Thanks again for all your assistance. Despite BTC going up in value to all time highs over the weekend increasing his profit margin, the deal fell through in the final hour because I was giving up too much BTC for the merchandise and there was no flexibility on his part, even after I explained the fee structure to him. I greatly appreciate your time and knowledge, so now that I have a foundational understanding of Electrum and once I get my digital wallet up and running this year (could take months due to having so many other priority projects going on) I will definitely send you something as a thank you if you message me your address.

I've been meditating on that and I think I'm starting to understand, so on the mempool main page the green example blocks showing the sat, btc amount, and approx transaction time... Then below that is shows transaction fees (no priority, low priority, medium priority, high priority) with the sat v/B under it, but I don't understand the dollar amount they show with it and how it relates to my specific situation (i.e. right now it shows medium priority 4 sat/vB is $0.58).

For example, using your example above, if it was 4 sat/vB and I paid 760 sat as a transaction fee, how much would be deducted from 0.3 BTC?

Thanks again for taking the time to post that. I spent some time trying to figure it out, but in the end I'm overwhelmed, so I will wrap this up with the basic bottom line...

When I sent my friend the test with .0001 BTC he received .0000927 BTC (around 7.3%) so going by his math, when I send him 0.3 BTC ($30k) there is going to be a transaction fee, and when he moves it out of his wallet there is second transaction fee, therefore he believes that he will receive approximately .26 BTC ($26k in the end). So according to him both transaction fees might cost around $4000 total. That seemed high to me, but again I understand this all depends on the time of day, how busy network is, and I have no control over how and when he does his transaction.

I'm a generous person and not greedy, and I understand he need to make money of the merchandise and transaction, but I don't want to get raked over the coals either.

Thanks for the quick reply, I understand just about everything you are saying but I don't understand how to apply it to my specific situation when going to the mempol, or trying to figure out what the approximate fess will be, I tried days ago to understand it but wasn't able to figure it out.

To be honest, I was super computer savvy since the 1980's, build my own machines in the 90's, fixed everyone's computer problems for decades, along with many other technical trades, and even understood all the crypto stuff 10 years ago... however nowadays its just too overwhelming for me.

Good idea, thank you! Now that I'm in the final hour of this transaction there is a misunderstanding between me and my friend on the transaction fees, so I was hoping one of you could provide some basic clarity for me...


So using those examples above and/or going with the default setting in Electrum, can somebody please tell me what the "approximate fees" would be for BOTH me and my friend at the current rate, because there will be a transaction fee for me to send it to him through Electrum, and another transaction fee for him to send it to his source to cash out, therefore I'm trying to figure out a "rough estimate" on what the total cost would be for BOTH transfers if I send my friend 0.3 BTC (approximately $30k).

I realize these fees vary depending on my Electum fee setting, time of day, how busy network is, and the method my friend is using... but I'm just looking for a "ballpark" for BOTH transfers.

Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks again. I did the test run and after the fee screen I got a window that says "Information" in the upper left hand corner with the Electrum logo, and inside the window it says "Payment sent" with a long string of letters/numbers.

What I don't like and wasn't expecting was there is no history of the transaction within Electrum afterward. I assume because I didn't sweep it into one of my Electrum wallet addresses is why its not showing in the history, just weird to perform that sweep and see nothing when returning to the regular interface.

My friend might not check his email until tomorrow, so I guess I could see the transaction confirmation on the blockchain by entering my friends address it was sent to, or if I enter my old paper wallet address the balance should be zero now.

Thanks for posting that, but to be honest I think that is too complicated for me, unfortunately (that's why my thread was about sweeping to recipients address via Electrum).

Question... I have an old paper wallet (same age, type, code, etc) that has .0001 BTC on it which is currently equivalent to $10.39, so would I be able to use that as a sweep test in Electrum to send it to my friend, or is that amount too low with transaction fees? To put it another way, does Electrum have a minimum amount/fee?

Thanks again for taking the time.


