Bitcoin Forum

I purchased bit-coins through Bit-instant >ZipZap>Moneygram> and payed a CVS. I have a conformation letter from both ZipZap and Bit-instant saying the transaction went fine but i have no bit-coins in my wallet yet. Its only been 3 hours since my purchase but i am a little skeptical from all the forums i have read. I checked the order on bit-instant and it said it was a success but when i search the order ID on blockchain it cant find anything. I was not expecting any complication at all. I am a first time user and this is not looking good for bit-instant. I have 60 less dollars in my pocket and still no bit-coins. Iv triple checked to make sure my bit-coin address is correct and it is. Would anyone on this forms be able to help me?

-thanks

for future reference my order ID is: 340a1a31-13f0-472d-86b5-8cd16bc1aaec

Hi, it looks like your order did in fact execute as seen here:

http://blockchain.info/tx/adcbf0c524e9598cad4dadf3885d1a46021985f657ec4089e123aaa3b8e80989

If you do not see your wallet balance updating it might have 3 possible causes:

1 - You're not up to date on the blockchain ("out of sync" is what the bitcoin.org client calls this)

2 - If you're using a third-party wallet provider such as an exchange or web-based wallet they have not updated your account balance

3 - You provided the wrong address - this can happen sometimes for blockchain.info wallet users who mistakenly use the privacy feature and enable the mixer

Happened to me on bitcoin-e site. I bought a small of amount of bitcoin (around $14) and my money was taken out but never credited to my bitcoin.

Was this via BitInstant? If so, please provide your order details and it can be fixed

The bitcoin address i used is not through a blockchain wallet, i am using the Linux bitcoin client as seen on the front page of Bitcoins.com so im guessing this is a "third-party wallet provider". I know the address i used is correct, i copy and pasted it and iv quadruple checked to make sure. Could it be that the bitcoint client has not updated yet? if so how can i get it to update? thanks for the response

It's very difficult for us to troubleshoot someone else's software.  There are many wallet providers out there and we are currently not one of them.  I am not familiar with the Linux client that you speak of so your best bet would be to look at the devs site for support and if that fails I would try searching for other users with the same issue or contacting the developer of the software in question.

i understand, thanks for the info

If by linux client you mean the one from bitcoin.org the most likely issue is your client hasn't updated on the blockchain, when using bitcoin-qt you'll see a little progress bar at the bottom of the main client window showing how far along it is - if this progress bar is not moving along at all or remains at 0% then you need to check your firewall settings etc.

Most importantly, make sure you don't lose your wallet.dat - even if your client is out of date, your private keys in wallet.dat are still of use. For detailed debugging i'd refer you to the rest of this forum if it is indeed the bitcoin.org client - if you are using another client then contact the developer for support.

i just installed the client for bitcoin.org but am unable to get it running. The client i have before is from bitcoins.com i searched for a wallet.dat file but only found wallet.h and wallet.cpp. i sent the webiste and email but im starting to get a little leery with the legitimacy of the site, i noticed theres only about 3 or 4 webpages. im going to restart my comp see if that changes anything.

restarted, still cant open any of the files from the client from bitcoin.org  but i noticed that the client from bitcoins.com is v 0.3.24 and the one from bitcoin.org is .0.8.2

Is this the address you used? 1Goct84NNkrTt6BYt3vZsooHBWWmXBxuix

Those wallet.(x) files are source code files for the client.
I'm not sure about the linux path to the wallet.dat, but in windows it's c:/users/<user name>/AppData/roaming/Bitcoin. Perhaps linux uses a path similar

yes that is the address i used, how did you know that. looked everywhere for wallet.dat file couldnt find it

The blockchain is the ledger like your bank keeps track of fiat. It tracks the history of every Bitcoin. ;)
Don't worry, that is a public address and can NOT be used to steal your coins

Do you have a search function? Search wallet.dat

edit: it looks like you already did that...

haha im not worried about u stealing my coins im worried about how to get my coins or at least my $63.95 back. is there anyway i could access that bitcoin address from a different wallet?

already did nothing came up but wallet.h and wallet.cpp :-\

Try this!
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Data_directory#Linux

well it doesnt really look like it did anything i typed find / wallet.dat -print 2>/dev/null and the next line said /home/alex/.bitcoin/wallet.dat i looekd for it there but couldnt find it

Just wait some time, it will work.

its been almost 8 hours now, you think theres still a chance its coming?

