Bitcoin Forum

hello memberz,
i have unconfirmed transaction more than 2 days, its normal?
https://blockchain.info/tx/bd8f34fd5b3a25103771af814f2159d51cdf4a62603603ea46fc32cf4506ea31

This probably isn't the right section for this (perhaps move it to the Tech Support section), but given the size of one of outputs - 0.00000217 BTC - it is pretty normal to have it be very slow to confirm.

This is about $0.00045 so that is not surprising it has not yet confirmed.

(see this for example too:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=232979.0

)


:-)

This link says "transaction not found" for me.
Sure it is the right link?

OP probably stopped broadcasting the TX.

How does one stop a broadcasting? I mean, when you hit the send button, how can you stop it?

Depends on the wallet. In bitcoin core you need to shut it down, remove the TX from the wallet.dat file with an appropriate tool (e.g. pywallet) and wait a bit. A single night waiting did it for me, but anyone could keep broadcasting your TX. Maybe someone you wanted to pay, etc.

Gee, that's quiet a hassle if you ask me.
I assume 'they' will make this easier in future version of the wallet, no?
I also assume you should take this approach to re-send the coins if they fail to confirm. I saw people talk about adding a transaction fee after the first transaction was made am I right?

A bit.


I dont think so.


Yes, this is a double spend on an unconfirmed transaction. You cant actually "add" a fee to an existing transaction. Thats why you have to stop broadcasting the old TX, wait for the other nodes to forget about it and create a new TX that spends the same inputs. Thats why I think the core devs will not make this easier in the future. Under normal circumstances (let qt/core decide the fee) this does not happen.

Indeed. Many new users make such mistake without knowing about priority, fees and confirmation times only to get into dilemma.

What would be nice to have is - if your transaction hasn't been confirmed yet, you can click on a button which allows you to -
- cancel the transaction
- broadcast again with revised fees

How would the "cancel the transaction" button work. Maybe your TX is allready part of some miners attempt to find a new block? A button like this would create a feeling of reversabilty that has nothing to do with the inner workings of the protocol. A good wallet will prevent this and most wallets do.

Well, then at least it would be great if there's a button to add a transaction fee to an unconfirmed transaction

tl;dr: This^.

slightly longer:
A transacation spends inputs of a certain value, e.g. 2 inputs with value 0.0001 and 0.01. If you make a transaction that spends these two inputs into one output (e.g. to an address [payto pubkey hash]) and pay no fee, the other party gets 0.0101 BTC. If you wanted to "add" a fee you would have to create a new transaction and to still spend 0.0101 BTC you would need different inputs, because you would need at least 0.0102 total value. The fee is sum_of_inputs - sum_of_outputs = fee (rest)

This is because they way bitcoin works an input (formerly received transaction you can spend) has to be used entirely. Thats why there is the concept of change and changeaddresses. If your input is higher in value than the transaction you want to create you need to send the rest (minus the fee) somewhere else, preferably to yourself.

The great thing about most wallets is that you dont even have to care or know about all this. They handle this for you. The "downside" is that you (usually) have to pay a fee ;)

Edit: The way bitcoin core/qt currently calculates the fee is very static and this is to be changed in the future. IIRC the concept is that core/qt analyses the last few blocks and calculates a fee based on your "target" how many blocks you are willing to wait. This will greatly improve the way fees are calculated.

Thank you for the detailed answer.

The transaction has been cancelled/removed from the blockchain because took long time to confirm.
That's happened also to me, because I set the fee to 0.00000000BTC. LOL :D

What is determining the time? When does it take too long?
Does it have something to do with orphaned blocks?

Yes, I have also seen other people mentioning and explaining same thing.

I just wish it was easy for noob people to do, rather then punching commands and firing up various tools to do this.
A simple and nice button would do the job.

OP said that he/she had an unconfirmed transaction for 2 days. Unconfirmed for 2 days because there's no miner which confirm the transaction, right? The unconfirmed transaction will not listed in a block until that had at least 1 confirmation. So, transaction will deleted in the blockchain. CMIIW :D

You can try it, send money from your wallet to another address without fee (set it to 0BTC). It will not confirmed by any miner. After few days, the transaction will deleted and the money still in your wallet.

Actually, no-fee transactions can and will be included in the blockchain if some other parameters are right (size of transaction, age of inputs, output amount).
See https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fees for some info (I haven't checked whether it is up-to-date but at least you'll get an idea).
It might take some time since some miners may refuse to process no-fee transactions, though.

Onkel Paul

More detailed :)
I just Jr. Member. I'm sorry if I make a mistake or wrong informations :'(

The transaction reappears on blockchain.info now.
OP, did you broadcast it again to the bitcoin network just now? 

So for my understanding.
It is possible to make a transaction, reject it/cancel it, and send it again (with additional fee?)?
Very confusing.

For noobs I would recommend to use the software as is, until they are more comfortable. This includes accepting the default miners fee, instead of trying to save a few cents.

I have had this happen to me the guy had to pay the fees to get it transferred to me and that is what he did. After he paid the fees I got the Bitcoin rather quickly. When people don't pay fees I think the Bitcoin comes in slower as per my experience.

This usually what always happens, thats why it is good to set a transaction fee when sending BTC to minimize headaches and long waits.

no confirmations i guess (no fees)