[staunch]

They probably reversed it because they (wrongly) suspected fraud. I'm sure it's well within their Terms of Service.

You're the one gambling money on an unproven digital currency, created by an anonymous person on the internet, via an unproven and completely overwhelmed little startup. If you can't handle losing money on a failed transaction then don't play the game.

[berberous]

Maybe I'm misinterpreting your tone, but you sound overly defensive of CoinBase and dismissive of the OP. He's not crying over his losses, but warning others about the terrible customer service he has received. And I for one appreciate these warnings.

You're right that the people gambling on BTC are playing a risky game, and maybe they should expect events like this. Likewise, however, a startup flush with tons of capital that can't be bothered to even reply to its customers' support tickets shouldn't complain when people warn others away from them. (Although r/bitcoin is probably a better forum than Hacker News).

Regardless of their TOS, they know full-well that customers use their platform to speculate. If they can't handle high-value financial transactions properly, or at least respond to their customers when things go wrong, then they shouldn't play the game either.

[abijlani]

It wasn't a failed a transaction. They never said the transaction failed. I got a confirmation that the sale was completed.

[staunch]

It's failed if Coinbase suspected fraud and it's reversed.

[abijlani]

From their Terms of Service:

> 3.5 When buying or selling bitcoin, you are buying or selling from Coinbase directly. Coinbase does not act as an intermediary or marketplace between other buyers and sellers of bitcoin.

[staunch]

Also from their Terms of Service:

> Coinbase may cancel or reverse potentially high-risk buys or sells of bitcoin, including those made using reversible payment methods.

Could very easily be that your transaction was flagged and then reversed. Your BTC was returned in full. If the price had gone in the other direction I doubt you would be offering to compensate Coinbase for the difference.

[abijlani]

If it failed then why did they take 7 days to return my BTC? That's the benefit of BTC that things can be verified in a matter of minutes.

[bradleysmith]

coinbase has been overwhelmed with increased volume and rapid fluctuation in the last two weeks. As staunch has said, to have only lost time in the transaction process and missed chances to get in or out at a particular price was an inherent risk in placing the transaction in the first place.

I have also been held up by coinbase delays in transactions over the last few days (though nothing was reversed), so I empathize with the pain. If you know of a more reliable and more quickly servicing online bitcoin exchange, I know many who would be happy to hear about it.

[staunch]

Yes, that's slow, but they gave you back all your Bitcoins. I get that you're disappointed about losing money trying to trade Bitcoins, but if this is how you react to this relatively minor problem you should not be trading Bitcoins yet. Problems like this are the norm right now.

[malandrew]

That's fine that they can reverse transactions that are fraud. However after investigating the transaction and determining that it isn't fraud, then they should be on the hook for honoring the transaction. Incorrectly flagging legitimate transactions as fraudulent is their problem, not the customer's. They should either improve the algorithm or provide additional controls that give them confidence that a transaction is not fraudulent (e.g. two factor authentication. linking bank accounts and confirming a person's identity). If a person has completed all the security requirements Coinbase has, then that person should be able to make a transaction with the confidence actually will clear.

[dlazerka]

You cannot reverse bitcoin transaction. It either happened or not, determined by the broadcasted block chain.

[staunch]

It's a Coinbase transaction and not a Bitcoin transaction that's at issue.

[yapcguy]

It looks like Coinbase has a problem managing their float of Bitcoins and/or serious risk management problems.

There was a story yesterday about someone wiring over tens of thousands of dollars and not hearing back for 1-2 weeks.

My theory is that Coinbase are performing some kind of proprietary trading and have burnt themselves badly, and to recover losses, they are front-running customers and delaying trade settlement.