Silk Road forums
Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: antigrid on May 05, 2012, 10:55 am
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I am looking forward to getting started on SR as a seller but there are a few things keeping me from moving forward before I get started. First, it costs 31 BTC just to get a seller account, which is about $150 USD. I understand why it costs money, but seems kind of expensive. Since I do not have any BTC to start out with could you give me some recommendations for getting my initial account setup? Are there any other ways besides finding an exchanger and go through the motions of funding BTC anonymously?
The second, and most important, concern of mine is that all the sellers on SR seem to have a lot of feedback. Will people even purchase from me since I will be new and a few others sell the same thing? I am not worried about getting it shipped promptly, etc, that is priority, but I worry that it might be a lot harder to become a seller (that actually has buyers) on SR then it seems. I fell like it might only attract buyer scams. Any advice / insight would be appreciated.
As for buyer scams, I have read about the finilization, but I also read a thread on these forums that was a buying guide. The guide said once a buyer has more then 5 purchases , NEVER finalize until I receive product, even if vendor has a lot of feedback, and that if they won't ship until you finalize, then cancel order. This is confusing because most of the vendors I saw on SR required it to be finalized before shipment, so which is it? And since I will initially be building up my reputation how can I avoid buyer scams where the buyer will just say that they never received?
Looking forward to your replies. As for precautions / security that need to be taken, I am well versed on all of that already, and already setup.
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I am looking forward to getting started on SR as a seller but there are a few things keeping me from moving forward before I get started. First, it costs 31 BTC just to get a seller account, which is about $150 USD. I understand why it costs money, but seems kind of expensive. Since I do not have any BTC to start out with could you give me some recommendations for getting my initial account setup? Are there any other ways besides finding an exchanger and go through the motions of funding BTC anonymously?
The second, and most important, concern of mine is that all the sellers on SR seem to have a lot of feedback. Will people even purchase from me since I will be new and a few others sell the same thing? I am not worried about getting it shipped promptly, etc, that is priority, but I worry that it might be a lot harder to become a seller (that actually has buyers) on SR then it seems. I fell like it might only attract buyer scams. Any advice / insight would be appreciated.
As for buyer scams, I have read about the finilization, but I also read a thread on these forums that was a buying guide. The guide said once a buyer has more then 5 purchases , NEVER finalize until I receive product, even if vendor has a lot of feedback, and that if they won't ship until you finalize, then cancel order. This is confusing because most of the vendors I saw on SR required it to be finalized before shipment, so which is it? And since I will initially be building up my reputation how can I avoid buyer scams where the buyer will just say that they never received?
Looking forward to your replies. As for precautions / security that need to be taken, I am well versed on all of that already, and already setup.
You can buy BTC here on SR with Western Union/Moneypak. This listing here should be good
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/item/7e488e3b63
As for your feedback, yes sales will be slow at first but if the demand for your product is there, people will buy it. So for example if you are selling MDMA at 13btc a G and someone with 1000 sales is selling it at 13 a g, you won't get shit. But if you start selling at 10-11 a G you will get customers because there are plenty people on here, like me, who are poor enough to care about that difference.
On finalization. Noone is going to FE for you until you have proven yourself. However, you are right that you could be targeted by a scamming buyer taking advantage of your trustworthiness. Therefore I advise that you remain in escrow for people with 5+ purchases etc and ask new buyers to finalise early. That is fair enough in my eyes.
Also, even when you are proven, many people will want to stay in escrow. Especially since this new tony76 scam (if you dont know the no.1 vendor on here scammed everyone for about $200,000) - you will be hard pressed to find people that will FE for you. Maybe they will after a few transactions with you.
If you want them to FE for cash flow issues, you could offer 10% extra for people that do so! (many other vendors also do this)
To advertise your product and get your name out there, I recommend you do some free samples to people that are active on the forums, and ask them to do a review for you when they receive their product. This also gives you a chance to test out rough shipping times across the world, as well as prove that you can be trusted/have a good product/and to achieve some loyal buyers very quickly.
What product are you selling, what country are you in and what countries will you be posting to?
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I wish you luck antigrid... I mean that.
Vending at SR is not easy... regardless of what some may think.
