Every CoinFlip fee on one table
Most fee confusion comes from mixing up CoinFlip's two products. The ATM network and the wallet app price differently, and several things people assume cost money are free. Here's the complete matrix, compiled from official coinflip.tech disclosures and independent audits current to the byline date:
| Action | Service fee / markup | Flat fee | Network fee | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buy at ATM | Rate markup — historic disclosures ~6.99–8.99% (BTC); audits measure ~7–22% by asset/conditions | Yes (a few NZD) | Yes (floor ≈US$2.49, rises with congestion) | Full teardown with NZD examples in the ATM charges guide |
| Sell at ATM | Below-index spread, historically ~3.99–4.99% | Yes | You pay the send fee from your wallet | Cash-dispensing machines only; payout after confirmation |
| Buy in wallet app | Service fee + spread, shown on confirm screen | Varies by payment rail | Included in delivery | Compare the all-in quote against an index before confirming |
| Sell in app | Service fee + spread | — | — | NZD settlement speed depends on your bank |
| Swap in app | Spread embedded in the quoted rate | — | Network fee where applicable | Measure: compare implied rate to market cross-rate |
| Hold / receive crypto | Free | — | Sender pays | No custody, subscription or inactivity fees — ever |
| Send crypto out | Free from CoinFlip | — | Yes — goes to miners/validators | The app is not charging you; the blockchain is |
| OTC desk (large orders) | Negotiated | — | — | The correct venue above ~NZ$10k; beats every retail rate |
Auditor's note02 — The invisible feeCoinFlip publishes fee structure openly but not a fixed NZ tariff card, and quoted rates float with market conditions. Every percentage above is sourced and dated, but the binding number is always the one on your confirmation screen. The measurement ritual in section 03 makes you independent of this page — use it.
Spreads: where the real money moves
The fee line items are honest; the spread is where unwary buyers lose without noticing. When CoinFlip (or any broker-style service) quotes you a rate, the service's margin is already inside it. A "NZ$5 fee" on the receipt with an 8% spread in the rate means the receipt showed you the tip, not the bill.
This isn't unique to CoinFlip — every instant-buy service on Earth prices this way, from PayPal to your bank's FX desk — but kiosk spreads are among the widest in consumer finance, so nowhere does spread-literacy pay better. Three facts to internalise:
- Spreads are directional. Buys are quoted above index, sells below. A round trip (buy then sell) at historic CoinFlip rates costs roughly 11–14% before flat fees — the machine is not a trading venue.
- Spreads breathe with volatility. When markets move fast, quoted spreads widen to protect the operator's inventory. Buying during a violent green candle costs measurably more; calm days price tighter.
- Spreads hide in swaps. An in-app BTC→USDC swap quotes one number with the margin inside. Check the implied rate against the market cross-rate for the pair — thirty seconds that regularly finds 1–3%.
The sixty-second fee audit you can run yourself
- Open an index price. Any major tracker gives the live NZD (or USD-converted) market price. This is your ruler.
- Get CoinFlip's all-in quote. Machine or app, proceed to the confirmation screen for your actual amount — quotes vary with size, so test with the real number. You are not committed until you insert cash or tap confirm.
- Divide. Quoted rate ÷ index rate. 1.099 = a 9.9% buy premium. Add the flat and network fees as shown, divide the total friction by your purchase amount, and you have your true percentage cost.
- Decide with the number, not the mood. Our rule of thumb: under 10% all-in for a cash purchase you genuinely need today is market-fair for NZ kiosks; approaching 20%, wait for calmer conditions, apply a promo code, or reconsider the channel.
What fees do to a regular buyer: the DCA math
One purchase at 10% friction is a decision. A weekly habit at 10% friction is a wealth transfer. Consider a dollar-cost-averaging buyer putting NZ$100 into bitcoin weekly for a year — NZ$5,200 total — through three channels, using representative all-in costs:
| Channel | Effective cost per buy | Paid in fees over the year | Crypto actually acquired |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoinFlip ATM (small buys) | ≈16% | ≈NZ$830 | ≈NZ$4,370 worth |
| CoinFlip ATM (monthly NZ$433 consolidated) | ≈11% | ≈NZ$570 | ≈NZ$4,630 worth |
| Online exchange | ≈1% | ≈NZ$52 | ≈NZ$5,148 worth |
The gap between the first and last rows — roughly NZ$780 a year — is the price of using cash-conversion infrastructure for a job it wasn't built for. Consolidation claws back about a third of it; channel choice claws back nearly all of it. If your income arrives as cash (trades, hospitality, markets), the kiosk premium is a legitimate cost of your cash economy. If it arrives in a bank account, that NZ$780 is a voluntary donation.
05 — Leaving cheaplyThe exit toll: what moving crypto off CoinFlip's rails costs
A fee audit that stops at the purchase is half an audit. Eventually you'll move coins — to a hardware wallet, to an exchange to sell, to another person — and the exit economics reward a little planning:
- Out of the CoinFlip Wallet: only the network fee. Because the wallet is self-custody, CoinFlip charges nothing to leave — there's no "withdrawal fee" line, just the miner fee the blockchain demands. This is genuinely better than exchange economics, where withdrawal fees are a profit centre padded above network cost.
- Network choice is the whole cost. Moving NZ$500 of USDC costs wildly different amounts depending on the rails: Ethereum mainnet during US trading hours can eat several percent of a small transfer, while lighter networks cost cents. When both the sender and receiver support a cheaper network, taking it is free money — with the sacred rule that both ends must match exactly (our wallet guide drills the foolproof transfer protocol).
