Lost money from my Electrum wallet, need help?

[sumguy2017]

First post here, hope I am in the right place with my issue? I have no clue how the below issue happened or why? Just looking for direction on what to do to correct the problem below?

Tell me if you can figure this out for me because I have no clue what happened?

I have a Electrum Wallet. I bought some BTC's from Xcoins. They sent it to my wallet. But then I tried sending the BTC to a vendor and got a "Insufficient funds" message?

I tried sending the BTC 0.025097 I got from Xcoins to a vendor, but I get a pop-up message of insufficient funds in my Electrum wallet?

Right next to that 0.025097 BTC amount I received in my wallet, there is a balance of 0.03344572 BTC. Which amounts to $168.67. So there should be enough there to send the $137 I wanted to send to the vendor?

Then above that line there is a entry saying: Local [rbf, 56. sat/b] .................  Amount  -0.02530532. (0.02530532 BTC equals $126.89). Then balance of 0.0081404. I have no clue what this line means or where it came from?

According to the Internet 0.0081404 BTC = $40.92. So adding $126.89 + 40.92 = $167.81. So where that Bold line above came from IDK? Nor do I have a clue where that -0.02530532 went too?

Any ideas or what that bold line means? Looks like I got screwed out of $126.89 somehow? I have no clue how that happened?

I right clicked that bold link and clicked details and it appears that amount was sent to the vendor I was trying to send it too? But my Electrum wallet showed that pop-up saying insufficient funds? And it appeared to me the BTC didn't get sent?

I just emailed the vendor to check if he received that amount from me? So have to wait for a response now.

I don't use BTC often, maybe once or twice a year. So I seem to have a problem understanding all the functions or gibberish in my wallet?

[1715330374]

1715330374

[BitMaxz]

You can check the details of your transaction where you see the -0.02530532 and get the hash/TXID and post it here so that we can review if you sent your bitcoin to correct vendor or you might be another victim of fake Electrum wallet.

Let me know if where did you download your Electrum wallet? Because there are many fake Electrum spreading through the internet so if you download a phishing Electrum wallet your coins will redirect to unknown wallet address and there is no way to recover them back.

Let me know if what version of Electrum you have? The latest version of Electrum is 3.3.4 so if you are using the low version the Electrum will not sync or possible you can use a server which is under attack with phishing websites and redirect you to a fake Electrum wallet.

[bitmover]

I think the best would be to post your Public addresses and transactions id you have.

With those we can use some block explorer and track of all those transactions and balances are correct and where is your BTC.

[Velkro]

I think the best would be to post your Public addresses and transactions id you have.

It could be problematic from privacy angle. Not many people want to post their transaction details because it could be risky, its like providing your transaction details from your bank account.
Malicious people could get tons of informations from it and cause you problems.

[TryNinja]

Delete the Local transaction (right-click it -> Remove) and try again.

[nc50lc]

Delete the Local transaction (right-click it -> Remove) and try again.

Do this ^.

@sumguy2017 To answer your question, that "Local" transaction was saved because you've clicked "save" after signing the transaction and forgot to click "broadcast".
The transaction was just saved in your Electrum wallet, not sent to the network and the total amount was locally deducted from the the total balance, it will return to normal if you delete it.

Next time, just sign the transaction and click "broadcast", it will automatically be included in the history tab without clicking "save".

[sumguy2017]

I think the best would be to post your Public addresses and transactions id you have.

With those we can use some block explorer and track of all those transactions and balances are correct and where is your BTC.

R. I think I will wait until I get a response from the vendor?

[nc50lc]

R. I think I will wait until I get a response from the vendor?

If it was being displayed as "Local [rbf, 56. sat/b]", the transaction wasn't sent yet.
To confirm it, copy the transaction ID from the details and paste it on an online Bitcoin blockexplorer: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. If there is no result, it's not yet broadcasted.

Warning: do not broadcast the local Tx since the vendor might have set an expiration to the payment invoice.
Simply delete it and your balance should return (it wasn't actually deducted) and try to contact the seller for a new invoice or not if there's no expiration and try again.
Also, take note that the current average fee is a bit higher than normal.

[sumguy2017]

I think the best would be to post your Public addresses and transactions id you have.

With those we can use some block explorer and track of all those transactions and balances are correct and where is your BTC.

I think the best would be to post your Public addresses and transactions id you have.

It could be problematic from privacy angle. Not many people want to post their transaction details because it could be risky, its like providing your transaction details from your bank account.
Malicious people could get tons of informations from it and cause you problems.

R. Thanks, I'm always wary about posting transaction details even if IDK how they could be misused? Better safe than sorry.

