Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: New Jack on July 20, 2012, 01:33 am
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Before I begin this, I would like to say that this really and truly is little more than a frustrated rant. However, if anybody can offer helpful advice, it'd be entirely welcome.
So I've been lurking on SR for a good while now, and have finally decided, yes, I'm willing to go out there and take the risk of getting caught, and just buy something. So I start looking around for where I can get BitCoins, and... I can't. It's a royal pain, exceedingly expensive, or too sketchy for me to countenance.
Let's take a look at a few approaches I took, in the order that I took them:
1) BitInstant. So at first I was the most paranoid person ever when it came to this stuff; I didn't want to have anything traceable to me even in the government's wildest fantasies, and apparently you could get BitCoins with cash there, by sending it with MoneyGram or whatever. It was pretty sketchy, since in the USD->BTC section of its rates and fees page (https://www.bitinstant.com/fees), it lists the BitCoins in dollar amounts. Yeah, that's trustworthy, not letting me know how many BitCoins per dollar I'll get; really setting a good precedent there. So I decide, well, to hell with it, I'll go along, and select CVS, since I live right by one. I follow the instructions, and as the fees and BS get tacked onto it, I begin to realize that the only way I'm going to get anything out of this is if I get ripped off. I mean, I have to pay a 3% fee, then a $2.95 fee to ZipZap, then another $5.00 fee to MoneyGram and... no. Just no. I'm not going to pay all that to hopefully receive an ambiguous quantity of BitCoins. Just no, try harder next time BitInstant. Maybe accept PayPal, or money orders, or something, but this is ridiculous.
2) Mt Gox. No way to get BitCoins via easy methods like PayPal or credit card. Had to get a Dwolla account. So I get a Dwolla account, as sketchy as Dwolla is, and verify it. Wonderful, alright, I go back to Mt Gox and... I need to scan my photo ID and utility bill? Are you kidding me? Again, just no. Seriously, this is BS. Just take my fucking money and give me BitCoins.
3) My current, and final attempt, is to go back to BitInstant, which will apparently take Dwolla. Thing is, I have to wait a full week for the twenty bucks I want to put in my Dwolla account to clear, because Dwolla doesn't trust me as far as it can throw me. Wonderful. Fine. When this clears, I will go to BitInstant and get some coins. And if I don't? I'm done trying to get coins from these sites. I'm just done.
In fact, I'm prepared to pay up front so I can have some explicit terms with an actual human being who will sell me BitCoins at a given rate, and will take my money and exchange the coins with zero bullshit along the way. I'm willing to risk getting completely scammed, just to avoid the bullshit fees and waiting on these BitCoin exchange sites. I'll even let you mark it up a bit to make it worth your while. If anybody is willing to play ball with me, I'd be much obliged.
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BitInstant is the best IMO, cash deposit into a major bank (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Chase last I checked) and I got my BTC within an hour of deposit.
Did you pay $8 (or more) + a 2.99% fee? Also, what was the exchange rate after that?
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Exchange rate is MtGox low, and yes I paid the same fees. But I also did a $500 MP. You could also try some MP to BTC vendors on here, BTC Buddy and Sugar Mama come to mind.
You've convinced me to reconsider doing it this way, since apparently it works and there's an actual standard for it. That said, I am not entirely sold on doing it with $500 quite yet. I'm not a huge user and I'm not sure I want to invest hundreds into this little "hobby."
Thank you for your advice and the information you've given me. I'll give that a shot. That said, I would like to ask:
would you be willing to sell me a small quantity of BitCoins, just to, you know, play with? I'll pay up front, as I said in the OP. I'd love to get used to using this currency and so on before I jump into buying. Don't want to come off as the New Jack that I am right off the bat. ;)
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1) BitInstant. So at first I was the most paranoid person ever when it came to this stuff; I didn't want to have anything traceable to me even in the government's wildest fantasies, and apparently you could get BitCoins with cash there, by sending it with MoneyGram or whatever. It was pretty sketchy, since in the USD->BTC section of its rates and fees page (https://www.bitinstant.com/fees), it lists the BitCoins in dollar amounts. Yeah, that's trustworthy, not letting me know how many BitCoins per dollar I'll get; really setting a good precedent there. So I decide, well, to hell with it, I'll go along, and select CVS, since I live right by one. I follow the instructions, and as the fees and BS get tacked onto it, I begin to realize that the only way I'm going to get anything out of this is if I get ripped off. I mean, I have to pay a 3% fee, then a $2.95 fee to ZipZap, then another $5.00 fee to MoneyGram and... no. Just no. I'm not going to pay all that to hopefully receive an ambiguous quantity of BitCoins. Just no, try harder next time BitInstant. Maybe accept PayPal, or money orders, or something, but this is ridiculous.
