“Do a better job ensuring that users are charged for the on-chain fees that are actually paid. Perhaps that means refunding back overages when the withdrawal is processed in a large batch that enables the fee to be shared among many users.”

I really like this idea. 

 The sad truth, I suspect, is that Coinbase simply makes a very fat profit on people who buy #Bitcoin’s.  

 Of course they do. They're dealing with all the regulatory B.S., interfacing with ACH in a way that doesn't freak out banks, etc. If you want to be able to easily buy KYCed bitcoin from your checking account or wire transfer, they do a good job and they earn that profit. 

I tried Swan recently to see if they were better and… goddamn, that's one janky service! 

 Don’t do business with Coinbase. Problem solved. 

 Strike does something similar if you're in a hurry, but if you can wait a day, it's free. I think that's pretty fair. 

 Bang on. Applies to many other exchanges, as well. So long as they can get away with doing this, they will, as they are incentivised to do so. 

Withdrawing via LN to something like Aqua wallet, or Boltz, is often a good way to side step egregious withdrawal fees. 

 This doesn't mention the rectal scan necessary to prove you're not a terrorist, before they will even entertain the idea of withdrawing your bitcoin. 

 If you insist on KYC, @strike  fixes this. 

 If you'd used the order book instead of buying like a noob, you would have paid much lower fees for your purchase! Seems disingenuous. 🤨 

The withdrawal fees can be a problem, but they are basically taking on the risk of fee spikes after you place the order, and they're disclosed in advance. Would be better if there were an option to dial down the priority, but it's never really been a problem for me, especially now that they support Lightning. 

 Some of the other transactions may be part of a Coinbase service that gives unlimited, no fee transactions for a flat, annual fee? 

 It seems like in addition to all that, they could offer the option for the user to set the proposed fee themself and take responsibility for the transaction from there.  The user could choose to set a low priority fee and wait; or even choose to pay an acceleration service if it ends up taking too long.

Obviously, this wouldn't be great for the less experienced users - but that's why you would only offer it as an option.  And, it would sidestep batch withdrawals and thus some potential profit for the exchange - but, the more experienced users would likely appreciate and repay that freedom with more customer loyalty than they otherwise would when they don't have the option not to get fleeced on fees. 

 For non us person, just use @mtpelerin