Paxful Review 2019: Pros, Cons, Fees, Features, and Safety

If a cryptocurrency exchange can be all things to all people, Paxful is the service! Paxful offers 300 ways to buy cryptocurrency, all the while maintaining a great trust rating with the 160,000 monthly users of its Bitcoin exchange platform. Following its recent partnership with BitMart, the peer-to-peer bitcoin marketplace is integrating into the top 20 cryptocurrency exchange and bringing real-time crypto trading to its global community.

Has Paxful fulfilled its mission to provide a “simple, fair and secure” Bitcoin exchange service? We have conducted an in-depth review of the fees, features, and pros and cons of Paxful and concluded that Paxful earns high marks on fees, service quality and reliability. No doubt Bitmart courted Paxful for its successful P2P decentralized exchange model.

What is Paxful?

What started out as a modest Bitcoin trading service has become a major force in the development of a universal currency. Founders Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback saw an opportunity to deliver both a commercial service and social good through Bitcoin trading. Almost one-third of the world is still unbanked, but three-quarters have a mobile phones. With a mobile, anyone in the world can connect to Paxful and find trading partners. A multi-tier affiliate program helps spread the word. In 2018, 41 percent of Paxful’s USD 20 million in revenue was generated from the Africa region.

Paxful has improved the legitimacy of crypto trading by putting a face on Bitcoin trading through:

◻️ Live social connections – Paxful users complete the sale over live chat, placing a real person behind the trade in the sometimes murky world of crypto trading.
◻️ Reputation ratings – Buyers and sellers increase their market power through reputation management. Both parties to a transaction are rated at the completion of a sale. The higher a seller’s reputation, the more pricing power they have in the market.

The introduction of biometric identification this year stamps a real facial imprint on a Bitcoin transaction, making fraud even more difficult to perpetrate.

How does the Paxful exchange work?

Paxful provides a website and app to instantly buy cryptocurrency. The two ways to connect and trade Bitcoin on Paxful are:

Website – See more details on how to trade using the website dashboard below.
Virtual Kiosk Link – The Virtual Kiosk is a widget that can be placed in any website, mobile app, YouTube channel or social media. You receive a 2 percent commission on all sales made through your kiosk.

An escrow account is used to protect both buyer and seller. If there is a disagreement, a dispute process is used, which has enhanced the reputation of the service. In comparison, on exchanges like LocalBitcoins or Coinmama you will have to appeal to the payment processor for a remedy (e.g., Visa, PayPal).

If you want to accept Bitcoin on your website, add a Pay With Paxful button. The payment will be processed instantly from the user’s wallet.

What cryptocurrencies does Paxful support?

Paxful supports the buying of Bitcoin. If you want to to buy Ethereum, Ripple or alt coins, you will not currently find them for sale on Paxful. If you want to buy and sell Bitcoin on a secure exchange with 300 payment methods, visit Paxful. You can sell cryptos for Bitcoin. Among the payment methods are popular cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), DASH (DASH), and more. The upcoming integration of Paxful and BitMart could add over 100 cryptocurrencies to Paxful.

🏳️Supported countries

Paxful is a cryptocurrency exchange located in the US. Anyone can use the service worldwide. Residents of the following countries are restricted from using Paxful.

Fees & limits

Paxful makes its money by charging sellers a one percent fee. The seller can sell Bitcoin at any price for which they can find buyers. A network fee for the processing of Bitcoin (mining cost) is also charged. Buyers only pay applicable payment processing fees.

Paxful Dashboard

Order Search 1

Paxful provides more than one order placement interface. We recommend starting with the homepage order form (above). Select the amount and currency. Paxful will find all sellers across all payment methods for, in this example, the Korean Won (KW) to BTC.

Order Search 2

On the Buy Bitcoins page, you have two options. Enter the amount, exchange currency and payment method. This more specific criteria can produce empty search results. Or click on the payment method to see all sell offers by payment type.

Open Offers

On this PayPal page, a list of available traders is presented. Note the current lowest price for PayPal is EUR 7091. The lowest price for Skrill and Neteller also is in the EUR 7000 range. The lowest price for a bank transfer, in comparison, is EUR 4964. The first three payment methods are digital currencies, which pose the risk of future chargebacks, in the same way an eBay buyer unhappy with his new smartphone could chargeback the PayPal sale. In this way, peer-to-peer markets are more efficient since the price offered by the seller more accurately reflects the demand and payment risk.

