Silk Road forums
Discussion => Newbie discussion => Topic started by: gogofofo on June 09, 2013, 08:58 pm
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I'm just gonna put this out there because i don't want anyone to think i'm being a lazy newb, but i got chemo brain bad these days, and on top of that i gotta be stoned all the time to get thru the day. I've done nothing else for the past 3 days but read up about tor, silk road, and worst of all, bitcoin, so now i'm just hoping some well seasoned individuals can help me out and tell me if i'm on the right track so far. If you can point me to some essential reading here at the forum or elsewhere, I'll appreciate it. So here goes.
-To make a modest purchase at SR in a reasonably anonymous, straight forward way, as a first timer looking to test the waters, I should avoid using banks or anything that requires identification, and instead go thru something like BitInstant, where I can make a cash deposit at a local retailer, like walmart, and have it sent directly to my SR account using the bitcoin address provided by SR. Is this a good or bad way to go about it? At what point does my Bitcoin-Qt "wallet" get involved?
-If I put in a $100 deposit, after all fees applied, how much can I expect to be deposited into my SR account? $80?
-How do I get Bitcoin-QT to stop loading the initial transaction history onto my Windows drive instead of the external drive i unpacked you on you bastard, I waited a whole day for you to load it! >:(
-Why is it that the head honcho here at Silk Road advises against using one's real name and address in their shipping, and is adamantly against ever, ever, EVER finalizing early, yet so many merchants openly and blatantly encourage FE, or even continue to insist on it, especially if your new, and encourage using your real name and address, and seem to even coerce customer's into stating that they FE'd in their feedback reviews? It seems like these merchants don't care about even seeming like they give a shit about your welfare, and no one seems to have a gripe about this. I mean one can assume this is true of anybody trying to sell you something, and I'm sure the fact that every merchant on SR has likely been burned in the past by buyer's, and i know this is a cutthroat underground world we're in, but how does it help anyone to seem openly apathetic and even hostile? "Don't fucking ask me about custom orders, cuz i don't want to hear it, blah blah blah", "You better do whatever I say or I'm gonna give you a bad review".
Going forward, as I start making larger purchases, what do recommend I look into as I ramp up my game?
Thanks for any helpful feedback.
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One thing I can answer is about FE and what it means. So basically when you make an order, your bitcoins will stay in escrow. This way you only click on "finalize" once you actually receive the package, and that releases the $$$ to vendor. Now, the FE custom is still there, b/c some vendors may offer other incentives, such as overweight packages. Or you can sometimes FE for faster shipping. Now, of course, the issue is that if you FE, then you're basically shit out of luck if the vendor turns out to be a scammer, or if your package doesn't arrive. After FE, you cannot open any sort of resolution. So for me, I've yet to FE, and probably never would as a rule. But I've seen some people FE for trusted vendors whom they've transacted with before. If you've purchased numerous packages, and received shipment, then FE becomes at least SOMEWHAT less risky. But you are correct as far as the general rule should be never FE. So that's what I go by..I haven't FE'd, and don't really plan to unless I seriously trust the vendor thru previous transactions.
-- gtathreeguy
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If you have a bank of america near you, I'd recommend Blue Sky Traders, it's way easier and cheaper than bitinstant as they only have very low fees : http://ok2yri46aaptiu2d.onion/index.htm so if you deposit $100 you'd get $97.8 with BST, if the bitcoin rate didn't fluctuate between the time you deposited it and the bitcoins get in your wallet.
You don't really need to go through another bitcoin wallet if you purchased them anonymously (for example with BST), just withdraw them to your SR wallet directly. If you want ot use Bitcoin-Qt, it has to be torrified or else it's not anonymous anymore.
If by larger purchases you mean buying ounces and pounds or $500+ per order I'd recommend using a drop address, so an address that isn't yours to retrieve those packages.
Read that to have more information on security measures : http://pz65gyca5nrafhrf.onion/PolyFront_2/polyfront.html, it doesn't cover every aspect but it's worth reading.
If you only buy personal amounts each order then it's safe to have them shipped to your home address, but don't import from countries like the Netherlands or flagged countries if you're in the US.
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bump
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i cant stress enough how good localbitcoins.com is!!
heaps of tranactions and havent had a drama yet!!! love it
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If you have a bank of america near you, I'd recommend Blue Sky Traders, it's way easier and cheaper than bitinstant as they only have very low fees : http://ok2yri46aaptiu2d.onion/index.htm so if you deposit $100 you'd get $97.8 with BST, if the bitcoin rate didn't fluctuate between the time you deposited it and the bitcoins get in your wallet.
You don't really need to go through another bitcoin wallet if you purchased them anonymously (for example with BST), just withdraw them to your SR wallet directly. If you want ot use Bitcoin-Qt, it has to be torrified or else it's not anonymous anymore.
If by larger purchases you mean buying ounces and pounds or $500+ per order I'd recommend using a drop address, so an address that isn't yours to retrieve those packages.
Read that to have more information on security measures : http://pz65gyca5nrafhrf.onion/PolyFront_2/polyfront.html, it doesn't cover every aspect but it's worth reading.
If you only buy personal amounts each order then it's safe to have them shipped to your home address, but don't import from countries like the Netherlands or flagged countries if you're in the US.
Thanks for the advice. Isn't it riskier for several reasons to be doing this thru bank accounts though, not that its illegal to buy bitcoins, but at a certain point, with enough cash flow, you're gonna get some red flags.
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Thanks for the advice. Isn't it riskier for several reasons to be doing this thru bank accounts though, not that its illegal to buy bitcoins, but at a certain point, with enough cash flow, you're gonna get some red flags.
You know what, I'm not even going to bother looking to much into that Blue Sky Trader business. It looks as sketchy as it can get.
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One thing I can answer is about FE and what it means. So basically when you make an order, your bitcoins will stay in escrow. This way you only click on "finalize" once you actually receive the package, and that releases the $$$ to vendor. Now, the FE custom is still there, b/c some vendors may offer other incentives, such as overweight packages. Or you can sometimes FE for faster shipping. Now, of course, the issue is that if you FE, then you're basically shit out of luck if the vendor turns out to be a scammer, or if your package doesn't arrive. After FE, you cannot open any sort of resolution. So for me, I've yet to FE, and probably never would as a rule. But I've seen some people FE for trusted vendors whom they've transacted with before. If you've purchased numerous packages, and received shipment, then FE becomes at least SOMEWHAT less risky. But you are correct as far as the general rule should be never FE. So that's what I go by..I haven't FE'd, and don't really plan to unless I seriously trust the vendor thru previous transactions.
-- gtathreeguy
Thanks gtathreeguy, for taking the time.
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Now, to commence with my 50 post.
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BLUP
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Thanks for the advice. Isn't it riskier for several reasons to be doing this thru bank accounts though, not that its illegal to buy bitcoins, but at a certain point, with enough cash flow, you're gonna get some red flags.
You don't need a bank account to do a cash deposit, you don't even need to show an ID or give a fake name, it's really less annoying than going through bitinstant! And well yeah it looks a bit sketchy but BST is what most people on the forums here use and it's the best way to get bitcoins now that birfloor is gone.