I Buy Steem - can we bypass the exchanges?

pennsif (79) in steem • 7 years ago

I buy steem. Regularly.

I believe in the power of the power-up.

But buying steem in the UK is not easy.

My usual route is to send fiat (pounds sterling) from my bank account to buy bitcoin at Blockchain.info.

Then I send the bitcoin to steemit via Blocktrades.us.

This process is cumbersome, involves ever increasing fees and takes an uncertain amount of time.

Added to this my first bank blocked transactions to Blockchain.info, so I had to swap to a second bank. That too has issues around re-verification every so often.

I am also presently limited to transactions of £200 with Blockchain.info.

If the process was easier I would buy more steem.

Is there an obvious way to make this much simpler?

There are always people wanting to sell steem.

Maybe the answer is to connect the buyer (me) with the sellers directly.

There are of course issues with direct transactions - trust, exchange rates, fees, anonymity etc. But these can all be overcome.

I have made a few peer-to-peer steem purchases so far. They have all worked just fine. I want to do more.

This is my playbook for direct peer-to-peer steem purchases :

Generally I only deal in pounds sterling (but I am open to other options if the mechanics can be worked out).
I take the steem / US dollar exchange rate from CoinMarketCap.com, and then the US dollar to sterling exchange rate from the BBC. I do not see a need for any transaction or exchange fees.
I can pay by BACS, PayPal, or Amazon Gift Cards. Or even in cash if you are coming to the first Wales meetup in the new year.
Communication about transactions is generally by Discord or email.
I usually buy small quantities, say up to £50, to begin with. But may buy more once I get to know the seller.

If anyone in the UK has steem to sell please let me know in a comment below or via Discord @pennsif#9921

Let's push decentralisation a little bit further, and take a side-step round the exhanges.

You might also be interested in some of my other posts :

[ graphic by @pennsif ]

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7 years ago by pennsif (79)

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phoenixwren (65) · 7 years ago

A review:
10/10, 5 stars, two thumbs up, do recommend. 😁
We just did an exchange so I could buy cat food and such, and all went smoothly and well. Since we're a reputation-based community, I thought I would let y'all know. Thanks, @pennsif!

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Thank you for the great review @phoenixwren. Happy to trade anytime.

gold84 (63) · 7 years ago

@pennsif you came with the right question that could not be in a better time. It would be great times when steem can be bought directly or imagine if it can be bought with cash from buying gift cards, or someway to buy it without the use of exchanges, and without the need to buy bitcoin.

When that time comes, steem will go up lie crazy I imagine. When in Korea a big chat platform launched the feature for people to buy steem directly with fiat, things went crazy with SBD. I thin that was the fact.

Regards, @gold84

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Is that was caused the recent big jump in the value of SBD?

gold84 (63) · 7 years ago

@pennsif I believe that is one factor, however, there must be others. Its crazy how steem today around $6 , and sbd is about to hit $10.

Regards, @gold84

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

I'm not complaining.

Although the big rise is making buying more steem a little bit more difficult.

But then I was anxious when I was buying at $2, after it had been around $1 for so long...

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gmuxx (67) · 7 years ago

Interesting, I may hit you up in the near future.

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi @gmuxx, happy to do a trade any time.

theadmiral0 (53) · 7 years ago

Definitely a good idea! By the time it takes to send the money, and purchase steem the price could well increase. Are there no marketplaces in the works for steem ?

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

The transactions I have done so far have been done live on Discord. We have everything set up for the transaction. We watch the price on CoinMarketCap, agree the exchange rate and then do a more or less instantaneous transaction.

The prices will go up and down of course but with the sums involved it is only a few pennies either way.

It would be good if a steem to fiat exchange popped up.

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mattclarke (68) · 7 years ago

I think the group meets are a good way to buy/sell directly.
Choose a regular day each month, a pub and a time; and see who turns up.

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Yes definitely, although we will need more numbers here. There are only 15 active steemians across the whole of Wales at present so the meetups will be infrequent for the timebeing.

revisesociology (73) · 7 years ago (edited)

I use kraken to buy btc which is £11 to send to - hence I don't input less than £500 in one go. Then it's kraken to bittrex (tbh I don't wanna know about the fees here - I've done this in quite small chunks, but judging by what you're saying I'm going to up the floor amount - then it's as you say above.

I did note with horror an enormous £25 transaction fee for sending about 0.05 BTC from my phone wallet to bittrex a week or so ago - and I watch the price of steem rise and rise from its lowest point in weeks while my btc just 'sat there'.

I think @jerrybanfield has done quite a few posts about the cheapest way to move money about - not sure whether they apply to the UK though.

This is a great idea - peer to peer selling......

It's just dawned on me that a £10K invest in SP combined with a low income (I guess you're into low income as you're a 'homesteader'*) is actually enough to generate a sufficient survival income. Hence soz, but I'm in the market to buy too.

