What types of items have you purchased, and what's the loss rate? Does it vary with types of products?
I have an HSA insurance plan where I effectively pay out of pocket, so I'm starting to get more and more tempted to buy non-US drugs for which I have or could get a valid US prescription. Not particularly drugs of abuse, but something like ciprodex (ciproflaxin antibiotic + dexemethasone (steroid) otic (ear drops); $140 in the US and $55 in Canada). Stockpiling some other drugs (tamiflu, etc.) might also be tempting.
The only drugs I see on SR seem to be psychoactive, either research chemicals or boring prescription psychiatric drugs like xanax or adderall.
I purchase mostly opiates, though I have occasionally purchased other classes of drugs as well.
I have been scammed a couple of times, but I have never lost a package that was actually sent by the vendor. I have a 100% delivery rate.
Every time I was scammed was the result of finalizing early. This is bypassing the escrow system and giving the vendor the money immediately. Usually new users are asked to do this, and some vendors require it. I've learned my lesson and never FE (finalize early) now.
You can find non psychoactive/psychiatric drugs, it just varies a lot and you need to keep your eyes open. Certainly the market for what you are looking for is smaller, but it is there if you are persistant about it.
Things like antibiotics, ssris, antivirals and other mainstream drugs that aren't abused are often available relatively inexpensively from online pharmacies based out of India due to their price controls and flexible intellectual property laws.
anything unsolicited = scam
anything for ED = good chance its counterfeit
google for pharmacy review sites, pick ones that include reviews from users and the site owner. if there aren't any bad reviews trash it. Usually a few will get most of the discussion - these are usually the safest bets, but make sure to read the last few weeks worth in case somethings gone wrong.
Try to pick one thats been around at least a year and ships a good variety of drugs but skips commonly abused stuff like sedatives, stimulants, steroids and narcotic pain killers as they are much more likely to be a scam.
India is probably the safe choice. Don't order from anywhere that doesn't disclose their location. Don't order from "brokers".
A large variety of boring medicines in every dose manufactured is almost always going to be legit, trustworthy and not counterfeit. It'll usually come wrapped in foil strips that are verifiably the local licensed pharma manufacturer.
Always pay with a credit card and always expect 2-3-4 week deliveries.
The scary thing is I remember reading about people buying and then GC/MSing the drugs promoted by spammers. 10 seconds of googling doesn't find the result. I think they were mostly real/safe, although some were somewhat under-strength.
Well, these aren't exactly about the site, but if you'll humor me, a couple of questions jump to mind:
Do you have purchases sent directly to your home/business, or do you attempt to obfuscate the delivery somehow? If so, can you share anything about the tactics you use?
What percentage of your purchases arrive as expected? Do you have any reason to believe that anything is being intercepted by Customs / Border Police / Whatever, or do you only buy from in-country sellers?
Also, have you happened to notice if SR sellers sell things like Clenbuterol, and others that could fall into the "Performance Enhancing Drug" category?
I have purchases sent to my home, most of the time.
I have never lost a package that was actually mailed, though I have been scammed a couple of times by vendors who never send anything.
I try to stick to domestic vendors to avoid customs, but sometimes it is impossible due to supply issues. When I am ordering internationally I stick to Canada if possible. I once had a package from India get stuck in customs for over a month. When it finally arrived it had been opened and retaped shut. However, they did not find the actual contents of the package, it was very well hidden.
It seems that SR doesn't solve the major problem for buyers: you have to name a postal address and that address will be printed on a package containing illicit goods.
Any bad experiences with customs or have you been using in-country sellers exclusively? Any tricks to obscure your real address?
(Since these have mostly been answered below already: do you stick to a fixed group of sellers or go by price?)
In countries where the incrimination standard is reasonable doubt, that you received a package addressed to you is not really a slam dunk proof that you ordered the contents.
Furthermore, in countries where you enjoy a right to refuse to say anything that may incriminate you, you may simply refuse to explain how or why the package was sent to you. The prosecution will need to positively prove that you ordered it, which is a much harder task if the seller doesn't cooperate.
Nobody will ever be convicted for some package, so much is clear. But thats not the point. That package is enough to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant. And in my country, there is no "fruit of the poisonous tree" principle - even if the search is found to be unlawful afterwards, the majority of findings are admissible.
I touched on this in some other replies, but basically, I use my real name/address, try to use domestic sellers as much as possible, and have never lost a package to USPS/customs.
