Never done this before
This is the longest path on the site and the one most worth reading end to end before you touch anything.
What you are actually agreeing to
You are going to send money to somebody you cannot identify, through a system where nobody can help you if it goes wrong, in exchange for a promise. The escrow arrangement makes that less bad than it sounds by holding the money until both sides agree, and it does not remove the basic shape of it.
Everybody eventually understands this. It is worth understanding before rather than after, because most of the specific advice further down only makes sense once you accept that no institution is standing behind any part of this. There is no chargeback, no regulator, no support line, and no version of events where somebody makes you whole because you were treated unfairly.
The four things that must be in place
In this order. Each one is useless without the one before it.
- The client. Tor Browser, downloaded from the project directly, with the installer signature checked. Not a bundle, not an app store copy of something with a similar name, and not a clearnet site offering to open onion addresses for you. Details in the client.
- The key. Establish the platform fingerprint from several places that would have to be compromised separately, compare it in full, and write it down. This is the step everybody skips and everything else depends on it. See the key.
- The address. Copy one from a published roster rather than retyping it or accepting one somebody sent you. See the address.
- The account. A password used nowhere else, two factor turned on immediately, and the recovery material saved before you close the page. See the account.
What beginners get wrong
| Mistake | Why it happens | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| Skipping the key | It produces nothing visible, so it feels optional | It is the only defence against a convincing fake, and it is missing exactly when you need it |
| Reusing a password | Convenience, and the account feels temporary at first | A credential leaked from anywhere unrelated gets tried here |
| Funding too much | Wanting to get the money part over with | A balance sitting on a platform is exposed to everything that can happen to a platform |
| Buying from an exchange straight in | Nobody explains the boundary problem | The chain hop is private and the timing correlation is not |
| Acting during an outage | Anxiety, and helpful strangers | This is when fakes are seeded, deliberately |
| Rushing the first order | It feels like the point of all this | A small first order teaches you the same lessons at a fraction of the price |
A realistic first week
- Set up the client and pin the fingerprint. Do nothing else. This part is boring and it is the part that is load bearing.
- Get in, look around, do not buy anything. Read how listings are laid out, how feedback is displayed, what a vendor profile actually shows.
- Fund a small amount. Small enough that losing it would annoy you rather than hurt.
- Place one small order from a vendor with a long, recent, high volume record. Expect it to be slower than you want.
- Only after that has completed, decide whether any of this is worth continuing.
People compress this into an afternoon and that compression is where almost every bad first experience comes from. Nothing here rewards speed.
What to read next
The honest cost page is the natural follow on, because it puts numbers and time against everything above. If you would rather see the argument against, that page exists too.