Hello - before I paste my writing into here I would like you to know that the criticism is taken by all of you, bad or good - my intent on this was not to make sure that kids or people with no knowledge could just start vending and my main intent was to help current vendors out - notice: If you don't already know most of this information, you probably shouldn't be vending anyways.
Enjoy!;
Vendor Starter Guide - The Technical Aspect
If you haven't read my first guide already, here you go:
https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkNetMarkets/comments/4q1irs/vendor_starter_guide/
Read that first or else a lot of this may not make to much sense.
- OS - If you are a starter, I recommend Tails. It's an OS built for Tor, automatically changes your mac address and really provides the best overall security. If you are more advanced, skip these tips for Tails and go on to the bottom of No. 1 for other OS's. I recommend running tails in a VM. This way, you don't have to purchase a dedicated computer - as a lot of vendors don't have all the money after all the money on stock, vendor bonds, shipping supplies etc. Since people have deemed VPN's unreliable, I still say to run one of them, and also use proxifier to run a proxy. In proxifier make sure to change the rule from Direct to "proxy" so that all of your computers traffic goes through the proxy. Now you will have tails running, mac address spoofed, a VPN encrypting your traffic to your ISP and your proxy as a second layer of security. These will likely be your internal IP's, so if you are going to use the "Unsafe Browser" in tails - use this guide to hide your internal IP's:
If you are more advanced read here: If you know what you are doing, I recommend an Ubuntu/Linux Distro.
I personally use Kali Linux due to the fact you can use it as a GUI or command line.
Within your Ubuntu machine, you should be running a VPN, and use Tor bridges to make your Tor browsing look like legitimate browsing. Always use Tor bridges in case your VPN fails!
Here are some tips when using Ubuntu / Linux distros:
-Spoof your mac address (always).
-Don't torrent - this makes a direct connection between your computer and others, this is a big no-no!
-Don't ever login to anything personal on this system! Only use it for your DN needs.
-Do use a proxy when available for extra security.
-Always Always, Always encrypt all your files. Don't use the same password as your DN vendor accounts. If you are caught, don't give up your password - it will only reveal more stuff in your case and cause more evidence to be piled up against you.
Dedicated Laptop - If you can, and I recommend this, purchase a laptop in cash or get one from a friend that is not registered in your name. In a case of a doxee trying to get your information, he could get your serial number, HDD serial number, etc. When purchased, it will either be linked back to the original person or the store you purchased from (hopefully you purchased in cash!)
Worst Case Scenario - If you are doxed, don't respond!! If they provide your real information, don't pay them, just ignore them. If they find you vulnerable they may just create a new alias and blackmail you again. Never answer because if you pay, they know the information is sensitive and won't delete it and will continue to blackmail you. Long story short, just DO NOT respond to doxers or blackmailers. There is such a small chance they will report you, let alone an investigating getting started on an anonymous tip someone posted into a form on LE's website.
4, Not so technical, but drops - If you are getting your stock from DNM's (you should), always use a drop!! If you don't want to use a house for sale or vacant, use a trusted friend who doesn't do drugs to receive your packages who WILL NOT snitch! You don't want your whole operation go down because of a CD of 500 bars from Canada. I personally use houses for sale, and theres a couple ways you could get the package delivered to the door so that it's available to you:
If the package is domestic, setup a MyUSPS account for the house. I personally use this method, however you will need to know mortgage information, previous addresses, and friends (google and whitepages are your friends for this!)
Use the name on the package as "Door Delivery", "Deliver to Door", or any name that tells the postman/woman to deliver to the door
Laundering I have deleted this part due to concerns with peoples methods and safety - thanks for understanding.
There are a few ways you can do this and it all depends on your operation. I hope you haven't started up an operation all based on guides and have already hired employees and such, or you could have a bigger problem. The biggest being that you started an operation off of guides!! Many large operations that have been exposed have either been:
Selling on LocalBitcoins or other sites (although this can be hard selling large accounts of btc)
Creating fake but legitimate business online that take btc, and then creating fake invoices (Thanks AlpraKing!)
Bank fraud - open a bank account in someone else's name, get a debit card sent to your drop, and then use a service to get your btc transferred into your bank account and then use the debit card to get the cash out of ATMs.
