Silk Road Pt. 1

Okay – I’ve outlined some of my experiences on the Silk Road (or SR as sometimes refer 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. But just a couple of words on it… Be Smart. Don’t try to put it 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.

An example of the front page of the Silk Road

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 bitcoins sitting around unused. 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. I’m sure you don’t want that to be you! Also, the bitcoins process takes some time to complete (especially the first time) and there are so many fees associated with each transaction that I try to deposit large sums of money and then quickly make large purchases within the same day.

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.

Listings of LSD available with picture, seller info, pricing, etc

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.) 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.

Listing for Heroin #4 (China White) including description, reviews, picture, price and shipping info. Kinda makes my mouth water :)

An example of the Fake ID's for sale. One of many illegal things sold on the SR

Although drugs are by far the largest category on the Silk Road, there are many other illicit items for purchase as well. 


❤ ☮ & ♪♬