OKX C2C New Merchants: Beginners, follow along with us! We'll guide you step-by-step to get your first order.

Welcome to this episode of our interview. Today, we've invited " Yunxiang " (pseudonym), an OKX C2C merchant, to talk about how he entered the crypto world, why he chose to become a "beginner-friendly" merchant on OKX C2C, and how he better serves new users with patient and meticulous service, helping them successfully complete their first C2C transaction. We hope that through this interview, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of the value and services of OKX C2C.

To make it easier for everyone to read, we've extracted the merchant's core viewpoints.

The following is the full transcript of the dialogue (after editing):

1. The key to OKX C2C merchants' success lies in patience, professionalism, and trust—all three are indispensable. Patience ensures smooth communication, professionalism reassures users, and trust guarantees long-term, stable transactions.
2. I chose OKX mainly because it is safe and very beginner-friendly.
3. OKX and its merchants are truly putting beginner-friendly features into action, rather than just paying lip service to it.
4. After becoming a "beginner-friendly" merchant, the number of orders experienced a qualitative leap.
5. The "New User Friendly" feature has been launched, making the process of trading on OKX C2C more transparent and simplified, and providing scenario-based risk warnings.
6. Giving users more patience is not only good for the platform, but also beneficial for merchants.
7. C2C will become more compliant, professional, and scenario-based in the future.
8. In helping others enter the world of crypto, businesses find industry value and meaning in long-term operations, while also enhancing their personal sense of accomplishment.
9. C2C compliance and professionalization present both opportunities and challenges for merchants, but the opportunities outweigh the challenges.
10. Compliance will eliminate non-compliant businesses, allowing those that remain to operate in a healthier environment, leading to higher user trust. Professionalization will force businesses to improve their service capabilities, forming a core competitive advantage.

I. My entry into the industry and my growth experience

Q: How did you first get involved in the crypto industry? What prompted you to officially enter the field? What is your current scale?

Yunxiang: I got into crypto through a friend. At the time, I mainly focused on Ethereum, and around 2022 I officially entered the crypto space and joined the OKX platform. Initially, I mainly did ETH contract trading. It was actually a bear market then, and the market was quite volatile, but I was very interested in this industry, so I persisted. We now have our own team, and we've set up three studios. Some work with all users, while others specialize in beginner-friendly trading, which can meet the different needs of our users.

When I applied to become an OKX C2C merchant, I spent every day preparing materials for the merchant review and studying the platform rules and operational requirements. I even joked that I "didn't work this hard even during my college entrance exams." During that time, I studied almost all of the platform's mechanisms. Finally, I successfully passed the certification and officially became an OKX merchant, which was a particularly fulfilling experience for me.

Q: How did you transition from contract trading to becoming a C2C merchant? Is C2C your main business or a side business now?

Yunxiang: Initially, due to the need for cryptocurrency trading, I frequently bought coins from other vendors. Later, I realized that becoming a vendor myself would be much more convenient and could bring in extra income. For example, I could buy USDT at 7.3 and sell it at 7.4. So, while observing the market, I experimented and gradually transitioned into becoming a vendor. In particular, after accurately identifying the profit potential of C2C, I decided to pursue this business. However, at that time, similar Ponzi schemes were quite prevalent, and I was particularly worried about the platform collapsing, fearing that I would lose all my invested funds. After two or three months of observation and contact, I confirmed that the OKX platform was very safe. With some liquid funds on hand, I slowly started to operate and quickly recovered my principal and achieved stable profits. Now, C2C has become my main business, and I focus most of my energy on it.

Q: You've been operating your C2C business for 3-4 years since you entered the industry in 2022. What special cases, setbacks, or successes have you encountered during this process?

Yunxiang: My most memorable experience was when I first started using bank cards. Because I didn't understand the rules, all the bank cards under my and my family's names were frozen. Someone tried to transact with me through an account with unusual transaction history, and I didn't refuse in time, triggering the risk control measures. This was the first time I realized the potential risks. Later, I gradually studied the risk control rules provided by the OKX platform, such as monitoring user payment records, account transaction history, and whether there were platform identifiers. I gradually understood the potential risks. Now, I can share this experience with newcomers, educating them on anti-money laundering and compliant transaction rules. Especially for users who have fallen into traps or been scammed, if I can help them turn back in time, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. My deepest feeling is that while being a merchant, I can not only do a good job in business and make money, but also help more users transact safely and compliantly.

Q: How did you go from starting alone to building a team? Did you mainly work independently, or did you collaborate with others? How was the team formed and how does it function?

