<p>A miner does have an incentive to include these transactions, because it will make the bitcoin system stronger/more robust. People will trust that their transaction will go through. As such, his own mined bitcoins will be more valuable.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-06-06T14:07:17.540Z
2012-06-06T14:07:17.540Z
Cryptokeeper
<p>1) There is no motivation, asides your goodwill, or possibly wanting to support some useful Bitcoin tools, like the <a href="https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bitcoin Faucet</a> (transaction fees could eat up a lot of coins there).</p>

<p>2) It's a matter of how their pools and clients are set up. Some want to support the community by allowing no-fee transactions to be included in a block (as it costs them nothing), while others want to encourage people to pay fees by only including transactions with fees.</p>

<p>3) Technically, it might be less likely to be included if it gets really big in terms of data size (upwards to filling a block), but in most cases <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/3414/323">it won't matter</a> (at least for now). Amount of Bitcoins sent doesn't really matter at the moment, but <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fees" rel="nofollow noreferrer">transactions on really small amount of coins</a> can be discriminated against in the future should spamming them become more prevelent. </p>

<p>All in all, it is encouraged that you pay your dues when sending transactions, as it helps the Bitcoin project grow. If nobody was paying to get their transactions processed, the miners might soon not earn enough to get by (especially with reward halving slowly getting closer), which would result in them stopping their operations and weakening the Bitcoin network. It's not much of a threat yet, but in the future it can become important.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-30T15:54:50.507Z
Did the order for your answers for #1 and #2 get inverted?

And in the question for #3, "big" probably means "large amount", not "lots of data".
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-30T17:26:19.783Z
@StephenGornick No, the answers are okay, why? And I edited the #3 to cover both cases.
ThePiachu
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-30T14:07:00.687Z
2012-05-30T18:30:07.690Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.610Z
ThePiachu
<p>I understand that adding a small transaction fee as incentive ensures block generators will include your transaction.</p>

<ol>
<li>When you have no transaction fee, what is their motivation then?</li>
<li>Why do some people include it and some don't?</li>
<li>I have read many accounts stating that small transactions are less likely to be included - so is a big (in terms of amount of bitcoin) transaction with no fees more likely to be included, and if so, why?</li>
</ol>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-03-20T13:01:54.063Z
I transacted one Satoschi (0.000 000 01 BTC) without a fee, and it's been idling for a week now. I wish transactions had a fixed percentage for fees so the whole thing would not be so arbitrary.
Heimdal
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-30T15:55:53.250Z
Bitcoin fees are based on the amount of data, not the amount of the transaction.  For #3 Do you mean "larger amount" rather than "big" (which is ambiguous as to which property it is referring?)
Stephen Gornick
CC BY-SA 3.0
2012-05-30T19:05:03.313Z
Miners have a vested interest in the Bitcoin system as a whole being useful and functioning smoothly as this increases the value of their Bitcoins.
David Schwartz
<transactions>
Why do small transactions without fees ever get processed?
Billy Moon
# Why do small transactions without fees ever get processed?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2012-05-30)

I understand that adding a small transaction fee as incentive ensures block generators will include your transaction.

1. When you have no transaction fee, what is their motivation then?
2. Why do some people include it and some don't?
3. I have read many accounts stating that small transactions are less likely to be included - so is a big (in terms of amount of bitcoin) transaction with no fees more likely to be included, and if so, why?

**Tags:** transactions

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Bitcoin fees are based on the amount of data, not the amount of the transaction.  For #3 Do you mean "larger amount" rather than "big" (which is ambiguous as to which property it is referring?)  
> **username_3**: Miners have a vested interest in the Bitcoin system as a whole being useful and functioning smoothly as this increases the value of their Bitcoins.  
> **username_1**: I transacted one Satoschi (0.000 000 01 BTC) without a fee, and it's been idling for a week now. I wish transactions had a fixed percentage for fees so the whole thing would not be so arbitrary.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2012-05-30. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

1) There is no motivation, asides your goodwill, or possibly wanting to support some useful Bitcoin tools, like the [Bitcoin Faucet](https://freebitcoins.appspot.com/) (transaction fees could eat up a lot of coins there).

2) It's a matter of how their pools and clients are set up. Some want to support the community by allowing no-fee transactions to be included in a block (as it costs them nothing), while others want to encourage people to pay fees by only including transactions with fees.

3) Technically, it might be less likely to be included if it gets really big in terms of data size (upwards to filling a block), but in most cases [it won't matter](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/3414/323) (at least for now). Amount of Bitcoins sent doesn't really matter at the moment, but [transactions on really small amount of coins](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction_fees) can be discriminated against in the future should spamming them become more prevelent.

All in all, it is encouraged that you pay your dues when sending transactions, as it helps the Bitcoin project grow. If nobody was paying to get their transactions processed, the miners might soon not earn enough to get by (especially with reward halving slowly getting closer), which would result in them stopping their operations and weakening the Bitcoin network. It's not much of a threat yet, but in the future it can become important.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Did the order for your answers for #1 and #2 get inverted?  And in the question for #3, "big" probably means "large amount", not "lots of data".  
> **username_5**: @StephenGornick No, the answers are okay, why? And I edited the #3 to cover both cases.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2012-06-06. Score: 2

A miner does have an incentive to include these transactions, because it will make the bitcoin system stronger/more robust. People will trust that their transaction will go through. As such, his own mined bitcoins will be more valuable.


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