Bitcoin Ultimate Guide: How to buy Bitcoin with Paypal in 2019 [Updated May 2019]

Let’s face it, buying Bitcoin is hard. With banks restriction, credit and debit card restriction, any new person finds it quite difficult to buy Bitcoin. And if you are reading this article chances are, you too are a new person interested in owning a piece of Bitcoin.

Paypal is an online service which allows you to instantly send funds to anyone and anywhere in the world. Paypal is currently one of the best ways to send money online anywhere in the world.

Buying Bitcoin with Paypal has never been easy. Paypal stopped Bitcoin purchases last year due to chargeback scams. A chargeback scam is when the buyer receives the Bitcoin and then initiates a chargeback stating they never got the Bitcoin. This was one of the common scams of 2017.

It is quite tough to purchase Bitcoin with PayPal, but not impossible. Although not easy, we will do our best to guide you on how to purchase your first Bitcoin through PayPal.

Word of Caution

There are many scammers out there who will try to dupe you. We suggest making a transaction in person (trusted person) or if online through reputed businesses & platforms only.

If you are doing a transaction in person, ensure that the transaction takes place in a crowded public place, and do not immediately go back to your house once the transaction is over. Bitcoin is secure, but it can still be taken through a wrench attack (Tortured until Bitcoins are transferred).

Storing Bitcoin

Any Bitcoins you purchased need to be stored in a wallet. You can either use a wallet provided by the exchange or use a third-party wallet.

Exchange

Exchange is a platform that allows you to buy & sell cryptocurrencies. Any wallet by an Exchange can be used. Examples include Binance, Coinbase, BitFinex, etc.

Pros:

1. Usually secure.
2. Easy to use.

Cons:

1. No control of the wallet.
2. Deposit and withdrawal fee.
3. Exchanges can be hacked.

Wallet

Wallets are the place where Bitcoins are stored. Some third-party wallets include Blockchain.info, Trust wallet, etc.

Pros:

1. Secure
2. Easy to use
3. Have more control than exchanges

Cons:

1. You are responsible for your funds
2. Can be hacked

Ways to Buy Bitcoin

Now that we have established what Bitcoin is and how to securely store them, let’s go ahead and start buying Bitcoins with Paypal.

There are currently 2 ways to buy Bitcoins with Paypal:

1. Peer-to-peer transfer
2. Using an Exchange.

Peer-to-Peer transfer [P2P]: In P2P transfer you directly transfer the funds to the seller’s account and the seller transfers the Bitcoin in your wallet. Peer-to-Peer money transfer does not have any middleman and prices can be negotiated a bit.

Exchange or Third Party sellers: There are very few registered businesses that allow for Bitcoin to be purchased via PayPal. Although, it’s interesting to note that these businesses are very rare. The reason for the above is firstly due to PayPal restriction and secondly, due to Chargebacks. We will get into it later.

Let’s get started on how to buy Bitcoin via Peer-to-Peer trading.

Peer – to – Peer trading

As explained above Peer-to-peer trading doesn’t involve a middleman and you are directly doing the transaction with the seller. To do a P2P transaction you first need a seller. There are three ways you can find a seller online:

1. Your immediate social circle
2. Cryptocurrency groups/forums
3. Online P2P platforms

Social Circle

The first way to find a seller is to look in your immediate social circle. With many people have invested in Bitcoin, you can easily find someone who has invested in Bitcoin and is willing to sell it. If you cannot find someone in your immediate social circle, you can expand your cryptocurrency circle by attending various cryptocurrency/blockchain meetups.

A word of caution:  Be careful from any new people you meet! Get to know them first, before initiating a transaction.

Pros:

1. Transacting with a trusted contact

Cons:

1. You might not find anyone

Cryptocurrency Groups/Forum

If you cannot find anyone in your immediate social circle, then we look at various cryptocurrency groups and forums.

Let’s start with forums first. The most trusted and the best forum is Bitcointalk.

Bitcointalk

This forum was started by Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi Nakamoto himself. With over 5 million+ active users monthly, this forum is by far the best place to buy, sell or even trade Bitcoins. If you want to find a seller through BitcoinTalk, follow the steps below,

1) Go to Bitcointalk.org.

2) Go down to the Economics section and click on “Marketplace”. This will bring you the marketplace section of the forum.

Bitcointalk Marketplace section

3) In the market place section choose the “Currency exchange” section (The third one).

Bitcointalk Currency Exchange

4) Once inside the section, hit “ctrl+f” on your keyboard to bring the “find in page” search bar.

5) Search for “Selling Bitcoin” or “Paypal”.

Buying Bitcoin with Paypal on BitcoinTalk

6) Click on one of the results and start negotiating with the person.

There are a bunch of cryptocurrency forums but in our experience, Bitcointalk is the best forum to connect with sellers.

Groups

There are various groups on Facebook which can help you find a potential seller. We look at 2 useful ones which have a thriving community and friendly admins. They are Crypto Coin Trader and Cryptocurrency Investing. These are facebook groups.

To find a seller from these groups, follow these steps.

1. Join the group.
2. Important: Don’t post on the group stating you want to buy Bitcoin. You will be banned.
3. Contact the Admin/Moderator of the group first – stating the real reason for joining the group. Be honest. Admins/Moderators fight cryptocurrency spam daily and they would know if you are lying.
4. If they find you honest, they will connect you with the relevant sellers.
5. If they do not reply to approach, politely remind them.

