Silk Road: anonymous marketplace. Feedback requested :)

[satamusic]

gps jammers cheaper on dealextreme

[8668]

I heard about a guy who made a very small purchase of something quasi-legal here. He knows my cousin's bosses girlfriend. When I hear how it goes I shall report back

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

[BitterTea]

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

I like the idea of a digitally signed receipt. I got one recently and it contained the transaction amount, my pgp key fingerprint, and the transaction hash, signed by the receipt issuer's private key.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a courier network to ferry packages around is a good idea.

People order something and the package goes through several hops between the sender and the receiver with the couriers using encrypted messaging to receive address details.

Think of onion routing but in a physical sense .

[LMGTFY]

I heard about a guy who made a very small purchase of something quasi-legal here. He knows my cousin's bosses girlfriend. When I hear how it goes I shall report back

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

Your BTC, or your cousin's boss's girlfriend's friend's BTC?! :-)

[FatherMcGruder]

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

It's probably better to keep communication to a minimum.

[MacRohard]

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

It's probably better to keep communication to a minimum.

maybe some kind of tracking number you can use to see if they've dispatched the order yet.

[MoonShadow]

Maybe a courier network to ferry packages around is a good idea.

People order something and the package goes through several hops between the sender and the receiver with the couriers using encrypted messaging to receive address details.

Think of onion routing but in a physical sense .

Could be done, but it would be expensive, and still very risky to the actual participants.

[wb3]

Why, people can send stuff anonymously now, through the USPS. The recipient isn't anonymous but the sender is. But a lot of people use the UPS stores to receive mail and packages, semi-anonymously. Of course if your going to send xlpossives or something stupid, it wouldn't be so anonymous, but for mundane items, it is pretty good.


If you apply that to the physical onion routing idea,  A-B anonymous, B-C anonymous, D-E anonymous, E couldn't get back to A, but A could get to E. But then he already new E.

[silkroad]

I thought this thread got killed!  Glad to see there is a place for it at bitcoin.org.

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

It's probably better to keep communication to a minimum.

Don't worry 8668.  The next message you get will be to let you know that your order has shipped.  If you want to message me on Silk Road, we can talk in more detail.  I don't want to get into too many specifics on this forum.

I've read through the thread up to this point, and I really appreciate everyone's feedback.  I'm totally open to Silk Road evolving to include more than just drugs.  It's just an obvious place to start.  ronaldmaustin's post about banned items on eBay is a great place to start thinking about what else could be sold there.

[8668]

I thought this thread got killed!  Glad to see there is a place for it at bitcoin.org.

14 hours and there has been zero response regarding purchase (aside from the Confirmations my BTC were sent)

I realize it's been a very short period of time, but any sort of acknowledgment would be nice. 

It's probably better to keep communication to a minimum.

Don't worry 8668.  The next message you get will be to let you know that your order has shipped.  If you want to message me on Silk Road, we can talk in more detail.  I don't want to get into too many specifics on this forum.

I've read through the thread up to this point, and I really appreciate everyone's feedback.  I'm totally open to Silk Road evolving to include more than just drugs.  It's just an obvious place to start.  ronaldmaustin's post about banned items on eBay is a great place to start thinking about what else could be sold there.

10-4

[Stephen Gornick]

ronaldmaustin's post about banned items on eBay is a great place to start thinking about what else could be sold there.

I'm surprised someone hasn't yet offered a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall or other state lottery.
  e.g. http://www.powerball.com

I don't play personally, but would be thrilled to see Bitcoin help clear the line in front of me at the convenience store.

[wb3]

ronaldmaustin's post about banned items on eBay is a great place to start thinking about what else could be sold there.

I'm surprised someone hasn't yet offered a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall or other state lottery.
  e.g. http://www.powerball.com

I don't play personally, but would be thrilled to see Bitcoin help clear the line in front of me at the convenience store.

Unfortunately, possession is 9/10ths of the law. It would work for all the losers, but if you ever won the big won, good luck getting the ticket receipt from the true purchaser. Even with a pre-signed contract, he would probably fight it, he will have (currently: $40 Million ) to hire Lawyers, you will have a claim and maybe a lawyer.

What surprises me is why PowerBall themselves don't sell through the Net. Just tie the C/C Hash info to the Receipt/email to prove ownership. Only those with the right C/C can claim.  And their be no doubt who bought the ticket. Even if fraudsters used a stolen C/C, I bet the true owner would say: Thanks for stealing my C/C and buying Lotto tickets.

[Stephen Gornick]

I'm surprised someone hasn't yet offered a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall or other state lottery.
  e.g. http://www.powerball.com

Even with a pre-signed contract, he would probably fight it, he will have (currently: $40 Million ) to hire Lawyers, you will have a claim and maybe a lawyer.

