Community Discussion: State of the Markets and the changes YOU want to see

Another day, another market. It's becoming far too common now where we see new markets popping up (and shortly after disappearing for the most part), to the point where they get no business whatsoever because you see their announcement, roll your eyes and have a quick look at the features they're offering and possibly take a look at the interface, then it's never to be seen again.

The new kids on the block don't often offer anything different from the other markets and they sometimes lack security or any sort of benefit compared to what's already out there or from the code-base they worked from. If we want to see this flourish, because it is always good to have extra "heads on the hydra", so-to-speak, then something definitely has to change.

At the time of writing, we are down to 11 markets in the Super List (Soon to be 10, as of the 17th of June with Acropolis making their exit, well done on not running with the money by the way), this is the slimmest I've saw it in a very long time and no offense to any active Market Admins/Devs reading this, but some are pretty plain and useless to be perfectly honest.

Something I discussed just yesterday with /u/wombat2combat was a much needed overhaul for the criteria on the Market Superlist, which would definitely be somewhat beneficial. Whilst it may mean some current marketplaces could potentially be removed due to more strict guidelines, this would help to standardize for the needs, in this day and age, to not only keep everyone safe and secure*, but to also provide a strong platform for vendors and buyers alike to comfortably go about their business.

So the point of this thread, is to come together and point out what you like/dislike about current marketplaces, former marketplaces and what you would like to see from them or future marketplaces, that would give them your business. I'm sure the Mods would also appreciate some input on some standards that should be met for the Superlist, to ensure the best possible service can be provided in the future. As a lot of the issues we see are down to the incompetency of Admins, I feel we'll be able to come up with some standards that they must meet during their 1 month review period, post launch.

Please add your comments regarding some features you would like to see in the near future as this will act as market research for anyone who feels they are able to provide such a service in the future. It would be great if you could read through other suggestions too, to not only prevent duplicates, but up-vote any that catch your eye, so the most popular ideas can be put forward. If anyone has any cons to anything suggested, keep comments friendly and respectable in regards to opinions, and back up your reasoning as best as you can.

Also a question I would like to put forward to you all is, on a scale of 1-10, what would you say the importancy of the user interface is?

Remember: no idea is a stupid idea, I want to see a whole community effort with this.

VENDORS: I think it's important we hear from you guys, without you, none of this flows at all. What can be done to cater better for your needs and provide you with ease in managing your business?

TL;DR Suggestions for new features for current and future markets and your opinion on what markets have done well to get your business.


Comments


[9 Points] wombat2combat:

here some random ideas I brainstormed

must have:

should have:

nice to have:

I will edit in more if I can think of more points.


on a scale of 1-10, what would you say the importancy of the user interface is?

it is 3 or 4 for me. not crappy enough to give me eye cancer [looking at you outlaw] but it should be usable. if the market staff prioritizes security and other more important aspects over a shiny interface, I am all for it. heck I would take the shitty search engine of agora over any shiny interface every day.


[3 Points] writingpoli:

I'm pretty satisfied with CGMC. I'd like to see more markets like it, for specific products and backups in case one goes down. They seem to have married security and UX pretty well.

That said,


[3 Points] None:

UI is a 1 maybe a 2. Needs to function security is the most critical part most people give zero fucks about now. AB is so busy it almost give me a stroke. I want drugs not Amazon.com.

It is to easy now. Auto encryption on markets. Fuck I just saw HANSA can be accessed from a clearnet link. We just rejected a market for same. They got there own Reddit and sourcing is all about all it is.

How do you fix that? People can now order from Phone or Chrome and do. People are dealing here on Reddit. We get it after they get fucked. HANSA is really pretty and shiny in Chrome. Responsive well done but clearnet?

Clearly people don't think about felonies like I do. I want to go back where all that mattered was security. If we do that then we provide value and keep people out of jail. Otherwise we are just assisting people in fucking up there lives forever.


[3 Points] ciphersexual:

I like a masterfully designed system of drug categories.

Click "drugs" first, and then within several clicks you've R-tree indexed into the most detailed leafs of the tree, distinguishing between your A-PHP and your A-PVP. Because yes, these snowflakes are unique and beautiful and do not deserve to be tarnished with the frumpy "other" category.


[3 Points] GrandWizardsLair:

The Grand Wizard is presently active on AlphaBay, DHL, Dream and Hansa. We have had reasonably good luck with all four and are satisfied with what they offer. Before we would branch out to a new market we would need at a bare minimum:

1) A multisig implementation that was user-friendly for buyers and vendors alike. Hansa is the gold standard for this.

2) A sharp-looking interface with a good search function.

3) Responsive administration. If they are starting out as a new market, we would expect them to show up on /r/darknetmarkets, talk about their markets and respond frankly and quickly to justified criticism.