I'm 99% certian the one in bold is what I did a decade ago, created the paper wallet off-line, and I've verified the funds on the blockchain using the public address every few years since.


I mentioned that here, and I realize it has some risk associated with it...

Got it, thank you.


I'm still not fully understanding this one. The paper wallets I created were done a decade ago, and they were done for that very purpose, to put them in physical long-term cold storage. Now, fast forward to the present day in 2025 where I want to move the all funds from this paper wallet to my friends wallet via Electrum sweep function (to trade for merchandise). So I have no interest in using this paper wallet ever again.

The reason for having somebody send $250 to a different old paper wallet I have with $0 balance is, I can send my friend $200 from that paper wallet as a test run, because using the same type of paper wallet as a test run and sweeping it to my friends address will allow me to see if the operation is successful with a small amount of money, therefore providing me with some kind of confidence that this procedure will work, before I send the larger amount using the same method.

Thank you for testing that.



Yes, correct.


Excellent, so I have the green light at bottom right corner to show Electrum is connected to server, enter my paper private key that starts with a "5" into sweep window, then enter my friends wallet address that begins with "bc1" into the "send to address" at bottom of the window, then click the sweep button..... Now what should I expect to happen after that? I'm not interested in setting or negotiating lower fees, I would prefer to use the default fee structure because I don't want to low-ball that might cause delays and prefer an efficient transaction (I don't mind paying the fee).

Thanks for the replies!


From my limited understanding I was trying to avoid using Import feature because it would keep the original paper address and I would loose/sacrifice the original seed phrase that was created with it a decade ago, therefore if something goes wrong I cannot recover.


"So if I understand my research correctly, I could enter my friends wallet address (where I'm sweeping to) and the process would be simplified by moving the funds from my paper wallet to my friends wallet address using the sweep function resulting on only one transaction fee instead of two fees, correct?"


That is the big question, but that is the way I interpret it as Abdussamad explained it here in the last sentence... https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/#comment-366


I have not heard of that method before, so I will have to do more research on that one.

Hello,

Long time reader, first time poster. Got into BTC early, sold it early like many others, but have a little bit left I would like to move and have a few questions about sweeping it via Electrum...

1. I have an older paper wallet with address that starts with "1" and a passkey that starts with "5"

2. I downloaded the authentic Electrum and intend on sweeping for the obvious reasons below.

3. My first question is... When I created my new wallet in Electrum it shows approximately 30 addresses starting with "bc1" in the address tab, so I assume those are all my new addresses that can be used for different purposes within my single newly created Electrum wallet, correct?

4. Second question... When playing around with the sweep function, the window that pops up where I can enter my private key starting with "5" doesn't require a pre-script before it, correct?

5. Third question... In the address field at the bottom of the sweep window where the funds are being sent/swept to, Electrum defaults to the first address from my list of 30 addresses within my Electrum wallet, and since that is an online transaction I will be charged a fee, correct?

6. Fourth question... My intention is to send the money to a friend, so if I sweep the paper private key into my newly created wallet in Elecrum resulting in a transaction fee, then I would pay a second transaction fee to send the funds from my Electrum wallet to my friends address. So if I understand my research correctly, I could enter my friends wallet address (where I'm sweeping to) and the process would be simplified by moving the funds from my paper wallet to my friends wallet address using the sweep function resulting on only one transaction fee instead of two fees, correct?

7. Fifth question... When the sweep window auto populates the wallet address and defaults to the first address from my list of 30 addresses within my Electrum wallet (starts with "bc1") there is no pre-script before it, so my friends address that also starts with "bc1" shouldn't need a pre-script either, correct? The reason I ask this question is I was confused by this post by Abdussamad... https://bitcoinelectrum.com/sweeping-your-private-keys-into-electrum/#comment-90963

I plan on doing a test run first with a different old paper wallet that has a very small amount on it (.0025 = $250) before I attempt the slightly larger transaction.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated, thank you.