[pooya87]

~
R. Thanks, I'm always wary about posting transaction details even if IDK how they could be misused? Better safe than sorry.

if it is a signed transaction, there only issue is privacy meaning when you post your transaction you are linking it to this account you posted it with. there is no security issue though since you are already publishing that same signed transaction to the whole network.

if it is not signed and is created using Electrum there is the same privacy issue as above but also another big issue which is you revealing all of your addresses in your wallet if you share the unsigned raw tx since it contains your master public key. there is an additional security risk to this which is the case where you also reveal one private key from this wallet which can be used to get your master private key and be used to steal all your bitcoins.

p.s. if you have a transaction id (a 32 byte hash which is 64 hex characters) it means your transaction is signed and revealing that means the first privacy issue.

[sumguy2017]

R. I think I will wait until I get a response from the vendor?

If it was being displayed as "Local [rbf, 56. sat/b]", the transaction wasn't sent yet.
To confirm it, copy the transaction ID from the details and paste it on an online Bitcoin blockexplorer: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. If there is no result, it's not yet broadcasted.

Warning: do not broadcast the local Tx since the vendor might have set an expiration to the payment invoice.
Simply delete it and your balance should return (it wasn't actually deducted) and try to contact the seller for a new invoice or not if there's no expiration and try again.
Also, take note that the current average fee is a bit higher than normal.

If it was being displayed as "Local [rbf, 56. sat/b]", the transaction wasn't sent yet.

R. Are you saying the transaction may be or is still pending? Because I did get a pop-up saying "Insufficient funds". So I presume the transaction went into "Pending mode"?

When I right click  "Local [rbf, 56. sat/b]" and click details, I see a transaction number was created and my and the vendors wallet addresses. But there is nothing there that shows it was sent. I know I didn't click broadcast, as I don't see the reason for doing that? Or I just don't understand the function?

If there is no result, it's not yet broadcasted.

R. When you use the term "Broadcasted", does that mean the BTC hasn't been sent yet, I'm presuming?

To confirm it, copy the transaction ID from the details and paste it on an online Bitcoin blockexplorer: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. If there is no result, it's not yet broadcasted.

R. Okay did that, got no result? So the BTC hasn't been sent yet. It's still pending in my Electrum wallet it appears?

[nc50lc]

Yes based from that, it wasn't sent yet and it isn't "pending", it's just your wallet that knows that particular Tx, not the whole Bitcoin network.

The right way to send a transaction is: Click "Sign", type your passphrase then click "Broadcast".
After that, it will be added to the history as "Unconfirmed" and that will be successfully sent after receiving 1 confirmation (though the vendor might accept it after 4-6 confirmations).
You can safely remove the local Tx and your balance will return to normal.

Also, read the warnings and instruction in the above replies.

[sumguy2017]

Delete the Local transaction (right-click it -> Remove) and try again.

Do this ^.

@sumguy2017 To answer your question, that "Local" transaction was saved because you've clicked "save" after signing the transaction and forgot to click "broadcast".

The transaction was just saved in your Electrum wallet, not sent to the network and the total amount was locally deducted from the the total balance, it will return to normal if you delete it.

Next time, just sign the transaction and click "broadcast", it will automatically be included in the history tab without clicking "save".

R. You want me to delete this: Local [rbf, 56. sat/b] And see if my BTC comes back and try again?

Next time, just sign the transaction and click "broadcast", it will automatically be included in the history tab without clicking "save".

R. I haven't clicked the "Broadcast" button in my prior BTC transactions, but then again I really don't understand some of the commands? But if you say I should then I will. Thanks.

Okay so I removed the Local [rbf, 56. sat/b, its gone. My BTC balance is 0.03344572 which according to Google is: $166.15. I am trying to send $137, so I should have sufficient funds to send that amount? I don't see why I should get a insufficient funds pop-up?

[sumguy2017]

Yes based from that, it wasn't sent yet and it isn't "pending", it's just your wallet that knows that particular Tx, not the whole Bitcoin network.

The right way to send a transaction is: Click "Sign", type your passphrase then click "Broadcast".

After that, it will be added to the history as "Unconfirmed" and that will be successfully sent after receiving 1 confirmation (though the vendor might accept it after 4-6 confirmations).
You can safely remove the local Tx and your balance will return to normal.

Also, read the warnings and instruction in the above replies.

R. Okay thanks, I will try to remember all this. If not, I can always come back here for reference.

So I should have enough BTC in my account to send $137, based on the numbers in my last reply, right? If my BTC balance is 0.03344572, which according to Google is: $166.15. And I am trying to send $137. I shouldn't be seeing a"Insufficient funds"

Wondering how I got that pop-up saying I had insufficient funds?

