Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: Jack N Hoff on April 26, 2013, 03:13 pm
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The Silk Road is sometimes described as the Ebay of illegal drugs. It’s actually more like Etsy, with its do-it-yourself philosophy and friendly community. Just like Etsy, you place your order with a stranger on the other side of the world, pay using electronic money and in a couple of days your package arrives. Except that instead of a dream catcher made of hair and toenail clippings, you get heroin!
The Silk Road runs on Bitcoin, the untraceable electronic currency that has been in the news thanks to its spectacular rise in value and subsequent crash. It turns out it’s not just the creepy Winkelvoss twins who are sitting on piles of theoretical money, but dealers on the Silk Road too. When Bitcoin rose to over $200, some were lucky enough to sell high. Others weren’t so fortunate – one vendor, SuperTrips, claims to have lost $1.5 million when the price crashed.
I talked to some of the good people of the Silk Road about Bitcoin and life selling drugs online. They were a little paranoid, understandably, but surprisingly accommodating too. Apart from the guy who called me “dumber than the queen’s cunt hairs,” which was creative, at least. For obvious reasons, they all declined to give real names or photographs.
Greg – Dope Vendor - 37
VICE: How did you get into selling drugs online?
I heard about Silk Road through a news article. I thought it was a scam at first, but then I knew some people who said they'd tried it out and said it works.
Is mailing dope your full time job?
No, it is not my full time job. It is just an extra thing I do on the side. I think marijuana should be legal so I provide it to people. Other countries (and some states in the US) have legalised it, which clearly shows it isn't a problem for users or society.
Is it easier than hustling out on the street corner?
It takes a lot more time to package orders than it does to simply hand someone a bag with weed in it IRL. The higher prices on here reflect the time and effort that goes in to every order. There are a lot of scammers on here - requesting refunds very quickly, saying it was underweight etc., but most people are friendly because they are happy they have received the product they paid for.
Aren’t you afraid of the law?
It does cross my mind, but I have myself covered well. If a package went straight to a police officer it wouldn't worry me because it cannot be traced back to me.
Paul – Oxycodone Vendor – 66
How did you get involved in the Silk Road?
We were looking for a new place to vend. About 3 years ago the crackdown officially started on online pharmacies. And just prior to that Google was fined something like a billion dollars for accepting pharmacy ads. Like many people, an article on Gawker lured me, as well as a large percentage of people to SR.
How big is your operation?
It’s a full time job for 6 people. I can't imagine that any vendors who make over $1000-$5000 per day are one man bands. It's impossible. Customer service and return business accounts for nearly 80 percent of sales, and then you have logistics and packing which are the most mundane and time consuming chores. Our average order is 300- 500 pills, 10 to 20 times per week depending on time of year, Bitcoin price, etc.
Does it weird you out that everyone is so friendly?
Friendly? Wait until a package comes a day late and see how friendly customers are. SR is sort of a Mexican standoff. The customers know the vendor has their name and address. On the flip side, a customer has the ability to ruin a vendors rating, potentially causing them to lose a significant amount a business. There are some scammers, passive aggressive customers, and occasional assholes who know how to successfully exploit vendors.
Are you afraid it’ll all get shut down one day?
The Silk Road proved a black marketplace is viable. If for some reason SR would shut down tomorrow eventually 95 percent of the vendors would move over to another site.
Neuroplex – Xanax vendor – Declined to give age
How much Xanax are you mailing?
We have had a stock shortage which we had to increase our prices for, during that time we only had about 20-40 orders a week. But once we're back in full swing I estimate it will return to about 180-300.
Has the volatility of the Bitcoin effected your business?
Yeah, I lost in excess of $25,000.
How do you make sure your customers are satisfied?
I make sure adequate stealth is provided by making the express envelope feel like a normal business document. I also ALWAYS provide the highest quality product and try to deliver these products as quick as possible. It’s a very good system, being able to safely source consistent high quality product. (For consumers) Then for vendors it's a great opportunity to ensure your customers are getting clean and high quality products, whilst safely making money.
