Why can a Bitcoin transaction stay unconfirmed even with a higher fee?

[sportbitcoin]

Previously. I believed that if you pay a higher fee on the transaction to Bitcoin it was almost certain that it would be confirmed quickly, but it's not this simple. The fee rate. Typically expressed in sat/vB is more important than the overall fee. For instance, a higher amount of transaction could have a lower fee rate than a smaller amount of transactions even though the fees are higher. This difference may impact the profitability of mining transactions with block space being a constraint.
Another critically important consideration is the Mempool congestion. The more people competing for the same block space. The more the competition gets. The amount of the fee may be less competitive than it was when the transaction was made if network activity suddenly increases. That's why it's worth checking out the fee rates before you send BTC. Sometimes it's more beneficial than just the wallet with the highest fee.
It also just leaves me wondering about what other users do to deal with this. How often do you rely on the wallet for the fee recommendation. Or look into the fee market and mempool? Do you typically use RBF to offer a higher fee for transactions if they take longer to become confirmed or do you just wait for a transaction to get confirmed?

[Charles-Tim]

I use mempool for the fee estimation. It is better than many wallets that their fee estimation is not very accurate.

Do you typically use RBF to offer a higher fee for transactions if they take longer to become confirmed or do you just wait for a transaction to get confirmed?

If the mempool is very congested, it is possible that the purging fee rate can get to your transaction fee rate, that will make your transactions to be dropped from the mempool in a way that you can double spend the coin.

If the transaction get to the number of days set as default on the nodes, the transaction will be dropped in a way you can double spend the coin.

[notocactus]

Previously. I believed that if you pay a higher fee on the transaction to Bitcoin it was almost certain that it would be confirmed quickly, but it's not this simple.

Quick or slow, it depends on the fee rate you use for broadcasting your transaction, whether the used fee rate is on tip of Bitcoin mempools. Additionally, another factor is whether your transaction fee is also higher than other transactions with same fee rate but have lower transaction fees.

Or look into the fee market and mempool?

There is nothing like fee market but there are Bitcoin mempools and there are sites for observing Bitcoin mempools.
Mempool Observing tools

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Link

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Notes

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jochen-hoenicke.de

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You can use Count, Fee, Weight

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mempool.jhoenicke.de

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You can use Count, Fee, Weight

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mempool.space

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Transaction fee rate per priority, also a detailed chart like jochen-hoenicke site

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whatthefee.io

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Fee rate, time, probability of confirmation

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bitcoiner.live

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Bitcoin Fee Estimates

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@BitcoinFeesAlert_bot

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Telegram notification about Bitcoin transaction fee

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Fee Extension

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BTC Mempool Fees Extension (Firefox/Chrome browser)

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Bitcoindata.science

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BTC average transaction fee obsever

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Do you typically use RBF to offer a higher fee for transactions if they take longer to become confirmed or do you just wait for a transaction to get confirmed?

Most good non-custodial wallets have opt-in RBF, so except you disable RBF, your transactions will always are RBF and you can bump the fee later.

Otherwise, you can have another option, that is less convenient, it is Child Pay For Parents CPFP.
[Guide] Use CPFP if your stucked transactions from blockchain.com wallet
[TUTORIAL] Getting a low-fee transaction unstuck by creating a CPFP with Electrum.
All about transaction fees in Electrum.
Minimize your transaction fee with Electrum wallet.

[Upgrade00]

Consolidating your transactions at a time when transactions are very cheap will allow you to use a smaller fee rate later on even if the average feerate is higher and still get your transaction confirmed in good time.

Do you typically use RBF to offer a higher fee for transactions if they take longer to become confirmed or do you just wait for a transaction to get confirmed?

If I am in a hurry, yes. If not and I consider my feerate enough to get me in within a reasonable time, I would
I also used to use the free option to accelerate a transactio which some mining pools had. I've not used it in a while, but I hope they still leave some blockspace for this option.

[notocactus]

Consolidating your transactions at a time when transactions are very cheap will allow you to use a smaller fee rate later on even if the average feerate is higher and still get your transaction confirmed in good time.

Consolidate small UTXOs as inputs is a good preparation for transactions in the future and it means more in fee saving if transaction fee in the future is expensive.

About that, there are guides

• Minimize your transaction fee with Electrum wallet.
• [Sep 2026]Mempool empty, Consolidate your small inputs @0.32 sat/vbyte.
• How to make a bitcoin transaction and pay less than 1 sat/vByte