Group three of six
Money
Money problems on a market almost always arrive as the same picture: an amount that is not where you expected it to be. That picture covers a boring delay and a permanent loss equally well.
The advantage this group has
Money leaves a record, and that makes this the easiest group on the board. A transaction either exists somewhere public or it does not, and that fact does not depend on anybody being honest with you.
The catch is that the public record answers a narrower question than people think. It says a payment was made and where it went. It says nothing about whether a market credited it, matched it to your account, or noticed it at all. Those are separate questions with separate answers, and half the pairs here exist because the two get run together.
A deposit that is slow, or a deposit that is gone
Money / Pair 15A slow deposit against A lost deposit
One is queued on the chain. The other went somewhere the market has no key for.
The test: Look the transaction up and read the destination address off the chain record
The address expired, or it was never issued to you
Money / Pair 16A deposit address that expired against An address that was never yours
Both strings look equally legitimate. Only one was ever issued to your account.
The test: Does your own signed-in deposit record list that address at all
A rule about release, or a decision about you
Money / Pair 17Escrow against The market holding your money
Escrow is a rule with a stated end. Holding is the same money with no end named.
The test: Can you name the event that releases it, and is it tied to one order
Who took the difference, the operator or the network
Money / Pair 18A fee the market charges against A fee the network charges
One figure is chosen by an operator. The other is set by demand for block space.
The test: Anything missing before broadcast is the operator, anything the chain records is not
A saving on quantity, or a saving on protection
Money / Pair 19A discount for ordering more against A discount for paying differently
One saving is priced in goods. The other is priced in the protection you give up.
The test: Does the lower price survive an ordinary order through the ordinary flow
Money back, or the end of the argument
Money / Pair 20A partial refund against A settlement
The figure can be identical. What differs is whether your claim survives it.
The test: Ask whether accepting the amount ends the claim, then read the order state after
Still moving, or already refused
Money / Pair 21A withdrawal that is queued against A withdrawal that was rejected
The withdrawal page is the wrong screen. The spendable balance answers it in one number.
The test: Check the spendable balance: missing means queued, returned means refused
Still settling, or short by a fraction
Money / Pair 22A payment that is unconfirmed against A payment that is short
One is queued and will settle. The other arrived and does not match the invoice.
The test: Compare the amount that arrived at the address with the amount the invoice asked
The mistake this group keeps punishing
Acting on the balance shown to you rather than on the record underneath it. A balance is a number a market chose to display. Under normal circumstances it is correct and there is no reason to look further. When something is wrong, it is the first thing that stops being reliable, and it is also the last thing people think to distrust.
The order that works is the other way round. Check whether the money moved. Then check whether it arrived. Then, and only then, ask why a screen is showing what it is showing.
Where the asymmetry sits
In most of this group, treating a loss as a delay is the cheap error, because waiting costs you time and nothing else. Treating a delay as a loss is the expensive one, because the usual reaction to a believed loss is to send the payment again, and now there really are two of them. The costs page lays that out for every pair on the site at once.