Ace – MDMA and Weed Vendor – 24
Is this your full time job?
In some respects it is. It’s slowly taking over my usual job which is part time anyway but was originally full time; the pay from this became a bit too nice for me to keep working that hard. I’d rather just kick back take orders, smoke some weed and do it all again for a very good pay check, so I’m not complaining. I can take about 10-20 orders a day, so anywhere from 70-140 a week. but saying that I can grow if need be but I’d rather keep it to that so my customers feel like they’re getting a good customer service relationship and everything that goes along with that.
Do you feel like it’s less dangerous selling drugs online?
Well I've done it all from selling weed to growing it at a commercial level and in real life. I’ve had a gun at my head and had to do some questionable things myself. But that's the way it is when you’re dealing IRL. But when you’re on SR all you have to worry about is the police and a bad review.
So I’d say it’s more safe for the seller and for the buyer - it’s all good.
Does it trip you out, the demand for drugs online?
This WHOLE site is just proof that full prohibition of drugs is clearly not the magic key. If that doesn’t 100 percent make sense is because I’m fairly high.
http://www.vice.com/en_au/read/internet-drug-dealers-are-really-nice-guys
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
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To be honest VICE is probably one of the best news sources out there. I imagine they're actually pro silk road, considering how many of them are on drugs (not even an insult).
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
Much as I admire VICE magazine, I cannot claim to be them. :) But may I just say how happy I am to be called nice. And a lady. ::)
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
Much as I admire VICE magazine, I cannot claim to be them. :) But may I just say how happy I am to be called nice. And a lady. ::)
I love VICE and I love ladies so you might as well be VICE! Plus you're already all things VICE so I would consider you pretty vicey. You know what rhymes with vicey? Spicy! And you know what is spicy? Jamaican food! I have no idea where I'm going with this..... But hey, I love you and Vice! :D
I have a strong suspicion I am old enough to be your mother ::)
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
Much as I admire VICE magazine, I cannot claim to be them. :) But may I just say how happy I am to be called nice. And a lady. ::)
I love VICE and I love ladies so you might as well be VICE! Plus you're already all things VICE so I would consider you pretty vicey. You know what rhymes with vicey? Spicy! And you know what is spicy? Jamaican food! I have no idea where I'm going with this..... But hey, I love you and Vice! :D
I have a strong suspicion I am old enough to be your mother ::)
I'm calling you Granny Vice for now on.
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I talked to some of the good people of the Silk Road about Bitcoin and life selling drugs online. They were a little paranoid, understandably, but surprisingly accommodating too. Apart from the guy who called me “dumber than the queen’s cunt hairs,” which was creative, at least. For obvious reasons, they all declined to give real names or photographs.
I wonder who the guy was that called them "dumber than the queen's cunt hairs" lol that is just hysterical. I bet they thought it was a scam or someone trying to play games.
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read that article about a month ago (different language), thats the way i found out about silk road ;D
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
How so? If you use Tor, and sell your Bitcoins for cash in post for example, it can be very untraceable surely.
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
How so? If you use Tor, and sell your Bitcoins for cash in post for example, it can be very untraceable surely.
I think he means the by fact that everybody has access to the full transaction history.
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VICE... isn't that the nice journalist lady that posts on occasion? Oh, come now, I expected more from you -- Bitcoin is so incredibly NOT not traceable. As in it is traceable -- double negatives cancel :) Still, it's nice to see them called friendly instead of child raping scum or whatever lie they're on about this week...
How so? If you use Tor, and sell your Bitcoins for cash in post for example, it can be very untraceable surely.
I think he means the by fact that everybody has access to the full transaction history.
Precisely :) It's a very simple matter to trace bitcoin transactions. To say the currency is "untraceable" is pretty much a lie. To say it's possible to be used with perfect anonymity if you're very careful wouldn't be, but I assume the writer just isn't that familiar with how Bitcoin really works as opposed to phrasing it ambiguously.