Here is the step-by-step process to buy Bitcoin on Paxful. Paxful provides an easy 3-step process to buy Bitcoin. We have added a step, but be assured, it is a quick and simple process.

How to Buy Cryptocurrency on Paxful

If you pay by online methods (PayPal, Skrill, OKPay etc.), bank transfer or credit/debit card, two-factor identification is required.

Step 1 – Register a Paxful account

From the Create Account screen, fill in your personal information. Then click on Create Account and Free Paxful Wallet. Follow the link in the confirmation email to confirm your account. Go to your account profile page and verify your phone number by inserting the code sent by SMS. You may also set up SMS, Google Authenticator or Authy as a 2FA option.

Step 2 – Fund your Paxful wallet

Fund your account. In this example, we have chosen PayPal. Keep in mind that this payment option requires uploading ID to verify your account. Each payment method has different charges and processes, but generally only require a few clicks.

Step 3 – Buy Bitcoin

Click on Buy Bitcoin. Select the amount of Bitcoins you want to purchase, the currency for the exchange and payment method. An alternative to scrolling down the 300 payment methods is to type in your preferred payment method. Click on Search or Give Me the Best.

Step 4 – Choose a buyer

Various prices will be offered. The seller should be a Verified Seller. A rating of at least 200 is recommended. Choose the price you are willing to buy Bitcoin at. Review the criteria of the seller. The seller can establish their own criteria, such as a selfie with your photo ID. Enter the amount you want to spend. Press Buy Now. Your payment will go to escrow providing protection until the seller releases the Bitcoins to you.

If this is your first trade, experienced Paxful sellers will guide you through the process.

Visit Paxful

Is Paxful regulated?

Paxful is not regulated in any country. This allows the exchange to provide its services worldwide. It has implemented the ID verification standards of regulated exchanges, requiring that know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards are complied with.

Is Paxful safe?

Paxful has to be commended for its high reliability record. The Bitcoin marketplace has a high trust rating among its customers and has never been hacked. In 2019, Paxful has been tightening its security.

🔐 ID verification is now required for the following limits:
– USD 1500 trade or wallet activity – ID verification
– USD 10,000 – ID verification and proof of address

🔐 Jumio’s AI-powered Trusted Identity Service verifies real-world identities using ID scans, real-time biometric authentication and liveness detection

🔐 Two-factor identification (2FA) using Google Authenticator or Authy

Is the Paxful wallet safe?

The Paxful wallet used two-factor authentication to prevent hacking.

Does Paxful have an app?

Paxful does not have an Android or IOS app. If you download an unofficial Paxful app, it may be a phishing scam.

Is Paxful customer service reliable?

Paxful provides first rate customer support. We were impressed by the speed and quality of the support system. If you have a question or need guidance, you can contact Paxful by:

Live Chat – At any time, click on the blue chat box on the bottom right of the screen and a moderator will come online to help you.

Paxful ZenDesk – FAQs are provided on how to buy and sell Bitcoin on Paxful.

Seller Support – Once buyers connect to sellers over live chat, sellers walk buyers through the Bitcoin exchange process.

Paxful School – How-to videos take you through the account verification, buying and selling processes.

Email support – Use the following contact methods to reach customer service.

General queries – help@paxful.com
Problem with a trade – Report a Problem button
Problem with a scam – Report a Scam button

Paxful Pros and Cons

Why We Recommend Paxful

Paxful has been called the eBay of Bitcoin trading. Sellers can set up their own virtual shops and easily sell Bitcoin while establishing a reputation. By reducing the role of the middleman, Paxful has brought the real benefits of decentralized markets to its bitcoin exchange. As its competitors broaden into more cryptos and alt coins, Paxful faced being left behind as a bitcoin-only marketplace. The BitMart joint venture has put Paxful back on top. BitMart’s customers, who trade over 200 cryptocurrency pairs, will have access to Paxful’s 300 payment methods. Paxful now has a much larger and globally diversified user base – Bitmart does half a billion in trading volume daily.

Conclusion

Though Paxful has recently been experiencing growing pains, a fairer and safer exchange is ready for a big boost in volume. The Bitcoin market’s recent security upgrade has been its biggest challenge to date. Some users have complained through social and mainstream media about restrictions on their accounts. Paxful is committed to providing the “safe and secure bitcoin trading platform” its satisfied customers depend on. Although a few discontents may fail the security upgrade, the upgrade ensures Paxful is ready for BitMart business.

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