Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: absurdist12 on September 18, 2012, 06:12 am

Title: New to SR
Post by: absurdist12 on September 18, 2012, 06:12 am
Firstly, hello everyone! I just happened upon this place and needless to say I'm excited to start making purchases.

I just was hoping for some advice for a first time buyer; should I stick to vendors who have been around a while? The reason I ask is there is a relatively unknown vendor who is selling the same strength product as other vendors for half the price; his feedback is positive, except most of them seem to still be waiting for their product albeit 1 whom received his product and said it was fine; the vendor has a discussion link on his page but people seem very apprehensive about his wares in the thread and there's just not much info, except one guy who is waiting trying to keep everyone updated.

Also this place is awesome, amazingly reasonable prices for whats advertised, looking forward to getting some bitcoins on my account ASAP!

Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: treeline on September 18, 2012, 06:23 am
welcome to SR!

YES - you should stick to vendors who have been around for awhile, who have good reviews, and who seem to have a good reputation overall for their product quality. 

AVOID the unknown vendor whose customers are still waiting for their orders and who seems sketchy.

i've learned that you get what you pay for -- stick with a reputable vendor.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: absurdist12 on September 18, 2012, 06:51 am
Thanks treeline, I shall heed your warning and stick to the known and safe for now.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: absurdist12 on September 18, 2012, 06:59 am
Firstly, hello everyone! I just happened upon this place and needless to say I'm excited to start making purchases.

I just was hoping for some advice for a first time buyer; should I stick to vendors who have been around a while? The reason I ask is there is a relatively unknown vendor who is selling the same strength product as other vendors for half the price; his feedback is positive, except most of them seem to still be waiting for their product albeit 1 whom received his product and said it was fine; the vendor has a discussion link on his page but people seem very apprehensive about his wares in the thread and there's just not much info, except one guy who is waiting trying to keep everyone updated.

Also this place is awesome, amazingly reasonable prices for whats advertised, looking forward to getting some bitcoins on my account ASAP!

Whomever you choose, make sure you read through the security threads, and learn how to use PGP/GPG to encrypt your shipping address at the very least.

Guru

Hey guru, thanks for the advice, I shall check out the security forum, I was actually going to google research PGP encryption stuff but if that information is right here, convenience takes precedence.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: Scam Enforcement Agency on September 22, 2012, 11:20 am
Don't FE. Ever.

Read reviews about vendors on this forum, since some vendors fake their feedback.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: ttracer on September 22, 2012, 11:31 am
I dont fully agree with you.  If you look at a Vendor like SuperTrips, he asks for FE. But he is a highly trusted vendor on here. Or am I mistaken?

smcrw
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: lucablight on September 22, 2012, 12:00 pm
Great advice in this thread, and I would +1 if I could.

I completely agree with learning the ropes before even considering a purchase. After you've learned the basics, know how to acquire BTC and encrypt via PGP, you need to find a vendor that has good feedback and is willing to work with new buyers; do not FE. Some vendors will waive FE if you speak with them, and I would suggest keeping your first couple of orders lighter than you would normally purchase.

Reading the feedback is important, as well as any review thread that may be up.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: wsg on September 22, 2012, 12:46 pm
I dont fully agree with you.  If you look at a Vendor like SuperTrips, he asks for FE. But he is a highly trusted vendor on here. Or am I mistaken?

smcrw

As a Newer member my take on this is if you want the most protection never FE, Supertrips might be a great vendor but if They require FE I am sure there is another Vendor that can and would offer the same product and allow the use of the escrow system.  As a buyer if I continue to FE I am putting myself at risk outside of Escrow and promoting that vendors can continue to ask for FE without much affect on sales.  That being said I have FE for vendors, as the product and price have made it my choice to take the risk, but I had heavily weight all factors I consider important before putting myself at risk.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: Gibbroni on September 22, 2012, 03:33 pm
There are lots of different aspects that all add up to success with purchasing on here.

