Quote from: bravenec on March 18, 2013, 06:54:02 PM

My feelings

When I ordered gold in the US for my bitcoins, I felt some mental discomfort. Defense against any unfair conduct accross the ocean, in a foreign language, in a foreign environment and in different time zone can be very difficult. I wanted to spend my bitcoins for gold when the bitcoin first time exceeded $ 30 per bitcoin. I had no time, bitcoin fall very quickly.

So I ordered my Krugerrand as planned from Coinabul now. Coinabul was recommended me by my previous supplier. That's why I was not looking for anyone in Europe.

Communication with Coinabul proved to be very slow. Any information I received only when I requested it and the answer sometimes took several days. After three weeks it was said me that the Krugerrand will not be send to me. I did not understand Coinabul's reasons and reply to my request to return bitcoins was very confusing. At that moment I began to believe that I become a victim of fraud which further strengthened the refund offer far below the amount sent to the US and five day delay in response to my last mail.

The situation was calmed down by a guy here in Czech Republic which called to Coinabul and to me and explained whole situation. Thank you.

Why Coinabul did not send the Krugerrand

The financial system of the world is sick. Fiat money rules the world and any attempt to change the monopoly on the production of the commodity called "money" is percived as dangerous and suspicious. Bitcoin and gold are precisely those commodities that played the money's role whole ages, or aspire to this role. Any manipulation with them thus attracts the attention of the rulers of the current system and automaticly raises suspicion. Therefore, once the Coinabul had some doubt that everything is legal, they stopped whole action and refused to send me the gold. It is evident in all their mails that they want to have everything in order and the effort could be funny from the outsider point of view. But keep in mind that Coinabul is located in a state which showed how easy could be to destroy their job:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102

Why the bitcoins was not returned to me

The reason is simple - the did not returned bitcoins because they may not. As I said, current financial system of the world is sick. The only bearer of value are money. It does not matter how the two parties agree - once the relationship is affected by state (courts, financila office, etc.) all the value has to be quoted in money. Someone crashes your car - the court will assign you money compensation, rather than a new car. If someone kill your apple tree, the court will assign you a money, not a bag of apples each of the next twenty years. Coinabul has in terms that they refunds in US dollars. In the doubt, everything is counted in money by the state. Common sense - I put bitcoin, I get bitcoin - is completely unnecessary. This procedure, of course, may damage any part of the trade. And because the rules are determined by the seller, it is the seller which is the stronger part. If the rule "I put bitcoin, I get bitcoin" was valid, the Coinabul's terms would be completely different and the Coinabul would hedge against bitcoin market moves. The hedging is simple - keep bitcoins until the trade is settled.

Recommended reading:

Murray N. Rothbard: What Has Government Done to Our Money?

Conclusion

I get enough from Coinabul to buy Krugerrand in Europe. From this perspective I'm satisfied. I do not feel to be damaged. However, I have feeling that the things started to move when I made a public circus and that a lot of other people would get from the Coinabul really just the spot gold price and the premium, shipping and insurance paid would keep the Coinabul. At the same time remains in me a sense of disgust at the methods that I can use in the fight for my demands.

Recommendation
If you are outside from US, do not buy in US. When byuing in US, you should be always warned that you are responsible for your local taxes and local laws. If you buy gold in US, there is a chance that the gold is never sent to you.

Final note
It is very hard to write such text in foreign language. Sori from me english :-)

Thank you for writing such an extensive post of you experience with Coinabul, I will consider it on my future purchases.