Exactly. I didn't realise this was going on.

Great example is of this little trick I learned the hard way with Spectrocoin. On the homepage they list the exchange rate, lets say it is currently €886. So you log in, transfer some BTC. Then you goto sell the BTC into EUR but on this page the exchange rate isn't listed at all. You assume it's the price you saw when you logged in. Unless you enter exactly 1BTC, you won't know what the actual exchange rate is.

So you enter lets say .6btc or 2.3btc and the EUR amount comes up and it seems about right but actually it's terrible rates. Unless you double check the math you don't realise you are getting scammed here. It's your/my own fault, but this is super dodgy practice.

Spectrocoin offer a price €50 less than anywhere else on the market. Then take a percentage on top. Additionally, they only update their exchange price on the page for selling your bitcoin every 5 minutes or so, and the algorithm they are using is completely hidden - so what rate are they using? Maybe getting the worst possible market price for the last 5 minutes, then subtracting €50 from that. Gotta admit, that is a fantastic money maker on their part - but the moment I realised it, I stopped using them, and why I'm here now looking for another provider.

We need to bring this to the attention of the community. Over just a few months of using spectrocoin, I believe they made more money out of me then my banks have in my whole life of paying bank fees.

Be very skeptical of these services. Be sure to check each of these things thoroughly:

• Loading fee - how much are they taking? 1% seems ridiculous. Some go as far as 2 or 3% or higher :) Madness
• Exchange rate - they are already making profit by offering a much worse exchange rate than regular exchanges so make sure you are not getting screwed here.

Good luck