withdraw it to another FUCKING SITE? Don’t forget no fees*(only 2.5% for deposit/withdrawal).
So? Bitcoin -> Localbitcoins -> Ego Pay -> Payza -> Bank -> Fiat
Western Union: Aside from the fact that all of the buyers expect you to be responsible for 7% fee even though they are already paying you much less than the “actual” price (aka whatever exchange has the highest price, bitcoiners claim thats the value of bitcoins). There are only 38 users willing to buy, and only 18 of them have logged into localbitcoins in the last 7 days. Furthermore, some of the buyers will not deal with you for western union UNLESS you send them the coins FIRST. Aka no escrow.
quote:
Unless you have a feedback rating of 10 or higher, coins will be sent to me first direct to my receiving address. If you have a feedback of 10 or higher then we may use the escrow system (although I will pay 0.5% more if you send it direct).I am sorry i simply cannot trust people on localbitcoins when the entirety of their forum consists of users crying about getting scammed, by people who are supposed to be reputable. I love how bitcoiners dance between “DONT TRUST ANYONE”, to “trust me with your 20,000$ exchange, i swear i won’t scam you cause i have a whole 20 feedback”.
Don’t you guys see how great and simple these “low” risk methods are? Honestly buying and selling bitcoin has never been easier.
Clearly LocalBitcoins could benefit from BitcoinTalk’s big red “SCAMMER” tags. That way you’d know not to send your bitcoins directly to someone’s receiving address before they consider paying you real money for them.