P.S. would online wallets be better/faster for those small transactions I'm doing? Or does that make no difference for speed etc?
I know its less safe than an offline wallet, and then there is the issue that in some online wallets, you don't "own" your btc I've read
There is no difference. The factors affecting the transaction is the fees and/or the priority. Generally, the coin age, transaction size, transaction fees and the outputs size are the factors. The fees can be set higher or lower in your client to give it a higher chance of confirming within a period of time. An online wallet usually pays the amount that gives it a high chance of getting included in the next block and the fees are deducted from your account balance. It would be a whole different story if you want to use offchain transaction.
Online wallets are generally riskier than desktop wallets.