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[–]PounderMcNasty 240 points241 points  (33 children)

Can you send me some drugs?

Edit: Not a cop.

[–][deleted] 156 points157 points  (30 children)

Our vendors can.

[–][deleted]  (26 children)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 117 points118 points  (21 children)

    The road has more users, but our service is better (to put it bluntly). Here's a paste from a question below regarding just a few of our improvement points:

    There's a few benefits:

    We've had no downtime.

    Our site is much more responsive.

    We have cheaper commission rates allowing sellers to make more profit on their sales and buyers to buy them for cheaper.

    We have automated PGP encryption of messages for the members who refuse to send their messages using PGP. We have an advancement fan management system, allowing sellers to reach out to all of their customers.

    We have a more 'modern' user interface.

    We have buyer feedback (none of the other marketplaces have this functionality).

    We have an anonymous feedback system that allows you to determine is feedback is fake, but at the same time does not reveal anything about your buying patterns.

    We support Litecoin as well as Bitcoin (the first market to support multiple currencies).

    We listen to our user feedback, we have a rapid development cycle and new features are constantly being improved upon and added.

    [–]sirkazuo 38 points39 points  (6 children)

    We've had no downtime.

    What do you say to all of the rumors that you were funding the DDoS aimed at the Road when your site first came online to pull traffic?

    [–][deleted] 49 points50 points  (5 children)

    We released an official statement regarding those accusations, it can be found on our forum. In short: We had nothing to do with it. It was speculative rumor.

    [–]Sarastrasza 51 points52 points  (4 children)

    It would be almost like a real drug war!

    [–]DCdavid7 39 points40 points  (3 children)

    If the real drug war involved thousands of fake customers calling their dealers just to waste their time.

    [–]guestacc 27 points28 points  (0 children)

    "Hey... I was just wondering... How are you? Feeling okay lately? No man, just checking up on my favourite dealer... What are you wearing? Lovely weather outside, isn't?. No wait! Don't hang up. I just, you know... Want to talk a bit more."

    [–]Sarastrasza 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    So standard drug business then? :S

    [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

    That sounds hilarious

    [–]RULESONEANDTWO 6 points7 points  (1 child)

    If I am not mistaken, the Black Market Reloaded also has buyer feedback.

    Not that I would know, as I never go to such sites.....

    [–][deleted]  (6 children)

    [removed]

      [–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (5 children)

      "Yes we have caught scammers, but we've banned them swiftly. We pushed out new changes earlier that helps reduce the number of scams, all feedback contains the amount of the purchase, preventing users from leaving fake feedback on $0.01 listings. It also contains an 'anonymous' user ID so sellers/buyers can confirm whether the user leaving feedback has left feedback before. This helps catch scammers leaving fake feedback. The ID is unique to the seller/buyer combination, so it cannot be traced across transactions to determine a buyers buying patterns."

      Further to the above we've made it easy to report suspicious vendors, there's a button directly on their profile that will notify support.

      In regard to the vendors that require it in their policies, they will be warned or banned if they request FE without meeting our FE requirements (a minimum of 30 5/5 transactions). This system has already saved countless people from scammers.

      New buyers are encouraged to purchase small orders first to build their reputation and feedback and find vendors who are pleasant to deal with. I haven't seen a problem of buyer discrimination yet (apart from on scammer profiles saying 'you must FE because you have no feedback').

      [–]KungFuHamster 12 points13 points  (4 children)

      How about weighting reviews based on the amount of funds transferred?

      E.g., a $10 transaction review is worth 10x the review of a $1 transaction.

      [–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (3 children)

      This is a good idea, however this would impact the freshness of the feedback if we sort it by the value.

      [–]KungFuHamster 17 points18 points  (2 children)

      You could maintain it as a separate sorting option with a ? to click for an explanation; sort by Average Rating, Total Ratings, Weighted Rating (?).

      Also, 10x per factor of ten is a bit too biased toward the upper end. Maybe separate into tiers and award fractional ratings; $1-9 = 0.25 points, $10-99 = 0.5 points, $101+ = 1 point.

      So, I spend $5 and my 4 star review counts as 0.25 4-star votes. I spend $50 and my 4 star review counts as 0.50 4-star votes. I spend $250 and my 4 star review counts as 1 whole 4-star vote.

      I would use something like that if eBay had it. Too many scammers fluff their ratings with $1 items for a quick turnaround on high ticket items. Instead, I have to check their history, see how long they've been around, what they usually sell, etc.

      I don't really have a use for your service, but watching these kinds of systems evolve organically and giving input is fascinating to me.

