For the love of all that is holy, don't use PayPal to by / sell cryptocurrency. They have a knee-jerk 'the buyer is always right' policy, even when the buyer is a scam artist and you (the seller) can prove it. It took me two times getting burned by PayPal to figure this out. That was one time too many.

Exchanges are still probably the best way to buy / sell cryptocurrency. Some exchanges don't have the capability to handle non-cyrpto deposits / withdrawals yet, so what I did is this:

1. set up an account at coinbase.com (it's free). You'll be able to buy and sell Bitcoin using your bank account or credit card

2. set up an account at an exchange that handles altcoins as well as Bitcoin. I've been using Cryptsy.com since I first got started and haven't regretted it yet. They trade in a TON of altcoins and have the ability for you to generate a deposit wallet address for each coin right on the site.

3. as you acquire Bitcoin and altcoin, through faucets, giveaways, etc... have them transferred to your secondary exchange. You'll be able to sell your altcoins for Bitcoin (or Litecoin) and then you can withdraw your Bitcoin to Coinbase, sell it there, and transfer the funds to your bank account.

That's what I've done, at any rate. YMMV.

Hope this helps!

Cynthia