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I'm running an online store. I added the option to pay using bitcoin, using Mycelium Gear.

Gear can be configured to wait for 0-6 confirmations and up to 48*60*60 seconds from the moment the payment address was generated for a transaction to be paid/confirmed.

There are three potentially interesting moments in the life of a transaction when someone might like to be notified:

  1. A transaction with an output that is being watched has been transmitted on the p2p network.
  2. The transaction has been included in a block.
  3. The transaction is fully confirmed (is 6 blocks deep).

With regular bitcoins, I see that when I configure gear to wait for 6 confirmations and 24h, Gear sends two notifications. One for event #2 (transaction included in block) and one for event #3 (transaction confirmed).

With testnet, when configured the same way it behaves the same way, only the testnet blocks are tiny and sometimes happen frequently. But when configured to not wait for confirmation (and only wait for 15 minutes), Gear sends a single notification, after event #1 (transaction transmitted).

What I actually want is to be notified as soon as possible after the customer has transmitted a transaction (event #1), and be notified within minutes of the transaction being fully confirmed (event #3).

If no transaction was transmitted within the first 15 minutes, consider the order abandoned (and the payment address eligible for reuse).

I think what I want is reasonable. But I don't see how to get it from Gear.

Is there a way to get this from Mycelium Gear? If not, is there an alternative service that does the same thing Gear does, but can send the two notifications I need (event #1 and event #3)?

Alternatively, how do other people do it, without using coinbase/braintree/bitpay and without running a full node client on the server?

My best idea currently is to configure Gear to not wait for confirmation to get the first notification, and then follow up the transaction manually using some blockchain explorer API to find out whether it got included in a block and how many blocks deep, until it's fully confirmed and then I can generate the second notification. But if I have to use a second service (some kind of blockchain exploration API), Gear will be a disappointment.

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5 Answers 5

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Most people look up the receiving address in blockchain.info , but the site is having some trouble lately. They show the transaction about a second after broadcast, and show how many confirmations a transaction has in the address page.

If it doesen't work, try another block explorer, some are listed below:

blockexplorer.com

blockr.io

blockcypher.com

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As I understand, you need callbacks for 0,1,2+ confirmation. AFAIK, there are two options. Both work in similar ways and you can use your own HD wallet to receive similar to mycelium gear

Note that if you are running an online store, you still need to use websocket API on browser in addition to the callbacks. This is to let the browser know that the payment is done, and then redirect to server to confirm the payment (without doing busy polling).

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Mycelium Gear fixed the issue (almost two weeks after I reported it) and now they send a webhook for 0 and for 6 confirmations, exactly the way I want it and the way I think everyone wants it.

I've implemented, tested and never deployed a workaround that uses three different block chain exploring APIs to manually confirm transactions.

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I had the same need to get a notification when my Bitcoin transactions got included in the first block and until completely confirmed (6 or 7 blocks deep), so I created this simple website:

https://bitcoin-alerts.live/

You just enter the transaction hash and an email address and you'll get email notifications when these events happen.

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  • Unfortunately it doesnt seem to work correctly. I just got an email saying that the transaction was confirmed in block # -1 but its not confirmed nor is that a proper blocknumber.
    – Don King
    Jun 26, 2019 at 17:01
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    @DonKing thanks for letting me know! The issue is now fixed.
    – Olivier Payen
    Jun 27, 2019 at 4:54
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    I can confirm that it works perfectly now! Just got the email for my transaction confirmed. Thx again!
    – Don King
    Jun 29, 2019 at 8:04
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    Great, happy to read that :)
    – Olivier Payen
    Jun 29, 2019 at 19:28
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If you would like to monitor a btc address and receive a webhook notification when that address sends or receives funds, you can use this Wallet Watch tool. In addition to webhook, a number of other methods are supported as well (SMS, Email, Telegram, etc).

Disclaimer: I am affiliated with a co-founder of this service.

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