Darknet Markets
A darknet market is a commercial website that operates via darknets such as Tor or I2P. They function primarily as black markets, selling or brokering transactions involving drugs, unlicensed pharmaceuticals, steroids and similar stuff.
FAQ
What if I am only buying legal items off a market? I’m not breaking any laws then, am I?
Unfortunately, yes, you still are. You are technically aiding a criminal organization (by paying the market fee) as well as bypassing country tax laws. Luckily it doesn’t seem as though LE is very concerned at all about this and you most likely will never face any kind of legal trouble for ordering legal items off a market.
Is (Random market) down?
If you cannot access a site, there is most likely a site-wide outage; you are not the only one having difficulties. Check the markets specific subdread to see if anyone else is having a problem. If you consistently cannot connect for several hours, try checking the forums and seeing if there are any postings regarding the status of the site. Do this BEFORE posting the question on /d/Darknetmarkets !
Can I just browse DNMs, without buying anything without Tails?
NO Do not do it. If you get caught, or law enforcement for whatever reason searches your house, they will know that you browsed DNMs. Then good luck trying to explain the judge that you are a perfectly law abiding citizen. Your plausible deniability will vanish into thin air. So take the 2 minutes to boot tails and do not be the low hanging fruit.
I lost access to my DNM account, can I get it back?
It depends on the market and what information you can provide to the support. In general you best shot is to make a new account on the market and message the support. Provide as much information as possible to prove that you are the real owner of that account (like what messages you sent, what orders you made, when you created the account, . . .) and then hope for the best.
Why is so expensive?
Supply and demand dictate prices. Your street prices may be lower than the market price. The market is not beating street prices for cocaine in Columbia, MDMA in The Netherlands, or cannabis in California.
A vendor wants to be paid in Paypal/Western Union/cash in the mail. Is this legit?
NO! This is the easiest way to get scammed. If a vendor asks you to circumvent the escrow system, immediately report the vendor to the site’s administration.
I deposited bitcoins to my account, but blockchain.info shows them being sent to a different address!
Some sites have a built-in bitcoin “tumbler” to disguise the destination of deposited coins. Once this process is complete, your account balance should reflect the deposit. Note: the market system is not a tumbler since it just deals with dirty bitcoins (the ones from drug buyers and vendors) and dos not use clean bitcoins as a real tumbler would.
Are prices adjusted for fluctuations in the BTC exchange rate?
Most sites peg their prices in USD so prices are automatically readjusted according to bitcoin fluctuations and generally show the same USD value irrespective of the BTC exchange rate.
What are the chances of me getting caught?
There is no specific number, but it is relatively low if you follow all steps in the DNM bible.
I found this link on the hidden wiki. . .
It is very likely that this link is a scam. Only use links that are from Dark.Fail, a market specific subdread
Is it possible that LE creates a new vendor account to catch buyers?
It depends on the legal situation in your country, but in general: yes. However it is rather unlikely that this will happen, because the past showed that LE prefers to bust a vendor and then take over his accounts if possible (and try to get customer addresses). So be careful if the vendor starts acting weird and in doubt ask him to sign a message that confirms that he is well with his PGP key (how to verify a signed message).
If a vendor suddenly changes his PGP key without signing it with his old one, stay away from him until he does so!
What are the safest items to buy/ship?
Some products are easier to conceal and ship (e.g. LSD) than others (e.g. weed) but it does not matter which is safer, but what you actually want to order. If you follow all the tips in the DNM bible (especially the “How to choose a good vendor” chapter), you will most likely be fine and can minimize the risk of your order not arriving.
I visited a market without disabling JavaScript/setting the security slider to high, am I *****ed?
You will probably be fine. But make sure this does not happen in the future, so set the security slider to high every time you start the Tor browser in the future.