I'm a noob about crypto and need some help

[dayumay]

So I'm planning to make my third grey market purchase, unfortunately,the two vendors that I have uses previously that accept Alipay (which is fast and convenient for me) don't have the product that I'm going to order, so I have to order from someone else, but unfortunately, they only accept crypto, which I have zero knowledge about. The last 2-3 days I've tried to read and educate myself about how to do crypto transaction, but for some reason I still don't understand much, so my question is would there be any problems add money to exodus and send straight to vendor?

do I have to add money to Coinbase then to exodus and then to vendor, seems like a marathon to me, who only use Alipay so far and have had no problem, takes 1 minute to transfer, my Alipay is connected to my debit card.

I'm not sure if I wrote something against the forum rules, if so my bad.

 

[Peps-Enthusiast]

I'm no expert but I have made 20-30 successful purchases. I'm sure I could be more efficient but this works:

I buy Ethereum in coinbase (or coinbase wallet), send to coinbase wallet, and use unipay extension to convert Ethereum to USDT eth (there is also USDT sol which is extremely confusing, and it can be difficult for a newbie to tell the difference. There are little colored flags that are associated with each). Once you have the correct crypto swapped, it is simply a matter of copying the desired address into the send to box, and selecting the correct crypto to actually send (Fyi that is the specific symbol for usdt, which every vendor takes. The vendor will provide an address (or you can request a specific one, i always request usdt) which looks like a string of numbers and letters, you can also qr code it, i never do.

The more important issue to to make sure you actually are corresponding with the actual vendor and not a scammer that looks exactly like the vendor, otherwise you're sending you're money into the ether, never to return.

.

 

[spanky2026]

Relative newb but I figured it out, it seems harder than it actually is. Best snippets of advice I've gotten:

Always communicate with a vendor by email (and don't forget the difference in time zone, be patient on response time).

Do a test send of like $5 before sending the rest.

Don't forget to buy some SOL in your wallet, in addition to whatever crypto you buy, it's the "transmission fee" fund for each time you send someone $$, typically a couple pennies, so $5 in SOL should hold you for quite a while. First time I tried a buy I'd forgotten to buy SOL and the buy wouldn't go through until I did.

When you set up Coinbase or whatever, go ahead and link a debit card to it, a lesson I learned the hard way - other means of moving $$ in with a new CB account will get you a mandatory hold period before those funds can be used. Debit card $ are available to move instantly.

I buy USDC and use the SOL network always, but your preferences may be different.

Oh and to your question about sending straight out of CB, my understanding is that's a nice way to get flagged, compromised, moving your $ to a wallet is considerably safer, more secure. I use Coinbase to bring $ in as USDC, then move it to Phantom wallet . Started with Kraken wallet but found it buggy as hell.

Take your time, my first buy was a frustration of running into hurdles of my own ignorance, but I figured it out. Good luck!

 

[Standish]

Yes, you can add money on Exodus and then send straight to vendor. Some people like to mess around with purchasing and converting multiple types of coins. I don't see the advantage personally.

I find that the simplest thing to do is to buy BTC (Bitcoin) on Exodus and use BTC to make all purchases.

 

[maokai]

Relative newb but I figured it out, it seems harder than it actually is. Best snippets of advice I've gotten:

Always communicate with a vendor by email (and don't forget the difference in time zone, be patient on response time).

Do a test send of like $5 before sending the rest.

Don't forget to buy some SOL in your wallet, in addition to whatever crypto you buy, it's the "transmission fee" fund for each time you send someone $$, typically a couple pennies, so $5 in SOL should hold you for quite a while. First time I tried a buy I'd forgotten to buy SOL and the buy wouldn't go through until I did.

When you set up Coinbase or whatever, go ahead and link a debit card to it, a lesson I learned the hard way - other means of moving $$ in with a new CB account will get you a mandatory hold period before those funds can be used. Debit card $ are available to move instantly.

I buy USDC and use the SOL network always, but your preferences may be different.

Oh and to your question about sending straight out of CB, my understanding is that's a nice way to get flagged, compromised, moving your $ to a wallet is considerably safer, more secure. I use Coinbase to bring $ in as USDC, then move it to Phantom wallet . Started with Kraken wallet but found it buggy as hell.

Take your time, my first buy was a frustration of running into hurdles of my own ignorance, but I figured it out. Good luck!

This will be the easiest and best advice. Others suggest BTC and ETH and they have their uses but not for getting funds to vendors. Phantom wallet also way better than everyone constantly suggesting Exodus.

 

[kugelblitz]

Yes, you can add money on Exodus and then send straight to vendor. Some people like to mess around with purchasing and converting multiple types of coins. I don't see the advantage personally.

I find that the simplest thing to do is to buy BTC (Bitcoin) on Exodus and use BTC to make all purchases.

You can do that, but then you're leaving permanent, immutable evidence attached to your real-world identity that you've done something less than legal. When the government decides it needs a win in the "War on Drugs," you'll be the lowest-hanging fruit.
By using an intermediary wallet, investigators need to prove that the intermediary wallet belongs to you, which makes you too much effort compared to people who just pay directly.

Another problem is bitcoin fees, volatility, and confirmation time.
While fees have been low recently, around 0.5 USD per transaction, there have been multi-month periods when fees exceeded 20 USD per transaction.
Bitcoin, like most crypto, is very volatile. It is down 20% over the last month, so if you bought some a month ago while getting ready to buy, you've lost one-fifth of the money.
Finally, bitcoin block time is 10 minutes. With many vendors wanting 2–3 confirmations, most bitcoin transactions take at least 20 minutes to clear but can take a lot longer, up to 24 hours sometimes.

Using a different crypto, like USDC or USDT on Solana, fixes all this. Solana fees are a fraction of a cent, typically between 0.0004 USD and 0.015 USD; USDT/USDC are stablecoins that don't meaningfully change in value, and Solana block time is 400 milliseconds, which means that most transactions fully clear by the time your browser or app has a chance to refresh the page.

 

[Flash-BCR]

This will be the easiest and best advice. Others suggest BTC and ETH and they have their uses but not for getting funds to vendors. Phantom wallet also way better than everyone constantly suggesting Exodus.

I am not sure what a 'better' wallet will do different, but whatever works for you...I use Coinbase as my 'on ramp' to get $$ into USDC automagically...when I am ready to make a purchase, I whatsapp the vendor...get the price and at that point, move the agreed amount from Coinbase to Exodus and then straight from there to the vendor. Money never really stays in Exodus except for a nominal amount of left over USDC and a requisite amount of Eth and Sol for the transfers.

I still have maybe 3-4 orders that are still trickling in, but it won't be too many more transactions that the storage boxes will be full and I won't have much use for Coinbase or Exodus...