What I recommend doing is paying all your bills and such, move to a nice(r) apt, maybe a little nicer car, but always have a reason that you are making all this money! Until you start making a shit ton, you shouldn't need to launder too much. Once you are making a lot, create a business plan for a legitimate business and go to a bank to take out a loan. Take out a loan and start your business. Slowlyyyy launder your money. Open a McDonalds franchise or buy some land and build some apartments. Either way, you just need to have a legitimate source of your money.
This also isn't technical but I feel like it should be covered - Startup Money. - A lot of vendors, unfortunately have little to no money. I recommend trying to sling some drugs irl for a little bit or get a legitimate job for a little bit of time. Transfer that into btc, tumble it and then get your stock, pay your vendor bond and purchase shipping supplies! Make sure you have money left for shipping labels. Which brings me to my next point:
Labels - Use an anonymous source to purchase your labels IE stampnik. To somewhat show you are a legitimate business, other than making the outside of your box to look like a legitimate business (Look on the last post on my whole section on labeling your boxes externally). Use reference numbers to organize things. That's the way you should be organizing your orders that are "In-transit). You shouldn't be giving out tracking numbers, and really should only be giving them out if they buyer disputes and the package says delivered. A good way I like to organize my in transit orders are: Account name, Reference Number, Tracking Number.
Once the package is delivered, delete that information. Which once again brings me to my next point:
Don't keep buyers personal information - This is one of the biggest no-no's. If you are caught, don't victimize your customers. They put trust into you by purchasing their product and they do not deserve to be sent to prison or deal with the stress of a CD. It is important to stay organized and keep current orders available in an organized manner for proof that packages are delivered/seized, but should routinely be checking for personal information that's being stored. Remember that snitching on your customers will not give you reduced time, no matter how much they say it will!
Shipping Locations - You should plan to routinely switch the blue boxes you use to ship items. However, if you are unable too, you need to ship out packages with different stealth, different external appearance and different return addresses on every package. You should try to package each 5 differently. This may seem like a lot, but it will save you and your customers ass in the long run! and please please, don't use shitty, generic stealth methods like vendors shipping your Xanax in a ziploc in the bottom of a funyon bag! Who the fuck actually ships chips through the mail? You better be using King Sooper's return address if that's the stealth method you'll be using!
Partners and business associates (Credit to /u/junkitactics for giving me this idea) - He suggested that you should be running a 2-3 man team. I can agree with this in someways. It is good to have more people that can do the labor, however the risk will go up and your profit will go down since you have to pay them. Obviously employing more people means more risk, so try to get friends that aren't addicted to drugs or previously had any drug/alcohol abuse. Try to hire people 30+ (Thanks AlpraKing again) because they "normally have their shit together." If you get snitched on, you're fucked. Hopefully all your computers are encrypted! Which lastly, brings me to my last point:
Encrypt everything and warn your customers - You need to always keep everything encrypted with different passwords. If you are running your OS for your DN activities in a VM, encrypt your main computer with one password, your DN OS with another password, and your vendor account(s) with another password. This ensures that you will have the best security, and hell if you want to try to get off the hook, give them the password to your main computer - they can't get into the OS anyways as it should be encrypted with a different password!
and to the second part of this last section:
Warn your customers! Caught? Warn your customers! CD incoming to a buyer that is clearly visible on USPS? Warn the customer!
The best thing a vendor can do other than not exit scamming is by warning your customers. This will let them know to encrypt their drives, clean their houses and give them a warning that police may be coming. Look, if you are caught - you are already fucked, so do your best to get on Reddit or your account and warn everyone, it's not like they are going to give you extra jail time for warning people.
I understand the second part of number 11 could be questionable, but all in all I hope you enjoyed this guide! Once again, this is for educational purposes and people looking to be vendors should be doing way more research then reading a Reddit guide! I hope you enjoyed.
Thank you!!
PMmeYourDrugPorn
Edit: Once again my numbers got messed up - sorry about that!
Solid post thanks for typing it up. I'm sure your going to get a lot of hate from the veterans that this is common knowledge but judging from the dumb opsec questions people post, a lot of people might learn something