Word of Caution: When publicly announcing to people of your intent of buying Bitcoin you will be approached by scammers. Please do proper due diligence before buying. Most of the scammers operate through Telegram/Proton mail, so if you find a person asking you to shift on Telegram, decline politely.

Pros:

1. You will most likely find a seller accepting Paypal

Cons:

1. Transacting with an unknown person
2. High chances of getting scammed

P2P trading platforms

These are special platforms designed to connect the buyer with the seller. They are quite popular and you will surely find a seller with all your needs. There are many P2P trading platforms, but we look at the 2 most popular ones.

1. Localbitcoins
2. Paxful

LocalBitcoin: By far the most popular platform to buy/sell/trade bitcoins. Localbitcoin is available worldwide and is completely anonymous. Remember that Localbitcoin isn’t a free service. They charge 1% of the trade fee.

To buy Bitcoin with PayPal on LocalBitcoin, follow these steps,

1) Go to localbitcoins.com. Check the URL – there are many phishing sites.

2) Create an account, if you don’t have one already. The account creation process is completely straight forward.

3) Go to the Buy Bitcoin section.

Buy Bitcoins – Localbitcoins

4) In this section, go to the Quick Buy section, and fill in the details. In the Payment offers section, choose Paypal.

Quick buy – Localbitcoin

5) You will now get a list of all traders accepting Paypal.

6) Choose one to your liking and select Buy. (Note: Always choose traders who have high approval rating, and also that replies within minutes)

Buy Bitcoin with Paypal – Localbitcoin

7) In the new page go down, and find the option “How much you wish to buy”.

8) Enter your amount and click “Place trade request”. Now the online payment information of the seller is available. Also now you can chat with the trader.

9) Make the payment to the seller.

10) The seller has 90 minutes to confirm the payment and send Bitcoin to your address.

Paxful: Paxful is a smaller version of Localbitcoin. Like Localbitcoin, Paxful too is a Peer-to-peer marketplace. One of the biggest advantages of Paxful is you can buy Bitcoins with anything (literally, eg Skype Credits, Amazon gift cards, etc). This makes Paxful a good place to buy Bitcoin with Paypal.

How to buy Bitcoin with Paypal from Paxful:

1. Create an account. You might need to verify your account so keep a photo id in handy (Passport, or government issued ID card)
2. Select the Buy Bitcoin option
3. Choose Paypal in the pay using option.
4. Select your seller from the list of sellers and initiate the trade.
5. Once the trade is initiated, the payment details of sellers are shown.
6. Make the payment, and mark that you did the payment.
7. The payment will be released within 30 min.

Remember the payment needs to be done within a time frame. If not done, the trade is automatically Cancelled.

Pros:

1. Easy to use
2. Easy to find a seller that accepts PayPal

Cons:

1. Chances of getting scammed (although low, but still there)

Using Exchange/Bitcoin Buying Service

Apart from P2P trading, there is another option to Buy Bitcoin with Paypal. That is using a reputed business or exchanges to purchase Bitcoin.

Exchanges

From 2018 Paypal has stopped the option of buying bitcoin with PayPal. Due to this restriction very fewer exchanges actually, support buying of Bitcoin with PayPal. Currently only one of the world’s most popular exchanges support buying of Bitcoin with Paypal.

eToro – eToro is   Israel based trading platform that supports cryptocurrency trading as well. eToro is one of the most well-known exchanges in the world and is particularly knows for its CFD trading. Keep in mind PayPal is restricted in certain jurisdictions on eToro. Do check their website out and see if they allow your country

To buy Bitcoin with Paypal on eToro is pretty straight forward:

1. Open an eToro account.
2. Link your Paypal account. (Identification will be required before linking your PayPal account)
3. Once link, head over to Markets -> Bitcoin and click “Invest in Bitcoin”.
4. Choose how much you wish to invest.
5. Your Bitcoin will be successfully purchased and you will be storing them in a secure wallet.

Coinbase – Coinbase is a special case. They did initially support buying of Bitcoin with Paypal but have so far stopped it. Coinbase does support selling in Paypal. That means if you have Bitcoins you can sell it and receive funds in your Paypal account.

If websites claim that Coinbase supports buying of Bitcoin with Paypal then they are wrong.

Virowvox: Virowvox is an online trading platform that allows users to trade various cryptocurrency. One of the major reason people use Virowox is for the purchase of Bitcoin through PayPal. Ignore the bad UI, Virowox is a popular exchange.

But beginning February 2019 Virowvox has stopped buying of Bitcoin with Paypal. We reached out to them and they did confirm this with us. They plan to bring the Paypal option back, but no definite timeline has been given.

Conclusion

Buying Bitcoin with Paypal is a tiring process and not worth the fight. If you plan to buy a small quantity of Bitcoin with Paypal, you might not even find a seller. If you can avoid it, do not buy Bitcoin with Paypal. Prefer using Credit/Debit card or direct money transfer.

You will have a higher chance of buying Bitcoin with Paypal through Peer – to – Peer trading.

Plus we are here to help you. If you have any doubt, shoot us a mail regarding this and we will help you to the best of our abilities. You can ask about a specific person, or a new exchange whatever.

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Disclaimer: Blockmanity is a news portal and does not provide any financial advice. Blockmanity's role is to inform the cryptocurrency and blockchain community about what's going on in this space. Please do your own due diligence before making any investment. Blockmanity won't be responsible for any loss of funds.