      [–]SelectaRx 51 points52 points  (2 children)

      to put it bluntly

      laf

      [–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (1 child)

      Reddit mobile broke the the line of quoted text to display "bluntly" on the next line by itself. Made the pun even better.

      [–]AdventureTimeSupply 32 points33 points  (3 children)

      I'm a vendor on Atlantis. I find that Atlantis is much less susceptible to scams. Buyers can be much more confident that they aren't going to get ripped off. Atlantis has a leader board which shows the top vendors, so buyers can go to one place to find the most reputable vendors. The Atlantis site is very fast compared to Silk Road, the site just works so much better. The development at Atlantis is top notch, and they are very receptive to ideas and fast at implementing them. As a vendor the fees are lower, so I can charge less. The Silk Road is what it is and will stay that way forever. It's a cash cow for DPR and he's not going to change or improve a thing. I think Silk Road will go the way of MySpace.

      Here's the Atlantis Vendor Leader Board: http://atlantisrky4es5q.onion/leaderboard

      And here's my profile for anyone interested: http://atlantisrky4es5q.onion/account/view/adventure_time

      [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

      Thanks for your positive feedback :)

      [–]im14 5 points6 points  (2 children)

      I'd like to personally thank you guys for everything you do to make online drug purchasing a safer and better experience. +/u/altcointip 1 ltc

      [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

      That's very kind of you, thank you! :-)

      [–]duvalin92 37 points38 points  (9 children)

      Why did you decided to accept Litecoin first? Also do you think Litecoin price will go up because of your site? Also how long did it take to prepare and set everything up?

      [–][deleted] 30 points31 points  (8 children)

      We wanted to promote Litecoin because it has a few awesome improvements over Bitcoin, so we started with Litecoin. I think a lot of the value has come from Atlantis already, and more will come from Atlantis with our growth. It's taken a year to get the site where it is at the moment with a few developers working on it mostly full time.

      [–]duvalin92 13 points14 points  (6 children)

      This makes sense. Litecoin does actually take less time to transfer than bitcoins do. Thank you for the response! I wish you great success to you and your team!

      [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

      Thanks for your support!

      [–][deleted]  (18 children)

      [removed]

        [–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (17 children)

        Google "farmers market bust" for an example.

        [–][deleted]  (4 children)

        [removed]

          [–]ibreatheweed 31 points32 points  (3 children)

          And screwed he is

          [–]seditious_commotion 14 points15 points  (2 children)

          Wasn't this prior to bitcoin? Didn't they have to use western union/paypal/etc? Doesn't that remove a lot of the risk for you?

          [–]Boner4Stoners 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          To answer for him - yes. Paying using USD was a shitty idea. Bitcoin could have been used (past 2009) so i don't know why they didn't switch over to it.

          [–]Noturordinaryguy 30 points31 points  (9 children)

          what is the biggest security threat you have had?

          [–][deleted] 32 points33 points  (8 children)

          We did a lot of planning in relation to this and haven't had any security issues so far. Our biggest concern would be if a security flaw was discovered in the technology we rely on (e.g flaw in the onion routing protocol or the Bitcoin protocol).

          [–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (7 children)

          Aren't many of the Tor nodes run through government servers these days?

          [–]fancy_pantser 14 points15 points  (0 children)

          Doesn't matter. Only the recipient can decrypt the original message. Each node inbetween just sees a layer of the [encrypted] onion.

          [–]smitus 28 points29 points  (3 children)

          What's the best selling item?

          [–][deleted] 59 points60 points  (2 children)

          The most popular item is Cannabis

          [–]Office_Zombie 52 points53 points  (13 children)

          So how is it possible to get delivery anonymously? i mean, at some point don't you have to give your name and address to the seller? And if they are ever busted and you are in their database as a customer; aren't you kinda...you know...fucked?

          Thanks for the AMA by the way.

          [–][deleted] 30 points31 points  (9 children)

          Some purchasers use fake names to hide their identity, others don't. We have a strict rule where vendors must remove all information about their clients once the parcel has been shipped (e.g from their computer). Also, once the order has been shipped, the address is automatically purged from our database.

          [–]wz_I68 36 points37 points  (7 children)

          How do you enforce a rule like that? what's to stop a vendor from simply writing an address down on a sticky note?

          [–][deleted] 31 points32 points  (1 child)

          Unfortunately we can't enforce it, we can only advise them to do it. Our system also permanently deletes this information after first viewing.

          [–]cc81 28 points29 points  (3 children)

          They don't. All they can hope for is that the vendor does not want to save evidence against himself in case of a bust.

