transaction not confirmed - what can i do?

[erre]

Hi,

This sunday i've sent a transaction to 3 different addresses using my blockchain.info wallet using 0.0001 commissions (i thought it was enough, was i wrong?). Today the transaction is still not confirmed, and propagation is very low (2 nodes).

What should i do now? Someone told me to rescan my wallet but i can't 'cos i used a blockchain.info account

[1715005945]

1715005945

[1715005945]

1715005945

[1715005945]

1715005945

[byt411]

Can you give us the transaction IDs so that we can check?

[erre]

sure: 033480dc55e79381f69dbf9097d3e9d2a13194ea94b5b93a2cebc52027d58dae

[byt411]

I see why. It is because your transaction has many inputs and many outputs.
If you don't understand, it means you are sending the bitcoins from many addresses to many other destinations.

It should eventually confirm, but it's difficult to know when. You should've paid more fees.

[hostmaster]

  Takes time but will be confirmed for sure!

[erre]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

also, do i need fees to move btc between different addresses of my blockchain wallet?

[byt411]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

I have no idea how long you will have to wait. What client are you using?

[erre]

blochchain.info online wallet.

I would prefer not to mess things up more, but there's no way to "pump" the transaction?

When you say "i have no idea" you mean that it could be mounths/years/centuries? If so, i for sure need a fix

[byt411]

blochchain.info online wallet.

I would prefer not to mess things up more, but there's no way to "pump" the transaction?

No, you cannot add more fees to an existing transaction. You should always use the recommended fee of the blockchain.info wallet, unless you are sending to 1 person only.

[DannyHamilton]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

Generally if the transaction doesn't confirm within 3 days or so, blockchain.info will stop broadcasting the transaction.  As long as nobody else re-broadcasts the transaction, blockchain.info will drop the transaction and return the funds to your wallet.
 

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

The blockchain.info wallet should calculate the correct fee for you unless you use "custom transaction".  If you use "custom transaction" and you don't know what you're doing, you are likely to pay insufficient fees and have this problem.

also, do i need fees to move btc between different addresses of my blockchain wallet?

Yes.

[byt411]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

Generally if the transaction doesn't confirm within 3 days or so, blockchain.info will stop broadcasting the transaction.  As long as nobody else re-broadcasts the transaction, blockchain.info will drop the transaction and return the funds to your wallet.
 

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

The blockchain.info wallet should calculate the correct fee for you unless you use "custom transaction".  If you use "custom transaction" and you don't know what you're doing, you are likely to pay insufficient fees and have this problem.

also, do i need fees to move btc between different addresses of my blockchain wallet?

Yes.

Your blockchain wallet means nothing. You are simply controlling various addresses from the same place.
If you do 1 to 1 or 2 to 2 transactions, (1 input, 1 output or 2 input, 2 output) you can add a fee of 0.001BTC, and it should work with no problems.
But in your case it is a 4 to 4 transaction, and you should use the default setting to send them.

[erre]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

Generally if the transaction doesn't confirm within 3 days or so, blockchain.info will stop broadcasting the transaction.  As long as nobody else re-broadcasts the transaction, blockchain.info will drop the transaction and return the funds to your wallet.
 

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

The blockchain.info wallet should calculate the correct fee for you unless you use "custom transaction".  If you use "custom transaction" and you don't know what you're doing, you are likely to pay insufficient fees and have this problem.

also, do i need fees to move btc between different addresses of my blockchain wallet?

Yes.

Thank you for the explanation. I used the custom transaction 'cos i needed to send money to 3 wallets and wanted to minimize the fee, now i know it don't work like that (a formula for calculating the fees would be nice tough). I also used to store my money in many different address for inventary purpouse, now i know it's not a good thing for fees issues when i want to transfer money.

[byt411]

Ok, so i just have to wait? Rougly how much time? (days, weeks, centuries...). Thank you, i'm more relaxed now...

Generally if the transaction doesn't confirm within 3 days or so, blockchain.info will stop broadcasting the transaction.  As long as nobody else re-broadcasts the transaction, blockchain.info will drop the transaction and return the funds to your wallet.
 

How can i correctly calculate the fees the next time?

The blockchain.info wallet should calculate the correct fee for you unless you use "custom transaction".  If you use "custom transaction" and you don't know what you're doing, you are likely to pay insufficient fees and have this problem.

also, do i need fees to move btc between different addresses of my blockchain wallet?

Yes.

