I feel the need to preface this review:
(All important sections have bold headings)
First, I'd like to apologize for the length of this: it's a fucking book. I have never written a review before, but I did this with the intention of being thorough. Honestly, unless you're either bored, researching Saxton before ordering, or just killing time, you might consider just skipping it.
Skip to the section below the break for the review itself
Section also includes details of the order, which were included to both provide context and to be thorough.
To anyone reading this preface, it is intended to:
1) Apologize to Saxton for a promise that I am taking forever to fulfill.
2) Add details to provide context for said promise.
Saxton is brand new vendor on Agora. As such, he was offering 1 free 10mg IR Opana with each order. Just hours after placing my order, he sent me the tracking number and let me know he had included some freebies (two 15mg xr dexedrines), and hoped he could trouble me to write a review in the forums, as none currently existed. While I am already prescribed amp, I really appreciated the gesture, and at no point felt he expected this to be a quid pro quo deal - the order had already been dispatched - I was free to write an impartial review. Wanting to repay his kindness, I told him I would; however, because I was and continue to be extremely busy, it would be a few days.
My forum account sees little activity and has very few posts. Its only use thus far has been in exposing two big-name scammers. Even though it's been a number of months, and I haven't logged on since, I intend to exclusively use the account for this purpose at some point in the future, as time permits. Additionally, due to paranoia/OpSec concerns, I would like to register a new name that cannot be tied back to my buyer account. The time commitment of spamming this account to 50 posts so the review can be posted in the correct section has kept me from being able to do so.
Saxton:
if you happen to be reading this, I'm sorry it's taken so long. I both work full-time and am a full-time student currently in grad school. Time is a pipe dream, and the past 8 days have been a gigantic clusterfuck that has required more time than I have to give.
I am writing this review on /r/DNM since it doesn't require 50 posts. It is also meant as a show of good faith: I still fully intend to post a review on the Agora forums. Because of their verifiability, I know forum reviews hold more stock with buyers than the easy-to-manipulate Vendor Feedbacks. Since you're a new vendor, I know that time is of the essence with regards to the posting of vendor reviews, as many buyers use them as the metric replacing Vendor Feedback. Its importance is not lost on me, and I sincerely apologize for how long this has taken. I hope this hasn't negatively affected your sales, and I'm going to try to have it posted by Sunday at the absolute latest.
To others still reading: reviews from throwaways always make me skeptical. I'm too paranoid about compromising my OpSec to use my actual reddit account for this, so I'll try to include as much information, presented as impartially as possible. I will be upfront: this vendor is legitimately better than a great many I have encountered (well over 100). While he is/was expecting me to write a review, one could make the argument that his performance here is not an accurate representation of his actual vending practices, and was simply altered to show the best face possible. To the contrary, I think every vendor should perform with the expectation of a forum review from their respective buyer. In this way, hopefully the days of waiting 5 days just for the order to be marked 'shipped', careless addressing, shoddy packaging, etc., will be a thing of the past.
The darknet currently resembles the wild west: there are no rules and avoiding scams is like navigating a minefield. I think if we were to all be more vigilant in what is expected of us, both as buyers and vendors, we could then incorporate trust as an integral element of the marketplace; instead of this current system, which sometimes feels like mutual extortion. It would then no longer be necessary to scrutinize every listing and vendor in order to attempt avoiding the scams. To that end, if we as buyers were vigilant about finalizing ASAP and writing reviews, vendors would no longer be able to use this an excuse for their requiring you to FE, nor would they be a brazen in their scamming.
The time we currently spend researching vendors is exponentially greater than the time it takes to finalize a transaction. If we as buyers begin finalizing on time, legitimate vendors will no longer have a reason to require that we FE. Consequently, the scammers would be the only ones left requiring you to FE, and would thus be easier to identify. Vendors could also improve many of their current practices; most of which, it seems, would find remedy if we were to post more forum reviews. I realize I currently have no room to talk; only in my typing of this review did the importance of our duties as buyers and vendors come into focus for me.
The Review:
• Background:
I have frequented various markets for a longer time than I care to admit, have spent more money than any reasonable person should, and like most others here, have been scammed my fair share. Since the beginning, I have tried to follow 2 cardinal rules:
1. FE only when you trust the vendor, and
2. NEVER order from new vendors.
I was hesitant to order since Saxton was new to Agora; however, his profile had links to his account on C9, which included a few (7?) reviews, and a further few more good reviews were found here on DNM. While he wasn't a prolific vendor by any means, I decided to break a rule and take a risk, which I tried to mitigate by ordering a lot less than I wish I had, especially since there have only been 3 other times I've seen these going for this price or lower (and that includes many markets, going all the way back to the glory days of SR1). He also included a free 10mg IR Opana with the order (I'd always wanted to try one, and they cost $50/ea from the only other vendor that carries them). Most importantly, he offered escrow.
The "too good to be true" axiom is what I feel is usually most indicative of a scam - and this definitely fit the bill. I always refused to buy into such offers after past exposure to scams. As a consequence, I missed the deal of a lifetime a few months back (40mg Opana for $18/ea, which looked to be a brazen scam. By the time I finally made a test order and found it was legit, the vendor had closed shop). Moving forward, I promised myself I would be more open-minded, and make test orders if I couldn't find reviews. Honestly, his deal was so good that I was briefly concerned he either might pull the empty box scam, or that he might be LEO.
I should note here that I am overly paranoid about using DNMs.
I mean this only to exemplify what a great deal he was offering, and in no way is this meant to reflect my actual opinion of Saxton. In all honesty, it would make sense for LEO to offer for sale everything they could think of, so as to cast the widest net possible. On the other hand, Saxton sells only Opana, which has a non-existant user base. I'm so sure he's legit that I bet my personal information on it!
The risk paid off, and I was sent the tracking number in a matter of hours.
The Order:
• Shipping:
The package arrived extremely quickly. It was on par with the fastest I have ever received a package, outside of express/overnight (the shipping may have also been free, though I can't say for sure. If so, thanks Saxton!).
10/10
• Stealth:
The stealth was very clever. I can't tell you how many times the item ordered is just inside the envelope. His stealth was so good that my first guess as to where the contents were yielded nothing, making me think I got the ol' empty box butt fuck. Thankfully, I found the product in hidden in another place. He did one of the best jobs with stealth I have seen. Combining his C9 and Agora accounts still means he's pretty new (~10 orders). For a new vendor, his stealth is better than a lot of the veteran vendors from whom I have ordered.
10/10
• Communication:
As previously stated, he messaged me the day of the order with the tracking info and review request. This was the first time I had spoken to him, and while we didn't speak at length, he seemed friendly and cordial. Since I don't have a lot of info for this, I'll refer to his C9 reviews, which praise his communication skills (even though those reviews aren't applicable here).
10/10
• Overall:
10/10
Wtf did I just read