I had thought of that and was supposing the problem could be resolved by mailing out the tickets purchased before the day that the lottery is drawn.  Then I think of all the holes in that strategy as well and now I know why nobody yet offers a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall (in addition to the obvious one where it probably isn't something that be done legally.)

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised someone hasn't yet offered a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall or other state lottery.
  e.g. http://www.powerball.com

Even with a pre-signed contract, he would probably fight it, he will have (currently: $40 Million ) to hire Lawyers, you will have a claim and maybe a lawyer.

I had thought of that and was supposing the problem could be resolved by mailing out the tickets purchased before the day that the lottery is drawn.  Then I think of all the holes in that strategy as well and now I know why nobody yet offers a service to buy people's numbers for PowerBall (in addition to the obvious one where it probably isn't something that be done legally.)

Scratch lotto is  the obvious choice if you want to mail tickets around.  Then youre limited  to the same state you bought them in as you usually cant claim them out of state. Maybe a lotto syndicate would be better where many people share the purchase of tickets and any prizes get shared between the members. 

[marcus_of_augustus]

How about a worldwide Lotto in bitcoins?

Who wants to run one?

If you want to buy a ticket you send bitcoin to an escrow account, along with a receiving address for possible prize monies. In the escrow, the total pool make-up for the current week is publicly accessible and at weeks end the numbers are drawn.

Make the random number generator linked to the randomness of the mining of blocks, last number of weekly transaction total .... or something like that for added interest in bitcoin.

Could start real small like 0.01 btc per ticket or so to get broad interest from people who got some from bitcoin faucet and then think now what the heck am I gonna blow my 0.05 bitcoin on?

[8668]

Just for the record, SilkRoad has no apparent ties to any of the underground drug trading forums. For this reason alone I do not trust them. If they want my trust they need to say who can vouch for them or what forums they have been on. Even if they post a hash of the forums name and a random string of their choice it will be nice, then people from drug forums can compare forums they have been on + the random string and look for a match. This way people can learn if silkroad is on any trusted forums and silkroad doesn't need to leak any forum names. Honestly a vendor site like this with no backing from the forums I automatically am distrutful of, although they could be legitimate regardless.

i felt the same way. that's why i restricted my purchase to something legal and something i could easily obtain a prescription for (again) if need be.

regardless, i never received any word that product shipped, anticipating refund in next day.

and as far as everything else offered, i wouldnt buy pot online if it was the drought of '02 again

[JesusTheCaffeine]

How about a worldwide Lotto in bitcoins?

Who wants to run one?

If you want to buy a ticket you send bitcoin to an escrow account, along with a receiving address for possible prize monies. In the escrow, the total pool make-up for the current week is publicly accessible and at weeks end the numbers are drawn.

Make the random number generator linked to the randomness of the mining of blocks, last number of weekly transaction total .... or something like that for added interest in bitcoin.

Could start real small like 0.01 btc per ticket or so to get broad interest from people who got some from bitcoin faucet and then think now what the heck am I gonna blow my 0.05 bitcoin on?

That's a great idea, we just need a trusted member to start it and it'll be sweet.

[silkroad]

Just for the record, SilkRoad has no apparent ties to any of the underground drug trading forums. For this reason alone I do not trust them. If they want my trust they need to say who can vouch for them or what forums they have been on. Even if they post a hash of the forums name and a random string of their choice it will be nice, then people from drug forums can compare forums they have been on + the random string and look for a match. This way people can learn if silkroad is on any trusted forums and silkroad doesn't need to leak any forum names. Honestly a vendor site like this with no backing from the forums I automatically am distrutful of, although they could be legitimate regardless.

i felt the same way. that's why i restricted my purchase to something legal and something i could easily obtain a prescription for (again) if need be.

regardless, i never received any word that product shipped, anticipating refund in next day.

and as far as everything else offered, i wouldnt buy pot online if it was the drought of '02 again

I'm very sorry your seller flaked 8668.  Hopefully you were pleased with our refund policy, though.  Your's was actually the first unfulfilled order so far, so I am confident if you placed another that it would be filled.

Has anyone else from here tried placing an order?

[mndrix]

Your's was actually the first unfulfilled order so far, so I am confident if you placed another that it would be filled.

Has anyone else from here tried placing an order?

I haven't placed an order (I don't even drink tea, let alone use LSD ), but I was impressed with your internal escrow arrangement.  It seems like exactly the right way to handle these transactions.

I also had one question about the escrow mechanics: what happens if a buyer ends up in jail and can't affirm the shipment arrived?  Does the seller still get paid?  Sorry if I missed the documentation.