Things to consider: Maybe stick to something very discrete, like a gram of MDMA, especially if you're ordering international. 
Sellers with fantastic feedback still have varying degrees of success with some parts of the world, study the forum over a week or two to really get into what's going on (as I see you are!)
Try to stay under what your territory would call the "trafficable amount" in your area.  Not only because of the reduced risk of detection, but it will calm your nerves a bit, and the repercussions wouldn't be quite as bad if caught (though still, pretty bad)

You get what you pay for on here.  Some of the vendors with the best deals took 4 or 5 days to reply to my messages, some didn't reply at all, and I never received product from one in particular, and that was a learning curve for me, when I realised that by "winging it" on here, I was lowering my chance of success.  In my experience, the more expensive, the better the service (not the case for everyone, but definitely IME)
Some vendors even kindly offer to reship non-arrivals sometimes)
That's where buyer stats comes in!  If you've had a lot of successful transactions then resolutions might be prone to swinging in your favour!
If you stay in escrow and your product doesn't arrive, the bitcoin value that you get refunded will cause a rise in your "refund rate".  This can't be avoided at times, but it's particularly bad if you're just doing your first couple of transactions and only one of them doesn't show..... Refund rate might be at 50 to 100% for a while in the event that happens. 

With all that said though, ordering domestically is safer, more reliable, and usually you can stay in escrow.  I'd say go for that.
Don't FE for a relatively unknown vendor.  When you think about it, even if you wont miss the money, or tell yourself not to get your hopes up, justifying the risk.... is it worth losing the postage drop you're using, because you'll be paranoid that it was intercepted?
Or maybe the seller just decided not to send it, claiming custom's has it?
Either way, you don't actually know, so you'll then be paranoid the next time you order to that drop, if you ever do.
I just think that due to the nature of this, and the illegality involved, higher priced mainstay vendors offer the best service and peace of mind!

Goodluck on your travels!!

Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: Scam Enforcement Agency on September 22, 2012, 06:39 pm
I still wouldn't FE unless it's the only way to build your buyer reputation, in which case you should only purchase small test amounts.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: hardkandy77 on September 22, 2012, 10:13 pm
I am new to SR and have had no success here.....i will admit that I got excited and jumped straight into buying before doing some research on the forum. I have made 3 purchases and FE as the vendors had excellent feedback and ratings and all refused to do business if you are new to SR without FE. So I went ahead thinking it was the only way to build a reputation, well I have received nothing from all 3 transactions and upon contacting the vendors, it was either no response or a bad luck reponse. How do I know if these vendors even posted my order? Seem strange that I didn't even get one come through. Some vendors even make threats about you leaving nothing but a 5 star rating WTF! ...suggesting that if anything less is left they will ban you and spread word amongst other vendors so you wont be able to do business on SR. Whats this shit about? Im not going to be bullied into leaving 5 star feedback for a vendor who took my money and make any effort to ensure that I received it. Im starting to wonder if this site full of people looking to make a quick buck taking advantage of people who are willing to trust? Obviously I have since learned not to FE however this isn't easy as a lot of vendors aren't willing to do business any other way if you are new to the site or haven't an established relationship. But how is one supposed to make established relationships without having to FE initially? I have been burned on all 3 purchases I have attempted so far, Im not going to FE and risk giving my money away again . I have had o choice but to leave 3 bad feed backs does this affect my ability to make purchases?     
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: KeyserSoze on September 23, 2012, 12:01 am
I am new to SR and have had no success here.....i will admit that I got excited and jumped straight into buying before doing some research on the forum. I have made 3 purchases and FE as the vendors had excellent feedback and ratings and all refused to do business if you are new to SR without FE. So I went ahead thinking it was the only way to build a reputation, well I have received nothing from all 3 transactions and upon contacting the vendors, it was either no response or a bad luck reponse. How do I know if these vendors even posted my order? Seem strange that I didn't even get one come through. Some vendors even make threats about you leaving nothing but a 5 star rating WTF! ...suggesting that if anything less is left they will ban you and spread word amongst other vendors so you wont be able to do business on SR. Whats this shit about? Im not going to be bullied into leaving 5 star feedback for a vendor who took my money and make any effort to ensure that I received it. Im starting to wonder if this site full of people looking to make a quick buck taking advantage of people who are willing to trust? Obviously I have since learned not to FE however this isn't easy as a lot of vendors aren't willing to do business any other way if you are new to the site or haven't an established relationship. But how is one supposed to make established relationships without having to FE initially? I have been burned on all 3 purchases I have attempted so far, Im not going to FE and risk giving my money away again . I have had o choice but to leave 3 bad feed backs does this affect my ability to make purchases?   

