Bitcoin transfer fees

[nmat]

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...

[nafai]

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.

[nmat]

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?

[nafai]

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.

[JoelKatz]

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...

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.