~/.bitcoin/wallet.dat

Check your client is actually getting blocks and is in sync with the network.

Again, if using the client from bitcoin.org, you should see a progress bar at the bottom of the window - if that hasn't moved at all then that would explain your issue and you need to check your firewall settings.

The transaction itself is definitely sent and confirmed so this is a local client issue.

He isn't using the satoshi client. He is using this one http://www.bitcoins.com/

In that case i'd defer entirely to the developer site

Having said that, the actual download links go to the satoshi sourceforge project

well thank you guys so much for the help it is greatly appreiciated. im gonna get some sleep and check back on the situation tomorrow.

Oh, haha! I didn't realize that  :P

The main thing is keeping your wallet.dat safe, do this before messing around any further:

cp /home/alex/.bitcoin/wallet.dat /home/alex/wallet.dat.bak

Then store a copy of wallet.dat.bak somewhere safe - so long as you have the private key contained in that file you haven't lost anything.

One thing i'm obligated to say however: BitInstant can not accept liability for any client or wallet issues as our responsibility is fulfilled once the transaction is sent on the bitcoin network and so any support offered here from myself is purely from me personally and not representative of the company.

With that out of the way, if you're still having issues tomorrow and just can't get it to work, get in touch and i'll assist you in switching to an easier to use wallet.

Never heard of bitcoins.com until this came up. For some reason, they link to ancient version of the client on sourceforge. This client is out of date. Try to locate and save your wallet, and move to the legitimate, latest client.

I would use more reliable services like MtGox, CampBX, Coinbase, or a trusted seller on localbitcoins.

a ha!

That would explain things - there's been some protocol changes right?

Read the thread. He used bitinstant, and he received the coins without any problems. He even received free foot massage here from their representative. The problem is that he was using an outdated client which is likely out of sync with the network, so it doesn't show the transaction. Ultimately, the problem is that bitcoins.com, apparently operated by one of your "reliable" services (tibanne, that is mtgox) is irresponsibly abandoning their website and leaving it with outdated information.

this is what i figured the problem was but the problem with that is there is no wallet.dat file in the client i downloaded. I meant to go to bitcoin.org but i guess i was just tired or something and went to bitcoins.com

Don't delete anything! Download the latest client (0.8.2) and run it. It uses the same data dir and should show your coins once synced to the network.

Good il try this when I get home.

got your bitcoins yet?

I honestly have no idea why I read this whole thread, but I'm curious to see what happens now. *watching*

I opened the new client and it is now synching with the network but its taking forever since i was 116 weeks behind. I hope this works looks more promising than the last client.

It will take a while, unfortunately. That is one of the issues the devs have been working on

If you are in a hurry, you can use dumpprivkey from the console to export the key associated with your receiving address, then import this to a blockchain.info wallet (never used it, but I assume it lets you import keys).

yeah its been running for a about 8 hours and i still have 9 weeks left to synchronize.

Hey it worked guys. after synchronizing my balance was updated. Thank all of you so much for the help i really appreciate it.

Good to hear that you received your order.  Keep in mind that if you don't open your wallet for a long period of time that it may take longer to sync with the network and update your transactions.  Have a great weekend.  :)

Glad to see it all worked out. I sent a message to MagicalTux asking to either update or redirect bitcoins.com - hopefully he acts fast to avoid more frustration for newcomers.

yeah thats a good idea, id hate for someone to have to go through the same trouble haha its was frustrating.

Ok will do, Have a great weekend too