Selling for bitcoin: how many confirmations to wait for and what to check

Before the deal

• Agree in advance that the goods change hands after the transfer is confirmed, and warn the buyer how long that may take. An honest buyer will agree; a scammer will start arguing.
• Find out how your wallet shows unconfirmed transfers and where it shows the number of confirmations. See the article Pending, Unconfirmed, Mempool.
• Check the buyer’s bitcoin address in GuardPay /check.
• For a meeting with cash or expensive goods, pick a place where you can wait calmly.

How many confirmations to wait for

• Small amount (up to a few hundred dollars): 1 confirmation, about 10 minutes after the transaction lands in a block.
• Medium amount (up to a few thousand dollars): 2–3 confirmations, about 20–30 minutes.
• Large amount: 6 confirmations, about an hour.

One confirmation already rules out replacing the transfer. Extra ones protect against rare chain reorganizations and are worth it where the amount justifies the wait. The clock starts when the transaction lands in a block, not when it was sent. This is our guideline, not a network rule; large exchanges also credit bitcoin deposits only after confirmations.

During the deal

• Look at the transaction status, not the balance. “Pending”, “Unconfirmed”, “Waiting” or “0 confirmations” means there is no money yet.
• Check the transfer in a block explorer, typing its address in by hand. Step by step: how to check a bitcoin transaction.
• Look at the transfer fee. A lowballed fee plus a buyer in a hurry almost certainly means a replacement is being set up.

Phrases that mean stop

• “Sent it, just refresh your wallet, you can see it.”
• “Confirmations are just a formality, the money is already yours.”
• “I’m running late, let’s be quick.”
• “The network is congested, it’ll confirm later, hand it over.”
• “Here’s a screenshot”, “here’s the transaction link” — instead of letting you check for yourself.

Any of these is a reason to wait for the confirmation, however hard they push.

If the transfer disappears

Save the hash of the vanished transaction, the hash of the one that replaced it, the buyer’s address and the chat. What to do next is in the article I’ve been scammed: what to do; you can also trace where the coins went.