How do YOU buy bitcoins
1 Bitcoin = 
right nowLast updated: 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Buy bitcoins from Coinbase
WEBSITE: http://coinbase.com/
RATE: 1% for buying bitcoins
LIMITS: 10BTC per day limit for new accounts, verified accounts are limited to 100BTC per day.
"Coinbase’s popularity is not without good reason; its service allows users to buy Bitcoin straight from their bank accounts, paying only a 1% fee for the exchange – market spread included"
Verified Business
Founded 2012 by Brian Armstrong in California. Funded by YCombinator, FundersClub 650K USD.
Buy bitcoins using a regular bank account
Coinbase just announced that you can purcase up to $100 USD worth of bitcoins using their online bitcoin service.
It's PayPal-easy, and incredibly quick if you have Wells Fargo or another major bank and don't mind sharing your password for a minute (you can change it afterwards if you're worried). If you do not want to share your bank username and password, there is an option for verification where Coinbase deposits two small amounts into your account, and you verify them a couple days later.
Steps to buy bitcoins
Go to http://coinbase.com/
1. Link and verify a U.S. bank account
2. Buy or sell some bitcoin
3. The transaction completes in about 3 business days!
How long should customers expect to wait to get their coins?
What is the MAXIMUM time you need to deliver on an order?
"If a transaction appears high risk we may give the user an option to either cancel their order or wait 60 days for their bitcoins to arrive. This is rare, but we wanted to provide an option other than just canceling a user's order if their transaction appears high risk so this is the best option we've come up with so far." --Brian from Coinbase
Deposit back into your account
You can deposit bitcoins back to USD and into your account using Coinbase too.
Support
Web
You can reach Coinbase support at http://support.coinbase.com/ (there is also a phone number on that page).
"87% of wallet funds are stored offline"
Coinbase is keeping funds stored "offline" so that if you buy from them, and store your funds in their wallet, 87% of your money is still completely secure, limiting the risk with hosting your bitcoins with another person.
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Comments
I have had a lot of success with Coinbase, but don't expect your bitcoins immediately.
Link / ReplyI love Coinbase, I have purchased a large number of coins from them and I can't believe how easy it is to use their service. I can't wait for them to lift the $100/day limit. This is my #1 goto service to exchange USD for BTC. Low fees, easy to use, and great security. I don't know why you would use another service once they lift their daily limit!
Link / ReplyRobert McDonald said it all. Coinbase is currently the best choice for buying small amounts of bitcoins in the USA. The website is professional. Sign up is the easiest I have ever experience. They have received positive feedback from the Bitcoin forums and on Reddit.
Link / Reply$100/day limit for Coinbase appears to have been changed.
Link / ReplyInstead, under Linked Accounts > Verification and Limits, you can complete steps to verify your account and raise your limits.
After completing the first step of instant bank account verification or deposit verification (Link and Verify), my limits are:
Buy Limit: 10.00 BTC / day Sell Limit: 100.00 BTC / day
I just submitted my first transaction, so the second verification step (Complete a Transaction) is marked as Pending. In 30 days, the status of this verification step will change to Complete and apparently raise my limits further.
Coinbase is great and easy to use. Like several others, I had a few instances early on where my bitcoin purchase was flagged as "high risk" and cancelled, which was inconvenient but did not result in any money lost. No problem since and I can now buy 100 BTC/day (because it has been 30 days since my first bitcoin purchase on Coinbase). My first 100 BTC purchase went through without a hitch.
Link / ReplyIt looks like their customer service is falling on its face. Perhaps they are too busy or are no longer staffed but sending in a support request is met with a deafening silence.
Link / ReplyI was trying to tell them about problems with their API (which are still to be resolved) and have yet to receive a response of ANY nature from them.
I have begun to wonder if this is a legitimate service at all based on all the other comments I am seeing around the web.
They have a great vision but are terrible at execution - customer service should be #1 priority.
I think Coinbase could be an incredible service, but they do have slow to nonexistent customer service and they run out of Bitcoins. It is a shame that they can't keep up. Very soon, Mt Gox/Coinlabs is coming which means another avenue to have access to a bank account. If they take off, Coinbase may disappear. Also I think that the gov will try to regulate too much driving both Coinlabs and Coinbase out.
Link / ReplyI won't use Coinbase anymore. They handled a few transactions OK but, it takes FOREVER to get your bitcoins (4 days on average). They had a giant server meltdown and failed to communicate with their customers. I had money locked up for over a week. During that time the price of BTC doubled and there was nothing I could do but, stare at my Coinbase account and cry. An easy site that I've found is www.bitstamp.net. I used www.bitinstant.com to fund my account and had bitcoins within 2 hours. Do yourself a favor and stay away from Coinbase.
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