- Timing beats tipping. Miner fees track congestion, which follows US and European market hours. A non-urgent bitcoin transfer sent on a quiet weekend morning NZ time routinely costs a third of the same transfer at a frantic Tuesday peak. Your wallet shows the live fee before you confirm; glancing at it is the discipline.
- Batch your exits like your entries. The consolidation logic from kiosk buying applies in reverse: one transfer of NZ$1,200 pays one network fee; three transfers of NZ$400 pay three. Accumulate in the wallet, move in meaningful chunks, and the exit toll rounds toward zero as a percentage.
- Dust is real. Balances smaller than the network fee needed to move them are economically stranded — NZ$4 of bitcoin behind a NZ$5 fee is a monument, not money. Avoid creating crumbs: when emptying a balance, empty it fully rather than leaving decorative remainders.
Put together, a fee-literate CoinFlip user's full lifecycle looks like: enter through the cheapest sensible channel for the money's current form, hold at zero cost in self-custody, and exit in consolidated transfers on quiet networks. Every dollar the lifecycle saves compounds into the position instead of the infrastructure.
06 — Context and edge casesFair comparisons, tax, and the questions behind the question
Against the kiosk industry, CoinFlip prices well. Third-party operator comparisons consistently place it below the 10–16% markups common among competitors, and the NZ market pre-2023 saw worse. If a physical machine is a requirement, this network is a defensible choice — that's our finding across this whole audit, and it doesn't need inflating.
Against everything else, physics wins. No promo, timing or technique makes cash logistics cost like a database. The honest hierarchy for NZ buyers in 2026: OTC desk for size, online exchange for bank money, kiosk for cash-in-hand immediacy, in that order of cost-efficiency.
The tax asterisk NZ readers actually need: Inland Revenue treats cryptoassets as property. Buy crypto intending to sell or exchange it later and your profits are generally taxable income — and your fees typically join the cost base, which means keeping receipts is worth actual money at tax time. Kiosk receipts, app history exports, the lot. Not tax advice; IRD's cryptoasset guidance is clear and readable, and above hobby scale an hour with an accountant pays for itself.
And the wallet-fee myth, killed for good: holding crypto in the CoinFlip Wallet costs nothing, forever, because CoinFlip never holds it — that's what self-custody means. You pay when you use CoinFlip's exchange rails, you pay the blockchain when you move coins, and you pay nobody to simply own what you own. In an industry that loves inventing fees, that's a structure worth acknowledging: transparent where it charges, genuinely free where it claims to be, expensive only where physical cash makes expense inevitable. Buy accordingly — and check the current promotions before your next transaction either way.
Frequently asked questions
What are CoinFlip’s fees in simple terms?
For ATM buys: an exchange-rate markup (historic official disclosures around 6.99–8.99% for BTC; independent 2026 audits measure ~7–22% across assets and conditions), plus a flat fee of a few dollars, plus a blockchain network fee. ATM sells: a smaller below-market spread (~4–5% historically). Wallet app: holding, sending and receiving are free apart from network fees; in-app buys, sells and swaps carry service fees and spreads shown before you confirm.
Does the CoinFlip Wallet have monthly or custody fees?
No. There are no account, subscription, custody or inactivity fees — consistent with self-custody, since CoinFlip never holds your assets. You pay when you transact through CoinFlip’s buy/sell/swap rails, and you pay the blockchain when you move coins. Simply holding costs nothing.
What is a spread and how do I measure CoinFlip’s?
The spread is the gap between the market index price and the rate you’re quoted. Measure it in three steps: open a price index (any major tracker) and note the NZD price; get CoinFlip’s quote for your amount on the machine or app confirm screen; divide the quoted rate by the index rate. A quote of NZ$187,000 against an index of NZ$170,000 means a 10% buy spread. Sixty seconds, no maths beyond division.
Why are CoinFlip fees higher than Binance or other exchanges?
Different infrastructure. An exchange matches orders in a database; CoinFlip maintains physical machines, armoured cash collection, retail rent, on-site compliance and 24/7 phone support. Cash-to-crypto conversion is genuinely expensive to provide. The premium buys immediacy and cash compatibility — worth it for some situations, poor value for money already sitting in a bank.
Are CoinFlip fees negotiable?
At retail scale, no — pricing is network-wide and non-negotiable at the kiosk. Above roughly NZ$10,000, CoinFlip’s OTC trade desk offers negotiated pricing that substantially beats machine rates. Between those poles, promo codes and the newsletter discount are the only levers; see our promo guide.
Do I pay tax on top of CoinFlip fees in New Zealand?
Separately, potentially yes. Inland Revenue treats cryptoassets as property: if you acquire crypto for the purpose of disposal, profits are taxable income, and fees generally form part of your cost base. This site does not give tax advice — for non-trivial amounts, IRD’s cryptoasset guidance or an accountant is money well spent.
Why is the wallet app buy rate different from the ATM rate?
Different rails, different costs, different quotes. The app’s card/bank purchases don’t carry cash-logistics overhead, so pricing can differ from the machines — sometimes favourably. The habit that serves you on both: get the all-in quote on the confirmation screen, divide by the market index price, and let that single number decide where you buy today.
Do CoinFlip fees go up during market volatility?
Quoted spreads widen when prices move violently — standard practice for any instant-buy service protecting its inventory. The fee structure doesn’t change, but the rate inside your quote does. If your purchase isn’t urgent, a calm market day measurably beats a frantic one.