Buy the bitcoins from coinbase and then store them on proper wallet like others said above so you're the one in control of your own money.
Is there any way to get around the 4% fee? I would preferably like to use paypal or a prepaid credit card. I'm not quite sure about giving my actual credit card to them. I thought that was the whole appeal of Bitcoin was the anonymity.
Bank transfer(SEPA) is cheapest, I can't think of any exchanges that don't charge high fees on debit/credit card.
Another place that I know of that accept paypal is localbitcoins.com, but it's a open trade market, same as Paxful, so the seller can adjust the prices as wanted. Also, there is higher probability of getting scammed when dealing with seller 1-on-1.
And no, you won't be anonymous if you buy bitcoin with traceable payment methods.
There are ways that can make you more anonymous, examples:
- Meet with seller face-to-face and pay with cash.
- Tumble your bitcoin using multiple tumbling services.
- or Tumble through privacy cryptocurrencies like Monero(XMR).
+ at the same time make sure your true IP is not associated with any of those wallets.