Payment methods

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Revision as of 08:17, 5 June 2011 by Sgornick (talk | contribs) (add See Also section with an entry for Digital Currency.)
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When trading bitcoins for national fiat currencies, one issue that frequently comes up is the mismatch between the hardness (non-reversibility) of bitcoin, and the softness (reversibility) of many of the fiat-currency payment methods. This page lists a number of payment methods, hardness ratings, and more detailed info in the notes field.

Hardness goes from 0 (extremely soft) to 10 (completely non-reversible).

Method Currencies Hardness Notes
Liberty Reserve EUR, USD 10 Very good match for trading bitcoin. However, it is difficult to get LR funded - it is only possible through third-party exchangers.
Webmoney USD, RUB, BYR, EUR, XAU 10 Very good match for trading bitcoin. Requires funding by bank wire though, which may be expensive for small amounts.
PayPal - regular Most world currencies 0 Extremely easy to charge back. Also, since trading bitcoin is against their ToS, good luck disputing the chargeback. Do not use.
Paypal - personal Most world currencies 1-5 If funded via bank, requires person to dispute the ACH, which may be more arduous. If funded via credit card, requires person to dispute the CC charge, which is pretty easy. Since there's no way to tell what the funding source was... it's a gamble. Also, if paypal account is reported stolen, paypal will probably attempt to claw back the money.
Paypal - masspay Most world currencies 7 Mass pay requires funding from paypal balance. Generally much harder to reverse, but not impossible. Probably your biggest worry here is an actual stolen account.
Dwolla USD 6? There hasn't been much experience trying to chargeback, but since it is funded via ACH, it should be possible to dispute from the side of the funding bank. Dwolla will investigate the dispute but there have not yet been any reports of any disputes[1].
Neteller
Western Union
MoneyPak USD 10 MoneyPaks are irrevocable.
Personal check Any currency 8 At least in the USA, once a check clears, it is hard to claw back except when fraud is alleged.
Bank ACH USD 8 Though not very easily, ACH can actually be clawed back.
Euro SEPA transfer
Cash in mail Any currency 10 No chargebacks, obviously. Just check for counterfeit paper.
Credit card Any currency 0 Dead easy to charge back. Do not use.
Intra-bank transfer
Popmoney ACH
Chase QuickPay USD 3 Chase has reversed legitimate transactions as the result of anti-fraud measures[2] requiring the sender to be trusted to re-pay. The sender can also request a reversal after submitting an affidavit alleging that fraud occurred.

See Also

References