Buy Bitcoin with Paypal

One of the biggest issues today in Bitcoin is the fact that you can’t buy it very easily. Even though Paypal has been very favourable of Bitcoin in the past 2 years, it’s still an issue to find credible places to buy Bitcoins with Paypal in 2016.

Why won’t Paypal allow this ? Simple. There are numerous chargeback cases created by scammers who buy Bitcoin with Paypal from you and then claim they didn’t receive anything. This way they get to keep their money and their Bitcoins.

 

Summary:

1.       Go to Virwox

2.       Deposit money to your account with Paypal

3.       Buy SLL on the SLL/USD exchange

4.       Buy Bitcoins with your newly purchased SLL on the SLL/BTC exchange

5.       Withdraw your Bitcoins

 

Buy Bitcoins with PayPal through Virwox

Pros: A reliable method that has been around for a long time.

Cons: High fees

 

Now since no exchange currently allows a way around the charge back issues of buying Bitcoins with Paypal we are going to have to go through VirWox – The Virtual World Exchange. We will use a virtual currency called SLL (Second Life Linden Dollars), This currency is used for one of the biggest virtual worlds today – Second Life.

After buying this currency with Paypal (which is acceptable) we will then trade it to Bitcoins. My guess is that Virwox is able to do this method since they are not directly selling you Bitcoins with Paypal but rather selling you SLL with Paypal which they can prove if you received.

One of the main features people usually link to Bitcoin is anonymity, but is Bitcoin completely anonymous ? On the one hand, it is entirely anonymous. On the other, it is completely transparent and trackable since all transaction are recorded in a public ledger.

 

Things you should know about Virwox before we get started:

§  Because of chargeback risk Virwox is taking on themselves they are limiting the amount you can deposit initially through Paypal or a credit card, here are the exact limits according to their website from April 24th 2016.

§  This process hold within it more transaction fees than usual. This may still be a valid solution since the soaring numbers of BTC compensate for this. It’s important for you to be aware of the different transaction fees.

§  VirWox is delaying new user transactions for up to 48 hours. This means that it can take you 2 days to complete this process (still way faster than using a wire transfer).

§  If you still don’t receive the Bitcoins after 48 hours (which is very unusual) you can contact Virwox at support@virwox.com.

 

1. Go to VirWox.

VirWox is an exchange of virtual currency, you can buy there Lindens, Bitcoins, and more. It has more than 400,000 registered users and is a Second Life Lindens authorized reseller.

 

2. Open a free account

Click on the “not registered yet”  on the top of the left sidebar to open up a new account as shown here:

 

3. Fill out our personal details

Fill out your username and email address. Where it asks for “avatar name” just leave it at “No Avatar”,  it  doesn’t matter, since you’re not going to play Second Life.

Continue filling out all of the personal details and click “register”.

4. Activate your account

Once you clicked “register” you will get an email confirmation with your password. Open the email, copy the password and log back into VirWox.

5. IMPORTANT!!! Change your password!

After clicking the confirmation link it is advised you change you password as shown below since you will be transferring money through this site.

 

Do not worry about the message saying “Your avatar connection has not been validated yet” – it is irrelevant.

 

6. Fund your account through PayPal

Click on deposit on the left side and choose PayPal Express. Fund the account with how many USD you’d like.

 

Note: From now on for each transaction you will make there will be a fee – make sure you are aware of the relevant deposit and withdrawal fees.

 

7. Buy SLL with USD

Go to Exchange->USD/SLL on the left side. You can also go to any other currency you’d like. Buy SLL (which mean Second Life Lindens) . We will later on exchange these SLL to Bitcoins.

 

 

Note: If you haven’t made a deposit yet you will get the screen shown above requesting you to deposit before you buy SLL.

 

8. Buy BTC with SLL

Once you have SLL in your account, go to the BTC/SLL and buy Bitcoins with your SLL.

 

 

Important!!!

Sometimes a manual review will be required by VirWox after this step. This can take up to 48 hours but usually takes around 6 hours.

 

9. Withdraw your Bitcoins

Choose “Withdraw” on the left side and send the Bitcoins to your wallet.

 

 

Will this method actually work ?

Probably yes. I’m saying probably because I have received a handful of emails from people who weren’t able to get their Bitcoins. having said that, from all of the people who didn’t get their coins I haven’t gotten one email stating their money wasn’t returned to them. So yes, the process is a bit irritating but I have been using this method since 2013 and it hasn’t failed me yet.

 

How much fees will be deducted from my deposit ?

This is probably the second most asked question I get. It’s important to understand that when you buy Bitcoins through Virwox you are actually conducting two transactions. USD to SLL and SLL to BTC. This means you’ll need to pay a fee for each of these transactions.

 

The problem is that Virwox’s fee structure is always changing that is why I advise to check each case in person before proceeding.

 

Are there any other methods to buy Bitcoin with Paypal other than Virowx?

Yes. However Virwox has been around for the longest time and therefor is the most reliable. If you continue reading this post I will cover 4 more methods that you can use but each of them has its pros and cons.