Silk Road: anonymous marketplace. Feedback requested :)

[FatherMcGruder]

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.

What about when a seller just doesn't respond?

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[Anonymous]

Would anyone buy cigarettes for bitcoin ?

Not that I would buy or sell them - I dont smoke either   

[MacRohard]

Would anyone buy cigarettes for bitcoin ?

Not that I would buy or sell them - I dont smoke either   

If the price were competitive, I'm sure people would..

[Anonymous]

Would anyone buy cigarettes for bitcoin ?

Not that I would buy or sell them - I dont smoke either   

If the price were competitive, I'm sure people would..

Even if they fell off the back of a truck ?

 

[Geographer]

anyone else getting an error while trying to go on the site?

The following error occurred while trying to access http://ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion/:

504 Connect to ianxz6zefk72ulzz.onion:80 failed: SOCKS error: TTL expired

[FatherMcGruder]

I think that may be more of a problem with Tor than the site.

[MoonShadow]

Would anyone buy cigarettes for bitcoin ?

Not that I would buy or sell them - I dont smoke either   

If the price were competitive, I'm sure people would..

Pay Kentucky taxes instead of Illinois taxes?

[mizerydearia]

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 .

Maybe P2P in a physical sense?  e.g. send the package to any other peer in the community, and if that peer is the final peer destined to receive the package, they can keep it, otherwise they should update a kind of status and send it out again. ^_^

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

Suggestions: Alli, military items/instruments, information, manuals, weapons, vehicles, armor/uniforms, firearms, weapons and knives, offensive material, replicas, counterfeit items, unauthorized copies of items: handbags, mobile devices, bootlegs, sunglasses, wallets, watches, fake autographs, pirated movies, videos, music, photos, software, video games, alcohol, animals and wildlife products, art, artifacts, catalytic converters and test pipes, cell phone service contracts, contracts, used cosmetics, counterfeit currency and stamps, stamps, credit cards, electronic surveillance equipment, embargoed goods, event tickets, government documents, IDs, and licenses, hazardous materials, human parts and remains, items encouraging illegal activity, lockpicking devices, lottery tickets, mailing lists and personal information, coupons, medical devices, pesticides, plants and seeds, police related items, political memorabilia, postage meters, real estate, recalled items, slot machines, stocks & other securities, stolen property and property with removed serial numbers, tobacco

[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 .

Maybe P2P in a physical sense?  e.g. send the package to any other peer in the community, and if that peer is the final peer destined to receive the package, they can keep it, otherwise they should update a kind of status and send it out again. ^_^

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

Suggestions: Alli, military items/instruments, information, manuals, weapons, vehicles, armor/uniforms, firearms, weapons and knives, offensive material, replicas, counterfeit items, unauthorized copies of items: handbags, mobile devices, bootlegs, sunglasses, wallets, watches, fake autographs, pirated movies, videos, music, photos, software, video games, alcohol, animals and wildlife products, art, artifacts, catalytic converters and test pipes, cell phone service contracts, contracts, used cosmetics, counterfeit currency and stamps, stamps, credit cards, electronic surveillance equipment, embargoed goods, event tickets, government documents, IDs, and licenses, hazardous materials, human parts and remains, items encouraging illegal activity, lockpicking devices, lottery tickets, mailing lists and personal information, coupons, medical devices, pesticides, plants and seeds, police related items, political memorabilia, postage meters, real estate, recalled items, slot machines, stocks & other securities, stolen property and property with removed serial numbers, tobacco

Yes that...and also buyer and seller proxies so the person buying and the person selling has relays in betwee. These proxies should be assigned to different buyers and sellers each time. This way the buyer doesnt know the seller and vice versa.

[psydelicious]

Just wanted to chip in with my experience with this site, which was very positive.

I ordered LSD tabs from the seller 'psynom' on Silk Road on sunday. I went with him because I found one post on their forums stating the guy was legit. He advertised shipping from EU.

So I place the order, no order confirmation or indication that the order was really completed (as someone already mentioned - silk road is 'working on it' I hear).

The next day I get a message on the site that the tabs have been shipped. After this I can see my order as an active order from the 'messages' screen, and get options to confirm whether the delivery took place.

On Friday, I got the tabs. They were shipped in a regular envelope, quite innocent-looking. Inside was a hardcover greeting card, inside which the tabs were taped in plastic. The envelope was indeed mailed from a core EU country. Without giving specifics, 5 days was surprisingly fast for the postal service here.


So, armed with our acid tabs, me and some friends tried it out yesterday. It was LSD alright. I've only tripped once before, that dosage was not very strong (I just felt a borderline effect from 1 tab that time, though it was pleasant). This one was a bit stronger, but I still wound up taking 4 tabs over a 4 hour period. Onset started about 45 minutes after taking the hit.

I won't describe my experience here in any more detail (unless someone really wants to know, I suppose...), but suffice to say I had one of the best times of my life.


In conclusion, silk road is the victory of decentralised cipherpunk thinking over traditional methods of blocking trade. If being able to buy drugs anonymously over the internet isn't a killer app for bitcoin, I don't know what is. I was already watching the bitcoin project for some time, but through this, I have spread bitcoin to several friends who wouldn't otherwise have likely been exposed to bitcoin - and I'm pretty sure they'll be buying some in the future.

[FatherMcGruder]

Just wanted to chip in with my experience with this site, which was very positive.

I ordered LSD tabs from the seller 'psynom' on Silk Road on sunday. I went with him because I found one post on their forums stating the guy was legit. He advertised shipping from EU.

So I place the order, no order confirmation or indication that the order was really completed (as someone already mentioned - silk road is 'working on it' I hear).

The next day I get a message on the site that the tabs have been shipped. After this I can see my order as an active order from the 'messages' screen, and get options to confirm whether the delivery took place.