Unless you are ordering Heroin, which is very expensive on SR, at that spending rate you are probably buying Oxys or Opanas.
This might surprise some, but there are much simpler and better-priced places to get those online than SR / with 24h turn-around, overnight UPS - that won't involve an eventual FBI/DEA reverse sting - which is were SR is heading with all this attention.
I am not a dealer. As the OP said, I have a gigantic drug habit.
I suspect that, like many HN readers, I am a young guy who works in technology and makes more money than is good for him. I am single and unattached, so I've got plenty of disposable income. And I seem to be good (so far) at remaining a stable, productive employee despite my habit.
This story typically doesn't have a very nice ending. Maybe you're just having some fun, and will be able to shrug it off some day. I hope so. But if you find yourself trying to quit, and unable to, try to find some help.
Sometimes it takes a lot of tries, with lots of different kinds of help from lots of different kinds of folks.
The operational words, though, as you perhaps realize, are so far. While I'm not a fan of the nanny state, if you're taking fifty grand a year of illegal drugs, it's highly likely that in a few years you'll look back at this moment and wish you had taken a different path while you still had time and resources, before everything went to hell. You won't have the option, at that stage, of rewinding time, but you do have the option of doing something different right now.
Why not spend even one evening thinking it over, maybe talking about it with someone you trust, see what your options are? You are obviously smart and determined, and a drug habit doesn't have to be unavoidable fate.
What's the experience like? I enjoy taking recreational substances occasionally but don't really do it because drug dealers are generally shitty people who one doesn't want to deal (ahem) with. Is the experience with acquiring better on silk road?
There are still scammers on SR, but the forums and reputation system go a good job at reducing that risk substantially (edit: if you're smart about doing your research and only dealing with the top vendors).
I do have to meet with RL dealers from time to time, and I vastly prefer SR.
I've heard about the site and am casually curious, but how does the obvious security hole of eventually having a product sent to a specific real world address work out in practice? What is the genearl method for anonymizing this.... I'm sure it's a pretty basic question, but since you're here and all...
I've never ordered anything from Silk Road, but one thing I'm surprised isn't done is using cheap/knockoff consumer products as a "carrier."
For instance, if it were well known that ordering a $295 DVD player from FrobozzCo.cn would result in delivery of a $29 DVD player stuffed full of Adderall or whatever people order, I imagine people would feel pretty safe ordering that way.
The other thing is, I'm not sure that the act of merely receiving illicit goods in the mail is adequate grounds for prosecution in the US. You can always claim that you have no idea where it came from or why it was sent to you, can't you? Otherwise it would be a popular revenge tactic to order something nasty for delivery to someone else.
Well that really depends on what you do with the package. If you see it is not addressed to you, then bring it inside, open it, and consume the contents, you just gave the prosecution evidence. Even if they cannot build the case against you, they might try charging you for opening mail addressed to someone else.
> I've never ordered anything from Silk Road, but one thing I'm surprised isn't done is using cheap/knockoff consumer products as a "carrier."
Some do. They package them in small consumer goods and that sort of thing. For example, the Australian vendor who was recently convicted was importing, IIRC, MDMA and the powder was being stashed in flashlights by his vendor.
> The other thing is, I'm not sure that the act of merely receiving illicit goods in the mail is adequate grounds for prosecution in the US. You can always claim that you have no idea where it came from or why it was sent to you, can't you?
It's not; something further is necessary in practice. Look up "controlled delivery".
As I just mentioned in other comments, I have the packages shipped to my home, using my real name. I have never had a package intercepted.
I think I benefit from the fact that the items I am ordering are very small and fit into normal sized envelopes. From what I've read, packages are much more suspect than envelopes.
I have not used the site either, but from what I've read, the best idea is to use the name of a previous tenant, and to stick with domestic. If the parcel is sent via USPS First-Class or Priority, it cannot be searched without a warrant.
What personal drug habit requires $50k? If it is blow, that's at least an 8-ball every single day for a year. I can only guess you're buying that volume of drugs to resell it. Which is essentially why the guy in NZ was caught.
That's $135 per day. So to put it in percpective, at SR prices, thats 1.5 OC80 (OxyContin 80mg - oxycodone) pills per day. That's a far cry from people who do 10-20 of those.
I've spent over $50,000 USD on SR in the past year, and I'm happy to answer any questions people have about the site or community.