Why pick such a sick user name?
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: treeline on September 23, 2012, 02:26 am
NEVER FE.  even once-reliable vendors can sometimes turn to scammers (haven't experienced this, but i've read threads on the forums about it) .... so it's safest never to FE.  if that means not ordering from a specific vendor who requires it, then all you have to do is find one selling the same product without a requirement to FE.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: killmenow on September 23, 2012, 03:53 pm
wow.  im new to the site and am so fucking glad i read this post.  firstly, i know you are going to kill me(that would be nice actually) but what is FE?
i too am ready to order, found a good vendor w good feedback been around 6 months......now im reconsidering.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: farmer1 on September 23, 2012, 04:16 pm
FE = finalize early. As in release your money from escrow before the vendor ships your product. Not a good idea, especially while you are new and not 100% clear on how things work.

By finalizing early you are setting yourself up for the easiest scam out there. Gee, I wonder why the new vendor who requires FE has such cheap product? Too good to be true? That one positive review couldn't have come anywhere but from a real customer huh?

Don't FE ever and you have a very very good chance of having 100% of your transactions going smoothly.

I have only been here selling for a month and a half. I have already seen many scams here by vendors who built up a strong reputation, and then fucked over a large number of customers who believed it to be safe to FE with them.
Title: Re: New to SR
Post by: bernlin on September 23, 2012, 07:55 pm
Firstly, hello everyone! I just happened upon this place and needless to say I'm excited to start making purchases.

I just was hoping for some advice for a first time buyer; should I stick to vendors who have been around a while? The reason I ask is there is a relatively unknown vendor who is selling the same strength product as other vendors for half the price; his feedback is positive, except most of them seem to still be waiting for their product albeit 1 whom received his product and said it was fine; the vendor has a discussion link on his page but people seem very apprehensive about his wares in the thread and there's just not much info, except one guy who is waiting trying to keep everyone updated.

Also this place is awesome, amazingly reasonable prices for whats advertised, looking forward to getting some bitcoins on my account ASAP!

Whomever you choose, make sure you read through the security threads, and learn how to use PGP/GPG to encrypt your shipping address at the very least.

Guru

Hey guru, thanks for the advice, I shall check out the security forum, I was actually going to google research PGP encryption stuff but if that information is right here, convenience takes precedence.

As someone who uses Portable PGP I find this alarming...in what way is it broken? Should I be worried about hackers being able to break the GPG codes stored in that program and intercepting my messages?

Please don't take this the wrong way, but  when it comes to convenience, in my experience convenience and security are, by and large, mutually exclusive.  There is simply no substitute for educating yourself. Part of the problem with Googling for info on PGP is that you are liable to get information, or worse yet --  references to software --  that are severely out of date.  Unfortunately, there's too much broken software out there -- two of the more prominent examples are: Portable PGP and iGolder.com.  Both of them are very convenient, but that doesn't make up for the fact that both are completely and utterly broken.

If you're looking either Windows or Linux, and you're looking for a decent implementation of GPG, I'd look no further than GPG4USB, which you can read about at: http://gpg4usb.cpunk.de/index.html

This software has one of the easier interfaces to use, and moreover, has some of the best documentation. Perhaps best of all, it doesn't need to be installed on your computer at all -- you can can run it from a pen-drive.

Guru