Which entrance is yours?
Most guides are written for one imaginary reader who is doing this for the first time, calmly, with nothing at stake. Almost nobody is that person. This site sorts by your situation instead, because what you should read first depends entirely on how you got here.
Start with the door, not the topic
A first timer needs to slow down and understand what they are agreeing to. Somebody locked out of an account needs three specific checks and none of the background. Somebody whose order went wrong needs to know what is still recoverable and what is not, quickly, before they do something that makes it worse.
Those are not the same reading order, and forcing them through the same one wastes the time of everybody except the imaginary calm beginner. So pick the row below that describes you. Each one is a complete path with its own priorities, and each points into the shared reference where it needs to.
Which entranceEight situations. Pick the one that describes where you are right now.
The eight situations people are actually in when they arrive.
You have never used one of these and want to know what you are getting into.
You did this before, a while ago, and want to know what has changed.
You used a different platform and are moving across.
You cannot get into an account that you know exists.
Something did not arrive, or arrived wrong, and you want to know what is still possible.
You are doing this on behalf of somebody, or teaching them.
You are considering listing rather than buying.
You want to understand how this works without participating.
Stopped at the doorSomething specific is not working. Sorted by what you are seeing, not by cause.
Something specific is not working. Find the row that matches your screen.
The page hangs or times out and never renders.
The checking your browser screen never finishes.
Credentials you know are correct are being rejected.
Something about the interface feels off and you cannot say why.
You sent funds and the balance has not moved.
Something asked you for information that does not feel right.
ReferenceThe six things every path eventually needs. Read when a path sends you here.
The six things every path eventually points at.
Pin a fingerprint once and every later check takes under a minute.
Tor Browser from the project, at the highest security setting.
What the string encodes and why forgeries always differ in the middle.
Unique password, two factor on day one, recovery material saved.
Funding, timings, and the boundary where privacy is actually lost.
How escrow works, what it covers, and what it does not.
Before you decideThe honest accounting, including the case for not doing this at all.
Time, money and risk added up without the sales pitch.
The case against, written properly rather than as a disclaimer.
Direct answers, including the unsatisfying ones.
The terms used here, defined the way this site uses them.
What this site will not do
It will not tell you a link is safe because it is printed here. The three addresses at the top of every page are a published list, nothing more, and this site does not check them, does not monitor them, and does not claim an uptime figure it cannot back. Anything you find here is a starting point and the verification happens at the other end.
It also takes no money from any market, runs no advertising and has no affiliate arrangement. That is worth stating plainly because the usual business model for a site covering this ground is to be paid by the thing it covers, and readers cannot tell from the outside which sites are.
Questions people actually ask
I just want the link, which one is real?
All three at the top are equivalent as routes. None of them prove anything on their own, which is why every page here says to verify on arrival. If you want that in one page, read the key.
Which door should I pick if two fit?
The more urgent one. If something is broken right now, start in stopped at the door and come back to the longer path afterwards.
Is any of this going to tell me what to buy?
No. There is nothing about products anywhere on this site, and there will not be.