I still can't understand why The Marketplace hasn't picked up more attention/traffic after all these shutdown/scam sites have run off with people's money/trust.

The problem:

The proposed solution:

I've been watching these markets rise and fall since the demise of the original Silk Road.

Doesn't it make sense that anyone with half an idea of how to code a darknet marketplace would want to? Knowing that gullible people will deposit lots and lots of bitcoins into their site wallets. These admins know they can pull the plug at any time and steal everyone's money; at the end of the day it comes down to weighing the risk vs. reward of keeping the market afloat for the long term, or making an excuse that the market was hacked or just bluntly shutting it down. The former is true for sites such as BMR and SR, while the latter is true for almost every other semi-popular market.

The fact that so many of these blatant scams and ripoffs are taking place is based on one word that unfortunately defines a lot of the actions in this community.

This word is trust.

  1. You trust a vendor that he will send you your product when you finalize early.
  2. You trust a marketplace to not run away with your coins when you fund your web wallet and/or place an order on their site.
  3. You trust that sending your delivery address unencrypted will be safe because you're using the TOR network.

Let's see what usually happens here...

  1. Countless vendors have asked for FE and scammed potential buyers.
  2. Countless users have been scammed and had their money stolen (recall Sheep Marketplace, etc.)
  3. I have no concrete stories to pull but this is generally a very unsafe action to practice. Encryption is your friend.

After all these things have taken place, I think we're at the point to where the community knows where we are headed.

It's just a matter of time for vendors and customers who have already done business in the past to utilize what they have available to them (PGP, sites such as The Marketplace in which transactions are not based on trust, etc.)

This is not an endorsement of The Marketplace. However, as far as I have seen, they have made the most improvements in terms of trustless transactions and escrow compared to other markets.

TL;DR: Stop using shitty marketplaces that pop up out of nowhere and want your business, promising a "secure" market and "caring" admins. It's a waste of time and you usually end up getting scammed or having your money stolen. If big vendors moved over to The Marketplace, customers would follow. Also, if these users learned multisignature/p2p escrow and PGP'd everything they sent, the likelihood of being scammed would fall dramatically.

Real TL;DR: Stop blindly trusting new marketplaces. Please.

edit: bold and italics


Comments


[5 Points] kuba84:

what is p2p escrow? i mean how does it works? for example at the marketplace


[5 Points] rdhustler:

There are no vendors on TMP wich are selling weed from Germany. This is why I currently have to use the Pandora Marketplace.


[5 Points] None:

[deleted]


[5 Points] None:

I have been having problem accessing i2p sites despite the configs I changed; as many others do. It is not as simple and easy and practical like tor. Maybe thats the reason.


[2 Points] curryslinger:

Problem is that people, might they be top-programmers, have to secure multi-million-dollar banks. That's a tough job, even for professionals. The only thing we can do, is try


[2 Points] None:

I only have an android tablet and am to lazy to figure out how to set up i2p


[2 Points] eddiesj22:

Really needs more US domestic weed


[1 Points] twigburst:

TMP is complicated for a lot of people, as such people will go with the easier option instead of the safer one. Next marketplace will get big and pull the same shit. People need to have more patience, wait a few months til the next marketplace is somewhat stable and has a reputation.


[-2 Points] mopja1:

mostly because it is too complicated and not worth it for only one market. I spit on I2P for being unnecessarily complicated.


[-5 Points] Qsecofr400:

You assume that people are leaving money on the site, but I'd imagine the majority of coin left on the site is from people about to purchase or money coin that is waiting for be released.


[-10 Points] afiguy123:

this is why it hasnt picked up more attention. because people like you wont shut the fuck up about it. when you spam about it, it just seems less legit