I can spend upwards of 4 hours a day just packaging... it is a VERY time intensive and you are always under the gun to get product out. I think this is what kills many vendors in the beginning. They think it will be easy but it isn't so they end up quitting.
As for the money... it has been said before but I will say it again... "if the $150 is too much, then your not ready to vend"
I spend as much as $500 a week on packaging supplies and postage... that is $500 out of my pocket that I have to front before I ever see any money from The Road...
Never mind the gas driving all over doing drops to keep from being repetitive...
and what about product? what happens when you sell everything but you have to wait a week or two to get more money from the road to get more product?
my advice is save up $2 to $3k then get started... it will make it a lot easier on you.
Good Luck!!!
TJ
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it has been said before but I will say it again... "if the $150 is too much, then your not ready to vend"
....
my advice is save up $2 to $3k then get started... it will make it a lot easier on you.
That's some solid advice there.
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If you want to learn financial stuff as well let me know. I do consults on money laundering which is a big factor on here.
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I am looking forward to getting started on SR as a seller but there are a few things keeping me from moving forward before I get started. First, it costs 31 BTC just to get a seller account, which is about $150 USD. I understand why it costs money, but seems kind of expensive. Since I do not have any BTC to start out with could you give me some recommendations for getting my initial account setup? Are there any other ways besides finding an exchanger and go through the motions of funding BTC anonymously?
The second, and most important, concern of mine is that all the sellers on SR seem to have a lot of feedback. Will people even purchase from me since I will be new and a few others sell the same thing? I am not worried about getting it shipped promptly, etc, that is priority, but I worry that it might be a lot harder to become a seller (that actually has buyers) on SR then it seems. I fell like it might only attract buyer scams. Any advice / insight would be appreciated.
As for buyer scams, I have read about the finilization, but I also read a thread on these forums that was a buying guide. The guide said once a buyer has more then 5 purchases , NEVER finalize until I receive product, even if vendor has a lot of feedback, and that if they won't ship until you finalize, then cancel order. This is confusing because most of the vendors I saw on SR required it to be finalized before shipment, so which is it? And since I will initially be building up my reputation how can I avoid buyer scams where the buyer will just say that they never received?
Looking forward to your replies. As for precautions / security that need to be taken, I am well versed on all of that already, and already setup.
You can buy BTC here on SR with Western Union/Moneypak. This listing here should be good
http://silkroadvb5piz3r.onion/silkroad/item/7e488e3b63
As for your feedback, yes sales will be slow at first but if the demand for your product is there, people will buy it. So for example if you are selling MDMA at 13btc a G and someone with 1000 sales is selling it at 13 a g, you won't get shit. But if you start selling at 10-11 a G you will get customers because there are plenty people on here, like me, who are poor enough to care about that difference.
On finalization. Noone is going to FE for you until you have proven yourself. However, you are right that you could be targeted by a scamming buyer taking advantage of your trustworthiness. Therefore I advise that you remain in escrow for people with 5+ purchases etc and ask new buyers to finalise early. That is fair enough in my eyes.
Also, even when you are proven, many people will want to stay in escrow. Especially since this new tony76 scam (if you dont know the no.1 vendor on here scammed everyone for about $200,000) - you will be hard pressed to find people that will FE for you. Maybe they will after a few transactions with you.
If you want them to FE for cash flow issues, you could offer 10% extra for people that do so! (many other vendors also do this)
To advertise your product and get your name out there, I recommend you do some free samples to people that are active on the forums, and ask them to do a review for you when they receive their product. This also gives you a chance to test out rough shipping times across the world, as well as prove that you can be trusted/have a good product/and to achieve some loyal buyers very quickly.
What product are you selling, what country are you in and what countries will you be posting to?
Not sure if I would want to buy BTC with Western Union, and not sure why I wouldn't just use an exchanger for that initially, as it's much safer (unless I am missing something here,). I thought with Bitcoin (initial funding) there wasn't a lot of hoops to jump through to remain anonymous because the bitcoin wallet in itself is anonymous and untraceable. Is there something I am misunderstanding about that?
As for finalizing, I am confused on this because don't most vendors require you to finalize before they send? Yet in the buyers guide on these forums it says to NEVER finalize before receiving product. I won't be buying until I sell some so I guess I will worry about that when the time comes.
