<p>Yes, wait for it to finish synchronizing. You will not see your coins until it finishes.</p>

<p>(Note that the time shown is not the estimated time until completion; it represents the age of the old transactions currently being downloaded. Depending on the speed of your computer and internet connection, you can expect it to finish in a few hours to a few days.)</p>

<p>In the meantime, you can enter your address in a "block explorer" site like <a href="http://blockchain.info" rel="nofollow">http://blockchain.info</a> to check whether the seller made the transaction as agreed. (This is safe; your address alone cannot be used to steal your coins.)</p>

<p>If you don't want to download the entire block chain, you can use a different client such as Multibit, but you will have to import your wallet.dat from Bitcoin Core into your new client software. Its documentation should explain how to do that.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-20T08:09:14.540Z
2015-08-20T08:09:14.540Z
Nate Eldredge
<p>I am new to Bitcoin. So, I downloaded the Windows Bitcoins software from the official website and used the "request bitcoins" option to request bitcoins from my exchanger.</p>

<p>My exchanger charged me $20 and told me he will send me bitcoins corresponding to $20. But even after 18-20 hours I didn't receive any bitcoins.</p>

<p>Additionally, the Bitcoin software is showing <code>synchronizing with network : x years xx weeks</code> remaining. </p>

<p>What should I do? Should I wait for the synchronizing to complete or file a complaint against exchanger?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-20T08:05:20.217Z
This question seems to come up a lot. Do we, or should we, have a "canonical duplicate"?
Nate Eldredge
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-20T10:17:49.087Z
I think your answer here would qualify. I'll have a look around and see what other candidates there are, then I'll post to meta.
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-20T10:34:31.057Z
possible duplicate: [I didn't receive a Bitcoin Payment. What does it mean when the Client is synchronizing?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/2124/5406)
Murch
<synchronization><buy-bitcoins>
I am new and I did not get bitcoins
tabish
# I am new and I did not get bitcoins

(Asked by: username_0 on 2015-08-20)

I am new to Bitcoin. So, I downloaded the Windows Bitcoins software from the official website and used the "request bitcoins" option to request bitcoins from my exchanger.

My exchanger charged me $20 and told me he will send me bitcoins corresponding to $20. But even after 18-20 hours I didn't receive any bitcoins.

Additionally, the Bitcoin software is showing `synchronizing with network : x years xx weeks` remaining.

What should I do? Should I wait for the synchronizing to complete or file a complaint against exchanger?

**Tags:** synchronization, buy-bitcoins

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This question seems to come up a lot. Do we, or should we, have a "canonical duplicate"?  
> **username_2**: I think your answer here would qualify. I'll have a look around and see what other candidates there are, then I'll post to meta.  
> **username_2**: possible duplicate: [I didn't receive a Bitcoin Payment. What does it mean when the Client is synchronizing?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/2124/5406)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2015-08-20. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Yes, wait for it to finish synchronizing. You will not see your coins until it finishes.

(Note that the time shown is not the estimated time until completion; it represents the age of the old transactions currently being downloaded. Depending on the speed of your computer and internet connection, you can expect it to finish in a few hours to a few days.)

In the meantime, you can enter your address in a "block explorer" site like <http://blockchain.info> to check whether the seller made the transaction as agreed. (This is safe; your address alone cannot be used to steal your coins.)

If you don't want to download the entire block chain, you can use a different client such as Multibit, but you will have to import your wallet.dat from Bitcoin Core into your new client software. Its documentation should explain how to do that.


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