.st0{fill:#FFFFFF;}

Overview on Paxful Crypto Exchange 

 July 18, 2021

By  Brian Forester

If you want to start selling or buying bitcoins, you may be interested in the exchange platforms for these operations. Paxful is one of them — a service that allows traders to find each other for crypto trading. Paxful provides various services for comfortable trading and exploration of the crypto market across the world, similar to the LocalBitcoins exchange.

The purpose of this Paxful review is to illustrate to you the main advantages and disadvantages of this cryptocurrency exchange marketplace, describe available services, and compare it with its main opponent — LocalBitcoins.

Brief Paxful review and content of the post

Paxful platform allows its users to buy and sell bitcoins from any place with a preferred payment method. The interface and included functions of Paxful are easy to use, even for beginners in crypto trading.

Even though the Paxful trading platform is convenient for customers and reliable, you should know several tips about the most beneficial approaches to use it and some drawbacks you may face.

This Paxful review will provide more detail on the following topics:

  1. Summary on Paxful
  2. Available operations on Paxful
  3. Limits and conditions of trading
  4. Supported currencies and payment options
  5. Accessible countries
  6. Trading fees and commissions on Paxful
  7. Paxful customer support system
  8. Comparison of Paxful and LocalBitcoins
  9. Considerations about privacy
  10. Additional facts about Paxful

Summary on Paxful

Paxful started its work in exchanges in 2015 and became a place where buyers and sellers can communicate and exchange their funds. The system is similar to taxi companies where people can find drivers online and exchange services and money without personal connections. That is why sometimes people call Paxful an Uber of Bitcoin.

Paxful company located its departments in the cities of different countries with head one in the US and hired more than 200 workers. In time Paxful developed its user experience and list of accessible buying options so that it became popular because of the extra services in comparison to other bitcoin exchanges.

Paxful does not have geographical limitations as well as strict rules connected with payment methods, and that was the reason for the quick increase in the number of its users. It formed more decentralized markets than other crypto exchanges because of its flexibility and accessibility.

Moreover, you may find Paxful in some online shops while completing a payment because this exchange makes it easier for shops and their clients to find suitable payment methods.

Available operations on Paxful

You can use two forms of interfaces of Paxful online:

Paxful receives benefits from an affiliate program supplying bitcoin buyers and sellers with payment services for any purpose. The system works like this — customers of the connected company use Paxful for purchases of any items and services, save 2% from the cost of bought things, and share info about Paxful by this.

Furthermore, being an owner of an online company, you can facilitate your payment system for buyers by adding the “Pay with Paxful” service. This affiliate program will allow your customers to select a form of payment from the list of more than 300 payment methods and conveniently perform their shopping.

Escrow service

Paxful helps buyers and sellers to have an agreement providing an escrow service during the bitcoin trade process. The platform moves the bitcoin of the seller to an escrow wallet after the buying process what increases the safety of crypto trading.

Escrow service controls the trading operation in such a way that it blocks funds on the seller’s wallet but does not allow buyers to use them before the end of the payment process. The buyer needs to pay in a set time frame to receive bitcoin from a vendor, but if he or she misses the deadline, money will be returned to the seller’s wallet automatically.

The buyer should transact money to the seller and confirm this operation after the vendor should check the fact of receiving money and verify it as well. Then escrow system will transfer crypto to the buyer’s wallet and finish the trade.

Do not worry if there is a disagreement between you and your opponent because you can always start a dispute, and the platform will help you to solve it. The Paxful specialists will explore all the info about your bitcoin trade and make a fair decision about it.

By the way, these situations rarely happen on Paxful because its moderators have a high-quality system of scam identification and protect users from fraud.

Algorithm to buy and sell Bitcoin with Paxful

The process of bitcoin trading does not require any special skills but only attentiveness and accuracy. Here are the steps you need to go through to buy Bitcoin with Paxful:

  1. Decide on the amount you want to acquire;
  2. Select the currency you want to exchange bitcoin for from the list of available ones;
  3. Explore the list of payment options and choose the most beneficial for you;
  4. Look through the list of sellers, select the one who matches your criteria, and click on “Trade”;
  5. Proceed with payment following all the requirements of the Paxful and seller;
  6. Confirm transfer of money to a seller and press the button “Mark as paid”;
  7. Check your balance on your Bitcoin wallet in several minutes when a seller will send you crypto.