          [–]DrugPorn 2 points3 points  (2 children)

          LEO have no interest in people buying personal amounts of drugs.

          [–]cc81 6 points7 points  (1 child)

          It is true I don't know how it would work in the US but in Sweden when an Internet dealer have been busted and been stupid enough to hold customer lists everyone on that list have been visited by the cops.

          In some cases people have just denied everything and they made it and in other cases they were stupid enough to actually do a bank transfer or pick up a "REK" (Swedish mail, the kind you need to sign) and they got caught by video when they signed for it.

          [–]OvidNaso 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Packaging is a big factor in the review and ratings people give about vendors in the drug world. If the vendor is not under surveillance, then your package ships from some unknown city as millions of packages already. USPS will not open package unless there is something extremely fishy. That's why users are so concerned with proper packaging.

          You do have to trust that the vendor erases or doesn't keep records, but even then, unless you signed for the package (which you won't have to) the is an extremely small chance it will go beyond that.

          [–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (1 child)

          I've heard these sites are much more common than people realize. How much traffic do you guys get?

          [–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

          We're one of the largest markets, and the most refined. We get thousands of visitors and hundreds of orders are processed through Atlantis a day.

          [–]greysky7 46 points47 points  (20 children)

          I've checked out atlantis, purely out of curiosity. I don't do drugs at all, but it seems that the prices are higher than street prices. Why do people prefer to buy on Atlantis? Is it due to knowing they're getting good quality? It seems riskier than buying drugs on the street.

          [–][deleted] 64 points65 points  (2 children)

          The prices vary, some are actually cheaper then what you can find on the street.

          Some of the main reasons why people choose to purchase off Atlantis include;

          1) Quality of the merchandise. Because of the sites feedback and reputation system, you can be certain that you will be receiving an unadulterated item.

          2) Order in the comfort of your own home and have the parcel delivered to you (with tracking).

          3) Thousands of items to choose from. Sometimes a local dealer will not have a product you are after.

          4) Deal with currencies which can be used to purchase items without the reliance of fiat.

          5) Encrypted correspondence, more secure then messaging/calling your local dealer.

          [–][deleted] 25 points26 points  (11 children)

          Greater quality, ease of access, safer than dealing with unknowns on the streets. A lot of people don't have access to a friendly in-person dealer.

          [–]Atomic_Merp 64 points65 points  (47 children)

          Thanks for the AMA.

          I have a couple questions for you:

          • Aren't you worried about bringing more attention to your site by doing something like an AMA rather then just relying on word of mouth? By doing something like this don't you run the risk of law enforcement agencies paying more attention to the fact that you exist?

          • What made you decide to go into the business of running such a site? Just the money? Or other reasons?

          • Do you ever have to worry about something happening to try to drive your servers offline? Or someone trying to dox you for offering more competition in this market? (You could compare this to an established dealer breaking the kneecaps of someone new selling in his area.)

          • Do your users sell legal stuff? How's the split between legal and non legal? Which do you prefer your users sell? (If you have a preference at all.)

          Last question:

          • Are you hiring? =P

          [–][deleted] 71 points72 points  (46 children)

          Thanks for the questions:

          Aren't you worried about bringing more attention to your site by doing something like an AMA rather then just relying on word of mouth? By doing something like this don't you run the risk of law enforcement agencies paying more attention to the fact that you exist?

          We want to bring attention to the site and bring our vendors more buyers. Law enforcement is going to be aware of us (and probably already is) regardless of the way we choose to put our product out there.

          What made you decide to go into the business of running such a site? Just the money? Or other reasons?

          It was the appeal of providing a service that we believe in and a business decision. Prohibition is a backwards process.

          Do you ever have to worry about something happening to try to drive your servers offline? Or someone trying to dox you for offering more competition in this market? (You could compare this to an established dealer breaking the kneecaps of someone new selling in his area.)

          We have taken technical measures to prevent and offset these risks if they arise. As for our identities being revealed, if a competitor is able to do it then law enforcement would be able to do it. That would be of a larger concern to us. We take many measures to protect our identity.

          Do your users sell legal stuff? How's the split between legal and non legal? Which do you prefer your users sell? (If you have a preference at all.)

          There are many legal items for sale as well, but the bulk of our items are drug related. We have no preference over what gets sold (assuming it does not break our restricted items rules).

          Are you hiring? =P

          We are indeed. We're looking for a web marketer/SEO willing to be paid in Bitcoin.

