When Paxful first contacted me I was nervous. Bitcoin trading scared me because between me being a journalist and my husband being a detective this household is always operating on, “hmmmm that’s suspicious” vibes.
I told them that if I was going to be speaking to my readers about Paxful I was going to need some safeguards. Tips to keep us safe in the world of Bitcoin, and they came through with great pointers.
They also came through with R1000 worth of Bitcoin for me to give away. Two people who subscribe to Paxful using my affiliate link stand a chance to win complimentary bitcoin to the value of R 500 each. The winners will be announced on 12 December 2020. (TBC)
Tips for safe trading
Familiarise yourself with the Paxful rulebook
By this I mean, read the terms of service I know we all (most of us) just click accept and might be responsible for the lives of a pack of Llamas or something crazy. However, we are talking about money here so reading the terms of service means you will know your rights and regulations. Don’t worry it’s pretty user friendly and says things like: “Sellers must verify and process the payment in a reasonable amount of time”
Interact with fully verified users
You are asked to verify yourself on the site, this includes picture ID. People who are willing to put their faces where their money is are just more reliable and trustworthy in my opinion.
Look for users with lots of positive feedback
You can rate your interactions with other users. Use this to your advantage and check out why so and so has negative reviews. Try to stick to the positive people (which is not the case with other things, you know like the pandemic)
Trust your instincts
There are telltale signs when your trading partner is a scammer. For example, if your trading partner pressures you to release bitcoin early or tries to negotiate a different trade amount than the one agreed upon, you should cancel the trade ASAP.
According to Paxful,scammers “may try to get you to sympathize with the tough situation that they’re in. They’ll promise to send money back to you, but it never happens! Some of them might even try to befriend you and bring up a proposal that’s almost too good to be true.”
And when something is too good to be true, stay away from it!
DO NOT trade off escrow
Paxful has escrow in place so that bitcoin is only released when payment is received and confirmed. When you move off escrow to trade on other messaging platforms, there is no guarantee that your money is safe.
With them, you can open a dispute if something goes wrong during a trade. Plus, they can always check the trade chat history and proof of payment then award the bitcoin to the honest party in the case of a dispute.
Don’t expect big profits overnight
*This post is sponsored by Paxful
