How does e-gold work?
Once you setup an e-gold account you need to fund your account. The thing you need to realize is you are not depositing money into your e-gold account, you are purchasing a specific amount of gold.  With this in mind, you'll understand why you can't just transfer money from your credit card/checking account into your e-gold account.  You'll need to purchase gold.

To purchase gold you will need to use an exchange agent (kind of like a stock broker when you want to purchase stocks). There are lots of exchange agents listed on the e-gold web site on their home page under the "Buy or sell e-gold" link. All exchange agents charge a fee to purchase your e-gold and place it into your e-gold account. The fees range from 3-5% on average. 

My favorite exchange agent is The Bullion Exchange. I have never had any problems with them and their fees are the lowest I've found (2-3% to buy). The Bullion Exchange will allow you to purchase e-gold via direct deposit, bank wire, cashiers check, or money order. I try to keep to a minimum the number of places I submit my bank account information to so I always fund my e-gold account via a money order.  If you purchase e-gold with a US Postal money order, The Bullion Exchange will fund your e-gold account within one day of receiving your money order.

How to get money from my e-gold account?
Okay, now you've funded your e-gold, purchased some ad-buys from an auto-surf site, made some money, and got paid back to your e-gold account. Now, how do you get that cash back into your pocket? Very simple, you sell your e-gold. Again, you'll need to use an exchange agent to do this. I use The Bullion Exchange to sell my e-gold.  You can sell your e-gold through The Bullion Exchange via direct deposit (1% fee), bank wire (1% fee plus $30.00 bank wire fee), or corporate check (1% fee plus mail fee of $2.00 for first class mail, $20.00 domestic express, or $35.00 for international express).

Is there any option for buy/sell?
There are other payment processors that will allow you to transfer money from your bank account (some will let you transfer via credit card) into their system and then purchase e-gold through them. How do I feel about buying / selling e-gold through other payment processors? I will never do it! The payment processor becomes the middle man and charges you an extra fee. Also, I have seen too many times problems with online payment processors where people's money gets tied up and there is nothing they can do. The smartest option is to deal directly with an exchange agent.

What should I know before sign-up my account?
First you need to sit down and figure out a password (e-gold calls this a passphrase) and an alternate password (passphrase) for your e-gold account. Even though e-gold says each one should be at least 6 characters long, they need to be at least 10 characters long for added security. Also these passwords (passphrases) should be alpha-numeric/mixed case with at least one special character (&*$#@!, etc). The password should also be ones that you have never used for anything else and that you will not ever use for anything else. Random letters / numbers / special characters are best, but lets face reality. You actually need to remember your password, so you can use numbers / phrases that mean something to you, but disguise them in a crafty way.

Here are some examples of some good passwords. DO NOT use any of these for your password!!!

1. sgr&sp1ce! = Sugar and spice (& = and, 1 = "i")
2. 33ihcm$p99 = I hate changing my password (33, $ = random number, character)
3. C0wb0y$4m3 = Cowboys (0 = "O", $ = "S", 3 = backwards "E")
4. 1w2st7s2day! = I Want To Sail To Seven Seas today!

Here are some of the complex characters you can substitute for phrases:

0 = "O"
1 = "i"
2 = "to"
4 = "for"
5 = "s"
8 = "ate"
@ = "at"
$ = "s"
& = "and"
* = "star"

1. Don't reuse passwords or share them with friends.
2. Don't use words from the dictionary (including foreign).
3. Don't use parts of your user ID, biometric data, family names, etc.
4. Don't use common acronyms. (MASA, NASA, etc).
5. Don't use examples from this site.
6. Don't write down your password, especially on a post-it note stuck to your monitor.
7. Don't use common passwords such as "qwerty", "123456", "654321", "asdfgh", etc.

Where to sign-up?
Click here!