[Core Protocol] Transaction shows “not found” for several minutes, then appears

[brankovitorovic]

Did you check the documentation and specs?

• Yes

Was there anything unclear or missing?

No response

Did you check for duplicate questions?

• Yes

Similar Questions or Issues Found

No response

Please select the type of request

• Bug Report
• Feature Request

Steps to Reproduce

I'm sending a transaction on OP Mainnet, but when I call eth_getTransactionByHash, it returns "not found" for a few minutes. After that delay, the transaction suddenly shows up and confirms normally. I’m sure I have enough balance, and eventually it goes through.

Expected vs. Actual Behaviour

Expected: As soon as I broadcast the transaction, I should be able to find it via eth_getTransactionByHash (even if it's still pending) without significant delay.
Actual: For several minutes after broadcasting, eth_getTransactionByHash returns “not found,” and then—without any additional action—it suddenly appears and proceeds normally. This delay is unexpected and makes transaction tracking difficult.

Software Versions

alchemy and infura node

Operating System

/

Hardware Resources

/

Configuration Files, Startup Flags & Environment Variables

/

Error Messages / Logs

Message: not found

Feature Description

No response

Purpose and Benefits

No response

Relevant Context or Examples

No response

[Chomtana]

It should only takes a few second to be included in a block. Can you check in the block explorer if it is included in a few seconds or after a few minutes.

[brankovitorovic]

Thank you for the reply.

I sent the transaction at 19:39 (on February 26th) and immediately received a transaction hash. About 10 seconds later, my system started checking the transaction status, but it wasn’t able to retrieve any information until 19:42, and at that point i received failed status from alchemy.

Upon reviewing the explorer, I noticed that the transaction was included in block 26903001, which was mined at 19:42:29. This suggests it's not an RPC issue, but I still can’t figure out why it’s occurring.

Problem is that during this period, my bot is effectively blocked because it can’t determine the nonce.

[Chomtana]

I think your base gas fee is too low especially during a high price volatility. Might need some mechanism to monitor and resubmit transaction with bumped gas but with the same nonce.

Moreover, if there is a nonce overlap (For example, instead of 1-2-3, your backend submit 1-1-3), your tx will stuck forever unless you submit a tx with nonce 2. I also experiencing this problem too...

[brankovitorovic]

So, does that mean it's expected that if the base fee is too low, the sequencer won't see it and won't include it in the pool (that why not found is response?), but will wait for the market to calm down and then include it? If that's correct, I'll have to do a resend with a higher base and priority fee. 👍
Regarding the nonce, I don't have a problem there; the order ends up correct because eventually all the transactions get mined—it's just a matter of time.

[Chomtana]

Yes, if it's below the block base fee it won't be included.

[opfocus]

If your problem has been solved, please mark the answer and close the discussion