Can the receiver send back to your address?

[Este Nuno]

If I send someone some coins through electrum and they send coins back to the address that they received the original payment from me, will I get those coins?

Everytime I send coins with electrum does the software create a new address? I know it's generating new receiving addresses as I use them, but I'm not clear exactly on what address(s) I'm sending coins from when using electrum.

As long as I have my seed will I always be able to get coins back on an address that I've sent out coins on?

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[Tachikoma]

In theory yes this should be possible. However I would never recommend this. The receiving party can't know where these coins came from, you know it's Electrum and you own all the keys but it could have been an exchange or a shared wallet service.

[dabura667]

As long as I have my seed will I always be able to get coins back on an address that I've sent out coins on?

Yes, but this is a bad habit for your friend. If they don't know any better, they may think EVERYBODY uses Electrum, and one day they try to send back to a friend to the address they received bitcoins from and BAM... "umm, why did you send to that address? That was a payment address for xyz service... it's not my address." and then you have to contact the site to try and get your bitcoins back.

So I would recommend against doing this. If I were you, send them a separate address for returns. Just make sure it's from your Electrum seed.

[Este Nuno]

In theory yes this should be possible. However I would never recommend this. The receiving party can't know where these coins came from, you know it's Electrum and you own all the keys but it could have been an exchange or a shared wallet service.

Yeah, but with electrum they should come back right? I know there are online wallets that you can't actually send back that way and it's caused people some problems in the past. I'm just curious if electrum operates differently.

I do think all services should allow you to specify a specific withdrawal address but I've seen some that do not and just say that they send back to the same address that you originally sent them coins with. It's not a very good practice and it made me curious about how electrum worked in that regard.

Thanks.

[Este Nuno]

As long as I have my seed will I always be able to get coins back on an address that I've sent out coins on?

Yes, but this is a bad habit for your friend. If they don't know any better, they may think EVERYBODY uses Electrum, and one day they try to send back to a friend to the address they received bitcoins from and BAM... "umm, why did you send to that address? That was a payment address for xyz service... it's not my address." and then you have to contact the site to try and get your bitcoins back.

So I would recommend against doing this. If I were you, send them a separate address for returns. Just make sure it's from your Electrum seed.

Yeah, it's definitely not "Bitcoin best practice" for someone just to send money back to the same address that they received money from.

[dabura667]

I'm just curious if electrum operates differently.

Yes, Electrum operates differently. So you are fine if they send back to the address that you sent to them with.

However, it is DANGEROUS for THEM to get used to the idea, and then continue it as a habit. THEY WILL LOSE MONEY SOMEDAY.

So either: 1. Explain to them THOROUGHLY. or 2. Send a separate address and tell them "use this for returns"

[jonald_fyookball]

you may not see the address in your address list anymore,
because when you sent money it sent the remainder
of what was left in your address (change) back to
another address in the wallet.

So the sending address has 0 balance now and that's
why its not showing... but its still part of your wallet.

but like others said, its setting bad precedent to
have people assume they can just send back to
you, even though it works with electrum.

[Este Nuno]

you may not see the address in your address list anymore,
because when you sent money it sent the remainder
of what was left in your address (change) back to
another address in the wallet.

So the sending address has 0 balance now and that's
why its not showing... but its still part of your wallet.

but like others said, its setting bad precedent to
have people assume they can just send back to
you, even though it works with electrum.

Yeah, personally I don't support people doing that at all. I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing with Electrum, because like you said the address it's self doesn't show up in any obvious way on the Electrum client. At least I couldn't find it...

Thanks for the answers everyone.

[jonald_fyookball]

you may not see the address in your address list anymore,
because when you sent money it sent the remainder
of what was left in your address (change) back to
another address in the wallet.

So the sending address has 0 balance now and that's
why its not showing... but its still part of your wallet.

but like others said, its setting bad precedent to
have people assume they can just send back to
you, even though it works with electrum.

Yeah, personally I don't support people doing that at all. I just wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing with Electrum, because like you said the address it's self doesn't show up in any obvious way on the Electrum client. At least I couldn't find it...

Thanks for the answers everyone.

actually if you click the "used" tab (its hard to see) you should see it.  
I've suggested making the Used label red so it stands out.