Thank you for the explanation. I used the custom transaction 'cos i needed to send money to 3 wallets and wanted to minimize the fee, now i know it don't work like that (a formula for calculating the fees would be nice tough). I also used to store my money in many different address for inventary purpouse, now i know it's not a good thing for fees issues when i want to transfer money.

There is a section on the bitcoin wiki about the transaction fees, but after reading it I still have no idea how it works. There are no calculators either.

[erre]

not much user friendly...

[M4v3R]

Note that one of your outputs is 1 satoshi (0.00000001). This is generally considered as an "dust output", and transactions containing those sometimes are not ever relayed through the network. Most miners won't include them in the blocks as well. In future, try to avoid creating these.

Source: http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/10986/what-is-meant-by-bitcoin-dust
It was included in main Bitcoin client here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/2577

[erre]

Shit... 3 days passed, i got no refund and the transaction is stuck @ "0% - 2 nodes".

So my money are basically lost? That would be a shame...

[DannyHamilton]

Shit... 3 days passed, i got no refund and the transaction is stuck @ "0% - 2 nodes".

So my money are basically lost? That would be a shame...

Try asking for help from support at blockchain.info

I suspect they'll drop the transaction eventually.  I thought they typically did after about 3 days.  Perhaps they are waiting more like 5 days now?  Their support team should be able to help you.

[tholenst]

So my money are basically lost? That would be a shame...

No, don't worry. The money is not lost. The transaction is not confirmed, so basically it is not "executed" -- and the money is still where it was initially.

The problem is that the transaction has a very small output; 0.00000001 BTC which is about 0.0005 cents.

The support of blockchain.info should be able to help you.

[byt411]

So my money are basically lost? That would be a shame...

No, don't worry. The money is not lost. The transaction is not confirmed, so basically it is not "executed" -- and the money is still where it was initially.

The problem is that the transaction has a very small output; 0.00000001 BTC which is about 0.0005 cents.

The support of blockchain.info should be able to help you.

Either contact support or wait for the transaction to get dropped from the pool memory.

[M4v3R]

No, don't worry. The money is not lost. The transaction is not confirmed, so basically it is not "executed" -- and the money is still where it was initially.

That is correct, even though blockchain.info misleads you by showing the transaction as "unconfirmed" (due to the fact that they authored the transaction, so they've included it into their memory pool) it doesn't exist anywhere else in the Bitcoin network. You can check that by using the alternative Block Explorer:

http://blockexplorer.com/tx/033480dc55e79381f69dbf9097d3e9d2a13194ea94b5b93a2cebc52027d58dae

So as tholenst said, just go to blockchain.info support and they will be able to resolve this. It's also a bug on their side that they allow sending such small outputs from their UI, so be sure to tell them that as well so nobody else encounters this issue.

[erre]

So, as far as i understand, i could "double-spend" these money also if my wallet say i have not enough credit? If i can't, i need to "export" my wallet somehow i suppose, that should work right?

I wrote to support, but they responded like this:

Mandrik (Blockchain)


Hello, Btcerre! Any unconfirmed transactions will either eventually confirm or be rejected. Including a transaction fee of at least 0.0001 bitcoin will almost always assure that it gets confirmed faster. If it eventually is rejected, then the funds would appear in your wallet again. The only thing you can do at this point is to wait and see if the transaction is accepted into a block. Blockchain.info has no control over this, and cannot expedite transactions. This is always dependent upon the bitcoin network itself.

-----
Mandrik | Blockchain.info Support

[M4v3R]

Yes, actually you could export your private key for that wallet, import it into bitcoind or another web wallet with that function, and you will be able to spend these funds.

Edit: Their response is just a copy-paste. They didn't even bothered to check that the transaction does NOT appear elsewhere on the Bitcoin network, so they DO have control over it.

[erre]

They replied:

Mandrik (Blockchain)

Feb 25 13:37

Hello, Btcerre! Any unconfirmed transactions will either eventually confirm or be rejected. Including a transaction fee of at least 0.0001 bitcoin will almost always assure that it gets confirmed faster. If it eventually is rejected, then the funds would appear in your wallet again. The only thing you can do at this point is to wait and see if the transaction is accepted into a block. Blockchain.info has no control over this, and cannot expedite transactions. This is always dependent upon the bitcoin network itself.

-----
Mandrik | Blockchain.info Support

After 8 days, transaction is still stuck... exporting my keys should work right?

