LocalBitcoins.com: the user-friendly way to trade Bitcoins
LocalBitcoins.com is a user-friendly website oriented towards users who want to quickly buy or sell Bitcoins. To start trading, you need to register for free. At LocalBitcoins.com, users are called traders, and the way they display their interest to sell Bitcoins is via creating an advertisement. Other users can then browse the website and look for the most interesting offers: it is possible to sort search results by currency, geographical location and method of payment. You also get some information on the potential counterparty, such as how responsive they are, etc.
LocalBitcoins.com is, as mentioned above, quite user-friendly. If you’re a new user, you can simply watch a video tutorial on how to start trading step-by-step and just start from there. Another advantage is the way you can search for offers; these can be organized and sorted by the geographical location of the seller/buyer. You can also choose from variety of payment methods, depending on your preferences and the preferences of your counterparty – from common methods such as PayPal, bank transfers etc. to even paying in cash in person. Regarding the security of transactions, these are protected by escrow. Using this method of protection, both parties are protected, since the transfer of bitcoins is made only after funds are received in the sellers account.
The website is a platform for two main types of trades – online trades and local trades. In the case of online trades, you as a seller/buyer never meet the counterparty and the trade is protected by escrow, see above.
Local trades are meant to be carried out in person, and thus it is not advised to pay these online (escrow is not automatically enabled!)
With the rapid growth in Bitcoin’s popularity, in December 2017 registration of new users had to be briefly paused due to the enormous traffic the website has experienced. As of the end of December, though, it is already possible to sign up again.