Transaction stuck for 10 hours (used Bitcoin Core)

[RonPaulBTC]

I sent a transaction 10 hours ago, and it's still at 0/unconfirmed. I did not send the recommended fee, but the fee is decent enough (2800 sats).
A month ago I sent a transaction for the same amount of BTC, with a fee of 1800 sats and it went through without problems. The usual recommended fee in Blockchain.info is around 1500 sats, so 2800 is definitely decent...

Anyway, why is this thing stuck??? I paid for a service and now im stuck with the damn transaction at 0 confirmations... help?

PS: No, I will not post the transaction id for privacy's sake. There's nothing to see anyway... it just shows up the unconfirmed amount of BTC.

[achow101]

The amount of BTC being sent does not matter. What matters is the actual size of the transaction in bytes. If you send the same amount in two transactions but one has more inputs than the other (thus making it bigger), then it will require a higher fee. Also, the condition of the network is constantly changing, so what worked a month ago may not work now.

It is stuck probably because your fee is too low. According to https://bitcoinfees.21.co/ (which is known to be fairly accurate)

For the median transaction size of 258 bytes, this results in a fee of 20,640 satoshis (0.13$).

2800 satoshis is not enough.

Since you are using Bitcoin Core, you should just use the fee that Bitcoin Core recommends. If you choose the "Recommended" option and move the slider to "Fast", it will give you a fee that is usually enough to get the transaction confirmed in the next block.

To fix this, in Bitcoin Core, go to Help > Debug Window and then the Console tab. In the box at the bottom, type

Code:

abandontransaction <txid>

Where <txid> is the txid of your stuck transaction (when copying from the transaction list, make sure you remove the -000 that Bitcoin Core appends to the txid). Then hit enter. This will enable you to respend the inputs that you used in your stuck transaction so you can send it again but with a higher fee.

[RonPaulBTC]

The amount of BTC being sent does not matter. What matters is the actual size of the transaction in bytes. If you send the same amount in two transactions but one has more inputs than the other (thus making it bigger), then it will require a higher fee. Also, the condition of the network is constantly changing, so what worked a month ago may not work now.

It is stuck probably because your fee is too low. According to https://bitcoinfees.21.co/ (which is known to be fairly accurate)

For the median transaction size of 258 bytes, this results in a fee of 20,640 satoshis (0.13$).

2800 satoshis is not enough.

Since you are using Bitcoin Core, you should just use the fee that Bitcoin Core recommends. If you choose the "Recommended" option and move the slider to "Fast", it will give you a fee that is usually enough to get the transaction confirmed in the next block.

To fix this, in Bitcoin Core, go to Help > Debug Window and then the Console tab. In the box at the bottom, type

Code:

abandontransaction <txid>

Where <txid> is the txid of your stuck transaction (when copying from the transaction list, make sure you remove the -000 that Bitcoin Core appends to the txid). Then hit enter. This will enable you to respend the inputs that you used in your stuck transaction so you can send it again but with a higher fee.

Cool I will do that. But how come blockchain.info recommends way lower fees?

Also the service I paid to says that they have received the money but I have to wait for confirmations and it doesn't let me generate a new address to sent Bitcoins at... when I cancel the transaction I guess I will be able to create a new sending address? Or do I send to the same address?

[RonPaulBTC]

I have just tried "abandontransaction <txid>" and I get this:

"Transaction not eligible for abandonment (code -5)"

What does it mean?

[steven0021]

I have just tried "abandontransaction <txid>" and I get this:

"Transaction not eligible for abandonment (code -5)"

What does it mean?

Don't know what it mean but try using zapwalletexes instead. Refer to this post on how to do it for windows. The OP on that thread got the same message too.

Make sure you close bitcoin core before you do that. And backup your wallet.dat just in case.

[RonPaulBTC]

I have just tried "abandontransaction <txid>" and I get this:

"Transaction not eligible for abandonment (code -5)"

What does it mean?

Don't know what it mean but try using zapwalletexes instead. Refer to this post on how to do it for windows. The OP on that thread got the same message too.

Make sure you close bitcoin core before you do that. And backup your wallet.dat just in case.

Damn this is insane, looks like its going to take forever rescaning it.. i want to sleep.

[achow101]

Cool I will do that. But how come blockchain.info recommends way lower fees?

I don't know. Blockchain.info has a lot of problems in general.

Also the service I paid to says that they have received the money but I have to wait for confirmations and it doesn't let me generate a new address to sent Bitcoins at... when I cancel the transaction I guess I will be able to create a new sending address? Or do I send to the same address?

It depends on the service. Since addresses don't expire, you can still send to the same address. It's on the service to know that you attempted to bump the fee. If your transaction confirms but the service isn't recognizing it, then contact their support because that is on their end.

Damn this is insane, looks like its going to take forever rescaning it.. i want to sleep.

It will fix your problem. Rescanning should not take too long, but it does take a while since it has to scan through the entire blockchain.

[RonPaulBTC]

It crashed right when it got to 100%... Jesus Christ. I have wasted my entire day trying to get this thing done... you guys need to give better solution for this shit soon. RPF or something else that doesn't require waiting for scanning the entire blockchain.

What im supposed to do if it crashes again??

[jackg]

It crashed right when it got to 100%... Jesus Christ. I have wasted my entire day trying to get this thing done... you guys need to give better solution for this shit soon. RPF or something else that doesn't require waiting for scanning the entire blockchain.

What im supposed to do if it crashes again??

There is no fast solution for it! Scanning the entire blockchain yourself works but takes time and there is still a chance you still get the same error (if you sleep now it may confirm before you wake up).
You should remember to add a higher fee to your transaction next time as, otherwise it will get stuck again.
Someone could try to rebroardcast the transaction but that will not do very mcuh (I don't think)!

I read you are using blockchain.info, if you switch to other online wallets like Coinbase then you avoid setting your own transaction fees and tey set really high ones and fund them for you to make it much easier and cheaper for transferring fees!

[steven0021]

It crashed right when it got to 100%... Jesus Christ. I have wasted my entire day trying to get this thing done... you guys need to give better solution for this shit soon. RPF or something else that doesn't require waiting for scanning the entire blockchain.

What im supposed to do if it crashes again??

Refer to this thread for RBF.
If you experience another crash when starting core normally, post the debug.log here and we'll try to help you fix it. It's in the same directory as wallet.dat (C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin by default).

[RonPaulBTC]

Interesting... I rescanned again and it turns out the confirmation finally confirmed, by the time I opened it had like 8 confirmations. Looks like it finally went through.. now I have to see if there is any problem with the domain name I bought for my website, I will check later to see if the funds are available on the site.