I have been happily using and recommending BTC Markets as the go to Australian crypto exchange since 2013. It’s never been great but it has been reliable and always got the job done. I am fully verified there and over the years I have paid $1760 AUD, 458 m฿ and 1.057 litecoin in trading fees.

On the 18th of August I deposited 5500 m฿ into BTC Markets and sold them for $30,181 AUD. I went to withdraw and saw my old bank account details in the system (for a bank account which is now closed). I was surprised to find I could not update my bank account, rather the site says;

For security reasons please contact support if you wish to change your bank details.

I clicked the link and made a support ticket providing BTC Markets my new bank account details. Almost immediately I received the reply

Hi,Thank you for contacting support. We have escalated your ticket to Tech Support. We’ll let you know as soon as we get a reply.

Then nothing… still, since the 18th of August. 5 days after that on the 23rd of August I contacted them by email rather than the ticket system to remind them of the case, again, 3 weeks later and still no response. They do not list a contact phone number anywhere.

I had no way to withdraw the Australian dollars as I could not enter a bank account to withdraw to. My money was being held in limbo for weeks by an exchange that was uncontactable and not responding. I only had 1 real option, I sold the Australian dollars back to bitcoin and withdrew that.

The net result was -$456.60 AUD in trading fees. Due to the fees and the increasing price of bitcoin the amount I was left to withdraw was 5030 m฿, that’s 470 m฿ ($2778 AUD) less than I deposited!

I can accept the loss due to the bitcoin price change as that comes with the territory and BTC Markets didn’t make any money from it. I cannot accept the $456 AUD trading fees going into BTC Markets pockets and I consider myself owed that amount.

I will update this post if BTC Markets do the right thing and refund the fees to my account. I have proof of every detail mentioned here, providing it all publicly would be bad privacy practice but I will do if it helps.

Coinjar and Living Room Of Satoshi are easy to use and reliable for Aussie crypto users. Unfortunately, their fees are high and the daily limits are low. This is the place BTC Markets filled, fees were lower and you could buy and sell large amounts. Who else serves that need in the Australian crypto industry?

Update

September 7, 2017

As per their comment bellow BTC Markets have refunded me the trading fees and its seems users can now update their own bank account details.