FAQ — AgoraDesk (No JavaScript)

AgoraDesk will be winding down

The winding down process begins May 7th, 2024, and finishes after November 7th, 2024. Our support staff will be available for help throughout this period.

Effective immediately, all new signups and ad postings are disabled;
On May 14th, 2024, new trades will be disabled as well;
After November 7th, 2024, the website will be taken down. Please reclaim any funds from your arbitration bond wallet prior to that date, otherwise the funds may be considered abandoned/forfeited.

What is AgoraDesk?

AgoraDesk is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency OTC desk. We are a marketplace where users can buy and sell cryptocurrencies to and from each other. Users, called traders, create advertisements with the price and the payment method they want to offer. You can browse our website for trade advertisements and search for a payment method you prefer. You'll find traders buying and selling cryptocurrencies online for more than 60 different payment methods. If you're new to AgoraDesk and want to buy cryptocurrencies, please take a look at our guides.

How do I buy or sell cryptocurrencies?

You can check our buying and selling guides to get started with trading cryptocurrencies.

How do I activate two-factor authentication?

Check out our two-factor authentication guide.

I have lost my second authentication factor, what should I do?

If you have your backup code, use a QR generating service such as this (js) to generate the QR from your backup code. Then scan the generated QR with your mobile 2FA app. If you don't have your backup code, it means that you've lost access to your account. Unfortunately, it's impossible for us to be able to differentiate between a hacker pretending to be you and you actually being you.

Do you guys have a .onion site / Tor hidden service?

Yes, we do! Here it is: 2jopbxfi2mrw6pfpmufm7smacrgniglr7a4raaila3kwlhlumflxfxad.onion (you need Tor to open this link).

Do you guys have an I2P site?

Yes, we actually have two! Here they are: agoradesk.i2p or ztqnvu7c35jyoqmfjyymqggjpyky6z3tlgewk2qgbgcmcyl4ecta.b32.i2p (you need I2P to open these links).

Do you have an affiliate program?

Yup! Check it out here.

How am I protected from being scammed?

All online trades are protected by arbitration bonds. When a trade is started an amount of cryptocurrency equal to the amount of the trade is automatically reserved from the seller's AgoraDesk bond wallet. This means that if the seller runs away with your money and does not finalize the trade, AgoraDesk support can direct the cryptocurrency held in the arbitration bond to you. If you're selling cryptocurrency, never finalize the trade before you know that you have received money from the buyer. Please note that local trades do not have arbitration bond protection enabled by default.

What should I know about high-risk payment methods?

Even if you do your due diligence and only trade with reputable users there is no guarantee you'll not end up in a dispute situation. Here's something you can do to increase your chances:
1. Request 2 photo ID scans of the user (i.e. passport and driver's license), make sure that the account name matches the ID.
2. Tell the user to send you an email from the email account (maybe even tell them to put the Trade ID and something about the trade into the email).
3. Charge very high premiums for trades. For example, 25% and higher. That way you get covered if 1 in 5 of your trades are scams (given equal trade amounts).
4. Be wary of high trade amounts. Try to get a few lower amount trades with a trader first.

What’s the difference between an online trade and a local trade?

We have two different types of trades on AgoraDesk, local trades and online trades. Online trades occur online entirely through our trading platform without you ever meeting your trading partner. Arbitration bond protection is automatically enabled and funded for Online trades, meaning that as a buyer you’re automatically protected by our arbitration bond protection system. Most of trades on AgoraDesk are online trades. Local trades are meant to be carried out face-to-face, and arbitration bond protection is not automatically enabled. Because of this it is not safe to pay the seller using an online payment method in a local trade. Online payment methods are, for example, bank transfers; PayPal; Gift card codes etc.

How do I send cryptocurrencies and how can I pay with cryptocurrencies after buying them?

If you purchase cryptocurrency using AgoraDesk, the coins will be sent to your provided settlement wallet. From there you can send it wherever you wish. If you want to sell cryptocurrency, you first need to deposit cryptocurrency to your relevant AgoraDesk wallet.

