Ok, I read the post about slow txn. It's dated 2013, does that still apply 3 years later?
Yes. Although honestly there are newer and easier ways to do some of the things listed there. It really depends on what wallet software and what version of that software you are using.
For example:
Bitcoin Core 0.9.0 included a new command line option -zapwallettxes
Bitcoin Core 0.12.0 included a new abandontransaction command available in the console.
It said it should clear within 5 days, it's been about 7 days, with 0 confirmation.
It also says:
"If it does not, tell the sender to resend with a fee."
As you have pointed out, it did not. So, now the sender (you) needs to re-send with a fee.
There is a note about clearing a TXN, not sure if that is the same as cancel the TXN or just clearing it from your wallet.
There is no such concept at the technical level in Bitcoin as "cancelling" a transaction. You can clear it out of your own wallet, but you can't force anyone else to clear a valid transaction out of their wallet or node if they don't want to. If you are lucky, you might be able to create a situation where the unconfirmed transaction becomes invalid. If you can manage that, then it will become impossible for the invalid transaction to ever confirm, so most other nodes and wallets won't bother keeping track of it any longer.
If I do as the post suggests to "clear" the TXN, does that return the coin to my wallet?
The coin was never in your wallet in the first place, so it can't "return" there. All information about the existence of bitcoins is in the blockchain. Your wallet simply has the private keys that allow you to broadcast new transactions to get the blockchain updated.
If you "clear" the transaction, then your wallet will forget about the transaction that it sent. It will look at the blockchain and will see that it still has the ability to spend those bitcoins. Therefore, it will display the bitcoins to you as being under your control. If the unconfirmed transaction ever becomes confirmed, then your wallet will remove those bitcoins from the balance that it displays to you once again.
So, what am I suppose to do here?
You have a few options.
1. You can just continue to wait and hope that someone eventually confirms the transaction for you. This could take days, weeks, months, years, or decades. For that matter, the transaction might NEVER confirm.
2. You can continuously re-broadcast the transaction in the hopes that someone eventually confirms the transaction for you (If you are using Bitcoin Core, then it is already doing this for you if you leave it running). This could take days, weeks, months, years, or decades. For that matter, the transaction might NEVER confirm.
3. You can create a new transaction that spends at least one of the same inputs, but pays a higher transaction fee so there is more incentive for miners and mining pools to confirm it for you. To do this you would either need to import the private key into some other wallet, or you would need to get your wallet to forget about the transaction that you sent so it is willing to allow you to create a new one.
I have a lost transaction,
The transaction isn't lost. Your wallet still has the transaction. That's why your wallet thinks it no longer has control over those bitcoins.
lost coins that one one has.
The coins aren't lost. They are in the blockchain where they've always been. Your wallet still has control of them, and will continue to have that control as long as the current transaction remains unconfirmed and you don't lose your private keys.
How do I get the coins back?
You still have them. Your wallet isn't showing them to you because it knows about a transaction that it is hoping will confirm in the future. If that transaction ever confirms, then you will have lost control of the bitcoins. If your wallet forgets about the transaction that it created, then it will show those bitcoins as being in your control.
Are they lost forever?
As long as someone (you) has the private keys that provide access, they are not lost.
The message that I was referred to said that it would post with in 5 days, since it hasn't done that and is not in the blockchain, am I just out of luck?
The message also said:
"If it does not, tell the sender to resend with a fee."
Is this the way things are suppose to work for BTC?
Yes.
If you don't provide enough of an incentive for miners to confirm your transaction, then you can wait a VERY long time for some generous miner to decide to confirm it for you out of the charity in their heart. You are effectively asking them to give up some income they could make, and do something nice for you even though they don't know you and won't get anything for it.
I didn't realize that you could loose coins by simply not getting a confirmed TXN.
They are not lost. They are just sitting there waiting for a transaction to confirm. That is the existence of ALL bitcoins at ALL times. Bitcoins, for as much as we can say they exist, are nothing more than references in the blockchain waiting to be re-assigned to the control of someone else by a confirmed transaction.
That really sucks.
It sucks that the bitcoins are still under your control? It sucks that the wallet that you've chosen to use let you send a transaction with an insufficient fee? It sucks that your wallet hasn't forgotten about the transaction that it sent? What exactly sucks? Most of the behaviors exist for a reason. Perhaps what sucks is that you've chosen to use a financial system that is still in its infancy, and you haven't bothered to understand at all how it works or how to use it well?
Feeling kinda scared at this point that im out several hundred dollars...
Perhaps that fear will drive you to be more careful in the future. However, you're not out anything yet, since the transaction hasn't confirmed yet.
