Fees and confirmation
Outcome: you will be able to predict the fee for any operation before the product shows it, and know why the shown fee is a floor rather than an estimate.
The fee rule
Section titled “The fee rule”Zcash fees follow ZIP 317, the network’s conventional fee rule: 5,000 zatoshis per logical action, computed from the actual shape of each transaction. The network relays nothing below this fee, so it is a floor, not a suggestion, and there is no fee market to time.
Typical shapes:
| Operation | Logical actions | Conventional fee |
|---|---|---|
| Simple send | 2 | 10,000 zatoshis |
| ZRune mint (single input) | about 4 to 5 | 20,000 to 25,000 zatoshis |
| Full 4-piece inscription reveal | about 8 | 40,000 zatoshis |
The large reveal input raises the reveal cost; a ZRune data output adds about 3 logical actions for a full 79-byte payload.
What the product shows before you pay or sign
Section titled “What the product shows before you pay or sign”Every flow shows the complete fee display before anything is paid or signed: the network fee, the value that carries the asset, the total in ZEC and in zatoshis. There are no fee surprises after approval, because the transactions are fully planned before the first payment or signature.
On the payment path, the invoice amount is exactly these figures added up: the carrying value, the commit fee, the reveal fees, and for a batch the fan-out fee that splits one payment per item. There is no service fee. Any ZEC the operation does not use is returned to your recipient address, so overpaying an invoice costs nothing but the wait for its return.
Confirmation
Section titled “Confirmation”A transaction is final when it is mined into a block; deeper confirmation makes reorganization vanishingly unlikely. Two places where confirmation depth matters in these protocols:
- Etch commitments must be at least 6 blocks old before the etch that uses them is valid.
- Sequence numbers for fresh inscriptions are stable only after confirmation depth; a just-confirmed inscription displays its provisional nature honestly.
The product tracks orders through real chain states, so you watch the commit confirm, then each reveal, rather than a spinner.
What can go wrong
Section titled “What can go wrong”| Situation | What happens | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| The fee display shows more than you expected | The transaction shape (pieces, inputs, data output) drives the count | Check the piece count in Preview; smaller content costs less |
| A chain reorganization touches your transaction | The indexer recomputes deterministically from the surviving chain | Wait for the order timeline to settle; nothing needs your action |