What is it like being a vendor?

Lately I've caught myself wondering about the life of vendors, and its fascinating. I've read virtually every quality thread I can find about vendors, but there's still thoughts that are unanswered. Here's a list of some questions, I'm very interested in what anybody has to say.

  1. How many people around you know that you vend, if any? What's it like having to stay inconspicuous, how do you guarantee nobody finds out?

  2. For those who run a team operation, how difficult is it to find trustworthy people, what hurdles do you come across when you decide you need to find outside assistance.

  3. How much money do you make? (Profit)

  4. Could you share any stories of moments that stand out to you as a vendor? close calls, interesting experiences, etc.

  5. How difficult is it to convert BTC into income recognised as legitimate by your bank/tax office? Does your tax office conduct random audits and is that of any concern to you?

  6. Do you sleep easy, or is there a constant stress/paranoia?

  7. Do vendors swap stealth ideas? Or is it each to their own to develop custom stealth (or to what extent is there a mix between the two).

That's all I can think of for now, cheers.


Comments


[16 Points] GrandWizardsLair:

If they're doing it right, darknet vendors should live very like eBay power sellers. They check their inventory and re-order when necessary. They handle customer complaints and custom requests. They keep attuned to what's going on by reading various forums to figure out what's hot and what's not in the Darknet world. They bitch about customer service on different platforms. Etc. Once you take away the drugs, bitcoins and sparkly sports jackets it really isn't all that different than any other work from home gig.

If you're losing sleep because you're worried about your operation, you are in the wrong line of work. Caution is a good thing. Paranoia and anxiety will lead you to make mistakes. And if your operation is so big that you need multiple people, you may want to consider scaling it back. Everybody who knows about your operation is a potential mole who can sell you down the river to get a traffic ticket reduced.

Nobody is going to tell you how much money they make or how they cash out for obvious reasons. Suffice it to say that you can make a comfortable living doing this and lots do.

How do you stay inconspicuous? Keeping your mouth shut is a good start: if you don't tell people you are dealing drugs, they'll never get a chance to brag about your operation. You may also want to try staying away from buying sports cars with bitcoins.


[13 Points] throwaway74850:

  1. Nobody. How to guarantee that nobody finds out? Keeping my mouth shut.

  2. Not enough ;-)

  3. I'll never forget about sending my first package (and the adrenalin rush) and the one time a guy at the post office jokingly asked if there where drugs in my package. He didn't suspected anything (it was just a bad joke) but I was paranoid as fuck in the next few days.

  4. It's difficult at the beginning but with a little practice... Never had any visits from LE or IRS.

  5. Well all vendors should be paranoid but not the unhealthy way. If you want to vend over a longer period of time you have to deal with the risk and the secondary effects. To stay down-to-earth I made some plans for the worst case scenarios. The fear that LE could raid me every moment was at the beginning irrational high, but you have to learn the difference between panic and appropriate paranoia.

  6. Well I can only talk for me. I exchanged some tips about OPSEC, stealth and other stuff but you have to keep in mind that you talk to an anonymous online drug dealer who could also be an undercover agent.


[8 Points] None:

It's basically just running your own business while dodging retarded customers, customs, federal and local authorities and you get paid in Disney dollars.


[6 Points] None:

[deleted]


[6 Points] air-line:

being a vendor is like this; money, women, guns, partying and bling bling.

its like living in a movie every second of your life just fantastic.


[4 Points] None:

[deleted]


[3 Points] norskapotekk:

1 none, cant guarantee. 3. not much, i got to always keep up with other vendor prices, actually kinda more work than selling on the streets like i used too, and better prices on darknet, so less profit, but i think all would profit in the long run. 5. its not thats hard, the hardest part is beein sure u wont raise any flags anywhere(bank, tax office etc..) 6. yes i sleep verry well thank u :) 7. I havent done it yet, i gave it a thought but then i had to drop it due to not knowing if the one u are talking too is setting you up etc. the its better you and your customers is the only who knows your stealth.

Norskapotek over at evo


[2 Points] None:

[deleted]


[0 Points] FestiGear:

How difficult is it to convert BTC into income recognised as legitimate by your bank/tax office? Does your tax office conduct random audits and is that of any concern to you?

When you're Mark K, then it's pretty easy.


[-1 Points] sullyrb:

i would've advised everyone to ignore this thread, sounds like le fishing for info.