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by ceejayoz 3123 days ago
> Im also banned from coinbase for asking them to hurry my verification because I needed to buy vitamins.

You don't see how that might be a red flag? What vitamins could possibly be so important that you couldn't wait a little while, and would be unavailable from another source?

Plus, the rudeness of "I'm more important than everyone else in the queue, hurry up" can't have helped.
1 comments
stale2002 3123 days ago
He might be rude, but honestly a company should be expected to deal with rude customers.

It is their job to do deal with slightly rude customers, and I don't think they should be banning anybody for something so small as "being asked to go faster".

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ceejayoz 3123 days ago
The rudeness can't have helped, but I'd imagine the "I desperately need my 'vitamins' that can only be bought with Bitcoin" bit is what got the account flagged.
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SilasX 3122 days ago
Right, but (without knowing any more details about the case), I'd hope they needed more than that one thing to "nope" him away.
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goldenkey 3122 days ago
It actually was vitamins from a foreign shop that took international payments thru bitcoin. I could have shown them if they wanted proof. However they never let me have any recourse. Just instaban, goodbye. As hard as it might be to believe its their job to remain professional. And they failed at that. My account didn't get flagged - I got outright banned- lets not mince words. Coinbase is ran by a bunch of assholes.
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ceejayoz 3122 days ago
It's also their job not to get the company shuttered for knowingly allowing drug money to flow through their books.

If it's weird to me that you need to buy vitamins from a foreign company using Bitcoin (you couldn't get them for a month or two from a provider who takes PayPal/CC, and you couldn't go without for a little while?!), it's going to be really weird to the compliance department of a financial institution responsible for KYC stuff.

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goldenkey 3122 days ago
Its common for international shops to use Bitcoin. And its common for people to buy home vitamins and supplements, foods, etc.. from their ethnic countries of origin, because they are difficult to find anywhere else. Who exactly determines what someone buying bitcoin is allowed to use it for? If I want to trade it for vitamins or russian crackers or chocolate, am I now banned? Think about what you are saying -- that Bitcoin should be restricted to merely a speculation vehicle. Coinbase seems to have that opinion opaquely -- they function as more of a gambling/security sales portal in that case. And they should be held to the standards of that sector given their rather overt bans where users state a rather innocuous intention to use the Bitcoin for bartering.
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ceejayoz 3122 days ago
Since you're dancing around the point so much, I'll be more direct. Here are specific questions that I suspect Coinbase also had:

What vitamin is unavailable in the US but available internationally?

Is said vitamin legal to import to the US?

Why does the vendor not take anything but Bitcoin?

Why can't you wait a couple weeks to get it?

Where were you getting it previously without Bitcoin, given that it's so critical you can't go without?

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