Yunxiang: In the beginning, I was completely working alone, both buying and selling tokens on the platform. At that time, I was actually working in sales, which was a relatively stable job, but I was determined to devote myself fully to the OKX C2C merchant business, so I resolutely resigned and focused entirely on being a merchant. Later, as the trading volume increased, I realized that one person's energy was limited. After working for more than ten hours, I was extremely tired and unable to operate efficiently anymore, so I started recruiting employees and building a team. Now the studio operates on two shifts, 24 hours a day, with dedicated teams for buying and selling tokens, allowing for efficient operation around the clock.

I deeply understand that only by fully familiarizing myself with the processes and business can I lead the team to operate efficiently. Through practice, I have come to understand every link and every detail, and know how the various positions within the team can collaborate most effectively. As the team has gradually matured, our business has achieved large-scale and systematic operation, and the entire process has become more professional and reliable.

Many employees who learn OKX C2C business from me may choose to start their own businesses independently. I fully understand and support their aspirations. I believe that employees who learn from me cannot be 100% dependent on me. If they want to develop independently, I am willing to provide financial and technical support to help them become independent C2C merchants. My team management principle is cooperation, not simple employment. We do not force employees to stay together, so team turnover is not significant. My consistent philosophy is to provide growth opportunities for employees, while simultaneously driving our business expansion in the process of helping them grow. I believe this model is a win-win situation for both employees and the team.

Q: What do you think is the most important quality or capability for a business?

Yunxiang: I believe the most important qualities for an OKX C2C merchant are patience and professionalism; these two are the core of building trust. Many of our users are willing to place orders in my shop based on this trust. At the same time, we also provide professional cryptocurrency training to our team, including Ethereum and Bitcoin, so everyone can master the necessary knowledge. For novice users, who are unfamiliar with the industry, we need to patiently guide them and use our professional knowledge and platform rules to help them solve problems. Only in this way can we build user trust in merchants. In summary, I think there are three key points: patience, professionalism, and trust. None can be lacking. Patience ensures smooth communication, professionalism gives users peace of mind, and trust ensures long-term stable transactions.

II. Reasons for choosing OKX and becoming a "beginner-friendly" merchant

Q: Why did you choose OKX as your main platform, and why did you put effort into creating a "beginner-friendly" merchant environment?

Yunxiang: I chose OKX mainly because it's compliant and very beginner-friendly. The platform offers a beginner's guide pop-up and demo trading function, allowing users to practice before real trading and reducing trial-and-error costs. The C2C merchant onboarding process is transparent, and customer service is responsive, all of which made me feel the platform is reliable. Although I compared other platforms, beginner-friendliness, customer service responsiveness, and compliance were the core reasons I ultimately chose OKX. As a former contract trader, I used demo trading to familiarize myself with the operation and experienced the convenience of starting out.

Q: After transitioning from a contract player to a C2C merchant, have your life and social circles changed? Have you gained any new insights into the industry?

Yunxiang: The main changes are in my social circle and industry networks. Through communication on the platform, I gradually built connections and collaborated with other merchants, which gave me a new understanding of these networks. Becoming a C2C merchant, from working independently to managing a studio team, I gained new insights into team management and personal development. Furthermore, my communication skills and confidence improved significantly while serving users. Providing comprehensive, hands-on service allowed me to accumulate more experience in communicating with users.

Regarding the extreme views within the industry that "money is easy to make" or "scammers abound," my perspective is this: As C2C merchants, our first priority is to manage risk, screen users, and promptly use our professional knowledge and experience to help potentially scammed users return to the industry. While risk cannot be completely avoided, we must minimize it and avoid transferring it to users. Most importantly, we must be patient with users to understand their needs, identify high-quality users, and effectively mitigate risks during the service process.

Q: Your transition from a regular C2C merchant to a more beginner-friendly merchant is uncommon in the industry. Many merchants refuse to do business with beginners, firstly because they perceive it as too risky, and secondly because they believe beginners have low transaction volumes and low profits, thus rejecting orders outright. However, you chose to do the opposite. Why did you make that choice?

Yunxiang: First of all, I am very grateful for the trust the OKX C2C team has placed in me. Secondly, I feel that the platform's user-friendly approach to new users is genuine and practical, rather than just a gimmick to attract traffic. I can feel this – the platform and our team diligently manage the new user-friendly group every day. Although I don't speak often, I pay attention to their interactions. I believe that the platform and merchants are truly putting new user friendliness into action, rather than just paying lip service.

"OKX's beginner-friendly approach" is more than just a concept; it's reflected in the specific details of its service. For example, I was truly impressed by how effectively customer service guided new users and how thoroughly risk warnings were delivered. In contrast, without merchant support and the assistance of customer service managers, it's merely a superficial formality. OKX, however, truly implements beginner-friendliness at every step. Because of this, I actively cooperate with the platform, hoping to contribute to its further development.

