I seem to have seen a litany of posts and threads of people essentially scrambling to determine where they should focus their continued business in the DNMs are the blows we've been dealt lately. Having been an end consumer since the original Silk Road, I decided to give the main ones a try and write a quick personal recommendation.
I've tried the top contenders mentioned: Dream, Libertas, Zion, CGMC, and Wall Street Market (WSM).
Right off the bat the base requirements for me are a well-designed and functional UI, Monero payment system inherently builtin, seamless checkout, competition, support, vendors, market features, scaling, security, and speed just to name a few.
[ BTC is dead as a viable currency and instead has transformed for digital gold. The world will catch on later. Those of us in the fringes of the Internet must make and push for the innovative changes and adaptation of the future. ]
On all accounts, my current recommendation for a market has to be WSM. I've thoroughly enjoyed using it and believe if you want to continue using a market and not go the OB2 route, then it's the clear winner for me. Other markets are lacking in comparison.
The browsing and search filtering was fairly instant, exploring vendor stats and digging for info was solid in transversing the site. The checkout process is incredible seamless when opting to use Monero as well, including the end checkout/escrow page. It's so instant on confirmation times as well (make sure to send your XMR with the Slow transaction fee option inside of the Monero wallet GUI client to save a lot of bucks). The support is also quick to reply.
Another great plus is that they do NOT have a centralized wallet, meaning you just send the exact amount of money to the address on the final checkout/escrow page and once everything is confirmed, the vendor ships. However, if the case in which the vendor cancels or doesn't ship, you just enter a refund address and boom, they send it. Beautiful
The only mere negative is for a U.S. based buyer who wants shipping from the U.S. for shatter with XMR option, it's a bit lacking, but this is the easiest to fix.
Why am I posting this? 1) to help out the community and my fellow peers with my recommendation. 2) The more attention I can attract to a great market, the more vendors come to sell, aka for the end consumer, I get lower prices, increased product quality, and more attentive vendors which are consumer centric. Basically increased competition.
If you guys have further comments, please feel free to start a discussion below. (I've seen some of the automod warnings against them, but are they still valid?)
Thanks
TL;DR: Use Wall Street Market and pay with Monero.
I Agree about wallstreet market. Currently my favorite, agora reloaded is also quite good