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I honestly wonder why these vendors would even do the interview. It does nothing more but bring more attention which can't be a good thing.
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Good read. VICE is the shit. I have HBO and am watching their new show tonite.
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Vice has always been edgy (which is great BTW) and I think most people who checked out the article
already know about SR thus not bringing more attention to the community in a negative way.
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Vice has always been edgy (which is great BTW) and I think most people who checked out the article
already know about SR thus not bringing more attention to the community in a negative way.
I love Vice documentaries. The North Korea one was awesome. But anyway, I agree that I'm sure there are plenty of people who watch/read Vice already know about SR, and even if they didn't the fast majority of people who follow Vice are probably the kind of people who would have a positive opinion of a site of its nature.
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I would have gladly done an interview for VICE. I'm a viking. That would have been fantastically strange. You can't buy that kind of publicity.
"We interviewed a vendor with the username BruceCampbell, the self proclaimed 'Silk Road Resident Benzologist' and 'Head of Viking Affairs' and asked him to comment on his entrepreneurial endeavors, and how he came about selling drugs on the internet; and why he chose a pseudonym paying homage to a B-movie star, or possibly Loki, or some other Norse mythological entity.."
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This is actually the first time I've heard marijuana referred to as dope. Love how Neuroplex managed to get a sales pitch in there :D
Apart from the guy who called me “dumber than the queen’s cunt hairs,” which was creative, at least.
Hmmmm, Limetless? Is that you?
And as SS says, traceability != linkability.
Don't worry Bruce, I'm pretty sure half of SR will get interviewed by journalists at some point, we're not quite mainstream just yet. Good thing too, the DOS attack will seem like bliss once eternal September sets in. In some ways that's a serious threat to SR.
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To be honest VICE is probably one of the best news sources out there. I imagine they're actually pro silk road, considering how many of them are on drugs (not even an insult).
I agree. Vice is quickly becomming one of my favorite news sources. They have to be pro SR. I watched a documentary by vice on youtube that was like an hour long and it was some junkie who traveled to the amazon and went through hell just to trip on a psychedelic frog.
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Ill do an interview as long as they remember to say at the end that I am the best vendor with the most amazing products and that everyone should buy from me.
Publicity my friends
Chaos
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I'm actually surprised pine has not yet been interviewed. Being one of the most important members here, teaching everyone security.
Chaos
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Vice has always been edgy (which is great BTW) and I think most people who checked out the article
already know about SR thus not bringing more attention to the community in a negative way.
Simply this, nothing more, nothing less.
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Vice is great and all, but I have some friends who would make Hamilton Morris look straight edge by comparison. Both in drug knowledge and experiences. Shit; I probably would myself, at least when it comes to experiences.
Still, I do love Vice. It is rather wild how quickly they have grown just by finally starting a proper YouTube channel.
That's funny because Hamilton Morris is the only reason Vice became relevant to me. The guy is pretty smart but man his narrative voice when I first heard it I could not stop laughing for anything.
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I guess vice ran out of depressing 3rd world countries to explore
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Half this shit vice puts out is crap. They get away with with it because you can normally not check their sources.
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Half this shit vice puts out is crap. They get away with with it because you can normally not check their sources.
Things like "how to jerk off at work" are crap.
www.vice.com/read/how-to-jerk-off-at-work-by-brian-moylan
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This is actually the first time I've heard marijuana referred to as dope. Love how Neuroplex managed to get a sales pitch in there :D
Apart from the guy who called me “dumber than the queen’s cunt hairs,” which was creative, at least.
Hmmmm, Limetless? Is that you?
And as SS says, traceability != linkability.
Don't worry Bruce, I'm pretty sure half of SR will get interviewed by journalists at some point, we're not quite mainstream just yet. Good thing too, the DOS attack will seem like bliss once eternal September sets in. In some ways that's a serious threat to SR.
That's some classic Lim. Someone claim the glory.
Chaos