How do I receive cryptocurrency to my AgoraDesk Wallet?

In order to sell cryptocurrencies on AgoraDesk you'll first need to send some coins for the arbitration bond to your AgoraDesk wallet. To do that you'll need a AgoraDesk account, access to coins in another wallet and you need to know your AgoraDesk receiving address. To find your AgoraDesk receiving address you need to go to visit the wallet page. Select the relevant cryptocurrency, the top of the wallet page is divided in three parts allowing you to both send, receive cryptocurrency and view your transactions. On the 'Receive' tab you'll find your receiving address. Once you know your AgoraDesk receiving address, you can go to your other wallet and use this address to send the coins to your AgoraDesk address.

How can I withdraw Monero to another cryptocurrency wallet from my AgoraDesk wallet?

You can withdraw coins from the AgoraDesk wallet to your personal wallet of a cryptocurrency different from the AgoraDesk currency. To do so, first you need to tick the "I want to receive another currency" checkbox. Afterwards, select the desired receiving cryptocurrency and type in the address that the coins should be sent to. Then, choose whether you want to provide the amount in either coins sent from your wallet or in the converted coins received to your destination wallet and type in the quantity. Press "Continue", and you'll be shown the relevant offers fitting your requirements. If the list is empty, try adjusting the amount. The conversion rate will be displayed for each offer, and if it's acceptable, all you need to do is press "Trade", agree to the terms, and a trade for the relevant amount will be automatically created for you. The destination address will be automatically provided to the buyer through trade chat. The rest is handled just like any other trade on AgoraDesk - the buyer will send the desired currency to the address you've provided, and upon receiving the coins, you should finalize a trade. That's it!

What is a fee level?

In Bitcoin, fee levels affect the speed at which your transaction is going to be confirmed by incentivizing miners to prioritize your transaction for a higher fee. A high fee transaction is estimated to be confirmed within a few blocks; A medium fee transaction is estimated to be confirmed within a day; A low fee transaction is estimated to be confirmed within a week.

How long does it take to send or receive cryptocurrencies to my AgoraDesk Wallet?

Transactions take between 10-60 minutes when you're sending coins to your AgoraDesk wallet or when you're sending coins out from your AgoraDesk wallet.

I've waited 60 minutes and my transaction is still pending, now what?

The relevant cryptocurrency network might be experiencing congestion, in this case transactions will take much longer to go through. Cryptocurrency transactions have to be confirmed by the cryptocurrency network. When a transaction is made it gets sent into a transaction pool from where it is bundled up into blocks that miners confirm through mining. Once the transaction has been included in a block and has been mined, it has been confirmed once. When the confirmation count of the transaction reaches a certain threshold, the transaction appears in the receiving wallet. You can see the current number of unconfirmed transactions on the network in your wallet.

How does the feedback system work?

AgoraDesk uses a feedback system that shows a score on your public profile. This score, a percentage, shows how much positive feedback a user has. You can only give one feedback to a user. The feedback can be one of three types: Positive, Neutral and Negative. Once given, feedback will be visible on a user's public profile if certain conditions are met, otherwise the feedback remains unconfirmed and does not affect the feedback score.

What is the difference between confirmed and unconfirmed feedback?

Feedback that has been given can be either confirmed or unconfirmed. Confirmed feedback is shown on a user's public profile and affects the user's feedback score. For an unconfirmed feedback to become confirmed the total trade volume between the user giving and receiving feedback must be more than 100 USD equivalent.

How do I enable web notifications?

Web notifications allow you to receive pop-up notifications through your browser whenever you get a new notification on AgoraDesk. If you're trading and want to know immediately when something happens, enable web notifications from your profile. Flip the switch that says Enable Web notifications and when your browser asks you for permission to show web notifications, press accept. You're now all set and will start receiving web notifications.

