As technology grows, the influence of cryptocurrency increases along with it. While the impacts of this virtual currency remain powerful in the market, many are still unaware of how to use them properly. With the help of global marketplaces, which are free-for-all, many people are becoming more aware of how to use Bitcoin and trade them. One of these marketplaces is the Peer-to-peer system, which some sites employ.
Since Bitcoin was created to eliminate the need for a middleman, these peer-to-peer marketplaces are a great place to buy and sell Bitcoin. In this article, we will look at Paxful, a p2p platform, and see the various services it has to offer.
Pros
User friendly: Paxful is a platform that any user can use without any worry. The navigation on the platform is straightforward, and you don’t have to worry about any complicated payment procedure either.
Low fees: Paxful does not levy any fees on the market takers. Only the market makers are charged a 1% fee. If you are asked to pay any convenience fee to a seller, the fee is charged by the seller and not Paxful.
Great feedback: If you look for reviews on Paxful, you will find numerous good ratings. This reassures you of the quality of service offered by the platform.
Cons
Fraudulent activities: Paxful has done everything to eliminate fraudulent activities on the platform. However, scams in cash-based transactions still take place.
Requires additional background checks: As a p2p marketplace, people should be careful in dealings within site. Thus, doing further security checks on people you transact with is a must.
Takeaway
As a site that acts like Craigslist for Bitcoin transactions, there is a need to be careful when using the platform.
Despite this, the advantages and benefits of low fees, a good interface, and excellent customer support will help you with your crypto journey.
If you take necessary measures such as background checks, profile review, and authentications in all your dealings, you are good to go with using Paxful.
Overall, Paxful does an excellent job of doing what it does, and many new or veteran traders will have a great time using the platform.
What Is Paxful?
Paxful, like LocalBitcoins, is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplace. You can directly connect with sellers/buyers to complete your Bitcoin transaction on this platform. The main aim of Paxful is to become the eBay of the Bitcoin world.
By providing the perfect medium to connect the buyers and the dealers, Paxful aims to create a safe marketplace where you can buy/sell your Bitcoins. Launched in 2015, Paxful has always been improving user experience on the platform while eliminating any scams.
With strict policies and other features, the fraudulent activities on Paxful have been significantly reduced. To better understand this platform, we will dive deep into the platform’s pros, cons, features, fees, payment methods, and many more.
Like any other platform, Paxful has its fair share of good and bad sides. Let us dissect each of them.
Paxful Features
Paxful has many features that users can enjoy. Let us take a glance at some of them.
Buy/Sell Bitcoin
The very first thing that you notice when you visit Paxful’s website is the option to buy and sell Bitcoin. You can enter the amount of Bitcoin that you would want to purchase. Upon searching, you will be able to find numerous offers from dealers in your vicinity.
The best part about using Paxful is that you will have the option to choose from a wide range of payment options. There are over 300 different payment options available on this platform.
Every popular payment option in your city can be found on Paxful.
Another thing that I liked about this platform is that most of the transactions are completed instantly. The way this works is that you fulfill an order on the platform by sending your money. The seller would, in turn, send Bitcoin to your wallet address.
If the seller is not online at the time of the transaction, then your money is held in escrow until the seller fulfills the order. This ensures that the seller does not run away with your money.
Create an Order
If you are not satisfied with the pricing present on Paxful, you can always create your orders. This could be for either buying or selling Bitcoin. Once you post your offer, if it is satisfied by another user, the funds will get transferred.
Since this involves having other users fulfill your orders, it might take some time to find a user ready to accept your offering.
Wallet
Surprisingly, Paxful also provides a Bitcoin wallet service. You can create your very own Bitcoin wallet and use that to sell or buy Bitcoins on the platform. If you are worried about downtimes, then there is no need to be. Paxful has a great system that can cater to heavy traffic and user loads.
I have been using the Paxful wallet service to hold a small portion of my portfolio. To date, I have not had any issues concerning accessing my funds on the wallet. Based on personal experience, it is safe to say that they offer a secure wallet service.
Become a Vendor
You can also signup to become a vendor on Paxful. Vendors are users who sell Bitcoin on the platform for fiat currency. By signing up as a vendor, your offerings can be seen at the top of the list. If you are looking for an option to convert your virtual currency into real, tangible ones, this is the perfect feature for you.
One needs to follow strict policies to become a vendor. This helps to increase the trust of people on this platform. By buying Bitcoin from a vendor, you can be sure of not getting scammed.
Account Restrictions and levels
To avoid frauds and scams, Paxful employed account restrictions for any user. This is done so that on-site transactions are safer and smoother. Here are the different levels available on Paxful.
Level 1
This is the bare minimum account. You can reach this level by merely providing your mobile number and email ID. Since you would be providing minimum details, your account would be restricted to transacting just $1,000 per trade.
Level 2
A level 2 account would be one that has completed the identity verification on Paxful. A per trade limit of $10,000 is imposed on such accounts.
Level 3
If you want to increase your trade limit further, you would need to upgrade your account to level 3. This can be done by providing a valid address verification on the platform. The trade limit increases to $50,000 for these accounts.
Level 4
To completely remove all restrictions from your account, you will need to upgrade it to level 4. This can be done by doing additional measures. This includes requesting additional information or even a video conference call to verify your identity.
You can use the Paxful wallet without any restrictions without having to worry about any deposit or withdrawal restrictions.
Payment Methods
The best part about peer-to-peer cryptocurrency marketplaces is the plethora of payment options they bring to the table. Paxful offers its users over 300 different payment options. So, this would cover up most of the popular payment methods that you use regularly.
