Newbie question about a transaction

[RaveniaPX]

Hi,
still relatively new here in the forum, thank you for having an Electrum section here.

I'm not sure if I made a mistake or not so I wanted to ask for your opinion. What does it mean exactly when in the lower half of the "send" tab, there's a green checkmark with "sent", but that transaction doesn't show up in the history?

I wanted to do a transfer and filled out the (thankfully correct) address, amount, and then hit 'pay' - then a popup window opened and I wasn't sure what to select for the fees, moved the sliders around a bit, and wanted to look some stuff up, and then I must have closed that window somehow. Now I can't get it to open again but it just shows it as 'sent'.

I can't remember if I had entered my password when that window was opened, and I can't remember what the slider position was at.

In the worst case, did I successfully initiate that transaction with super low/slow fees, and it'll need a very long time to show up, so I can then raise the fees for it? Because I can't get it to show a transaction ID, and right clicking it won't allow me to raise fees or make any change to it.

Can I simply make another identical transaction now with high fees, and would that basically supersede the old one - but what would then happen if the old one would get processed later?

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[Charles-Tim]

Maybe you only save the transaction and did not sign and broadcast it.

The transaction is not showing on the history tab? That is not yet a valid transaction. You can make another transaction.

Or right click on the transaction on the send tab and see if you will see 'pay' which you can click on. But the status on my Electrum version is not marked but displayed as 'unpaid'.

[RaveniaPX]

Maybe you only save the transaction and did not sign and broadcast it.

The transaction is not showing on the history tab? That is not yet a valid transaction. You can make another transaction.

Or right click on the transaction on the send tab and see if you will see 'pay' which you can click on. But the status on my Electrum version is not marked but displayed as 'unpaid'.

Thanks a lot for taking the time. I should say this is on an old version of Electrum, which is one of the main reasons I'm trying to do this transaction so I can use a newer one. Right clicking on the line in the send tab does not show 'pay'.

I did a smaller transaction earlier with a very low fee and it didn't show up on the history screen either for several hours so I have been a bit confused about whether I can just disregard this or not.

What would happen if I redo the transaction with a higher fee and then later the original transaction goes through, but my wallet is empty? Does that lead to any bad consequences?

[hopenotlate]

You should have a look at "Replace by fee" feature which you can find into electrum guide, to gain your knowlerge on what to do if you had set a too low fee.
But there is a catch : if that option wasn't activated before you made that tx I'm not sure if there is a way to speed it up.

[Charles-Tim]

Update your Electrum to the lastest version. You can do that here: https://electrum.org. You can also verify the signature: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240594.msg54223763#msg54223763

I did a smaller transaction earlier with a very low fee and it didn't show up on the history screen either for several hours so I have been a bit confused about whether I can just disregard this or not.

Any transaction you do not see on the history tab is not yet a valid transaction.

I do not know if I am correct: I think in the older version of Electrum, if you click on save instead of pay, that is how the transaction will look like on the send tab, but which is not yet valid and you can make another transaction which is valid.

What would happen if I redo the transaction with a higher fee and then later the original transaction goes through, but my wallet is empty? Does that lead to any bad consequences?

Make another transaction if the one you made before is not seen on history tab.

[decodx]

Hi,
still relatively new here in the forum, thank you for having an Electrum section here.

I'm not sure if I made a mistake or not so I wanted to ask for your opinion. What does it mean exactly when in the lower half of the "send" tab, there's a green checkmark with "sent", but that transaction doesn't show up in the history?

Could you provide a screenshot of the window? Just make sure to censor any private information such as addresses (both yours and the recipient's), transaction amounts, wallet balances, and anything else that should remain confidential.

I wanted to do a transfer and filled out the (thankfully correct) address, amount, and then hit 'pay' - then a popup window opened and I wasn't sure what to select for the fees, moved the sliders around a bit, and wanted to look some stuff up, and then I must have closed that window somehow. Now I can't get it to open again but it just shows it as 'sent'.

I can't remember if I had entered my password when that window was opened, and I can't remember what the slider position was at.

In the worst case, did I successfully initiate that transaction with super low/slow fees, and it'll need a very long time to show up, so I can then raise the fees for it? Because I can't get it to show a transaction ID, and right clicking it won't allow me to raise fees or make any change to it.

If those are really all the steps you did, then your transaction didn't go through. After you have filled in all the information and selected the fee for the transaction, there should always be a final window where you have the option to double check everything before you can click on the final "pay" and then "broadcast". (that's why I'd like to see a screenshot).