Do you have a mobile app? / How can I receive mobile notifications?

Yes we do! If you have Android, you can get it on Google Play, F-Droid, or you can download the .apk directly. For iOS devices, it's available on App Store. You can also receive mobile notifications in Telegram (js)! This guide will take you through the Telegram notifications activation process (it's easy). Our bot will then send you notifications on your AgoraDesk events.

A trader is asking me for my ID, and I don't feel comfortable.

Sometimes a trader may ask for your ID. If you're trading for the first time with a trader they may ask you to identify yourself. This is because in certain countries traders are required by local laws to know who their customers are. Most traders explain in the terms of the trade if they require ID verification or not. If you don't wish to give the trader your ID, you can always cancel the trade and search for a trader with less strict requirements. Always send your ID to the seller via the trade chat, our trade chat messages are kept encrypted on our servers and are deleted after 180 days. All photographs sent to the trade chat are also marked with a watermark to prevent misuse of the images.

I've paid but I haven't received my coins yet.

The sellers usually finalize a trade as soon as they see your payment, which can sometimes take an hour or two. If you've paid but are still waiting there is nothing to worry about, for all online trades are protected by the arbitration bond and the seller cannot run away without losing the bond. If there are any issues with a trade and the seller won't finalize it, you can dispute the trade to have AgoraDesk support resolve it. If you are buying or selling cryptocurrency online, you can dispute the trade after you have marked the payment completed. A dispute can no longer be started if the trade has been finalized or if it's a local trade without arbitration bond protection enabled. When a trade you're involved in becomes disputed, you'll receive an email. A disputed trade is usually resolved within 24-48 hours.

Why can't I send all the coins that are in my wallet?

We reserve a small amount from your wallet balance to pay the network transaction fee. Each cryptocurrency transaction has to pay a small fee to the network to be confirmed no matter from where it's sent.

I made a transaction from AgoraDesk and it is not showing on the receiving end!

Transactions take between 10-60 minutes when you're sending coins to your AgoraDesk wallet or when you're sending coins out from your AgoraDesk wallet.

I've made my payment, but I forgot to press the I have paid button or I did not press it in time.

After you send a trade request, you have a time window to complete the payment before the other party is able to cancel the trade. During this time you need to complete your payment and press the 'I have paid button'. The other party is notified that you've made the payment and the coins will be held in the bond until the other party finalizes the trade for you after seeing the payment in their account. If you paid for the purchase, but didn't mark the payment complete before the payment time window expired, please contact the other party through the trade chat. You can contact the other party and your other existing trade contacts from the Dashboard. Send a message to the other party and kindly explain the situation and why you couldn't complete payment within the time window. If the other party doesn't respond to this request please contact AgoraDesk staff using the support request form and mention your trade ID.

How are disputes going to be handled?

When the buyer or seller initiate a dispute, an admin steps into the trade chat and asks both parties for evidence and takes into account chat history and reputation to make as fair of a decision as possible.

I sent coins to the wrong address, can I get them back?

Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, once you’ve sent the coins to another address it's not possible for you or AgoraDesk to reverse it.

How often are advertisement prices updated?

Advertisement prices are based on cryptocurrency exchange rates. The exchange rates are volatile and may change rapidly. AgoraDesk updates its exchange rates and advertisement prices every twelve minutes. Prices shown in the listings and on the front page are cached, and update a little slower. Sometimes when the price is fluctuating rapidly, advertisements with the same price formula may display different prices. Sometimes market data is not available for some currencies, which leads to delays updating the advertisement prices. However, when you open up the advertisement page itself the price will be more up to date. The price is determined when the trade request is sent.

What is a floating price?

When the price is floating, the purchased cryptocurrency amount fluctuates with the exchange rate. The traded amount is determined when the trade is closed, instead of when the trade is opened. This reduces market rate risks in local cash transactions where the time between opening the trade and closing the trade can be several days.

What are the fees?

You can check all the info on the current fees on our fees page

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