Buy Cryptocurrencies on Paxful
Buying cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum may not be that hard for some people, but to those folks just starting out it might be the nerdiest thing they’ve ever done. That is why I’m writing this step by step guide on how to Buy Bitcoin with Paxful. It’s a quick guide that will give you all you need to start using Paxful to buy crypto.
In most countries, buying cryptocurrency is easy because there are centralized exchanges like Coinbase. This type of exchange let’s you buy cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, with just a push of a button. To make it even more convenient, these exchanges only need your bank card to enable you to pay for cryptocurrencies directly from your bank. All you need is a debit or credit card.
Buy Crypto On Coinbase
But in some countries where the laws are not in favor of cryptocurrencies or are highly against cryptocurrencies, people may not get access to these easy to use crypto exchanges. This forces crypto buyers to look elsewhere for their cryptocurrency.
That is where P2P exchanges come into play. P2P means peer-to-peer. Peer-to-peer refers to the exchange or sharing of information, data, or assets between parties without the involvement of a central authority. Peer-to-peer (P2P) involves decentralized interactions among individuals and groups.
But since these exchanges are not centralized, using them can sometimes be an issue. In rare cases, you may have to deal with unscrupulous people or scammers on this type of exchange. You just have to be careful and learn what to watch for.
Luckily, I have transacted on Paxful on numerous occasions and I will be showing you exactly how to avoid scams and buy your cryptocurrency on Paxful without issues.
How to use Paxful to buy Bitcoin
Create an Account with Paxful
Here is a list of 5 things to do to get your account setup properly.
- The first thing you have to do is create an account on Paxful which is pretty straightforward and easy.
Goto: https://paxful.com/
Once you are on the homepage click on the Register and you will be taken to the signup page
Alternatively, you can CLICK HERE to sign up directly (Recommended)
Or
Scan the QR code below to visit the sign-up page (Recommended if you are reading on Desktop)
Whatever way you use, now you will be on the signup page.
You can choose to sign-up using your phone number or email address, any choice you make is great and it depends on you.
- After creating an account, the second thing you’ll need to do is to verify some information about yourself. You have to verify your email address or the phone number you used in creating the account.
- After verifying your information, the third thing is you will be allowed to start buying and selling crypto on the platform.
- The fourth thing to notice is there are a lot of restrictions and transaction limits. See the image below.
Apart from the restrictions by Paxful, if you have not verified some of the things above, you will have difficulties trading with many people. This is because not verifying your account gives a message that you may be someone trying to hide something or even worse that you might be a scammer.
Verify your Account
To help others on the P2P network feel safe transacting with you, I suggest you verify as much information as you possibly can. Here are 5 easy steps to guide you through the process.
Step 1: To verify, Goto: Settings
Step 2: Switch to the tab: Verification
There you can see the things you need to verify and the benefits you can get if you do
As you can see in the image above, that is my dashboard and I have verified literally everything so that I can trade freely with others and clear any doubt about my trustworthiness.
To be sincere, I myself always tick “Only trusted traders” whenever I want to initiate a trade, a feature I will be discussing more later.
Step 3: Verifying your account may not be required, but it’s necessary to have a positive experience. After verification, you become a reliable trader and can buy and sell Bitcoin of any amount from almost anyone.
Step 4: But as a beginner, what are the things you need to avoid and how are you going to pay?
Don’t worry, I got you covered. Keep reading.
Step 5: After successfully creating an account and verifying it, you can now use the buy button on Paxful to make your first purchase. The next section has more detail on how to buy crypto.
How to buy Bitcoin with Paxful
The next series of steps will walk you through how to buy bitcoin safely using Paxful.
Note: Keep in mind, I’m located in Nigeria. Your options may vary.
Step 1: To start the process of buying Bitcoin, first click on the BUY button. It is always visible on all your devices.
Step 2: As you can see, you are given some filters, like the currency you want to use for payment, the amount you need, and what payment option you are using to buy.
Step 3: Next you need to choose what method you’ll use for the purchase. I mostly use bank transfer since it’s one of the safest and easiest methods, but you can use a third-party app if you are already using one to make payments online.
Step 4: After applying the right filters and filling in the amount you want to spend, you can click Find Offers.
Step 5: Find Offers will take you to the offer page where you get to select the offer that looks best to you.
Get Comfortable with the Offers Page
The image below shows you the Offers page based on my filters. You can see that there are people who are ready to sell Bitcoin that also meet my filter requirements, that is, Bank Transfer, Naira currency, and the amount I input to buy.
If you look at the first column by the left you can see the names of the sellers and their online status together with their ratings in the form of likes đź‘Ť.
The likesđź‘Ť indicate the number of people who trade with this person and love the way they trade, someone with a higher rating (likes) means he/she is easy to trade with and has no issues. Someone with many dislikes đź‘Ž is not that reliable and you will want to stay away from them. Basically, likes indicates positive feedbacks from past trades and dislikes indicate negative feedback from previous transactions.
Step 6: After making your selection from the Offers page, you will be taken to a private chat with the seller where you can see their bank details and make payment to them.
You don’t need to worry about anything at this point since the person has positive feedback and you can see that they are online. You will surely get a response from them quickly. Just start a chat and wait for them to join, then pay the money to their account.
Immediately upon receiving your money, they will will release the Bitcoins to your Paxful wallet. If you don’t know what a wallet is, I recommend you check this course: All about wallets
Understanding Paxful Escrow
Step 7: What is Paxful Escrow and how does it work.
Paxful’s escrow feature aims to ensure a fair trade experience for both parties. When a trade starts, the cryptocurrency from the seller’s wallet is automatically moved into a temporary safe deposit account (escrow) where it will be held until the transaction is complete.
Paxful help center
Immediately upon placing your order to buy bitcoin (or other crypto), Paxful will remove the amount (in bitcoin) you requested to buy from the sellers wallet and hold it in their escrow wallet. At the same time Paxful will attempt to collect payment from you. Once payment is made, they will release the Bitcoin from the escrow.
Tip: Don’t do a test buy. If you make an order without having money to pay for the bitcoin, the seller will leave you negative feedback which will hurt your reputation on the platform. Always place a real order when you want to buy. Never place a trial order.
How escrow helps cryptocurrency buyers: If you as a buyer make the payment but the seller refuses to release your crypto, the secure escrow serves as a guarantee. The seller’s cryptocurrency will stay in escrow until our moderators step in to investigate the situation and award the cryptocurrency to the deserving party.
How escrow helps cryptocurrency sellers: Sometimes a buyer may not be able to finalize the payment for the cryptocurrency. If you’re the seller in this case, then your cryptocurrency is safely returned back to your wallet.
Summary
Now that you know how to buy bitcoin on Paxful, you may want to continue learning more about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in order to take care it. You’ll likely want to learn how to safely store it and later on decide when to sell it.
To learn more about buying crypto try our course called Buy Crypto, Safely!. You can also click the green create account button below and become a registered member today. Thanks for reading my article.