Okay – I’ve outlined some of my experiences on the Silk Road (or SR as sometimes referred to) and although this is lengthy, there is a large amount of information for someone who is serious about using it for the first time. I don’t go into the technical how-to’s of setting up Tor, but I’m happy to answer any questions about that if you start the process and have difficulty. Just a couple of common sense words on it… Be Smart. Don’t try to put Tor (or Vidalia) on your work computer (duh!). You need to use a computer where you can control the proxy settings. And don’t underestimate the value of a thumbnail drive vs. your hard drive. There will be no trace of Tor while not in use, if you remove the thumb drive after each use.
I've put in a dozen or so orders by now - usually multiple orders at a time to use up all the bitcoins I’ve deposited in my account at once. That way they don’t linger around temping one of the numerous hackers (Tor is littered with them) who search the Silk Road for accounts with balances remaining. You will see there is a section where you can by money and bitcoins. Where do you think those bitcoins are coming from? Mostly from accounts that leave a balance available at any given time. So figure out what you are going to buy and deposit approximately that much money, plus the fees associated with each step along the way. The bitcoins process can take some time to complete (especially at first) and there fees associated with each transaction along the way until the final step where you trade USD for E-Currency, (usually one party will facilitate taking your money and depositing it somewhere larger that auctions E-Currency or the like (Liberty Reserve is one of these E-Currency Companies) And example work flow would go something like this <you deposit cash(each company accepts different forms for payment ie, Bank Transfer, Western Union, Credit Card (rarely) PayPal) into a company like electrumx.com. electrumx.com then deposits those funds to LibertyReserve.com, who turns it into E-Currancy. Once you have that, you can trade it like the stock market for Bitcoins from any bitcoin company, like say Mt Gox. From there you are given an extremely long code from your Silk Road account that will allow you too enter that into any bitcoin provider and they will deposit your bitcoin balance (after each of the aforementioned companies takes a fee). Right now the bitcoin market ended at 13.37487bc to $1. This is the highest I have consistently seen it. It's been as low as $3, and stayed there for quite sometime too. So the market does fluctuate quite a bit.
Here is a screenshot of the LibertyReserve site and an example of some of the venders they use to deposit funds.
As I just mentioned, 99.9% (in not 100% these days) of SR transactions are done with bitcoins. Supposedly they are completely anonymous, protecting your identity from all purchases.
*NOTE: There is some debate over how autonomous bitcoins really are. But for our purposes, they actually do offer the most superior protection available. But we’ll delve into this later towards the end.*
I would say that the vast majority of my transactions have run smoothly and been completely successful. But the first few undoubtedly made me a little nervous. Eventually they all worked out, but with each order something out of the ordinary happened. Odd packages started to arrive, unsolicited - including a string of random drugs, definitely not purchased, arrived in the mail – but more on that later. The first time was the oddest - and definitely the creepiest. Admittedly, I made a couple n00b mistakes, which might have triggered some of these events. This is why I’m writing all of this – so anyone who wants to journey down the Silk Road, can have access to a manual of sorts - an instruction guide, riddled with some humorous personal antidotes.
My first purchase, I ordered a vile of acid. It was a 250 drop vile at 50mg a drop. The seller was from the Netherlands and requested a no bitcoin transaction, PayPal preferred – an EXTREMELY odd request on the SR and one I have not seen repeated since. However at the time I didn’t realize just how unusual this was. I didn’t do a lot of research before my first purchase, I got too excited and jumped right in with a large purchase immediately after joining (yeah, yeah impatient, I know). But I could tell that the bitcoin process was initially going to take a few days to set up, so I was just stoked to see something I could pull the trigger on immediately. And a huge vile of acid, which was exactly what I was looking for! No more buying 10 strips on lots or going through one of the two people I know who can sometimes provide a sheet. This was going to last me for a while! (It was gone in like two months – but that’s inconsequential to the story. Just shows that I like my acid. Quite a bit.) Especially since I already had a full sheet as well as 50 drops in a vile a friend scored me in NY. I prefer liquid acid, because my ideal route of administration is IV, so it bypasses the step required to soak the LSD out of the strip. Makes it much easier… but anyway… back to the Silk Road.
