And because of their delays, many others have made money on the transaction. They pay out at the market price of when the order was placed.

The OP thought it was worth it then, and bought them then.

What you seem to be missing is that the OP tried to buy them then, Coinbase did not process the transaction in a timely manner, and subsequently bought the coins for the OP today after the OP's post at the original price, having already breached the purchase agreement.

This is a pretty close to being a classic contract law case, except with bitcoins rather than tangible goods. If this goes to trial, the outcome is not likely to be favorable to Coinbase.

On the contrary. I don't want to fan the flames of conspiracy theories... but there is a very real possibility that if the market went _up_, Coinbase would have refunded the money as USD instead of BTC.

Only if Coinbase can prove to the public that they are consistent on matters like this would your assertion be correct. But if Coinbase were inconsistently applying their policies... they can make a very pretty penny on scamming their customers.

Transaction Delays are a serious problem.

Now, according to the edit, Coinbase did the right thing here and are eating the loss. So Coinbase is doing a good job at damage control...

At any time between then and now, the OP could have realized his mistake and sold the bitcoins for a lesser loss had they been in possession of the bitcoins.

Coinbase is not for trading though. He should have purchased on an exchange then.

Do I need to quote their homepage? "Hook up your bank account to start buying and selling bitcoin in minutes. It’s that easy."

He may not have held on to them, which he was forced to due to the delay.