Bitcoin Forum

So I got by first bitcents in my wallet and I wanted to transfer them somewhere else, but the client says that I must pay a fee of 0.0005 because the transaction is over a file size limit. Is this because the amount is too small, because the bitcents are too recent or because of something else? I have nearly 200 confirmations...

It's a combination of many things, but how many coins you're sending and how recently you acquired them are big factors. I think sending anything .01 or below will trigger a .0005 tx fee in the current version of the client, it used to be .01 fee but was reduced.

I was trying to send 0.04 btc that I got a few days ago. So the best option is to make large transfers of old coins, right?

Yes, small amounts or new coins can make the transaction "expensive" in kilobyes which means it has a lower priority, and some miners will not accept transactions with too low of a priority. Providing a fee along with it raises the priority to offset the fact that the coins are new.

But really, 0.0005 is a pretty small fee.  If you're gonna send someone 0.04 btc and it asks for a fee, 0.0405 is not that much more.  If 0.04 btc is all you have, you can send 0.0395 with a 0.0005 fee.

Most likely, it's because you are trying to "gather" a large number of small payments into one pile. Try to avoid large numbers of small payments if possible.