[byt411]

They replied:

Mandrik (Blockchain)

Feb 25 13:37

Hello, Btcerre! Any unconfirmed transactions will either eventually confirm or be rejected. Including a transaction fee of at least 0.0001 bitcoin will almost always assure that it gets confirmed faster. If it eventually is rejected, then the funds would appear in your wallet again. The only thing you can do at this point is to wait and see if the transaction is accepted into a block. Blockchain.info has no control over this, and cannot expedite transactions. This is always dependent upon the bitcoin network itself.

-----
Mandrik | Blockchain.info Support

After 8 days, transaction is still stuck... exporting my keys should work right?

I suppose you can export your keys to another wallet, such as electrum to use.

[DannyHamilton]

I suppose you can export your keys to another wallet, such as electrum to use.

This will not help.

Electrum will show the same transaction also unconfirmed.

[byt411]

I suppose you can export your keys to another wallet, such as electrum to use.

This will not help.

Electrum will show the same transaction also unconfirmed.

The transaction was only relayed by BlockChain.info...

[DannyHamilton]

After 8 days, transaction is still stuck... exporting my keys should work right?

Probably not.

The transaction still exists on the network.  So anywhere that you attempt to import the keys will see the same transaction.

Usually blockchain.info stops broadcasting the transaction after 3 to 5 days.  Since the transaction is still visible after 8 days, I would guess that the recipient's wallet is re-broadcasting the transaction.

If that is true, you would either have to wait for the transaction to confirm, or you'll have to wait for (or convince) the recipient to stop broadcasting the transaction.

There is no way to predict exactly how long it will take for the transaction to be confirmed.  It could happen in the next few seconds, or it could be several weeks.

[DannyHamilton]

I suppose you can export your keys to another wallet, such as electrum to use.

This will not help.

Electrum will show the same transaction also unconfirmed.

The transaction was only relayed by BlockChain.info...

To every peer on the bitcoin network.  That's how a peer-to-peer system works.  Furthermore, it appears likely that the recipient's wallet is re-broadcasting the transaction.

[erre]

After 8 days, transaction is still stuck... exporting my keys should work right?

Probably not.

The transaction still exists on the network.  So anywhere that you attempt to import the keys will see the same transaction.

Usually blockchain.info stops broadcasting the transaction after 3 to 5 days.  Since the transaction is still visible after 8 days, I would guess that the recipient's wallet is re-broadcasting the transaction.

If that is true, you would either have to wait for the transaction to confirm, or you'll have to wait for (or convince) the recipient to stop broadcasting the transaction.

There is no way to predict exactly how long it will take for the transaction to be confirmed.  It could happen in the next few seconds, or it could be several weeks.

Thank you very much for your help guys, without you i would feel lost now

If i understood 2 nodes have my transaction right? Have I to wait for them to mine a block or what? And why the transaction is not shown up on the network if i use an alternative block explorer? And what this 1% means?

Now the propagation is 1% - 2 nodes... some days ago it was 0% - 2 nodes. Do i have some hope? What does the % means?

I will wait another week, and then i will ask blockchain to stop broadcasting. They can do it right?

Again: thank you for helping me resolving this issue and understanding how the net works 

[erre]

Yes, actually you could export your private key for that wallet, import it into bitcoind or another web wallet with that function, and you will be able to spend these funds.

Edit: Their response is just a copy-paste. They didn't even bothered to check that the transaction does NOT appear elsewhere on the Bitcoin network, so they DO have control over it.

Sorry...maybe the edit, maybe my brain damage.... i missed this post before!

So, if the transaction dosen't appear in the network, i can try to export the keys? Or would this vanify any future attempt of blockchain to resolve the issue, so better not to mess up and re-contact the support?

Can someone explain me why?

I'm trying to better understand how the network work, i'm still a newbie but so far i understood that trusting ANY site and whining to the support to help is not the best way to manage your bitcoins.

[xyzzy099]

Isn't it possible to create a double-spend using the same inputs and thereby get the transaction cancelled?

[Joshuar]

Goes to show how bad Bitcoin is, looks like the Bitcoin Protocol is deteriorating.

[pokerFace2]

Goes to show how bad Bitcoin is, looks like the Bitcoin Protocol is deteriorating.

Please read more carefully, OP used custom transaction in blockchain.info and blockchain.info did not warned transaction with 1 satoshi output will probably never be included. Bitcoin Protocol is ok, majority of miners choosed not to add dust transactions to Bitcoin blockchain