I'm just waiting for my house to sell so I can release some equity, and I might just do this.

*nice Americanism there, I'm guilty as charged on that front too.

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi Karl, yes all the fees have pushed me to look for alternatives.

Generally the US routes don't apply here in the UK, and often vice versa.

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mikepm74 (66) · 7 years ago

Hey bud! this is a great idea. Wish I had known about it on Sunday when I sent 90 STEEM to my SBD Bittrex address and now must wait for their support team to find their way to my ticket to remedy.

I typically don't take my STEEM off the platform, but was trying to increase my position in SmartCash.... apparently I did not do it very smartly. ha ha.

Curie pays in STEEM which I usually power up, but I might see my way to selling some for an Amazon Gift Card to suppliment some of my Christmas gift money for a good mining GPU.... I get my Curie payouts on Sunday, so if you are looking to buy on any given Sunday let me know and, as long as you can do a USD Amazon Card, that would be a win/win I think!

Hope this works well for ya!

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi Mike, yes I've had a couple of transactions 'lost in space' at the exchanges. Very frustrating not knowing when the money is going to turn up. One of the reasons behind this post.

I've just been exploring the rules on Amazon Gift Cards. Seems like they won't let me send one from a UK Amazon account to a USA Amazon account. I'll have to see if there is a way round that.

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raiser (65) · 7 years ago

I think that in the near future someone will create some platform or way to make peer to peer exchanges without the need to go through exchanges or high commissions. Hopefully someone comes up with a safe way.

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

That will definitely be very useful.

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stormriderstudio (52) · 7 years ago

I'll certainly keep you in mind for future Steem transactions. I've been looking at ways of redeeming my Steem should I need to and it's convoluted and messy at best. More than happy to start small and work upwards.

I don't think I can quite stretch to the Wales meet up (being near Nottingham) but I'll certainly be there in spirit at least (being half Welsh).

At least I'm not the only crazy Brit up at this time of night eh? :)

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Got the Discord message. Hope we can do a trade or two in future.

gardengirlcanada (60) · 7 years ago

I use Blocktrades for all my transactions

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Yes I use that too, but it is the getting from fiat (pounds sterling) into blocktrades that is the problem.

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phoenixwren (65) · 7 years ago

Hey! Can I send you my email via Steemit chat? Discord is not available for Kindles, and that is my only internet. :)

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi @phoenixwren - yes I have got an account on steemit.chat but don't use it regularly - but will go and check there when you have sent it.

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phoenixwren (65) · 7 years ago

I almost never use it, either - sent you a test message to make sure I got the right person. 😂 I really only got the account there because of steembay!

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Got the message there now - replied.

stevejhuggett (62) · 7 years ago

Hi, I have found the whole business of transferring GBP to BTC then into Steem a complete and utter pain in the backside and totally Inefficient.

I guess on one hand this is Crypto's price for not being mainstream, so until someone can come up with a better option I'm also interested in buying away from exchanges @pennsif

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi Steve, yes it was all the hassle of buying via BTC that prompted me to for alternative routes.

I am now getting quite a few offers of direct purchase. Maybe catch me Discord DM to discuss further.

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stevejhuggett (62) · 7 years ago

Sure

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galberto (70) · 7 years ago

Well it is a great idea and oportunity for get fiat without uses a third parts, and have a great news here in steemit.
Have happy new year.
Best regard @galberto

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Happy new year @galberto

Steem has got off to a good start for the year. I hope all is well with you and your family.

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phoenixwren (65) · 7 years ago

I love this! I just saw a post yesterday where someone was talking about selling BitShares for cash, and before that I had never thought about looking for a direct peer to sell to when I needed to cash out.

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Thank you. Hopefully I will get some takers for it, especially in the UK.

aunt-deb (65) · 7 years ago

Will be looking you up on Discord...

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Sure thing. I'm @pennsif#9921 on Discord

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aunt-deb (65) · 7 years ago

DM for you...

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wwf (68) · 7 years ago (edited)

@pennsif, my wife is looking to sell some SBD tonight. If you are interested, we could sell some direct to you. My wife accepts e-transfer or paypal. Let me know. She as 37.173SBD to sell.

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pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Hi WhiteWalkingFeather, yes I am buying more at the moment. Might be best to discuss further by DirectMessage. Are you on Discord?

pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

I have done PayPal to the US, that worked fine. Haven't tried Canada so far but I am sure it should be fine.

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wwf (68) · 7 years ago (edited)

I'm on steemit.chat. Not on discord. you can also email me. white dot walking dot feather at the gmail dot com address. Paypal works. We have received funds from the UK before. works fine.

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pennsif (79) · 7 years ago

Email now sent.

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