On Friday, I got the tabs. They were shipped in a regular envelope, quite innocent-looking. Inside was a hardcover greeting card, inside which the tabs were taped in plastic. The envelope was indeed mailed from a core EU country. Without giving specifics, 5 days was surprisingly fast for the postal service here.


So, armed with our acid tabs, me and some friends tried it out yesterday. It was LSD alright. I've only tripped once before, that dosage was not very strong (I just felt a borderline effect from 1 tab that time, though it was pleasant). This one was a bit stronger, but I still wound up taking 4 tabs over a 4 hour period. Onset started about 45 minutes after taking the hit.

I won't describe my experience here in any more detail (unless someone really wants to know, I suppose...), but suffice to say I had one of the best times of my life.


In conclusion, silk road is the victory of decentralised cipherpunk thinking over traditional methods of blocking trade. If being able to buy drugs anonymously over the internet isn't a killer app for bitcoin, I don't know what is. I was already watching the bitcoin project for some time, but through this, I have spread bitcoin to several friends who wouldn't otherwise have likely been exposed to bitcoin - and I'm pretty sure they'll be buying some in the future.

Cool story, bro.

Trolling aside, drug dealing is currently Bitcoin's killer app. No reason it can't  have more than one, of course.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Questions for silkroad:

1. Do you truecrypt your server's hard drives ?
2. Do your sellers support GPS GeoCaching ?

EDIT:
And finally:

How do you know that one of the sellers is not a FBI/CIA/Interpol/MiB/Whatever agent ?
Do you verify these people yourself ?

[silkroad]

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.

What about when a seller just doesn't respond?

So here's how it works currently:
1. buyer places and order
2. funds held in escrow
3a. seller confirms shipment
3b. seller never responds, buyer's funds are returned
4a. buyer confirms delivery and seller's funds are released
4b. buyer claims that the order never came.  Buyer and seller have a few days to come to a resolution.  If no resolution is made, a silk road admin will review the case and make a judgement, which is usually to split the funds in escrow 50/50 (to date, only one order has come to this and is currently in the resolution process)
4c. buyer never responds, funds are released to seller

The details of how long each phase takes will be different once the automated payment processor and shopping cart features are launched, so I won't publish them here to avoid confusion down the road.  For now, though, when you place an order, it is all spelled out.

Questions for silkroad:

1. Do you truecrypt your server's hard drives ?
2. Do your sellers support GPS GeoCaching ?

EDIT:
And finally:

How do you know that one of the sellers is not a FBI/CIA/Interpol/MiB/Whatever agent ?
Do you verify these people yourself ?

In response to #1, I am reluctant to reveal any details about the server until I think through how it might be a security threat.  Please rest assured that security for silk road admin and all of the users is the top priority.

GPS GeoCaching is not currently supported, though I really like the idea.  I don't think the userbase is big enough to support it right now because buyer and seller would need to be near each other geographically.

The truth is, we don't know the identities of any user on Silk Road.  Sellers have very little chance of detection if a buyer is really a government agent, and the best defense for a buyer is to deny ordering anything (anyone can send anyone else anything through the mail).  We have a guide on the site and a forum topic dedicated to the best way to protect ones self when receiving an order.  Authorities typically won't investigate customers either, they are after the producers, brokers, and dealers. 

[koin]

In conclusion, silk road is the victory of decentralised cipherpunk thinking over traditional methods of blocking trade. If being able to buy drugs anonymously over the internet isn't a killer app for bitcoin, I don't know what is.

only a matter of time some homicidal maniac sends you lsd laced with some lethal chemical

fool

[Anonymous]

In conclusion, silk road is the victory of decentralised cipherpunk thinking over traditional methods of blocking trade. If being able to buy drugs anonymously over the internet isn't a killer app for bitcoin, I don't know what is.

only a matter of time some homicidal maniac sends you lsd laced with some lethal chemical

fool

Dont buy it then.

[QuantumMechanic]

In conclusion, silk road is the victory of decentralised cipherpunk thinking over traditional methods of blocking trade. If being able to buy drugs anonymously over the internet isn't a killer app for bitcoin, I don't know what is.

only a matter of time some homicidal maniac sends you lsd laced with some lethal chemical

fool

And it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened either: http://www.slate.com/id/2245188/

[marcus_of_augustus]

Yeah, better watch out, homicidal maniacs are more common than drug dealers these days, (I heard it on TV).

And all cocaine could be anthrax, MJ is laced with toxic insecticide, crossing the street is more dangerous than flying, sex makes yer dick fall off and tomorrow you'll possibly be wiped out by a tsunami ... in fact stay at home with your mom and you'll be just fine.

[Cryptoman]

And it wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened either: http://www.slate.com/id/2245188/

Officially, the special denaturing program ended only once the 18th Amendment was repealed in December 1933.

This is bullshit.  They are still poisoning alcohol sold without taxation or licensing with methanol.  They're from the government, and they're there to help.

[carp]

Yeah, better watch out, homicidal maniacs are more common than drug dealers these days, (I heard it on TV).

And all cocaine could be anthrax, MJ is laced with toxic insecticide, crossing the street is more dangerous than flying, sex makes yer dick fall off and tomorrow you'll possibly be wiped out by a tsunami ... in fact stay at home with your mom and you'll be just fine.

Um.... crossing the street probably is more dangerous than flying. Actually... walking home drunk from the bar is more dangerous than driving home drunk. (You don't hear that one advertised a lot)

Oh, and staying at home would lead to a sedentary lifestyle... which will kill you.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

This is bullshit.  They are still poisoning alcohol sold without taxation or licensing with methanol.  They're from the government, and they're there to help.

[Citation needed] ?