Once you pay for an item with bitcoins, your purchase goes into and you don’t have to fully release the funds until your order is received. Sellers do have the option to accept escrow payments or not, but if you release early the fault lies on you and there is no further protection from SR. But buying any product from the Silk Road is much like eBay, as you will see in the included photographs. All sellers are given ratings from the buyer after the transaction, and you can pick who you want to do business with based on those ratings – number of stars, description of personal communication, number of positive ratings, how long they have been active on SR and how their product is reviewed. Then, if you are smart, you pick sellers with a large number of high (perfect) ratings. You want to pick a seller that has a 100 ratings, because there are many ways to fool the system and these are drug dealers you are working with after all. Some people put their product up, have their buddies purchase a few times, acquire some positive reviews, convince the next potential buyers to release escrow early, then disappear after they have received the cash. This has happened to me once on the SR when I wanted to sample a 10 strip. But this business happens all the time on every drug buying forums, be it topix, oxyforum or the Silk Road. (Not to mention the scammers you run across when buying drugs in real life, especially when copping on the streets!) There are always going to be scammers. So 1 time out of 20 or so purchases I still consider pretty good odds!
Anyway – the most reputable sellers have no problem selling in escrow, but there are some completely legit sellers who request early release. In the end, the choice is yours. Do you want to purchase from someone requesting earlier release or not. There’s definitely risk involved, but I’ve done it for sellers with extremely high ratings by a large number of buyers and my transaction be completely smooth. Once you release funds and leave your review (which is required as funds are released – a big flaw in the SR still if you as my humble opinion), there is now no way to go back and change your remarks or communicate with other buyers how you were ripped off. Luckily, there is one more line of defense to protect yourself and all buyers, although it can be overlooked much of the time. There is a message board, a forum, where you can report fraudulent sellers and give a description of the transaction, communication and product – both good or bad. Most (maybe even all) reputable sellers have their own forum page. There are also threads listing all types of shady sellers as well.. This is your only option for recourse if you are scammed after waving escrow. But hopefully the product was FIRE and you want to fluff the seller with high praise.
An example of a listing - this one for MDMA. All items are pitched similar to eBay, with description, photo, price in BC and the Sellers ID and Rating. In this example you can see the seller SKYY has a 100 rating, very viable. You can check where the item is shipping from and where the seller is willing to ship too. I go into this a little further in the story, but the Netherlands tends to produce some of the the highest quality products on SR. So despite the delay in shipping as opposed to the a shipment from the States, it very will be worth the weight. In less of course you are buying dope and needed it ASAP lest you get get sick, you'll want to choice someone local who is willing to expedite shipping
Although drugs are by far the largest category on the Silk Road, there are many other illicit items for purchase as well. Here is an example of a general listing for fake ID's. You will be able to cross compare all sellers and their rating as well as scope out pricing and shipping information
In the next entry I'll go into detail about that first purchase of LSD and 2nd order placed soon after - both leading to a bizarre string of events. Questions or comments? Just ask! I'm happy to share
I've put in a dozen or so orders by now - usually multiple orders at a time to use up all the bitcoins I’ve deposited in my account at once. That way they don’t linger around temping one of the numerous hackers (Tor is littered with them) who search the Silk Road for accounts with balances remaining. You will see there is a section where you can by money and bitcoins. Where do you think those bitcoins are coming from? Mostly from accounts that leave a balance available at any given time. So figure out what you are going to buy and deposit approximately that much money, plus the fees associated with each step along the way. The bitcoins process can take some time to complete (especially at first) and there fees associated with each transaction along the way until the final step where you trade USD for E-Currency, (usually one party will facilitate taking your money and depositing it somewhere larger that auctions E-Currency or the like (Liberty Reserve is one of these E-Currency Companies) And example work flow would go something like this <you deposit cash(each company accepts different forms for payment ie, Bank Transfer, Western Union, Credit Card (rarely) PayPal) into a company like electrumx.com. electrumx.com then deposits those funds to LibertyReserve.com, who turns it into E-Currancy. Once you have that, you can trade it like the stock market for Bitcoins from any bitcoin company, like say Mt Gox. From there you are given an extremely long code from your Silk Road account that will allow you too enter that into any bitcoin provider and they will deposit your bitcoin balance (after each of the aforementioned companies takes a fee). Right now the bitcoin market ended at 13.37487bc to $1. This is the highest I have consistently seen it. It's been as low as $3, and stayed there for quite sometime too. So the market does fluctuate quite a bit.
Here is a screenshot of the LibertyReserve site and an example of some of the venders they use to deposit funds.
As I just mentioned, 99.9% (in not 100% these days) of SR transactions are done with bitcoins. Supposedly they are completely anonymous, protecting your identity from all purchases.
