1st time seed order/my experience with Bitcoin, Coinbase and Circle

[bobsakamoto]

hello. medium-time lurker, first time poster. first, thank you all SO much for all the effort and information you put in to this site (nebula and sirius) and this forum. i lurked on other forums for a while and they are both less friendly and overly complicated, imo. everyone here seems BOTH very nice and very straightforward. so thank you all for that. i considered growing about 15 yrs ago and the internet then was a barren sketchy wasteland of information compared to how it is now. in fact, i decided not to grow because it just didn't seem worth the risk just to get seeds, much less to get reliable growing information. so thank you all.

i have read about several different people having nearly the exact same experience i had and so i decided to post in hopes of returning some help and info.

after doing tons of research i settled on Seedsman for my order. upon going to pay with my debit card (reluctantly, but trusting what i had read/other people's experiences), i was informed that they were taking only Mastercard. of course i have only Visa. so now i have to decide between (1) ditching the order, (2) using a less safe money-wise, more safe anonymity-wise method, Bitcoin, (3) using a supersafe, not at all anonymous bank transfer, or (4) going to the post office and mailing cash or a money order, filling out declaration papers, etc. (neither super safe monetarily nor anonymity-wise.)

i did some more research on Bitcoin and its various apps/platforms and chose Circle because it looked professional and safe, and had good offsite reviews. i signed up, verified my identity via email, linked my bank account, and went to try to buy some Bitcoin. i got a vague message saying that they still "needed to verify my account" and that it would be 2-3 business days. at this point i was super-pissed because i was under the impression that i would be able to pay immediately. so i go back to the Bitcoin research and settle on my second choice, Coinbase. wow, it could not have been simpler! i registered, they sent me an email, i confirmed it, they sent me a verification code via text message, i entered it, and bam, i'm at the 'Buy Bitcoin' page. they have a 100 USD/day limit so i had to redo my cart and get it under $96 (there is a small transaction fee to purchase the bitcoin so don't forget to account for that when you go to buy your seeds.) i had to buy less than what i wanted because of the limit but at least i could place my order that day.

Seedsman has very clear instructions on how to use Bitcoin to pay once you get a wallet/app/account. it was very easy and i got a confirmation email that they had received my payment i think within about 10 min of sending it. i placed the order 12/5 and it shipped today. they're a little behind on processing because of their big sale.

anyhoo, that's what worked for me and i hope it might be of help to others.

[StickyFingers]

Hello bobsakamoto. Let me be the first to welcome you. There are many wonderful people here willing to share all the growing info you'll ever need. They are all smarter and better looking than me. I only buy seeds from seedbanks that take US credit cards and offer bulletproof guaranteed delivery. I have bought seeds many times from Herbie's and Bonza, a couple times from ILGM (I really like his Gold Leaf, although it's overpriced). Only package I've ever lost was from ILGM and they replaced it.

Anyway, I have seen all the seedbanks offering tremendous discounts for paying with Bitcoin and a month or so ago I started looking into it seriously, as you did. I signed up with LocalBitcoins.com. They let you buy Bitcoin by cash, card, transfer and many others ways from individuals. One might only take cash, another only credit cards, another any method of payment. As of right now the market price of one Bitcoin is $778.13 USD. There are 4 people there right now that will sell me a Bitcoin using my credit card for between $977.55 (with a $200 limit) and $3879.15 (with a $2000 limit). So the cheapest guy makes $200 on my one Bitcoin, the most expensive guy makes over $3000. I'm sure the LocalBitcoin site takes a cut along the way too. I came to the conclusion that, despite the seedbank freebies and the credit card conversion fees, etc., it's still much cheaper for me to use my credit card, at least at that site. I think I looked at Circle, but they didn't take credit cards. Hope they give you a better rate than the folks on LocalBitcoin. I'm glad your Bitcoin transaction went smoothly. Hope your seeds arrive swiftly and grow big. Thanks for the tale of your Bitcoin experience.