The time of crypto transferring depends on several factors such as chosen currency, payment method, accessibility of seller. That is why sometimes it takes longer to receive money than it was previously.

The fastest payment methods are PayPal, a gift card, and credit/debit cards. At the same time, Moneygram, Western Union deposits are more time-consuming because they require cash depositing in the offline department of the bank.

Limits and conditions of trading

Like many other exchange platforms, Paxful has several levels of accounts that differ by the stage of the verification process. These levels have different purchasing limits:

  1. Verification of phone number and email with a limit of $1000;
  2. ID verification and requirements of level 1 with a limit of $10,000;
  3. Verification of address and requirements of level 2 with a limit of $50,000;
  4. Advanced reliability and requirements of level 3 without any limits.

By the way, Paxful obliges all US residents to complete at least three levels of verification to be able to make any operations with crypto. Citizens of Canada and the European Union can finish two levels to buy bitcoin with this marketplace, but if they want to withdraw funds from their wallet, they need to confirm their address as well.

Supported currencies and payment options

The focus of Paxful is trading bitcoin, and that is why they do not provide an opportunity to work with any other cryptocurrencies. Moreover, you do not need to worry about the availability of preferred fiat currency for the services because you just need to find a seller who is ready to receive money in a particular currency. Paxful does not keep fiat money because buyers send them directly to sellers.

Payment methods also will affect the choice of the seller, but there are more than 300 payment methods popular among both sellers and buyers. The most common ones are debit cards, credit cards, Amazon gift cards, PayPal, and Western Union transactions.

Pay attention to the exchange rate because it depends on the payment method. For instance, if you choose PayPal or credit cards (or a gift card), the price for transactions will be higher because these methods are refundable. On the opposite, rates for cash and bank deposits payment methods are usually lower because you cannot make a chargeback after the transaction via these options.

Accessible countries

You can use country being a resident of almost all countries in the world except for several ones:

Burundi, Central African Republic Sanctions, Cuba, Crimea region, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, North Korea, Republic of Congo, Somalia, South Sudan-related Sanctions, Sudan and Darfur, Syria, Yemen.

Trading fees and commissions on Paxful

There is a difference in the price for Paxful services between sellers and buyers. For example, if you are a buyer, Paxful will not charge any fee from you except for extra money that you can spend because of the chosen fiat currency. However, if you sell bitcoin, you will need to pay to company 1% of the amount you transfer.

Furthermore, as a seller, you will pay a fee to the bitcoin network to transfer crypto to be completed. Paxful will not earn this money because it is a payment to Bitcoin miners.

Paxful customer support system

There are several pages on the Paxful website where you can receive support from the company. The first option is to explore the FAQs page and find your question in already posted ones. However, some of the answers were posted several years ago, and current information can differ from that one. Maybe the customer support team of Paxful will pay attention to this problem and update the responses soon.

Another option is to ask your questions in the customer support chat, where you will receive an answer immediately or at some time later via email. This support service makes the platform even more convenient because you will get a response with a solution to your problem in a short period.

If you see negative reviews about Paxful on Trustpilot, most probably they will be connected with levels of the verification process. Not all users know that they are required to complete two or three stages of identity confirmation depends on their country to withdraw money from the exchange platform. That is why they are disappointed about the thing that their funds are stuck on the Paxful wallet and they cannot use them.

Another problem that bothers some users of Paxful is related to frauds from the sellers. However, they are not connected with the Paxful itself but to particular people that are trying to earn money illegally. You should select sellers accurately to getting into this trap, and we will discuss it later in this Paxful review.

Overall, Paxful is one of the most reliable and enjoyable exchange platforms in the opinion of users. The only thing you should do to avoid problems while trading with Paxful is to be careful during the selection of sellers and payment methods.

Comparison of Paxful and LocalBitcoins

LocalBitcoins is another bitcoin exchange platform that is the main competitor of Paxful nowadays. It was created in 2012 and includes the same services and offers similar trading conditions.

