Dec 3 2008 5:52PM EST
The Problem With InTrade

I recently withdrew money from an InTrade account I’ve had for some years. The total cost of withdrawing the money was $53.10: A $20 fee to InTrade for “processing the bank wire”, a €10 ($13.10) wire-transfer fee to National Irish Bank, and a $20 fee to Bank of America, the intermediary bank via which the money arrived in my Citibank account. If Citi had charged their customary $25 incoming wire fee, the total would have been $78.10.

You need to have a very large balance at InTrade, or an incredibly successful trading strategy, to make trading there worthwhile if it costs the best part of $80 just to withdraw your money. And prediction markets need a critical mass of users, otherwise they die. InTrade, for one, can count me out.

[Felix Salmon]

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Posted: Dec 03 2008 6:24pm ET
I’ll definitely use the check option next time — but there’s no indication on their website as to which one is cheaper, and I stupidly thought that a wire transfer would be cheaper than printing and posting a check.
By Felix [Salmon]

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Posted: Dec 04 2008 04:46am ET
PayPal will not process transactions to online gambling sites (including Intrade) from the US. After the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act none of the payment providers will process these transactions, that is why you are stuck with check and wire transfers.

I expect that Antiguan sports books offer free withdrawal because they have much higher margins than Intrade and therefore can absorb the costs elsewhere.
By nigeleccles [Nigel Eccles of HubDub]

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Previously: Why did John Delaney shut down TradeSports?

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Previously: The InTrade predicton markets on the viability of InTrade won’t reveal *ANYTHING* about the future of InTrade.

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Previously: on TradeSports death – on InTrade’s viability

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