Paxful is an online marketplace which allows buyers and seller to meet online and trade bitcoins. Unlike most bitcoin exchanges, that match buyers and sellers in an automated process, Paxful allows users to communicate directly. Its sellers offer a wide variety of payment options and the built in escrow makes the process secure. Similar to LocalBitcoins, Paxful allows a wide range of payment methods and buying options which can’t be found on traditional cryptocurrency exchanges.
How to Buy Bitcoins on Paxful
The first thing you have to is find an offer that suits you. To do that, filter for the currency in which you want to pay for the bitcoins as well as the payment method you want to use.
Once you have found an offer:
- Choose the amount you want to buy
- Read the seller’s instructions (e.g sometimes sellers require you upload an ID in the chat)
- Follow payment instructions and mark as “paid”
- Wait for the seller to release the bitcoin
It’s worth mentioning that some trades can be concluded instantly while others might take longer, depending on the payment method and whether the seller is online or not. Paypal and gift cards, for example, are almost instant. Bank deposits, Western Union and Moneygram can take some time, as you must leave your home to their branch to deposit cash.
Is it safe to buy bitcoin on Paxful?
To make bitcoin trades secure, Paxful provides an escrow service. Once a buyer finds a seller and the offer is accepted by the seller, the Bitcoin are automatically moved from the vendor’s wallet to an escrow account.
At this point, the seller can’t cancel the trade and it is secure to pay for the Bitcoins. However, as the buyer you have a limited time frame to deliver the money to the seller and mark the payment as ‘complete’. If you fail to do that in the given time frame, the deal will be auto-cancelled and the Bitcoin will be returned to the seller’s wallet.
When both the buyer and the seller have verified that the transaction has been confirmed and all the terms have been met, the money will be released to the buyer’s wallet and the deal will be concluded.
You can check out Paxful here.