What Is LocalBitcoins?
Based in Helsinki, Finland, LocalBitcoins is a person-to-person bitcoin trading platform with over 1,000,000 registered users which specializes in connecting buyers and sellers.
LocalBitcoins is unique in that it has an escrow system for buyers and sellers along with a reputation and feedback score.
LocalBitcoins has hundreds of options for payment including cash, credit card, debit card, gift card, postal mail, MoneyGram, PayPal, Western Union, Square Cash, Payoneer, Payza, Chase QuickPay, WebMoney, Vanilla, and cryptocurrencies.
LocalBitcoins
| Website: | localbitcoins.com |
| CEO: | Sebastian Sonntag |
| Headquarters: | Helsinki, Finland |
| Founders: | Jeremias Kangas |
| Founded: | 2012 |
| Customer service: | Knowledge Base |
| More information: | Read Review |
LocalBitcoins is a person-to-person bitcoin trading platform that specializes in connecting buyers and sellers.
LocalBitcoins gives vendors the ability to create offers in all currencies.
Pros
- Available in every country of the world
- A diverse selection of buyers and sellers
- Supports many payment methods
- Buyers get their bitcoins fast
- Private
Cons
- Lack of cryptocurrency diversity
- Both sellers and buyers have a chance of being scammed.
| Reputation | Fees | Privacy | Limits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Excellent | Low | High | High |
Table of Contents
- What Is LocalBitcoins?
- LocalBitcoins
- An In-Depth Guide To The LocalBitcoins Platform
- Is LocalBitcoins Legit?
- Countries Supported By LocalBitcoins
- Payment Methods Supported
- Cryptocurrencies Supported
- LocalBitcoins Wallet
- Verification Time
- Fees
- Ads
- Buy & Sell Limits
- Is LocalBitcoins Safe?
- Affiliate Program
- Customer Service
- How To Use LocalBitcoins
- LocalBitcoins vs Paxful
- LocalBitcoins vs Coinbase
- Conclusion
An In-Depth Guide To The LocalBitcoins Platform
The mission of LocalBitcoins is to connect everybody to the Internet economy.
Before making any purchase decision with an exchange always ensure to investigate the reputation of management, venture capital investors and regulatory approvals. Make sure to learn about each company’s values and core mission and to perform proper due diligence on review sites, message boards and with investment professionals.
Is LocalBitcoins Legit?
LocalBitcoins is a person-to-person exchange for over-the-counter bitcoin trading based in Helsinki, Finland and was founded in 2012. The executive team consists of Sebastian Sonntag (CEO), Nicholas Kangas (Founder) and Jeremias Kangas (Founder).
Countries Supported By LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins is supported in every country around the world (see here for specifics).
Payment Methods Supported
As of 1/25/20, LocalBitcoins supports the following payment methods: Cash Deposit, MoneyGram, PayPal, Serve2Serve, Western Union, Vanilla, advcash, Cashier’s check, CashU, Cash at ATM, Chase QuickPay, Credit Card, Google Wallet, International Wire (SWIFT), Skrill, National bank transfer, Neteller, OKPay, Paxum, Payeer, Payoneer, Payza, Perfect Money, RIA Money Transfer, SolidTrustPay, Square Cash, Transferwise, Vanilla, Venmo, Walmart 2 Walmart, WebMoney, WeChat, World Remit, Xoom, Zelle.
Cryptocurrencies Supported
LocalBitcoins primarily supports Bitcoin although it would be possible to perform transactions with other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin.
LocalBitcoins Wallet
The LocalBitcoins Wallet is a web wallet, so it can be easily accessed on any device connected to the Internet with a web browser. It is extremely simple to send and receive bitcoin from your personal LocalBitcoins Wallet which is located within your dashboard.
Although it is a handy app, we would not recommend storing your bitcoins in the LocalBitcoins Wallet for the long haul and instead consider moving them to a secure cloud, smartphone or hardware wallet such as the Trezor or KeepKey.
Verification Time
There are three ways to verify your account and they are all simple to get set up: (1) E-mail, (2) Phone number and (3) Identity verification.
Fees
On LocalBitcoins registering, buying, and selling Bitcoin is completely free.
LocalBitcoins users who create advertisements are charged a 1% fee for every completed trade.
Sending bitcoin to wallets of other LocalBitcoins users is free. Note: Bitcoin network transaction fees are paid out of your LocalBitcoins wallet when you send bitcoin to an outside wallet.
Ads
If you want to become a seller on LocalBitcoins, you can do so in the Advertisements section of your Dashboard.
You can create a maximum of 5 advertisements. You need 0.04 BTC or more for advertisements with online payment methods.
