One observation: bitcoin is not liquid.  I have offered to buy a car with bitcoin in the Austin market.  I have had a localbitcoins ad up for almost a week now in the Austin market.  No one is contacting me.

Localbitcoins.com is disappointing.  I am attracted to localbitcoins because I want a smooth, anonymous cash transaction, and now that I've thought about it, I would be willing to give the buyer a good deal for this.  But the majority of action on localbitcoins seems to be among people buying and selling to nationwide customers and they're not offering very good deals.  For one thing, the transactions are not in cash, but in traceable, trackable ways that betray oneself to the antimoney-laundering-know-your-customer assholes.  (If I can do better by selling on an exchange, wiring to my bank, and paying tax then why wouldn't I?) 

Also, everyone is, for the most part, trying to scalp the other guy. In my opinion someone buying bitcoin for a moneypak should be paying full price and someone paying cash should get a discount but on localbitcoins the local deals are so silly I can't take them serious.  Why would I sell my bitcoin for $115? 

Sounds like localbitcoins is working well in a handful of cities, but it's broken in Austin.