Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: mdtoker on January 25, 2012, 04:16 am
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hey guys. new to the whole underbelly of the net, and getting around quite nicely so far. i saw a posting i was interested in getting, but am a little confused on the price. now ive read that transactions need to be made with bitcoins, which i found pretty easily...only problem is when they ask me how much per bitcoin im willing to pay. im not sure what to put down. how do i kno the current rate i should put down. thx in advance
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...when they ask me how much per bitcoin im willing to pay. im not sure what to put down. how do i kno the current rate i should put down...
You can get a recent quote in U.S. Dollars, Euros, or Norwegian Krona by going to BitcoinCharts [ bitcoincharts.com ] and scrolling down to the "#bitcoin-otc ticker" section. Placing your bid somewhere between the Bid and Ask prices shown there should work. (If you're in a desperate hurry, bid the Ask price.)
Edit: I've read here that some people simply leave the maximum amount blank and have had their transactions processed satisfactorily. I've not tried that myself, however.
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It sounds like you've found a BTC vendor. They make their money by selling bitcoin for more than the current market price (or by charging a fee on top of it). Some make 10% or 20% on every deal they do. If you want to throw 10 to 20% of your money away, by all means do it. I've heard they can be pretty fast. You typically have to buy a moneypak card for $5 and then load it up at a store register.
The current market price in USD at Tradehill can be found here (it's the number after "last", although technically the "sell" or "ask" would be the next price):
https://api.tradehill.com/APIv1/USD/Ticker
The price at Mtgox can be found here:
https://mtgox.com/code/data/ticker.php
The price at Mtgox is also mirrored here:
http://bitcoinprices.org/
You can find many bid/ask prices for different currencies here:
http://www.bitcoinwatch.com/
I believe the price that SR uses to price goods can be found on bitcoinwatch.com by looking for "Currencies (Weighted Prices)" and looking at the USD row and the 24h column. Or you could put an item in your cart and see how much BTC you need.
I've heard that there are BTC vendors on the bitcoin forums that charge zero fees, so you might want to check that out (but research your vendor first):
https://bitcointalk.org/
You might also want to look into getbitcoin or bitinstant, which both charge 5%.