FAQ

Questions buyers ask, answered straight

Direct answers to the things people ask most. No marketing, no hand-waving. If your question is here, the answer is the whole answer.

This page collects the questions that come up again and again. Read it once and most of the small uncertainties around using a darknet market will be settled. For the longer explanations, each answer points at the guide page that goes deeper.

Are these markets safe to use?
Safer than the single-key markets that came before, because none of the three let one party quietly hold and run with your funds. Anubis and Nexus do that with 2-of-3 multisig; Osiris does it by being walletless, with money going straight into direct buyer-to-vendor escrow. Whether you should use them at all is your own call. The escrow guide explains the mechanics.

Why only three names?
Because most of the rest skip one of the basics: no rotating mirrors, no Monero, or an escrow model that pools funds where the operator can grab them. We index the ones that get the structure right. Padding the list would only dilute the signal. The short list page lays out the bar in full.

A mirror will not load. Now what?
Try the next one in the list. If all of them time out, use "New Tor Circuit for this Site" in the Tor Browser menu and retry. If that still fails, the market is likely under an active flood, so come back a little later. The Anubis and Nexus mirror pages explain why there are three onions in the first place.

How do I open an onion link safely?
Copy it from this directory, paste it into the Tor Browser, and never hand-type a fifty six character address. Bookmark the directory rather than the onion, since mirrors rotate.

How long does a Monero deposit take?
From broadcast to the market seeing it is usually under ten minutes. If a screen sits pending past half an hour, check your wallet's sent log to confirm the transaction actually broadcast. The deposits guide covers the send in detail.

Why Monero and not Bitcoin?
Bitcoin's ledger is public and analysable; Monero's is not, in any practical sense. Funding in XMR removes the chain-analysis tail risk, and the on-chain fee is tiny besides.

What does it cost me as a buyer?
The order price plus your wallet's on-chain fee. None of the three charge a separate buyer commission. Monero on-chain fees are tiny; Bitcoin fees are not, which is one more reason to fund in XMR.

How does a dispute work?
Either side opens a ticket from the order page. The escrow is frozen, the desk reads both sides, and the model releases funds according to the ruling. On Anubis and Nexus that is the platform's multisig key; on Osiris the dispute process governs the direct escrow for that order.

How do I judge a vendor?
Read the profile, not just the star average. Feedback counts, on-time shipping ratios and dispute outcomes tell you how a seller behaves when something goes wrong. Verify before you trust. The habits page goes further.

What if I lose my login?
Recovery exists but is deliberately awkward. Save your password and 2FA material to a password manager from the start. Nobody can recover an account they cannot prove you own.

Where should a complete beginner start?
The starter pack lists four reads in order, beginning with the six-step walkthrough.