Can you reject or send back bitcoins?

[Ashpool]

Say your running a service that has a maximum fee and for legal reasons you can not accept more?  Can you easily send back an overpayment?

What about if your a charity and some undesirables donate via btc?  Are you able to send the money back?

[1713948628]

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[1713948628]

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[1713948628]

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[bitlotto]

You would have to set it up so that you have a unique address for each person for sending to you and they would have to give your their address for returns.

[bitlotto]

What about if your a charity and some undesirables donate via btc?  Are you able to send the money back?

I never understood this. If some undesirable person gave you money for YOUR charity, isn't that kind of a good thing as now they have less money to do their undesirable things?

I know. Even taking someone's money associates you with that person. I just wish more looked at it as- "great, take the money, put it to better use!"

[Ashpool]

I agree with you...but it can raise negative political implications which could affect your charity overall.

Bad guy gives you money....other good people are influenced not to give you money...

logically it does not make sense...but people are not always logical.

So the answer is?  No?

As an example here is a listed transaction
https://i.imgur.com/SsvOy.jpg

Can't you just send back to the address?  or is that my address?

[bitlotto]

I agree with you...but it can raise negative political implications which could affect your charity overall.

Bad guy gives you money....other good people are influenced not to give you money...

logically it does not make sense...but people are not always logical.

So the answer is?  No?

As an example here is a listed transaction


Can't you just send back to the address?  or is that my address?

You can not send back to the sender UNLESS you are sure they didn't use a shared wallet such as mybitcoin. If they used Bitcoin on their computer then you can send it back. But unless you ask them, you have no way of knowing.

[bitlotto]

EDIT: looks like its mine this is a huge problem.

Why? You can make a unique address for each person sending money. When you give them the unique address get theirs at the same time.

[Ashpool]

EDIT: looks like its mine this is a huge problem.
Political donations, salary cap, conflict of interest.  I can think of many scenarios where this is an issue.

Financial services...for example in Australia you can run financial services related to non cash payments but once you get over a certain threshold you need proper regulatory approval. There is no way to impose a limit on the amount of money people send you.

[bitlotto]

EDIT: looks like its mine this is a huge problem.
Political donations, salary cap, conflict of interest.  I can think of many scenarios where this is an issue.

Financial services...for example in Australia you can run financial services related to non cash payments but once you get over a certain threshold you need proper regulatory approval. There is no way to impose a limit on the amount of money people send you.

Yes there is. Don't give them your Bitcoin address until they supply you theirs. Then if it's overpaid return some money. You could also in this step have them fill out name etc and keep track of all this in a database on your computer. All money would then be able to go back if needed and you could pick who you are returning it to.

[Ashpool]

Hmm I guess thats the only way thanks for the input!

As a newcomer I guess I fall into the same trap that most newcomers suffer.  I keep turning over the concept of bitcoins in my head looking for flaws...but greater minds than mine have already covered this ground.

[kiba]

Hmm I guess thats the only way thanks for the input!

As a newcomer I guess I fall into the same trap that most newcomers suffer.  I keep turning over the concept of bitcoins in my head looking for flaws...but greater minds than mine have already covered this ground.

More like bitcoiners discuss bitcoin for nine month straight, trying to look for problems in the system.

[Insti]

You can always find out where the coins came from and send them back there again.

Try putting an address in http://blockexplorer.com/

Although I don't think the standard client provides any way to make sure you send back from the address you received on.
Which you probably want to do unless you can prove the other addresses you use are related.

[theymos]

You can always find out where the coins came from and send them back there again.

Try putting an address in http://blockexplorer.com/

Although I don't think the standard client provides any way to make sure you send back from the address you received on.
Which you probably want to do unless you can prove the other addresses you use are related.

It's not safe to refund in that way.

[ribuck]

Sheesh, talk about trying to create a problem where there isn't one!

If you don't know the sender's receiving address, just refund the coins to
1HqTdoMWtxZdbRb3awQDHykCWCPrJjKFyz

[Timo Y]

Treat it the same way as receiving "too much" cash in the mail from an anonymous sender.

I'm not a lawyer, so I'm not sure what the legally correct reaction would be in this case.  Destroy the money? Put it in a safe until the situation is clarified? Hand it over to the authorities?    Either way, you can do the electronic equivalent of all those things with Bitcoins too.

[cdonges]

Sheesh, talk about trying to create a problem where there isn't one!

If you don't know the sender's receiving address, just refund the coins to
1HqTdoMWtxZdbRb3awQDHykCWCPrJjKFyz

rotfl

[Insti]

You can always find out where the coins came from and send them back there again.

Try putting an address in http://blockexplorer.com/

Although I don't think the standard client provides any way to make sure you send back from the address you received on.
Which you probably want to do unless you can prove the other addresses you use are related.

It's not safe to refund in that way.

What is the problem with doing it like that?

[caveden]

The problem is your not sure the person who sent you the money actually controls the address in question. It could be an address from a shared wallet (like MyBitcoin or MtGox...)

[Insti]

The problem is your not sure the person who sent you the money actually controls the address in question. It could be an address from a shared wallet (like MyBitcoin or MtGox...)

Thanks for the reply.

But, why is that my (as the rejector) problem?
If a donor has sent me some coins, from an address they control in some way, why is that any of my concern if they are using a proxy or not? Surely it is up to the proxy to maintain it's own refund procedures. Once I've returned the money to where it came from the issue is between the donor and the proxy and not me.

[Pieter Wuille]

Bitcoin transactions in general do not have a from address. You may derive which addresses its incoming funds passed through, but there may be more than one, and some or all of them could belong to shared accounts. Actually, it's even possible to have no assignable "from" address at all - it's for example possible in the protocol to have a "spend to anyone" transaction, without defined recipient address.

[caveden]

Once I've returned the money to where it came from the issue is between the donor and the proxy and not me.

Well, if you care about returning the money to the correct person, then you should worry to whom you send it! If you just want to get rid of the coins, feel free to send them to the address in my signature!

There's no guarantee that those in charge of a share wallet can determine that the refund you send was meant for person X. Actually, the address in question could be a deposit address of another person, or just a change address of the bank, anyway, it's impossible to know.