          [–]1ceyou 24 points25 points  (12 children)

          Im curious as somewhat of amateur SEO marketer, how does one market a Tor Site? Surely it can't be done in regular ways such as adwords, keyword optimization, etc, etc.

          [–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (6 children)

          It is true that we can't use regular methods however we are after a person who can make YouTube how-to videos, create forum posts in various communities to increase the exposure to our site.

          [–]almondj 7 points8 points  (3 children)

          SEO is purely focused on organic rankings. Adwords is SEM.

          [–]Atomic_Merp 26 points27 points  (20 children)

          It was the appeal of providing a service that we believe in and a business decision. Prohibition is a backwards process.

          And that's why I support sites like these being around. Thanks for not just saying "It's the money".

          We are indeed. We're looking for a web marketer/SEO willing to be paid in Bitcoin.

          If you ever decide to offer training or paying for classes I'm sure you'll get your door knocked down with people willing do to it. Alas, my computer skills lay in other directions. Oh well.

          Thanks for the answers, and I wish you and your business the best of luck and high profits in the future.

          [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (19 children)

          Thank you for your support!

          [–]XProAssasin21X 25 points26 points  (18 children)

          What are your restricted items? And why don't you allow people to sell them?

          [–][deleted] 49 points50 points  (17 children)

          Straight from the sellers guide:

          Restricted items include anything related to paedophilia, poisons, loans, investment opportunities, assassination services or anything which can inflict harm on another person. If you infringe on these rules we will terminate your account instantly.

          Trading any digital currencies (for example Bitcoins, Litecoins, Ukash, Moneypak, Western Union, Moneygram, etc) is forbidden and will result in the items being removed and a warning or ban being issued to the vendor. This is to prevent scams.

          The trading of counterfeit money is forbidden, and will result in a warning or ban being issued.

          We also do not allow listings for 0.01 in the money section. Your items must have a full cost associated to them to prevent people processing transactions outside of the escrow system.

          Exceptions to the restricted items:

          We allow the purchase of physical fiat for Bitcoins and/or Litecoins (has to be legitimate currency; not counterfeit). This is the only exception to the currency rule. We do not, however, allow the reverse of these transactions i.e. customers mailing vendors real currency as this is outside the escrow system.

          As an example, if you were a vendor and you wanted to buy $1000 worth of Bitcoins/Litecoins you could do so by making a listing for $1000 labelled "Buying $1000 worth of Bitcoins/Litecoins", and then mail the real currency to the purchaser of your listing in exchange for their Bitcoins/Litecoins that are currently travelling through the escrow system.

          [–]SyncTitanic 7 points8 points  (2 children)

          What about fake Ids? Can you guys make/sell those?

          [–][deleted] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

          Our vendors sell a lot of those.

          [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Yes they sell loads of those

          [–]XProAssasin21X 4 points5 points  (0 children)

          Thank you for that.

          [–]Lord_Osis_B_Havior 7 points8 points  (1 child)

          Why are investment opportunities banned?

          [–][deleted] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

          Because they're commonly used as scam tactics.

          [–]majesticpenguins 8 points9 points  (1 child)

          Speaking of restricted items what happens to be on that list? Can't check the website; I'm on public computer, sorry. Also would you like to be the "best" and/or most popular site or do you like the fact that road has most of the popularity and most of the law enforcement spotlight?

          [–]ResettisReplicas 19 points20 points  (4 children)

          Do you keep lawyers on retainer?

          [–][deleted] 50 points51 points  (3 children)

          We have a few lawyers using our platform to offer legal advice for a fee.

          [–]kintu 22 points23 points  (7 children)

          How did you get your first customers ? How did you advertise the site like this in the first place and create the initial market base?

          [–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (5 children)

          We posted an announcement in two cryptocurrency community forums and the news spread quite quickly.

          We also offered incentives for vendors at other market places to sign up and take advantage of trading with no commission fees.

          [–][deleted]  (4 children)

          [deleted]

            [–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (1 child)

            Yes, vendors commonly offer free incentives to gather good reputation at the beginning of their seller career.

            [–]Boner4Stoners 43 points44 points  (0 children)

            WHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?

            [–]RowBoatCop1 13 points14 points  (7 children)

            Can't access your site (yet) but do you have vendors in Australia?

            [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (6 children)

            We have a few Australian vendors, yes.

            [–]nyanpi 5 points6 points  (5 children)

            You're probably not still around, but is it even possible to order items on your site from Japan? I have not even looked at Atlantis or SR because I don't think it's even possible.