Initially I am going to be selling 30mg IR Adderall (Generic). I will see how that goes and possibly expand to other things that I am able to get if they are going to be profitable, but that is all for the time being. I will only be shipping domestically within the USA.
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The three main rules you should NEVER break...
1. BTC ONLY
2. NEVER LEAVE TOR
3. KEEP YOUR ASS LUBED
if what you are being asked to do violates rules one or two then refer to rule three.
;-)
TJ
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The three main rules you should NEVER break...
1. BTC ONLY
2. NEVER LEAVE TOR
3. KEEP YOUR ASS LUBED
if what you are being asked to do violates rules one or two then refer to rule three.
;-)
TJ
Its the three SR commandments...!!
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As for finalizing, I am confused on this because don't most vendors require you to finalize before they send? Yet in the buyers guide on these forums it says to NEVER finalize before receiving product.
Reputable vendors sometimes ask people to finalize before shipping, but many people are not willing to release their funds before receiving the product (for obvious reasons). The whole point of escrow, a service we all pay for on SR, is to protect against fraud in transactions. If you finalize early, you sacrifice that safety net (though you still pay for it).
I won't be buying until I sell some
No disrespect intended, but I seriously doubt anyone would be capable of successfully vending on SR without first becoming well-versed in the ins and outs of being a buyer. You have to know what your customers want, and if you've never even seen what the buying process looks like from the buyer's side, you won't know where to start. People will be bugging the shit out of you, asking you all kinds of questions about each transaction, using terms you've never heard.
My advice is to do some purchases on here. Learn how to get small amounts of BTC safely, learn the details of PGP encryption, find yourself some reputable vendors who will let you stay in escrow, and make a few small (or large, I don't care) purchases. See what you like and don't like about how they handle the situation. What would you do better if you were in their shoes? Then, as TrustusJones suggested, save up a couple thousand and start vending. If that's not possible, vending will be hard to handle. It seems most people who come trying to make some quick and easy pocket cash end up losing out in the end due to lack of preparedness.
Initially I am going to be selling 30mg IR Adderall (Generic). I will see how that goes and possibly expand to other things that I am able to get if they are going to be profitable, but that is all for the time being.
Are you going to be working with your personal prescription(s), or do you have access to >500 pills a month? If the latter, you're probably golden, but if it's just a script or two, you're better off dealing them to your friends. You can't keep up with the demand with only a few dozen pills available each week, and after postage, time invested, and the fees you'll have to pay to SR on all the tiny orders, you may not turn any profit at all.
I'm not trying to burst your bubble, of course. This place always needs more vendors, especially if you can compete with the current prices. You just seem like the kind of person who would want to consider all the intricacies of what they'd have to get into.
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As for finalizing, I am confused on this because don't most vendors require you to finalize before they send? Yet in the buyers guide on these forums it says to NEVER finalize before receiving product.
Reputable vendors sometimes ask people to finalize before shipping, but many people are not willing to release their funds before receiving the product (for obvious reasons). The whole point of escrow, a service we all pay for on SR, is to protect against fraud in transactions. If you finalize early, you sacrifice that safety net (though you still pay for it).
I won't be buying until I sell some
No disrespect intended, but I seriously doubt anyone would be capable of successfully vending on SR without first becoming well-versed in the ins and outs of being a buyer. You have to know what your customers want, and if you've never even seen what the buying process looks like from the buyer's side, you won't know where to start. People will be bugging the shit out of you, asking you all kinds of questions about each transaction, using terms you've never heard.
My advice is to do some purchases on here. Learn how to get small amounts of BTC safely, learn the details of PGP encryption, find yourself some reputable vendors who will let you stay in escrow, and make a few small (or large, I don't care) purchases. See what you like and don't like about how they handle the situation. What would you do better if you were in their shoes? Then, as TrustusJones suggested, save up a couple thousand and start vending. If that's not possible, vending will be hard to handle. It seems most people who come trying to make some quick and easy pocket cash end up losing out in the end due to lack of preparedness.
Initially I am going to be selling 30mg IR Adderall (Generic). I will see how that goes and possibly expand to other things that I am able to get if they are going to be profitable, but that is all for the time being.