LocalBitcoins had been considered as one of the most influential on the market, but nowadays, Paxful is becoming to take the same share of global trading as LocalBitcoins. Even though LocalBitcoins was founded earlier than Paxful, they are now in the same place in the rating of exchange platforms. The reason for the rapid development of Paxful is that they pay attention not only to security and quality of trading but also to customer satisfaction.

Considerations about privacy

As we have already said, the major part of negative reviews on the Paxful is about the scam and losses of money. People believe that the Paxful itself takes responsibility for the trustworthiness of sellers, but unfortunately, it cannot check every seller. Such exchanges as Paxful protect wallets from hacks with two-factor authentication and high-quality encryption. Of course, they do their best to check the Paxful account of every seller, but they cannot promise you 100% safety of the trade with inexperienced users.

Also, we collected the list of advice that will help you to avoid frauds and work with Paxful safely:

  • The escrow system allows you to save your money from suspicious users of the platform, so do not neglect to use it properly. The main thing you should be sure of when you confirm the transaction of bitcoin is the completed transfer of money from your opponent. Do not permit the system to finish operations before you get money on your Paxful account.
  • Text with seller or buyer only through the chat of Paxful because all the communication will be saved in the system. In case someone violates the agreement, moderates will be able to help you check your conversation.
  • Give preference to users who are online at the moment of trading because the system may cancel operation after a short period of unanswering. Also, it will be irritating for you to wait for another person when the situation is connected with money.
  • Pay attention to the reputation of users on the Paxful and choose the ones with a high level of reliability and a big number of made exchanges.
  • Estimate your budget in advance to be sure that you have a free part of your budget, and you will not lose your money in case of fraud.

Additional facts about Paxful

Location of Paxful offices

Paxful departments are located in several cities of the world, including Tallinn, New York, Manila, Hong Kong. The physical address of their main office is 3422 Old Capitol Trail PMB# 989 Wilmington DE 19808, USA.

Legitimacy of Paxful

Bitcoin forums with reviews are full of arguments about the legality of trading with Paxful. We consider Paxful legit to trade with this platform to buy bitcoin, as it does not violate the laws of any country. Another question is in the cheating by sellers, but it may happen to you when you use any P2P (peer-to-peer) service.

Summing up

Paxful is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchange platforms on the market today because of the wide variety of payment methods and a huge list of supported countries. However, you still should be careful while using P2P trading on the Paxful.

There are two main drawbacks that you should consider — high exchange rates and unfair trading partners.

Check the exchange rate twice because it may differ from the market price of bitcoin two times. It all depends on the payment method you prefer, so explore the price in advance.

No one is protected from scams using a P2P platform, and that is why you should pay attention to the experience of sellers on Paxful. Spend more time on the selection process to avoid losses in the future.

If you know the main disadvantages of Paxful, you are ready to use it now without any challenges.

FAQs

Is Buying Bitcoin on Paxful safe?

Paxful is as safe to buy bitcoin or sell bitcoin as are all other P2P exchanges. Here you can buy and sell bitcoin directly to another person without high commissions for Paxful services. Moreover, Paxful included an escrow system that makes the process of transferring even safer if you follow the recommendation of Paxful and select sellers with a high rating in the reputation system of the platform so as not to lose your money.

Is Paxful wallet safe?

Paxful marketplace protects the wallet with encryption and two-factor authentication as well as other bitcoin marketplaces. You should not worry about the security questions connected with your Paxful wallet as they hide all the personal data, including addresses of other wallets, from third parties.

How do I withdraw money from Paxful?

Withdrawing money from Paxful is a fast and convenient process. You need to sign in to your Paxful account and click on the page with your wallet. After that, you can enter the number of an external wallet, and the system will proceed with your request and complete it in several days.

Is Paxful a Bitcoin wallet?

You can create a Bitcoin wallet on Paxful and use it for exchanges within this platform. If you want to withdraw money from the bitcoin wallet of your Paxful wallet, you can easily send your funds to an external wallet after several steps of ID verification.

Brian Forester


Brian is an experienced journalist and crypto enthusiast. Founder of CryptoCurry - famed for his insightful input on the future of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
This website uses cookies and asks your personal data to enhance your browsing experience.