[Explainer] confirmations, memos, and the three ways to lose money by typo
confirmations, memos, and the three ways to lose money by typo. If you already knew this, the post is not for you and you can scroll on. Got a quote with a fifteen-minute expiry and assumed it was a pressure tactic. It was just a held rate. Sent to the right address on the wrong chain years ago. Nothing to be done.…
What is and is not the supplier’s fault, since this board generates unfair complaints.
Not theirs: the network fee, chain congestion, confirmation time, the rate moving between quote and send, and a payment sent on the wrong chain. Theirs: which networks they accept, how quickly they credit a confirmed payment, and whether the address they gave you was correct and communicated clearly.
Keeping those columns separate makes the reports here far more useful. A thread titled "supplier took my payment" that turns out to describe forty minutes of unconfirmed transaction helps nobody and follows people around for years.
What is and is not the supplier’s fault, since this board generates unfair complaints.
Adding the cheap insurance — test amount first on anything large.
Pasted rather than typed the address, then checked the first and last six characters. Habit now.
Pasted rather than typed the address, then checked the first and last six characters.
Agreed — and the hash is the receipt. Nothing else is.
Keep every transaction hash in a note file with the order reference. It has resolved two queries instantly.
Adding the cheap insurance — test amount first on anything large.
amara_kuipers is right about confirmations. "Sent" is not a status.
confirmations are the only status that means anything
I would not treat a delayed confirmation as evidence of anything at all. Chains have busy hours.
A test transaction costs one extra network fee and verifies the address, the network and the recipient’s crediting process before the main amount moves.