4) NOT HOSTED IN THE UNITED STATES. Sorry, guys, but the risks are too high for you and for us. Buyers who aren't getting bulk quantities of highly controlled substances probably don't have to worry but every American vendor could get butt-raped figuratively and literally when (and there's no "if" here) LE took over.

5) Absolutely no child porn, weapons or toxins. Too much heat.


[3 Points] lysergicmo:

That's why Hansa gets most of my business that and the beautiful snappy UI

I wish they start accepting Moneroj because it's the future, Satoshi's true vision embodied.


[2 Points] DooshNozzzle:

A way to sign multisig transactions, for example on HANSA, without having to use a 3rd party that uses JAVA SCRIPT!!!! such as this:

http://4zpinp6gdkjfplhk.onion/#sign


[2 Points] MaleficallyFree:

Need more vendors to accept Monero

Monero is the future of cryptocurrency, and is far more private than bitcoin


[2 Points] C66HH12OO6:

I don't understand why markets can't have poison/contract killers/Cp. Of all things, this is what we are going to draw moral guidelines on? If I want a vial of poison, I should be able to buy it. That's what this whole thing is for. I shouldn't have to endlessly message and beg for a link to a contract killer or biological weapon .onion


[1 Points] islambolt:

A market with a wide variety of vendors is important, I like how dream has a built in pgp encryption for new people. Also open registration is important anyone should be able to join, and the market should enforce full escrow listing. Also have a bigger team of moderates.


[1 Points] murderhomelesspeople:

I'd say about a 2-3 for the UI. As long as I can see the info and sort I'm good.


[1 Points] HermanTrought:

More information about vendors, hate on AB if you will but on Dream and Hansa there is less information about the vendors available. (Buyers feedback, dated feedback so I can see when packs are landing), how much is the product in US dollars on the listing would be nice too.


[1 Points] weoll88:

It would be cool to see proper testing of product to be done before vendors can sell potentially life threatening drugs. Obviously weed and such would not require this.


[1 Points] attilathehunn:

As a buyer, Alphabay's Queue feature is excellent and underrated.

Workflow without queue: 1) Find product ad 2) Send BTC 3) Twiddle thumbs for POSSIBLY HOURS while your transaction gets 3 confirms 4) Click "Buy" and put in pgp shipping address.

Having to hang around waiting for confirmations before being able to open an order is a real ballache.

Workflow with queue: 1) Find product, click "Queue" and put in pgp shipping address 2) Send BTC 3) Do something else, go to sleep 4) BTC confirms at 4am and your order is automatically opened.

Also with Queue you can cheap out on miner fees because you're not in such a hurry to get confirmations.


[1 Points] PM_ME_UR_SKETCH:

Basicly Discord of the DNM. Free, does everything while doing it better and with memes.


[1 Points] Sourcery_Market:

We just recently made an announcement. We actually approached the market a bit differently. While we do have a basic traditional market area, we are actually more an escrow service than a market. We had a closed launching with a few vendors who are doing direct deals. We basically wanted to be able to offer escrow protection for a deal that originated off market. We are pure multi-sig, no central escrow. No funds ever touch our wallets. We don't have a need for hot wallets to conduct any transaction.

A vendor can sell product elsewhere, come to Sourcery and create a contract, share that contract with their buyer and the process is pretty much the same as if the product was purchased in a traditional market.

We did put some basic market functionality in before announcing here but really, we are focusing more on the idea that a sale doesn't have to originate on Sourcery.

Also, we offer service integration for a service that wants to leverage escrow. An example of this would be a vendor who wants to set up their own market. OBviously the problem is that in this scenario, customers are essentially FE'ing. Integrating with us, a vendor or service can offer 3rd party, impartial escrow protection to their customers while still being able to operate their own market. Some vendors are established enough to be able to get FE, many aren't. And still, many customer will never FE.

We are in the works with two services to offer this service. I'm hoping they'll be announcing soon.

Basically we are trying to separate the escrow protection from the actual marketplace. This would allow a wider range of options in the DNM ecosphere. Why just sell on a market? Sell however you wish but still be able to leverage escrow - which is the most important function a market offers. And, we only offer multi-sig, no central. Multi-sig is a little bit more difficult, especially for a volume vendor. Its not quite as easy as a click of a button to send funds. They have steps they need to do for each transaction. We are working with vendors on how to best approach this. The vendors using Sourcery are smaller ones so its not a big deal. For a customer, its easy, pretty much the same process execpt they send their funds to a multi-sig address (except in the case of a dispute that they win, then they need to do the same steps as the vendor to release funds to them).


[1 Points] epicjam:

No FE. Are you running a market or a scam?