*NOTE: There is some debate over how autonomous bitcoins really are. But for our purposes, they actually do offer the most superior protection available. But we’ll delve into this later towards the end.*
I would say that the vast majority of my transactions have run smoothly and been completely successful. But the first few undoubtedly made me a little nervous. Eventually they all worked out, but with each order something out of the ordinary happened. Odd packages started to arrive, unsolicited - including a string of random drugs, definitely not purchased, arrived in the mail – but more on that later. The first time was the oddest - and definitely the creepiest. Admittedly, I made a couple n00b mistakes, which might have triggered some of these events. This is why I’m writing all of this – so anyone who wants to journey down the Silk Road, can have access to a manual of sorts - an instruction guide, riddled with some humorous personal antidotes.
My first purchase, I ordered a vile of acid. It was a 250 drop vile at 50mg a drop. The seller was from the Netherlands and requested a no bitcoin transaction, PayPal preferred – an EXTREMELY odd request on the SR and one I have not seen repeated since. However at the time I didn’t realize just how unusual this was. I didn’t do a lot of research before my first purchase, I got too excited and jumped right in with a large purchase immediately after joining (yeah, yeah impatient, I know). But I could tell that the bitcoin process was initially going to take a few days to set up, so I was just stoked to see something I could pull the trigger on immediately. And a huge vile of acid, which was exactly what I was looking for! No more buying 10 strips on lots or going through one of the two people I know who can sometimes provide a sheet. This was going to last me for a while! (It was gone in like two months – but that’s inconsequential to the story. Just shows that I like my acid. Quite a bit.) Especially since I already had a full sheet as well as 50 drops in a vile a friend scored me in NY. I prefer liquid acid, because my ideal route of administration is IV, so it bypasses the step required to soak the LSD out of the strip. Makes it much easier… but anyway… back to the Silk Road.
Once you pay for an item with bitcoins, your purchase goes into and you don’t have to fully release the funds until your order is received. Sellers do have the option to accept escrow payments or not, but if you release early the fault lies on you and there is no further protection from SR. But buying any product from the Silk Road is much like eBay, as you will see in the included photographs. All sellers are given ratings from the buyer after the transaction, and you can pick who you want to do business with based on those ratings – number of stars, description of personal communication, number of positive ratings, how long they have been active on SR and how their product is reviewed. Then, if you are smart, you pick sellers with a large number of high (perfect) ratings. You want to pick a seller that has a 100 ratings, because there are many ways to fool the system and these are drug dealers you are working with after all. Some people put their product up, have their buddies purchase a few times, acquire some positive reviews, convince the next potential buyers to release escrow early, then disappear after they have received the cash. This has happened to me once on the SR when I wanted to sample a 10 strip. But this business happens all the time on every drug buying forums, be it topix, oxyforum or the Silk Road. (Not to mention the scammers you run across when buying drugs in real life, especially when copping on the streets!) There are always going to be scammers. So 1 time out of 20 or so purchases I still consider pretty good odds!
Anyway – the most reputable sellers have no problem selling in escrow, but there are some completely legit sellers who request early release. In the end, the choice is yours. Do you want to purchase from someone requesting earlier release or not. There’s definitely risk involved, but I’ve done it for sellers with extremely high ratings by a large number of buyers and my transaction be completely smooth. Once you release funds and leave your review (which is required as funds are released – a big flaw in the SR still if you as my humble opinion), there is now no way to go back and change your remarks or communicate with other buyers how you were ripped off. Luckily, there is one more line of defense to protect yourself and all buyers, although it can be overlooked much of the time. There is a message board, a forum, where you can report fraudulent sellers and give a description of the transaction, communication and product – both good or bad. Most (maybe even all) reputable sellers have their own forum page. There are also threads listing all types of shady sellers as well.. This is your only option for recourse if you are scammed after waving escrow. But hopefully the product was FIRE and you want to fluff the seller with high praise.
An example of a listing - this one for MDMA. All items are pitched similar to eBay, with description, photo, price in BC and the Sellers ID and Rating. In this example you can see the seller SKYY has a 100 rating, very viable. You can check where the item is shipping from and where the seller is willing to ship too. I go into this a little further in the story, but the Netherlands tends to produce some of the the highest quality products on SR. So despite the delay in shipping as opposed to the a shipment from the States, it very will be worth the weight. In less of course you are buying dope and needed it ASAP lest you get get sick, you'll want to choice someone local who is willing to expedite shipping
Although drugs are by far the largest category on the Silk Road, there are many other illicit items for purchase as well. Here is an example of a general listing for fake ID's. You will be able to cross compare all sellers and their rating as well as scope out pricing and shipping information
In the next entry I'll go into detail about that first purchase of LSD and 2nd order placed soon after - both leading to a bizarre string of events. Questions or comments? Just ask! I'm happy to share