Buy & Sell Limits
On LocalBitcoins sellers get to set their own market limits for buy and sell orders.
Is LocalBitcoins Safe?
LocalBitcoins provides escrow protection for safe trading which protects both the buyer and the seller. They also have a reputation system for finding and filtering trustworthy customers.
For maximum security, LocalBitcoins recommends that you create and use a strong password. Be sure to enable Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for your account with the Google Authenticator app or with a Paper code. Reference the security guide.
Affiliate Program
With the LocalBitcoins affiliate program, you can earn 20% commission on trading fees generated from sign-ups.
Each user is given a unique affiliate tag that can be appended at the end of any LocalBitcoins.com URL like so https://localbitcoins.com/?ch=agnj to promote their affiliate link.
Your sign-up statistics and payments are displayed on the affiliate page. Affiliate earnings are deposited directly into your LocalBitcoins wallet.
Customer Service
LocalBitcoins has a Support FAQ, which should answer most of your questions. It also contains a glossary should you have any questions about terms and definitions.
Customer support can be reached on the Contact Support page. If you want to submit a ticket to LocalBitcoins, click on the Other tab in the contact support page and fill out your request.
How To Use LocalBitcoins
LocalBitcoins works in two ways: (1) Users can agree to meet the seller to buy bitcoins with cash or (2) Pay with online banking through a variety of payment methods.
The seller releases bitcoin from escrow once the sale is completed.
How To Buy Bitcoin On LocalBitcoins
Here is a step-by-step video tutorial on how you can buy bitcoin on LocalBitcoins.
How To Sell Bitcoin On LocalBitcoins
In this guide, I am going to teach you how to sell bitcoin on LocalBitcoins as a merchant.
Step 1: You will need to create an account on LocalBitcoins if you haven’t already.
Step 2: In order to get started with buying and selling on LocalBitcoins, first, you need to create a Bitcoin trade advertisement. Here you will choose a payment method, set your pricing, your limits and write your terms of the trade as a free-form message.
Step 3: You will need to fund your LocalBitcoins wallet with Bitcoin. You need to have Bitcoin in your LocalBitcoins wallet in order for customers to be able to open trade requests from your advertisements.
Step 4: When a buyer opens a trade with you, Bitcoin for the full amount of the trade is automatically taken from your wallet into escrow. Give the buyer payment instructions and guide the buyer through paying for the trade. You will receive email and SMS notifications when someone replies to your advertisement.
Step 5: Once the buyer has paid and pressed the I have paid button you will receive a notification via e-mail, SMS and on the website that a trade has been paid for.
Step 6: When you’ve confirmed that you have received the payment it’s time for you to release the Bitcoins. This moves the Bitcoins from escrow to the buyers LocalBitcoins wallet.
Step 7: The final step is to Leave feedback for the buyer and encourage the buyer to do the same for you. Feedback is important in order to gain reputation and make more trades.
LocalBitcoins vs Paxful
| Company | Fees | Countries Supported | Customer Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, 1% to advertisers | All countries | Knowledge Base | |
 | Free, 0.1% to 5% for sellers | Every country except for a few (see banned countries) | Knowledge Base |
LocalBitcoins and Paxful are both global marketplaces for people to buy and sell bitcoin with any payment method. LocalBitcoins has a wide variety of payment methods and you must interact with each seller directly on their terms, while Paxful offers over 300+ payment methods and has a seamless escrow system for purchases.
LocalBitcoins is available in every country in the world while Paxful is available for most countries. LocalBitcoins is free for buyers and charges a 1% fee for advertisements, while Paxful charges a 0.1 to 5% fee to sellers on transactions.
LocalBitcoins vs Coinbase
| Company | Fees | Countries Supported | Customer Service | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, 1% to advertisers | All countries | Knowledge Base | |
 | 0.50% + $0.99 to 3.99% | 102 countries (see full list) | Knowledge Base |
When comparing the two exchanges, LocalBitcoins and Coinbase they both have their unique features. LocalBitcoins is a great platform for meeting local buyers and sellers who can trade bitcoin with you, whether in person with cash or with online banking. If you have a smartphone, Coinbase is an excellent app to take on the go to buy Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and other cryptocurrencies.
I recommend checking out both LocalBitcoins and Coinbase as they both provide unique ways to buy bitcoin quickly and effectively.
Conclusion
LocalBitcoins is an excellent platform for buyers and sellers to trade bitcoin with one another effortlessly. You have a plethora of payment options and getting started only requires 5 minutes. The interface is excellent and easy to use, which makes the buying process simple and clean. Users are given full autonomy over their listings and can set up shop as a merchant anywhere around the world.
Overall, LocalBitcoins is one of the best places to get started with buying and selling bitcoins from anywhere in the world.
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