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https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/2109597-buy-sell-bank-transfer-fees https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/210959... Pleas

https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/2109597-buy-sell-bank-transfer-fees https://support.coinbase.com/customer/portal/articles/210959... Please correct me if I am wrong, but it very much looks like I need to pay minimum 1.49% to convert from USD to BTC and also your brother needs to pay minimum 1.49% before he has gotten his local currency. So this is more expensive than Paypal?

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
I'm sorry, I am not the best representative to explain, and I'm also trying to make this easy to understand, rather than provide the actual guide. Hopefully someone more qualified can comment on this with corrections. Most people who do significant transactions on Coinbase actually use the trading tool called GDAX. Which can be a little scary to look at first. It's a trading platform owned by Coinbase and transfers between the platforms are completely free. Purchasing and selling directly through Coinbase has a similar fee to Paypal, especially if you are buying with a credit card. Coinbase takes my money in U.S. dollars, then I transfer to GDAX, buy Bitcoin. You could actually skip Coinbase entirely and just use Gdax but the Coinbase interface is nice and its easy and I like to do it this way. GDAX charges a .25% fee on the "taker" of a transaction. The maker/taker dynamic I am not equipped to explain, but only 1 of the parties pays that fee. If both my brother and I got hit with the taker fee on our transactions we would be losing .5% total, still much less than Paypal. This fee could be avoided entirely by becoming the "maker" but that exposes you to some risk, because you are setting the price you think Bitcoin should be traded at, and you must wait for someone to agree to the price you are setting. https://www.gdax.com/fees/BTC-USD https://www.gdax.com/fees/BTC-USD
- beefield 9y ago
  I am more interested in the costs and timelines than a guide, so this is helpful, thanks. But still I fail to understand what is the case where bitcoin is a competitive option to get money from bank account to another. in addition to the possible 0.25% fee you are anyway facing the bid ask spread over two currency exchanges (usd-> btc and btc -> target currency) and if you compare those to bank transfer costs, I just don't see how looping through btc could be more economical.
celticninja 9y ago
I use localbitcoins to convert to my local currency, as a result I usually can make more cash as it is possible to sell to buyers at anywhere up to 5% above market rate and have the money in 48-72 hours. If I need the cash quickly I can sell at market rate and have the money in my bank within 24 hours usually.
- ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
  That's another good option, but I avoided mentioning it because getting 5% above market makes me worried you are assisting someone involved in money laundering.
  - celticninja 9y ago
    Those sales tend to be small(ish) sums(<$1000) paid for in cash or bank transfer. i am not worried about money laundering at those levels. the danger of bitcoin for money laundering is blown out of all proportion in comparison to good old cash.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago

I'm sorry, I am not the best representative to explain, and I'm also trying to make this easy to understand, rather than provide the actual guide. Hopefully someone more qualified can comment on this with corrections. Most people who do significant transactions on Coinbase actually use the trading tool called GDAX. Which can be a little scary to look at first. It's a trading platform owned by Coinbase and transfers between the platforms are completely free. Purchasing and selling directly through Coinbase has a similar fee to Paypal, especially if you are buying with a credit card. Coinbase takes my money in U.S. dollars, then I transfer to GDAX, buy Bitcoin. You could actually skip Coinbase entirely and just use Gdax but the Coinbase interface is nice and its easy and I like to do it this way. GDAX charges a .25% fee on the "taker" of a transaction. The maker/taker dynamic I am not equipped to explain, but only 1 of the parties pays that fee. If both my brother and I got hit with the taker fee on our transactions we would be losing .5% total, still much less than Paypal. This fee could be avoided entirely by becoming the "maker" but that exposes you to some risk, because you are setting the price you think Bitcoin should be traded at, and you must wait for someone to agree to the price you are setting. https://www.gdax.com/fees/BTC-USD https://www.gdax.com/fees/BTC-USD

beefield 9y ago
I am more interested in the costs and timelines than a guide, so this is helpful, thanks. But still I fail to understand what is the case where bitcoin is a competitive option to get money from bank account to another. in addition to the possible 0.25% fee you are anyway facing the bid ask spread over two currency exchanges (usd-> btc and btc -> target currency) and if you compare those to bank transfer costs, I just don't see how looping through btc could be more economical.

celticninja 9y ago

I use localbitcoins to convert to my local currency, as a result I usually can make more cash as it is possible to sell to buyers at anywhere up to 5% above market rate and have the money in 48-72 hours. If I need the cash quickly I can sell at market rate and have the money in my bank within 24 hours usually.

ghostbrainalpha 9y ago
That's another good option, but I avoided mentioning it because getting 5% above market makes me worried you are assisting someone involved in money laundering.
- celticninja 9y ago
  Those sales tend to be small(ish) sums(<$1000) paid for in cash or bank transfer. i am not worried about money laundering at those levels. the danger of bitcoin for money laundering is blown out of all proportion in comparison to good old cash.