Looking for simple ways to buy some bitcoins with PayPal?
We’ve got you covered. By the end of this piece, you’ll know exactly how to purchase bitcoins using PayPal, in the easiest possible way.
While there are tons of cryptocurrency exchanges out there, few of them accept PayPal as a payment method.
You may wonder why…
Because just like any other credit card company, PayPal allows charge-backs.
So what’s it all mean?
It basically means that scammers can exploit this loophole in the process and get bitcoins for free.
Here’s how ridiculously easy it is…
For example, we agreed to a price of Bitcoin for $10,000. I pay you using my PayPal account. You send bitcoins to my wallet address.
But after a few days, I contacted PayPal and claimed that I didn’t received the goods.
As you may or may not know, PayPal tends to side with the buyer and they will end up refunding my money back. Simply because there’s no way for them to be sure as bitcoin is pseudonymous. And all Bitcoin transactions are irreversible.
That’s how people can take advantage of this flaw and get bitcoins without spending a dime. That’s why most exchanges don’t offer Paypal as a payment option.
With that said, we’ve done the legwork for you and come up with this guide to help make buying bitcoins with PayPal easier for you.
Related reading:
- How to Buy Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies
- How to Buy Bitcoin with Credit Card or Debit Card
- How to Buy Bitcoin with Gift Cards – Instantly
- How to Buy Bitcoin with PayPal
- How to Buy Bitcoin using ATMs
- How to Buy Bitcoin with Cash
- How to Buy and Trade Bitcoin
- 7 Best Places to Buy Bitcoin Instantly
How to Convert PayPal to Bitcoin
Although you can’t buy bitcoin using PayPal directly, there’re some ways to work around that. Finding sellers who are willing to sell bitcoins for Paypal and have an escrow service that protects both buyers and sellers is the way to go.
Once you figure out how it works, it’s quite simple.
Now let’s get to it:
1. LocalCoinSwap
LocalCoinSwap is a peer-to-peer marketplace platform that allows you to buy, sell and trade Bitcoin directly with other people in 200+ countries, using various payment methods, including PayPal.
It’s perhaps one of the earliest ways to purchase bitcoin with PayPal, and it’s still very effective today!
One thing you needs to know is that LocalCoinSwap doesn’t provide a fixed market price. Since LocalCoinSwap only facilitates direct trading between potential buyers and sellers, the two parties have to come to an agreement on the price.
You’re dealing with an individual seller, not with the site itself. Before initiating a purchase, always read the individual feedback comments, check out their profile, rating and terms, make sure you pick a reliable seller.
The best part? Buying and selling Bitcoin is completely free. For fees, LocalCoinSwap charge 1% fees for sellers who create advertisements and successfully complete the trade
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: To start, let’s go to or LocalCoinSwap official site. Then, select “Paypal” as payment option, choose your country and cryptocurrency you want to buy. LocalCoinSwap will immediately show you a list of relevant sellers according to your search.
Step 2: Choose your preferred seller
To find the ideal seller, simply click on trader name on the given list. Check out their profile, feedback score, trade volume. It will give you an instant view of the seller’s reputation, a very good indication of the seller’s trustworthiness.
Before you proceed to buy your bitcoins, make sure you read and understand the terms of trade.
Every seller has different terms and conditions. Most require you verify your identity with photo and document, while some don’t.
Step 3: Complete the transaction.
Once you find a trustworthy seller that you want to deal with, enter the amount you wish to buy and click “Send trade request”.
Make payment via Paypal to the seller. And move your coins your own Bitcoin wallet once you receive it.
2. Paxful
Paxful is another great marketplace for sellers and buyers of Bitcoin. With Paxful, you can Bitcoin anywhere in the world using Paypal and receive your Bitcoins almost instantly!
Besides Paypal, you can also pay for bitcoins with 300+ different methods, such as gift cards, Alipay and bank transfer.
Now, let’s take a closer look at how it actually works:
Step 1: Go to Paxful and select the amount you want to buy in your own currency and payment method and click “Search for offers”.
Step 2: Next, you will see a list of real-time offers of sellers who are accepting your chosen payment method (PayPal) for Bitcoin.
Browse through the list of sellers, take a look at the sellers’ profile, read their offer terms, feedback history, buy limits. Pick your preferred seller that you can trust.
Depends on the sellers, some will require you to submit photo IDs as verification or send a screenshot of your payment receipt as proof, while others don’t.
Step 3: Complete your order. Use your Paypal to pay the seller and wait for your Bitcoin.
With their reliable escrow system in place, you can be assured you will get your bitcoins directly in your wallet once payment is made.
Bitcoin Storage
Don’t store your Bitcoin on Paxful or any exchange any longer than you need to.
Leaving bitcoins on exchanges are risky:
- Mt Gox where users lost $450 million or more in 2014
- Bitfinex hack where users lost $72 million in 2016
- NiceHash was hacked for $60million in 2017
- Coincheck lost a staggering $530million in early 2018,
- Binance was hacked for $40 million in 2019
“There are only two types of exchanges, the ones that have been hacked and the ones that WILL BE HACKED.” ~Winson, Founder of Coinzodiac.
Make sure you get yourself a Bitcoin hardware wallet like the Ledger or the Trezor that will securely store your bitcoins.
Conclusion
That’s how simple is it! By now you should know how to get bitcoins instantly using Paypal.
There is no doubt, peer-to-peer Bitcoin marketplaces like LocalCoinSwap and Paxful are a quick, easy and hassle-free way to purchase Bitcoin. But it’s very important to know that Bitcoin is often sold at higher rates (5%-20%) on this platform compared to conventional crypto exchanges.
Considering the high risk of selling via Paypal for the seller, convenience and anonymity, it’s a price worth paying.
Do you have any other questions? Feel free to leave a comment below.
If you think any of your friends would find this helpful, share this post with them.
I’ve handpicked a few guides for you to read next:
- 10 Bitcoin Security Tips For Beginners
- 10 Best Bitcoin Wallets You Should Use to Protect Your Crypto Investment
- 3 Best Hardware Wallets for Storing Bitcoin and Cryptocurrencies (for long term)
- How to Secure your Cryptocurrency? Cold Wallet vs Hot Wallet
- 4 Best Ways to Convert Bitcoin to Cash
- What is a Bitcoin Private Key, How to Protect It?
- 10+ Easy Ways to Make Money with Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency
- 8 Best Ways to Buy Bitcoin in Australia
- FAQ: Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin Before You Buy
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