Q: After you transitioned from a regular C2C merchant to a new seller-friendly platform, have there been any changes in your investment strategies? For example, what adjustments have you made in terms of funding and effort?

Yunxiang: For our team, being beginner-friendly is actually very beneficial for team development. Previously, when we handled C2C platform orders, we would serve even beginners. Now, with beginner-friendly orders, we can more accurately target our service recipients. Our studio has multiple stores, but we only use the highest-rated core store for C2C, with the others serving as supplementary. Because many large merchants are unwilling to handle beginner orders, and their ratings are generally low, we've positioned all our smaller stores as beginner-friendly, accepting beginner orders 24/7. This greatly improves the team's utilization rate.

Regarding capital investment, I actually feel that the amount of capital tied up has decreased. Because the amounts in new merchant orders are small, although there may be sudden spikes at times, the overall capital tied up is not high. I've also observed the order volume of new merchants; most are small orders, with many orders between 10 and 200, while orders between 2000 and 5000, or even 8000, are rare. To ensure that new merchant orders are served, our team focuses on orders around 5000, which keeps the order volume relatively controllable and the profit reasonable. Our positioning is not about order boosting or pursuing extra rewards, but about genuinely handling new merchant orders on the platform and serving users. In layman's terms, we used to be "walking on one leg," now we have "two legs," making operations more efficient and smoother. Furthermore, we are currently considering expanding our services to larger merchants.

Q: Could you give some specific examples of how you helped users solve problems? For example, users transferring money to the wrong account, buying the wrong cryptocurrency, or failing to make a payment.

Yunxiang: Actually, these are all things we encounter daily. For example, some users don't quite understand. Because C2C risk control involves 24-hour transfers, they get very nervous when they see that we haven't released the tokens in time, worrying that the funds have been transferred to us but haven't arrived. We tell users not to worry, because we can only release the tokens after the funds arrive. Once we receive them, we will process them immediately.

Some users make transfers using accounts that are not registered under their real names. The platform requires verification of real-name authentication; if the account is not the account holder's, we will not release the tokens, which causes user anxiety. Our solution is to first refund the funds to the original payment method, and then ask the user to transfer the funds again using their own registered account. Without a registered account, trading may be impossible due to stringent risk control requirements.

Of course, we've made mistakes ourselves. Once, on an order of over 9,000, I accidentally added an extra zero, making it over 90,000. Through platform appeals and phone communication, most of the funds were recovered.

Q: Since the launch of the "New User Friendly" feature, what specific changes have you made to your operations and processes when serving new users compared to before? Have you invested more effort in this area?

Yunxiang: First, the transaction process is simpler. For example, when placing a C2C order, steps such as payment, remarks, and confirmation of receipt are marked in red, making the operation more intuitive. Second, risk warnings are more scenario-based. For example, when a user transfers a large amount, the platform will pop up a small trial transfer prompt, which is safer. Third, merchant tools are more user-friendly. We can set up exclusive welcome messages for new users, and the new user stickers are more eye-catching, making it easier for users to choose service providers. If every merchant patiently guides new users, it will be very beneficial to the long-term development of the platform.

Q: From your observation, after the new user-friendly system was implemented, what changes have occurred in your own experience or in your store?

Yunxiang: The most noticeable change is the significant broadening of our user base. Many complete beginners who had never been exposed to cryptocurrency have started trading, resulting in a marked increase in activity. My order volume has also increased dramatically. Initially, we might have only had 56 or 57 orders per day, but now we provide 24/7 service to newcomers. As of the 23rd of this month, my team and I have served approximately 15,000 users across our two stores, representing a qualitative leap in order volume.

Throughout this process, I am very grateful for the support of the OKX C2C merchant manager. He maintained communication with merchants in the group chat, providing in-depth guidance. Since many new merchants are unfamiliar with how to serve newcomers, the platform provides training, teaching them how to mitigate risks and compiling case studies of abnormal users. It's clear that OKX has invested a significant amount of effort in its beginner-friendly program, helping teams operate smoothly. Overall, the platform's training and support, coupled with merchants' efforts, have resulted in a significant increase in order volume. This not only reflects the continued expansion of the C2C business but also indicates that more and more new players are joining the market, with increasing activity and participation.

Q: Do you think it's possible to balance beginner-friendly and high efficiency? Many merchants believe that beginner-friendly is too complicated, requiring more patience and process guidance, which may affect their ability to secure large orders. What's your opinion?