Payment options such as Amazon gift cards are also accepted on Paxful. Some of the common payment options are Immediate Payment Service (or IMPS, an inter-bank, instant payment service in India), bank transfer, Paypal, Neteller, Unified Payment Interface (or UPI, a technology used by payment apps for transferring funds from banks in India), and many more.
Since local vendors or users will fulfill your orders, all your local payment methods are sure to be supported on Paxful.
All online payments that you do on Paxful go through an escrow account. So if there is any scam or disagreement between the users, then the transaction can be reversed. Paxful also allows cash payment as a payment method.
This is the only payment method that lacks an escrow account. Thus, you need to be extremely careful while buying Bitcoins on Paxful using cash.
Fees
The best part about most of the peer-to-peer marketplaces is that they don’t levy any fees on the market takers, i.e., users who fulfill the orders. If you want to buy Bitcoin directly from Paxful, you would not have to pay any fee to the platform.
Paxful does not charge any fees. However, the seller from whom you are buying Bitcoin might levy extra charges based on the payment mode you choose. In my experience on Paxful, buying Bitcoin using Amazon vouchers has cost me an additional 2.5% transaction fee.
Credit card payments might also cost you extra because the bank would charge the vendors a fee for accepting payments through credit cards. This fee might then be passed on to you.
The sellers levy this extra fee on the platform. Keep in mind that the vendors and sellers who post their listings on the platform would need to pay a standard fee of 1% for their completed transactions.
Bonus Services
Paxful has also started an affiliate service, which is not your usual signup affiliate offer. You can integrate the Paxful payment widget on your website. Whenever people use this to buy or sell Bitcoins on Paxful through your widget, you will be rewarded with certain a certain percentage.
This is given to the users because the traffic to their website helped bring another user onto Paxful.
Paxful has also set up Bitcoin ATMs in various parts of America, Europe, and Africa. You can head over to their website and locate the nearest Bitcoin ATM and transact Bitcoin using fiat currency.
Customer Support
Paxful is a peer-to-peer marketplace that takes pride in its customer experience. Numerous reviews from customers online suggest that Paxful has been offering extremely reliable quality service.
In my own experience, I have never had to reach out to customer care because the platform is so well-built. You would hardly run into any problems while using your Paxful account. Most of the other platforms in this industry offer only email support.
Paxful has taken the whole experience a notch higher by adding a chatbot to their main platform. You can always leave a message to the customer service team, and they will get back to you within a few hours.
From the thousands of reviews online, the customer support team seems to be doing an outstanding job of pleasing the customers. Below are some FAQs are taken from their website.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paxful
For a great user experience in the platform, always use the escrow for any transaction. This reduces the chances of scams and fraud, as your money is held unless the order is confirmed to be successful. Furthermore, utilizing security options such as two-factor authentication is a must since it helps protect your account from people who might try to take information from you.
Yes! It is possible to transfer your Paxful wallet coins to another wallet. To do this, just send the desired amount to any wallet address, and wait for the confirmations. Within 10-60 minutes, you should be able to see the transferred funds on the other account.
Yes! It is possible to convert your Bitcoins to a currency that is not affected by market volatility. Paxful makes use of Tether to do this. Tether is a type of stable coin which is not affected by changes in the market. To proceed with the conversion, click on your wallet, and then click on the convert button. This will help you in storing currency that will not vary over time.
Verdict
If this is your first time visiting Paxful, you would fall in love with how the platform is built. The responsiveness of the website on any device is unreal. The whole process of buying or even selling Bitcoin is straightforward.
Even after extensive efforts by the team to weed out scams on the platform, a few still exist. So, always transact with reputed vendors on the platform. Keep in mind to use proper background and profile checking in every transaction you will have on the platform. This decreases the chances of fraudulent acts and increases safety and security.
If you think that a p2p marketplace will benefit you and your trades, then Paxful might be the best platform for you.
Paxful Reviews
Paxful Review – January 22, 2021
★★★★★
Paxful is my favorite site for trading and selling Bitcoins. When I became a trusted vendor, it became easier to sell my Bitcoins for fiat currency. Trading in the platform is quick and easy, and the customer service is responsive. I also like the fact that they have gift card exchange systems. Overall, I benefit from Paxful, and I have earned money from it.
Review from Xiao
Paxful Review – December 18, 2020
★★★★★
I am confident that my trade and sales are legal, thanks to the escrow feature. This encourages me to feel comfortable concerning the coins I sell or purchase. The website provided me with information on the right selling of Bitcoin because if I placed it at a high price, others would not buy it, and a lower price could mean losses on my part.
Review from Dre
Paxful Review – March 22, 2020
★★★★★
The site features an excellent trading and pricing guide, unlike any other p2p service. It can be said that it functions similar to Craigslist, only that the site is more secured and safer to use. I never had problems using the platform.
Review from Danilo
Paxful Review – November 15, 2019
★★★★★
All I can say is that they have an outstanding service! Customer support is topnotch. To be honest, I had doubts about using the site since I thought that it would be full of frauds and scams. However, with proper internet knowledge, all my transactions are successful.
Review from Enoch
Paxful Review – March 12, 2020
★★★★
The fee is low, service is fast, trades are fast, and the account is safe. However, I wish that they’d have more guides on how to detect scammers so that the site experience is safer.
Review from Assane
Paxful Review – January 9, 2020
★★★
I almost got scammed on this site, a good thing that I checked the background of the user! There is a great need to be careful on this site, especially during p2p transactions.
Review from Fiona
Paxful Review – December 22, 2020
★★
This might just be me, but I wish the site had a better design. I like the UI of other sites more, so I am not sticking with it. However, processes are easy and fast, and I find them very convenient.
Review from Jonas
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