Hey Steemers,

A lot of people ask me about selling coins, privacy and all that other type of cryptostuff.  This post is to help compare and contrast two major peer to peer directory sites that also act as escrow agents.  These types of places are wonderful for doing private Bitcoin transactions and staying away from main stream exchanges like Coinbase. (https://steemit.com/crypto-news/@bayareacoins/need-another-reason-why-not-to-store-bitcoins-on-coinbase-united-states-secret-service-usss-announces-that-they-have-confiscated)

This is being written from a sellers perspective... if you are reading it as a buyer... just flip everything pretty much :P!

**Paxful**
Register & browse:  https://paxful.com
Country of business:  USA

**LocalBitcoins**
Register & browse:  https://localbitcoins.com/register/?ch=3msg
Country of business:  Switzerland

*Paxful* seems to thrive on being closely linked with Backpages... this can be good and bad all at the same time.  There are lots of vendors on the site who are pushing little bits of Bitcoins here and there for people making listings on Backpages.  These range from like $5-$15.  The buyers can be extremely hard to work with though and that can be a bit frustrating.

Paxful Pros:
-  Lots of traffic from customers
-  You must maintain .2 BTC in your wallet for your listings to show
-  FAST customer service.  Much faster than LocalBitcoins.
-  Stronger security system and it allows text be sent to your phone.
-  Sends a text message to your phone for new trades.
-  Site makes noise when people view your profile, trade, message you or if they open a new trade.
-  1 BTC confirmations

Paxful Cons:
-  Very hard to work with customers.  Our completion rate is less that 20% of trades that are opened.
-  Buyers want very little Bitcoins because they are just buying 1 week at a time advertising.
-  Paxful requires the trade to be over .005 BTC.  Buyers want very little, but with Bitcoins prices at $1000 per coin... that's means trades under $5 can't go through their system...
-  Lots of vendors on paxful eating up the little Backpage traffic demand.

*LocalBitcoins* seems to thrive buyers looking to collect Bitcoin and some who apparently spend it right away.  These buyers are a lot more sophisticated compared to Paxful and tend to trade high dollar values.  This is perfect if you are looking to do the little nickle/dime stuff like on Paxful because of the lack of LocalBitcoin vendors serving $20-$100 trades.... Localbitcoin's system also allows for penny trades compared to Paxfuls .005 BTC trade limit.

LocalBitcoins Pros:
- Quality traffic and trades.
-  They allow any size trades... even a penny! (paxful limits at .005 BTC which is SUPER annoying)
- Good customer service... nothing lightening fast, but they do a good job.
- Located in Switzerland. 
- LBC has been in business for a long time at this point.

LocalBitcoins Cons:
-  Requires .4 BTC be in your account for advertisements to show up.
-  The enter button on the fucking trade chat cause you to skip a line rather than enter the texts (annoys the piss out of me :D)
-  3 BTC confirmations

**BAC Summary**

Over all neither of the sites suck and they both have what I believe are little fixes they could do here and there to be the best sites they could be.  

If I had to pick one for myself 1and noobs alike it would be.... [LocalBitcoins!](https://localbitcoins.com/register/?ch=3msg)

I personally like the fact they are in Switzerland and the fact that they have such a long history in the Bitcoin world.  I think the time they've spent in the Bitcoin world has brought a more mature and easy to deal with buyer base.  (Paxful is basically a shit show at this point, but a good one of course)

Neither site requires you fill out any personal information and both sites take about 30 seconds to sign up for! 

Good luck and happy trading!  Please don't forget to upvote this post if you enjoyed it or learned anything and please feel free to reach out to me in the comment section :).

Stay safe!

http://i.imgur.com/yTI6qaV.png