I usually go with the Bitinstant/ZipZap/MoneyGram at CVS method. That's strange that you had all those fees though. I think all I have is that BitInstant percentage fee (not sure what the percent is) and a $3.95 ZipZap fee, and that's it. No extra fee for the MoneyGram. I find this to be a very effective method. However, I *feel* sketchy as hell when I give fake personal info (I've never been good at lying), and I want the whole process in CVS to be as quick as possible so that I can get out of there. I'm pretty sure most of those cashiers at my CVS have no idea what bitcoins are, but still, it makes me nervous.
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Read my listing for BTC.
Couldn't be easier.
Nothing is faster.
Nothing is less expensive.
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BitInstant is the best IMO, cash deposit into a major bank (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Chase last I checked) and I got my BTC within an hour of deposit.
Gotta agree with you here, just go down to a Wells Fargo, in an hour have my bitcoins and just gotta tumble them, and I'm ready to go.
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If ur using bitcoinfog why all the extra work with coinapult and a fake sr account? In fact why bother with bitcoinfog at all, just go bitinstant -> personal wallet -> SR wallet. It gets tumbled before it goes into SR so theres no way to trace it back to your personal wallet, and if ur that concerned then obviously dont move all ur money from your personal wallet at the same time, which is basically all bitcoinfog is doing.
OP - please dont use merchant services on here to buy btc, by doing so your associating your photo with SR. Any money exchanger who so as even mentions SR is putting their clients at risk.
Sorry, but I don't think that's true at all.
Explain: How precisely does this tumbling occur when you're sending B$ from a exchange service -> wallet -> SR wallet?
I haven't checked, but I'm nearly certain that if you check the blockchain you'll see that B$ is tumbled when it leaves SR, but not when it enters SR. If I'm wrong, then by all means correct me.
Also, I don't think you quite understand how B$ laundry services operate. You receive your bitcoins back, but they are not the ones you put in. More info in the sig.
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I do bitinstant through zipzap and pay at walmart, give all fake info and have coins within an hour, couldn't be safer. if its such a big deal to you than don't buy any and dont get any drugs from here.
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If ur using bitcoinfog why all the extra work with coinapult and a fake sr account? In fact why bother with bitcoinfog at all, just go bitinstant -> personal wallet -> SR wallet. It gets tumbled before it goes into SR so theres no way to trace it back to your personal wallet, and if ur that concerned then obviously dont move all ur money from your personal wallet at the same time, which is basically all bitcoinfog is doing.
OP - please dont use merchant services on here to buy btc, by doing so your associating your photo with SR. Any money exchanger who so as even mentions SR is putting their clients at risk.
Sorry, but I don't think that's true at all.
Explain: How precisely does this tumbling occur when you're sending B$ from a exchange service -> wallet -> SR wallet?
I haven't checked, but I'm nearly certain that if you check the blockchain you'll see that B$ is tumbled when it leaves SR, but not when it enters SR. If I'm wrong, then by all means correct me.
Also, I don't think you quite understand how B$ laundry services operate. You receive your bitcoins back, but they are not the ones you put in. More info in the sig.
From what i've seen when BTC comes into SR it does get tumbled instantly, almost too instantly, into a collection of pools. It's a pretty odd pattern that I can't imagine would be all that hard to isolate. I wouldn't rely on SR's mixers for much, so like pine says, hide your trial, its made with cloth so it'll survive a little washing ;)
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Paypal and credit cards are reversible "soft money".
Bitcoin, LR, and cash-in-the-mail are irreversible "hard money".
Accepting soft money for hard money is always a huge risk for the merchant, especially if he doesn't have a high level of trust in the buyer.
That's why you are going to have a hard time finding bitcoin sellers who accept soft money.
Some of them, including mtgox, used to, but they learned the hard way that's it's a bad idea.
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IM TRYING THIS GUY OUT NEXT WEEK
vlad1m1r
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speak to vlad or limetless :)
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IM TRYING THIS GUY OUT NEXT WEEK
vlad1m1r
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I'd be happy to do business with you Saffron - cash in the mail is one of the few ways to get Bitcoins safely hence my service. If you need any more info, feel free to send me a message.
All the best,
V.