[TryNinja]

So, you deleted every Local transactions you had and the error still persists?

Isn’t this error happening because of the fees you are going to pay for the transaction? How much does it show in the “fee” field when you’re trying to send the money?

[sumguy2017]

Okay I sent it and didn't get any pop-ups saying I had insufficient funds this time? When I clicked the send button it just sent the 0.028169 BTC or $137.

It didn't go into a 2nd page asking me to save, sign or broadcast? Hope the company got the money? I sent an email for verification. See what happens?

After sending I got this line under "History: Unconfirmed [rbf, 32.6 sat/b, 5.01 MB]. Again, IDK why the [rbf, 32.6 sat/b, 5.01 MB] is there. Never saw that before when I send BTC? Something new or did I forget to do something?

[sumguy2017]

So, you deleted every Local transactions you had and the error still persists?

Isn’t this error happening because of the fees you are going to pay for the transaction? How much does it show in the “fee” field when you’re trying to send the money?

R. I deleted just that one transaction.

IDK where the fee's are located?

I sent the BTC just awhile ago. So seems it was sent successfully?

[TryNinja]

It looks like it went through.

The window with “Sign, Save and Broadcast” only shows up if you click “Preview”. If you just click “Send”, it will be sent immediately.

I probably know what happened. Fees were high because of the mempool’s recent spike (due to Bitcoin’s price increase), so Electrum was recommending a fee that would leave you with an amount lower to what you were trying to send. You tried to send again and the mempool is empty again, so the fee was lower.

[Abdussamad]

Regarding fees see here and here

[sumguy2017]

R. I think I will wait until I get a response from the vendor?

If it was being displayed as "Local [rbf, 56. sat/b]", the transaction wasn't sent yet.
To confirm it, copy the transaction ID from the details and paste it on an online Bitcoin blockexplorer: https://www.blockchain.com/explorer. If there is no result, it's not yet broadcasted.

Warning: do not broadcast the local Tx since the vendor might have set an expiration to the payment invoice.
Simply delete it and your balance should return (it wasn't actually deducted) and try to contact the seller for a new invoice or not if there's no expiration and try again.
Also, take note that the current average fee is a bit higher than normal.

R. I ran a check on my last sent BTC transaction on the link you gave me https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and it looks good or was sent. Got 199 confirmations, whatever that means, but sounds like a green light.

I haven't confirmed yet if the vendor got the BTC? But at least it was sent.

[TryNinja]

R. I ran a check on my last sent BTC transaction on the link you gave me https://www.blockchain.com/explorer and it looks good or was sent. Got 199 confirmations, whatever that means, but sounds like a green light.

I haven't confirmed yet if the vendor got the BTC? But at least it was sent.

It's there. They have received and now it's up to them.

If they don't confirm it, send them a support ticket/email with the transaction ID and your order details.

[sumguy2017]

It looks like it went through.

The window with “Sign, Save and Broadcast” only shows up if you click “Preview”. If you just click “Send”, it will be sent immediately.

I probably know what happened. Fees were high because of the mempool’s recent spike (due to Bitcoin’s price increase), so Electrum was recommending a fee that would leave you with an amount lower to what you were trying to send. You tried to send again and the mempool is empty again, so the fee was lower.

R. The window with “Sign, Save and Broadcast” only shows up if you click “Preview”. If you just click “Send”, it will be sent immediately.

Yes I believe so, that's exactly what I did.

I got 199 confirmations when I checked the transaction number here.... https://www.blockchain.com/explorer.

Yeah, I have no clue what happened with that "Insufficient funds" thing??? Maybe I did something wrong, IDK?

Thanks.

[sumguy2017]

I checked with the vendor, they got it, so all's good.

Want to thank all that contributed to this thread. I needed a bit more knowledge to better understand the BTC sending process.

For future reference what's the best place to buy BTC from to send money to vendors? Or is that a new thread?

I have in the past purchased from CoinMama, but they don't currently serve my state?

This last BTC purchase was with Xcoins. I think there rate is higher than other BTC services.

[nc50lc]

You can try on Services > Currency Exchange and wait of a Green Trust members (Users with Green +1~ below their names) to reply an offer.
The rates are quite good, mostly depending on the current price, they accept Paypay too.

For future reference what's the best place to buy BTC from to send money to vendors? Or is that a new thread?

As long as it's not another long discussion, I think it's fine;
You must lock this topic if you want to create a new thread though, click the blue "lock topic" button just below the page (bottom-left).