I'm also new to the bitcoin game, and wanted to get my hands on some "instantly". That is not possible (without great risk, I guess).. Even calling bitcoin an instant way of paying is somewhat misleading in my opinion, since even if you are willing to risk just a single confirmation, that will still take at best on average 5 minutes (at best meaning your transaction makes it into the next block, and with blocks targeted at 10 minutes apart, on average it will be ~5min).

Nonetheless, I will share my experiences thus far. I decided to go the exchange route because I wanted larger quantities than I could see on eBay, plus eBay prices were high, plus using PayPal to sell bitcoins is high risk (I imagine buying is lower risk, but you pay high premium because seller is taking risk).

The first account I set up was at coinbase.com - They required my name / address / phone. I don't believe they required me to upload any documents because their verification system was much like PayPal's: Login to your online banking through their site to verify your bank account. To get access to instant purchases, attach a credit card, they will make 2 pre-authorizations (not actual charges) between $1-$2 on the card.. you verify by telling them the amount of the charges.

Upon my initial sign up and bank login I was allowed to purchase a maximum of $200USD of bitcoins (daily). At that point, I attached my credit card, and was given a weekly instant buy limit of $25. The first purchase took about 1 week to clear (had bitcoins I could transfer out of their site). I could not make any other transactions until the first one cleared.

Since the first one right away I made the $25 instant buy, and it was fast. Also for several days I made additional buys close to the daily max. These transaction each are pending and take a week to be cleared.

So as for coinbase: Pro's: easiest to set up (no document uploads or Wire transfers).Con's: Slow first transaction. Low amounts able to buy.

Another big limitation of coinbase as an "exchange" is it appears solely market orders; that means you say buy - it tells you the price you can buy it for same for sell. The other exchanges offer "limit" orders where you make a bid (to buy) or ask (to sell) and transaction only happens if both parties get their price.

The second exchange I tried was Kraken. Here I registered to "Tier 2" which allows a moderate level of bank transfers, however after submitting my name / address and phone #. The site informed me that I could only trade cryptocurrencies because the process of setting up all the government required stuff was not yet complete in my state.

I happen to residences in both Canada and the US, so I tried registering with my Canadian info. At tier 2, I got notification that they were unable to verify my information and please send ID / passport (basically Tier 3) - I did so, and yet to hear from them since...

Since then I've learnt Kraken is a UK based exchange, so EU residents probably will fare better than myself.

(Getting to the international wire transfer soon!)

Next I signed up at coinsetter.com. Here the signup process was well designed, and guided you through fairly thorough process from ID info, document uploads, account info, and setting up a wire transfer. I went through everything, got the wire transfer info and advised them to expect a deposit of a $$$ amount. I logged on to my online banking (Bank of America) and was able to find International Wire Transfer through their "Send money to someone" pages. (Coinsetter's business is located in Canada, but their bank is in Malta (USD though)). I filled out the wire transfer info (carefully it can be a bit confusing the first time), and sent it on its way. I did this on the weekend - so good old fashioned banks, they informed me the transfer would be initiated the next business day. The bank fee was a little under 1% but I imagine will depend on your bank and the amount. I was expecting a charge on the receiving end, but there was none. On the Monday, my bank e-mailed that the next-day wire transfer had been sent (saw that Mon. morning) and Monday after work, I logged on to coinsetter and saw my money was there and placed a few trades... I'm now liquid with bitcoins (although I have not yet transferred any out of coinsetter yet).

On another note, Monday during the day, one of the coinsetter's VPs called me on the phone welcoming me to coinsetter and offering any assistance I might need.

Pros: Easy to use, fast, reasonable fees, nice personal touch - hope it reflects their customer service. Cons: Need to fund with wire transfer (but so far that seems the same everywhere for non-trivial volume, LEGAL methods that are accountable to governments wrt money laundering...), the exchange volume is low (which means trades might take more time, and possibly more (or maybe less) price volatility (so far their trades are comparable to the higher volume exchanges.)

So I did also sign up with bitfinex. Their process was very similar to coinsetter, and I have wire transfer info for them but have yet to make a deposit there.

I guess in summary, Wire Transfer is pretty much the only legit way to fund an investment sized bitcoin trading / purchasing account. This does require you provide identification and bank information as well as proof of residency etc..

My experience with the wire transfer process, was pretty simple, just have to read the instructions carefully, (coinsetter included an e-mail address to ask for help if anything didn't make sense). It was fast too (except for bank holidays, but still faster than the 1 week with coinbase for peanuts limits). Bank fees are a concern if it is for many small amounts, you probably want to make low frequency larger deposits.

A note, towards to OP original question; why buy from some Joe Blow you don't know with wire transfer when you can do it with an established exchange?

Hope this help some people.