Yunxiang: I think it's entirely possible to balance both. From the very beginning of our C2C business, I've believed that what we're selling is time. Knowing how to operate it yourself isn't enough; the key is teaching others how to operate it, translating complex content into easy-to-understand language so that even complete beginners can comprehend it. It's a process; we ourselves went from knowing nothing to knowing everything, gradually progressing from small businesses to operating smoothly on the platform. Giving users more patience is beneficial not only for the platform but also for merchants. The initial workload may be large, but in the long run, high-quality users will gradually form, which requires the joint efforts of the platform and merchants.

III. Advice for novice merchants and the future of C2C

Q: What are your thoughts on the future of C2C?

Yunxiang: I believe C2C will become more compliant, professional, and scenario-based in the future. Compliance is fundamental because regulations in various countries are becoming increasingly clear, and identity verification and anti-money laundering measures will be more comprehensive. Professionalism is reflected in the refined services offered by merchants, such as localized payment methods and language services for users in different regions. Scenario-based refers to the interconnectivity of the C2C ecosystem, such as the combination of transaction and payment scenarios to meet the diverse needs of users.

Q: What advice do you have for new C2C merchants?

Yunxiang: I suggest starting with depth and precise positioning. Beginner-friendly is a great entry point; platforms invest heavily in this area. First, clearly define the payment method section you want to operate in. Then, record problems and experiences during transactions, analyze the market, and identify your target customer segment. Start with a small group, perfecting beginner-friendly features, and then gradually expand. In short, finding a good entry point and precise positioning are key to achieving a good beginner-friendly experience.

Q: Do you think OKX's C2C new user-friendly label is just a gimmick, or is it genuinely providing services for new users? Specifically, in which aspects do you think it's implemented best?

Yunxiang: I don't think it's just a gimmick; it's something that's actually being implemented and carried out. First, there's the "newbie-friendly" label. Before this label, newbies might randomly choose a vendor, but the vendors' professionalism varied greatly. If they encountered an experienced vendor, they would take the time to explain things to the newbie; but if they randomly chose a vendor, the vendor themselves might not be familiar with the process. With the "newbie-friendly" label, newbies can more accurately find vendors who specifically cater to them and can provide detailed explanations, which is excellent, giving newbies a more precise choice.

Q: Besides signage, what changes have you made to your services? What do you think are the biggest challenges and gains for a new seller?

Yunxiang: The biggest change our team has made so far is that our dedicated new user service staff will explain the operations to new users in more detail. For example, if a user can't find a payment method or doesn't understand how to operate the system, the most common situation I encounter is that the user has already paid but doesn't know how to click "Paid." We handle far more order appeals from new users every day than regular orders. But we are willing to invest the effort to handle them because it's a process of helping users learn. For example, if we bring in 1,000 new users today, and our merchants serve 300 of them, then those 300 new users may be able to place orders themselves the next time they do cryptocurrency or C2C transactions, without needing merchant assistance. That's growth. I think that's fundamental. If every merchant can provide this kind of service, the entire industry will develop more healthily, and we can also collectively expand the market.

Q: Could you please summarize your gains and insights as a C2C merchant? Including your thoughts on the industry, future plans, and personal feelings.

Yunxiang: As a C2C merchant, my biggest takeaway is that in helping others enter the world of crypto, I've also found industry value and the meaning of long-term operation, while simultaneously enhancing my personal sense of accomplishment. My greatest sense of accomplishment comes from helping novice users, especially those who have been scammed, guiding them out of their predicament; this makes me feel incredibly valuable.

Q: What are your thoughts on the impact of C2C compliance and professionalization on merchants?

Yunxiang: I've considered this issue and believe that compliance and professionalization present both opportunities and challenges for businesses, but the opportunities outweigh the challenges. Compliance will eliminate non-compliant businesses, allowing those that remain to operate in a healthier environment, and increasing user trust in our businesses. Professionalization will force businesses to improve their service capabilities and form core competitiveness. The challenge is that adapting to compliance and professionalization requirements requires more investment, but this is worth considering in the long term.

Q: You have a very long-term vision. The industry will move towards compliance and mainstreaming in the future, and non-compliant companies will be eliminated. OKX has been promoting compliance, which is an inevitable trend. Today's interview was excellent. Your sharing can help more people understand the industry, and we hope to attract more new users to participate in C2C transactions.

Yunxiang: That's right.

Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not represent the position of OKX. This article is not intended to provide (i) investment advice or recommendations; (ii) an offer or solicitation to buy, sell, or hold digital assets; or (iii) financial, accounting, legal, or tax advice. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such information. Holding digital assets (including stablecoins and NFTs) involves high risk and may result in significant volatility. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you based on your financial situation. For your specific circumstances, please consult your legal/tax/investment professional. You are solely responsible for understanding and complying with applicable local laws and regulations.