Silk Road forums

Discussion => Silk Road discussion => Topic started by: timeforachange79 on October 02, 2011, 02:29 pm

Title: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 02, 2011, 02:29 pm
Hey guys,  I'm new and finding it hard to figure out everything I need to have in place before I make my first purchases.  I have been reading up for a few days and I still can't figure it all out with regard to PGP, how to get bitcoins and spend them on SR safely.  Is there a step by step guide that takes us from the beginning through all the security measures to how to place an order?

I am especially interested in ordering some MDMA from Ivory after reading all the positive feedback on this seller.

Thanks and I look forward to contributing to the community!
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: MrM on October 02, 2011, 03:53 pm
Hi there, persevere... it will be well worth it!

First thing to do is go back to SR, scroll to the bottom and check out the "how it works" link. There is a buyers guide and a link to find out how to get BitCoins. For BC, MtGox is a good place to start or check out BritCoin which I recently found and was very happy with. It is currently operating with zero commission so you'll get more bang for your buck. Getting the funds to SR is easy, just go to the withdraw page on whatever site you choose to get your BC and send them to the address listed in your SR account page.

I found the PGP stuff a little confusing myself to start with and then i found this thread: http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=131.0. Go read it. If you're like me, you'll probably need to read it a couple of times but once you get setup, it's pretty easy and you'll wonder why it took you so long.

Good luck and welcome to SR :)
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 02, 2011, 07:51 pm
MrM what a great reply from you, thanks!  Am I right in thinking this PGP thing is a program for turning text into encrypted gibberish that can be sent through hushmail and then decoded on the other end by the seller?

Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: MrM on October 02, 2011, 08:28 pm
You are very welcome. PGP is a form of encryption not a program although you will need a program to encrypt messages. Encryption is incredibly complex but if you want more information on PGP, have a look at: http://www.pgpi.org/doc/pgpintro/

You don't need to know how it works to use it however, so if you download GPG4Win from http://gpg4win.org/ and follow the steps in the guide mentioned above, you'll be up and running in no time.
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 03, 2011, 03:40 pm
Hi, it's the class retard here again.  Coming from an 8 year career in stock trading I don't know why this seems so complicated to me.  But thanks to MrM I am making progress.  I am mostly understanding the encryption now and my stumbling block is the bitcoins.  I'm seeing some of you recommend running coins through multiple wallets to mix them with other people's coins before sending them to SR for the purpose of hiding our identities better.   Can you tell me what this means?  What is a wallet and how do I get one or multiple wallets?  And what does it mean to mix bitcoins with other people's bitcoins?

Halp!

lol
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 03, 2011, 03:49 pm
If someone could say "Go to 'this' site, sign up an account, send funds to the account by paypal, then go to 'this other' site, sign up an account, send funds from 'this' site account to 'this other' site account, then send funds to SR" it would be a tremendous help!  I am getting on in years and some of this seems a little complex to figure out.

Thank you!
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: madamebradley on October 03, 2011, 06:13 pm
To make your bitcoins less easy to trace use a new address each time you send or receive some. You generate new addresses in the bitcoin client itself.

From everything I've read one only needs to send bitcoins to https://instawallet.org and leave it there for a few hours (let's say... six) and it's been laundered. Don't waste your money on laundering services since you can do everything you need on your own. This is what people refer to when people say to "mix bitcoins with other people's bitcoins".
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 03, 2011, 11:15 pm
Thanks, I'm getting somewhere now.  So I went to that instawallet site and as soon as I got there it told me i had an account  that was automatically generated and that I had to take a note of it or I'd never be able to get back to it again from what I understood.  So I just get a ukAsh voucher from a petrol station, get one of the exchangers on here to swap it fro bitcoins and tell them to send the coins to this account address that the instawallet site generated?  And then I get another instawallet address and send the coins there after a day, and then i send them to the seller on SR I am going to do business with?  Is that how I do this?

This seems like such a weird and completely different concept to me.  I just find it all so odd.  This wallet site just made me an account before I even did a thing and I'm supposed to just have bitcoins sent to it.  Did anyone else go through this bewildered state when they first got into this stuff?   
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: madamebradley on October 04, 2011, 06:52 pm
That's the beauty of instawallet. It's an instant wallet. Just bookmark (or write down) the address so you don't lose it. A lot of people have used it and vouch for its performance, including me. (Just check out bitcointalk.org for people

Well if you're buying the bitcoins themselves anonymously, then you're fine sending them straight to SR. Using instawallet (or any type of mixing/laundering service) is only needed if the bitcoins can be traced back to you somehow.
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: timeforachange79 on October 04, 2011, 09:21 pm
Thanks for the help guys.  I made an order today.  I got funds through uKash and used an exchanger on SR to get bitcoins straight into my SR wallet.  I think that's an ok way to go about it isn't?
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: Rook on October 05, 2011, 01:06 am
For future reference, try to use an exchange service outside of SR. The Silk Road was not designed to facilitate currency exchange.  Everyone knows what you are going to do with those bitcoins here, which makes it a honeypot opportunity for LE and scammers alike.

Go to Bitcoin-OTC.com or one of the main exchanges (I always recommend exchangebitcoins.com to US customers due to their low fees and same-day direct deposit options).  You're guaranteed save yourself money and trouble.
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: blindemouse on October 06, 2011, 04:29 pm
So we shouldn't use bitcoin services offered by members? I was beginning to think it was the best route
Title: Re: How to get started as a buyer?
Post by: phubaiblues on October 08, 2011, 12:26 am
So we shouldn't use bitcoin services offered by members? I was beginning to think it was the best route

I wouldn't: I agree with Rook on this one.  We don't know who anybody is on here, and our whole attitude should be one of protecting our true identities from this site, and people selling on this site.  We buy with btc, and yeah, it's a bit of a hassle, but getting this stuff on the streets has it's share of dangers too.... avoid even the *nicest* people and setups, if whatever they are doing, involves getting payments other than btc....none of us know who is who....

I've got my pals here, but I get pms all the time from people wanting to sell me this or that, and to get payment that can be traced...ripoff or LE or just a person trying to make a buck, I don't care...I need protect myself, and help the site out too...any time I go outside of normal SR channels, they don't get their cut, and I can't complain if it all goes south, either...

Get btc, wash'em once or twice, so they don't have traces to you, and how you purchased'em, then buy stuff here using those btc...