Are you going to be working with your personal prescription(s), or do you have access to >500 pills a month? If the latter, you're probably golden, but if it's just a script or two, you're better off dealing them to your friends. You can't keep up with the demand with only a few dozen pills available each week, and after postage, time invested, and the fees you'll have to pay to SR on all the tiny orders, you may not turn any profit at all.
I'm not trying to burst your bubble, of course. This place always needs more vendors, especially if you can compete with the current prices. You just seem like the kind of person who would want to consider all the intricacies of what they'd have to get into.
Well said Appa, I have nothing to add except to say that I have recently set up a seller account myself and have found it difficult to garner people's trust too.
I think the answer is to begin by selling small, low value products and also build up a good reputation on the forum - get to know your buyers and eekp an eye on the "products offered/wanted" sections to see what demand there is for your wares and what you might like to consider selling.
USD 150 is a very small price to pay considering the potential profits you can make on here and don't forget it's a one of fee.
V.
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Hello everybody.Im a new born ,virgin ,just entered student ,(you call it :) ) on SR..meanwhile a very reputable member on the other web site ,where i have been for 3 years with the same products and i know the begining is tough...but i took the courage to make three postings of my products ...i know its not the wise decidion to start right away from sales ...but i guess i am an impatient corner cutter ) well i would be pretty happy to send out few samples for the legit members ,i believe thats the way to start "from somewhere"...i have been reading and reading and reading up on the forums the posts of the members and i just want express nothing, but the purest form of respect to the creators of this website ,very high class operation,very impressive and the same goes to the members,pretty supportive and intelligent group of people resides here ,very different from the place i started from , i guess since im not calling it by name i can say the difference is pretty much the same as" the junk yard and the reputable dealership "...its got their positive sides, like i would say it toughnes you up as a dealer ,but the bad part of it is that scammers rule the web site on about 80% ...the most legit sellers adds get deleted because a group of scammers report it over and over...i would say most of the times you will not get a fair chance ,because just as hard as you are working to be legit and it is a real sometimes 24 hour job ,i know people who hardly sleep or eat ,packaging their parcels,picking them up from customs,risking being arrested ,being robbed ,answering e mails ,coming up with the new creative way to prevent the product from being damaged ,to give people discounts ...to work their way up and whatever whoever say, thats the hard earned money,sleepless nights and life in fear is in no way an easy money to me ,other way everybody would do it .. ,scammers are working to take you down just as hard ,however i have managed to get good clientel and even make some friends...well as far as dealer can become a friend to a buyer...again only that far we can go ...SR seems to be absolutely new level of the game i want involve myself in ...and i sure have a lot to learn around ...like will i sound like a dumb ass if i ask an advice about how to make this introduction page,that i figuired appears every time i click on the name of a seller ...any advice or suggestion about starting on here ,simple good luck everything will be highly appreciated...and im trully excited about being a part of SR.. MODS special thank you from all my heart to you ,i dont know how you did it...but you are my personal heroes.
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I sure do appreciate this thread. Like a sponge, I have soaked up the priceless information that has been given out here and it is priceless. The $150 fee is nothing and a million times worth it considering the cost of opening a franchise business. So $3000 grand is a pretty good amount to start with? Sounds awesome. Thank you all for the schooling.
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You also need a vac sealer, a decent foodsaver alone runs about $150-$180. Spend the money on the sealer, air holes and leaks might cause huge problems.
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You also need a vac sealer, a decent foodsaver alone runs about $150-$180. Spend the money on the sealer, air holes and leaks might cause huge problems.
a must, especially if selling marihuana (triple vac is the best)
Good luck to you
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There's a guy on the forums by the name of "FarmerBob" who had posted a few times about vacuum sealers, and why they may not be the best option. Apparently, the vacuum itself does very little, and smell-proofing is more about the type and quality of the material used, and the width of the seal. His posts make a lot of sense to me, and I will be following his advice, despite having already purchased a vacuum sealer.
I'm not knocking the triple-vac method, as it obviously works well enough, but if there's a better option that is still fairly cost-effective, it's worth considering. I may even use a vac-sealed layer or two on top of the MBB method.