Author Topic: Planned Official Release Date  (Read 66 times)

Dread Pirate Roberts

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Planned Official Release Date
« on: October 31, 2013, 06:06:34 am »
If all goes according to plan and no more problems, we will be looking to launch the market on the 5th November, 16:20 UTC and we will release the URL and accounts here at the same time I release them to vendors so you can have a nosy around 24 hours in advance and gather any screenshots or information you might want.

The below covers our basic fee and bond structure which was posted on the roundtable several days ago:

Quote
Many of you have asked and this is our fee structure so far. This is still subject to change dependent on several factors but it is unlikely we will be making any significant changes. All fees are cumulative which we feel is a fair balance between high volume vendors and bulk vendors.

$0-$499: 8%
$500-$4,999: 6%
$5,000-$9,999: 5%
$10,000-$19,999: 4.5%
$20,000+: 4%

Therefore if you conducted $30,000 in sales, you would pay just $1409.77 in total fees and an additional $30,000 would incur only $1200 more thereafter. We feel this is a very good rate for both vendors, buyers and Silk Road.

The initial vendor bond will be set at $200 and will be raised over time depending on the response and the prevalence of scammers, but it will likely rise to the $400-$500 region within 3-6 months. The vendor bond will be refunded after $1500 in value of transactions across 40 or more positive transactions.


It probably doesn't need to be said, but for the first few hours into public release there may be problems getting onto the server. Load balancing over Tor is very difficult and quite frankly nobody but the previous DPR has any experience whatsoever in dealing with this kind of traffic so we are using only our instincts on how to solve this problem which may or may not work. We are hoping with the botnet taken down from the Tor network now plus our high speed servers we will be able to create a high availability Silk Road with good access speeds but until we've faced the massive traffic influx, we won't truly know.

Any questions as usual feel free to ask below.
Quote 23: Criticism has plucked the imaginary flower from the chain not so that man may continue to bear the chain without consolation or fantasy but so that he may throw off the chain and cull the living flower.

OzFreelancer

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #1 on: October 31, 2013, 06:25:24 am »
Thanks. This heads-up thing has the potential to be awesome :)

Can I just check - you are happy for us to go public with it Nov 5th at 16:20 UTC ? (2:20 am for me!)

And the cumulative feature is a change from the old SR isn't it? As I recall, at least in the early days, the commission was per sale, so the high volume/low quantity dealers paid higher commissions than their bulk sale counterparts?

x Eiley
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Dread Pirate Roberts

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #2 on: October 31, 2013, 07:30:23 am »
Yep that's correct Eileen.

The cumulative system is new as the old one was per-sale/formula based which didn't account for trading history. Generally this placed bulk resellers and high-volume retail sellers at a disadvantage and didn't make encouragements to process more orders so this system is fairer to them and should hopefully encourage vendors to make more sales over time, as well as simplify the process a little for them (a 4% margin isn't much to the 50-80% markup most vendors achieve anyway). Clear fee scales for vendors will allow them to be more confident in their pricing structures and the roundtable seem very happy with the fees overall.

For comparison Sheep offers a 3.8% flat rate fee and a non-refundable bond, as does BMR which has the lowest fee of 4% but also charges withdrawal fees and transaction fees so we hope to hit a competitive fee structure whilst also being Silk Road which is a brand these days.
Quote 23: Criticism has plucked the imaginary flower from the chain not so that man may continue to bear the chain without consolation or fantasy but so that he may throw off the chain and cull the living flower.

ourreporter

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #3 on: November 01, 2013, 01:36:57 pm »
DPR -- are you going to prepare a statement for the website's release?

Would you be able to post an embargoed version here when you get time? Of course, this won't go public until the time you mentioned.

Thanks!
Joseph Cox

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http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/good-news-drug-users--silk-road-is-back

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Dread Pirate Roberts

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #4 on: November 01, 2013, 01:38:46 pm »
DPR -- are you going to prepare a statement for the website's release?

Would you be able to post an embargoed version here when you get time? Of course, this won't go public until the time you mentioned.

Thanks!

Yes I will be, it isn't complete just yet. Once it is, I will post it here for you all along with the feature explanation (the "What's New" sort of post).
Quote 23: Criticism has plucked the imaginary flower from the chain not so that man may continue to bear the chain without consolation or fantasy but so that he may throw off the chain and cull the living flower.

ourreporter

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #5 on: November 01, 2013, 02:22:45 pm »
Sounds great, thanks DPR.
Joseph Cox

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/silk-road-is-good-for-you

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/good-news-drug-users--silk-road-is-back

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OzFreelancer

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2013, 09:00:49 pm »
If all goes according to plan and no more problems, we will be looking to launch the market on the 5th November, 16:20 UTC and we will release the URL and accounts here at the same time I release them to vendors so you can have a nosy around 24 hours in advance and gather any screenshots or information you might want.

When do we get to nosy?
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Dread Pirate Roberts

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Re: Planned Official Release Date
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2013, 10:50:19 pm »
In a moment, I am just releasing the login details to vendors. You will be able to create your own account when you have the URL.
Quote 23: Criticism has plucked the imaginary flower from the chain not so that man may continue to bear the chain without consolation or fantasy but so that he may throw off the chain and cull the living flower.