[bobsakamoto]

thanks for the welcome, stickyfingers, and the recommendations. i guess maybe i should have been clearer. my original intent was to pay with a US credit card. the reputable seedbank i chose (Seedsman) was accepting only mastercard at the time, for whatever reason. the other reputable one, my second choice (i can't remember but it was either Canadian or also UK), was not accepting credit cards at all, i don't know why. so my post was not necessarily meant to be a ringing endorsement of Bitcoin for everything going forward but rather what i had to do on the fly to complete my order not as originally planned/recommended by all my research.

also, i can't speak to Localbitcoins and their upcharge, but you don't need to buy one "whole" Bitcoin. my order was just under $100 and it cost me .1189something in Bitcoin.

[StickyFingers]

Yeah, bobsakamoto, I had lost track of the fact that you were forced to use emergency measures. Sorry. Sometimes you just gotta get the job done I just figured by a whole bitcoin to keep the math simple for me and I still can't figure it out. I can't see myself ever using LocalBitcoin, your rate at Coinbase seems reasonable. What strains did you buy that caused you to go to all that trouble?

Anyone else out there that has a Bitcoin story or recommendation, please speak up. I still may give in to all those extra freebies.

[bobsakamoto]

it wasn't strains, it was that i needed to order the seeds that day, given holiday delays in shipping.

here's the formula for figuring out the conversion rate for $1's worth of bitcoin and people can just fill in whatever respective conversions they're offered. so for purposes of the example, the conversion rate right now is around $778 for 1 bitcoin so, $1/$778 = x/1 bitcoin and solve for x to get a 1 to 1 conversion for one dollar to one bitcoin. hope that helps.

[insomniaczzz]

Bob welcome and thanks for the info about Coinbase. I had a problem completing my signup with Circle also. I am going to look into Coinbase.

[Royal Nugs]

I've used coinbase and circle.

Coinbase was great at first, I was allowed to deposit $100/day. I stopped using the account for a few months because I only use it to order seeds. Now my limit is $40/week. I'm not sure why this is... they also had to give out information recently to the feds. I think they were looking for big dogs as usual, they won't concern themselves with my $250 worth of bitcoin I bought (I hope).

I went to Circle. I had no problems setting it up, although I did have to submit some personal information. I'm not concerned about giving out my information. It's all over the place if someone really wants it. Privacy is an illusion anymore. Anyway, it's $300/week. My seed orders are usually $100-200.

I highly recommend bitcoin.

I've used the vault, nirvana, and attitude seed banks. I received all 4 of my orders within a month. I really like attitude the best.

Welcome aboard Bob!

[Karlee]

Hi Bob

It bothers me to have limits on what I buy, like you changing your order shouldn't be. If I can't buy what I want anywhere in the world the world sucks and it needs to be fixed because it's broken. Canada at the moment was good for me 7 days for the order, I got free seeds, spent what I wanted and I was stoked!
No question for me I'm doing what I want (much better)

[bobsakamoto]

Karlee--sing it sister.

Royal--unbelievable, b/c since you posted they've rejiggered my limit. i went yesterday to add some more $ to my wallet on Coinbase and they appear to have changed my limit from $100/day to $100/week. i was like, wait what? no explanation. nothing. just here's your new limit. like you my order(s) will be between $100-200 so i guess i'm gonna have to just remember to add small amounts to my wallet weekly.

Insomniac--i think yours was one of the stories i read about where i realized that other people were having the exact same experience as i was so it's what tipped me over to finally actually sign up and post.

thank you all--you all have been so welcoming.

[gbauto]

Hi Bob

It bothers me to have limits on what I buy, like you changing your order shouldn't be. If I can't buy what I want anywhere in the world the world sucks and it needs to be fixed because it's broken. Canada at the moment was good for me 7 days for the order, I got free seeds, spent what I wanted and I was stoked!
No question for me I'm doing what I want (much better)

Precisely, cannabis prohibition needs to end. Then the rest of the system will work-business knows how to operate, stop putting shackles on them.