Buy a Bitcoin is an Australian bitcoin broker set up to accept cash deposits. All you need to sign up is your email address, your mobile phone number, and the bitcoin address to which your order should be sent.  For those looking to buy bitcoin quickly, easily and somewhat anonymously with cash – hey, you found yourself a service. There are some notable shortcomings, particularly the 3% fee attached to transactions, and the AUD $9,000 max order size.  

But really, for cash purchases of relatively modest amounts, an all-in 3% fee is on par with CoinTree and really not all that bad.

How it Works

Buying a bitcoin with buy a bitcoin

Enter the amount of bitcoin you would like to buy and the purchase amount, including the 3% transaction fee, will display.  Jot down your bitcoin wallet address and your telephone number and hit place order.

You will be prompted to verify your telephone number.  After this is done, a screen detailing the bank account to which the money should be sent, as well as the amount of time the offer is valid – this is generally 4 hours – is displayed. Differences between this displayed amount and the actual cost of the bitcoin when delivered, provided the differences are not massive, is incurred by buyabitcoin. In the event of massive volatility, or for any reason for that matter, buyabitcoin does reserve the right to cancel the order and return the money to you.  

Please remember that this is a cash only affair! Do not attempt to wire money or deposit using eft! The cash must be paid over the counter, in Australian dollars, to the nominated account. You mobile phone number should be used as the transaction reference.  Make sure to hold on to the deposit receipt, as buyabitcoin may request to see it in the unlikely event of a bank mix up.

Selling a bitcoin with sell a bitcoin

Selling a bitcoin actually incurs no fees! There is, however, a rather small spread between the price quoted on the buy side and the sell side, but the amount is pretty negligible, it was about 0.7% when we checked. When selling the process is pretty much the same.  Enter the amount of bitcoin you would like to sell, making sure to come in under the $9k max, enter your telephone which must be verified, and the bank account to which you would like the cash sent. You have 10 minutes to send the bitcoin to the designated wallet address, after which sellabitcoin will transfer you the cash – they do this for all orders once daily, so don’t freak out if you do not see the order for a little bit.  

Bottom Line

This is a nifty little service out of Melbourne.  Good on them for coming up with a simple way of accommodating cash transactions for Australians in a relatively simple and efficient manner.  The 3% fee is high but not really prohibitive, particularly considering some of the competition out there. BuyaBitcoin does not offer an integrated wallet solution, so make sure to pick a good wallet before buying bitcoin from buyabitcoin.