Can I simply make another identical transaction now with high fees, and would that basically supersede the old one - but what would then happen if the old one would get processed later?

If your Electrum wallet is functioning properly, your transaction should appear in the "History" tab, even if it was made with a minimal fee and hasn't been confirmed by the network yet. Have you verified if Electrum is connected to the network? Look for a green circle in the lower right corner of the window. If the transaction doesn't appear in the history list and your total balance still reflects the full amount you had previously, it's highly likely that you didn't broadcast the transaction. In such a case, feel free to create a new transaction without any issues.

[RaveniaPX]

Thank you again for taking the time.
This is how the send tab looks like:
https://i.imgur.com/PdAssCY.png

When I click on Details, it shows "Onchain Invoice".

I think replace by fee was activated if I remember correctly.

I can't update Electrum on the machine the wallet is on, which is one of the main reasons I'm trying to transfer in the first place.

If this is a saved transaction, then I wonder why there is no option to finalize or send it (that doesn't show on the context menu).

Thank you again, so I think I didn't click on "broadcast" or anything, I only clicked on 'pay' on the send window which brought up the fees window, but I didn't click on broadcast yet. What just surprises me is that the transaction still shows as 'paid' in the send tab, that's what's making me hesitate. It's been like this for about ten hours now, still doesn't show on the history tab.

What would happen if this for some reason were a valid transaction and I now do the same transaction again on top of it with higher fees?

[nc50lc]

What does it mean exactly when in the lower half of the "send" tab, there's a green checkmark with "sent", but that transaction doesn't show up in the history?

This is how the send tab looks like:
https://i.imgur.com/PdAssCY.png

In your Electrum version 4.0.2:
It means that you've clicked "Pay" but if "Advance Preview" is enabled, it'll show you the transaction's advanced details instead of sending the transaction,
And if you close that window without finalizing the transaction, the invoice will be labeled as "paid" even though nothing is sent or locally saved.

What this mean is there's actually nothing wrong with your wallet, just an incorrectly labeled invoice.
Always refer to the history tab since it has the actual transactions that count toward to your final balance.

[RaveniaPX]

Thank you, that is a big help.
Another quick question, Electrum displays the miner fees accurately, right? Or has there been an instance, maybe with an old version, where it displays fees that are too low and then you end up getting much higher ones when the transaction actually goes through?

[Charles-Tim]

For fee, use a mempool site for the estimation:

For beginners: https://mempool.space/
For advanced users: https://jochen-hoenicke.de/queue/#BTC%20(default%20mempool),24h,weight

Another quick question, Electrum displays the miner fees accurately, right? Or has there been an instance, maybe with an old version, where it displays fees that are too low and then you end up getting much higher ones when the transaction actually goes through?

Electrum will use the fee it estimates for you, but which may not be as accurate as checking the mempool.

[RaveniaPX]

Again, thank you very much! I'll read a little bit more about it before attempting anything else.
Even though this hasn't been a 'real' issue so far I can only imagine what people go through whose transactions don't arrive or get lost or who lose significant amount of funds over small errors. Phew!

[un_rank]

Another quick question, Electrum displays the miner fees accurately, right? Or has there been an instance, maybe with an old version, where it displays fees that are too low and then you end up getting much higher ones when the transaction actually goes through?

Electrum determines fees range based on the current mempool state, but that can change at anytime and the fees you see might be outdated at the time you make the transaction. It is best you check other source to determine the most suitable fee to pay at the time.

- Jay -

[nc50lc]

Thank you, that is a big help.
Another quick question, Electrum displays the miner fees accurately, right? Or has there been an instance, maybe with an old version, where it displays fees that are too low and then you end up getting much higher ones when the transaction actually goes through?

Yes, even though it's labeled as "sat/Byte" the actual computation done is actually "sat/vByte" which is what miners use for transaction prioritization.

Or do you mean the transaction slider's estimation?
Because since it's an estimation, it's not 100% accurate, just close to the target block or mempool range.

[decodx]

Again, thank you very much! I'll read a little bit more about it before attempting anything else.
Even though this hasn't been a 'real' issue so far I can only imagine what people go through whose transactions don't arrive or get lost or who lose significant amount of funds over small errors. Phew!

Yeah. That's exactly why newer versions have addressed and fixed those issues, and the labeling of transactions has improved. That's the whole purpose of software updates – to fix bugs and glitches. So, my suggestion is to update your Electrum software as soon as you can to ensure you're using the most stable and secure version.