            [–]OvidNaso 7 points8 points  (0 children)

            You probably don't want to receive anything illegal that comes from outside your country. These have a much higher probability of being opened and inspected by customs. It is still a small probability, but with Japanese drug laws, I would probably not risk it.

            [–]Autistence 5 points6 points  (0 children)

            Don't even risk it..

            [–]Impune 29 points30 points  (6 children)

            What does one sell on a black market that falls under the "Home & Garden" section...?

            [–][deleted] 41 points42 points  (5 children)

            Ikea lamps...

            ... And nutrient dense soil, growing equipment, CFL's, HPS lamps, etc.

            [–]yizarg 10 points11 points  (4 children)

            Why do buy / sell these types of items on the black market rather than any major online retailer?

            [–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

            Since we use cryptocurrencies its a good way for people to use them to buy other items. Think of it like eBay but with a twist.

            [–][deleted]  (35 children)

            [deleted]

              [–][deleted] 183 points184 points  (34 children)

              Sure! Please follow the steps below;

              1) Download and install the Tor browser bundle - https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

              2) Download and install the Bitcoin client - http://bitcoin.org/en/download.

              3) You'll need to obtain some Bitcoins. The most popular exchange is MtGox (www.mtgox.com). They offer a few ways in which you can convert your local currency to Bitcoins.

              4) Using the Tor browser, visit Atlantis (URL can be found at /r/Atlantis)

              5) Create an account

              6) Click on the deposit BTC link under account settings and transfer your Bitcoins to that address. You'll need to wait for 1-2 hours before the transfer propagates across the network.

              7) You can then shop for any items you would like whilst being confident on security and privacy.

              Please let us know if you have any further questions.

              [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (3 children)

              I've heared that SR has a built in coin tumbler, do you offer a similar service?

              [–]420burritos 4 points5 points  (2 children)

              I too would be interested in a coin tumbling service. At least until the advent of technology like zerocoin.

              [–][deleted]  (8 children)

              [deleted]

                [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (7 children)

                You're welcome!

                [–]goretsky 72 points73 points  (0 children)

                Hello,

                A few questions:

                1. Are you the founder (or a founder) of Atlantis?

                2. How did you get started in this business?

                3. What are the five most common items sold?

                4. What is the largest (most expensive) sale?

                5. What are the most common mistakes new vendors make?

                6. What are the most common mistakes new buyers make?

                7. What is the strangest item you've had to prohibit the sale of?

                8. What has been the most difficult part of running Atlantis for you?

                9. What has been the easiest part?

                10. Do you have an "exit strategy" or plan for when you'll leave the business?

                Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

                Regards,

                Aryeh Goretsky

                [–]badfontkeming 22 points23 points  (15 children)

                Are you worried that your usage of Tor contributes to undermining its image as a legitimate utility for online anonymity, in the same way that Bittorrent is often immediately associated with piracy?

                [–][deleted] 33 points34 points  (13 children)

                We hope that our usage does not tarnish its perception of being a legitimate tool. The core of our operation is to give people access to a 'true free market' whilst still protecting our users and ourselves. However just like a knife - it can be used for good and for bad.

                We can only hope that the media and government doesn't portray Tor as a tool used by 'terrorists and criminals'.

                [–]Lord_Osis_B_Havior 54 points55 points  (10 children)

                We can only hope that the media and government doesn't portray Tor as a tool used by 'terrorists and criminals'.

                LOL, good luck.

                [–]MealPlan 28 points29 points  (7 children)

                To be fair, the criminal part is pretty spot on...

                [–]escalat0r 6 points7 points  (6 children)

                I think those are the three kinds of people who (ab)use Tor.

                • People who want to buy drugs or do other illegal things

                • Pedophiles

                • People who actually want to get around the Firewalls or opressive regimes

                [–]mklieber 24 points25 points  (2 children)

                Do people sell organs on your website?

                [–]thenewmeredith 181 points182 points  (0 children)

                Nah, just regular pianos

                [–]worm929 13 points14 points  (0 children)

                why, what do you need?

                [–]anon_litecoin_guy 10 points11 points  (7 children)

                How much does your physical location matter to run a business like yours? Would it be any easier/harder if you were in say, Somalia or on a ship in the ocean in International waters?

                [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (6 children)

                We have team members in various different countries. I would say physical location is relatively irrelevant. We can access our systems from anywhere, and our location and the server location is protected by the Tor hidden service network.

                [–]1MA9FAG 12 points13 points  (7 children)

                What is the craziest item you have ever sold?

                [–][deleted] 32 points33 points  (6 children)

                The top two items would be used sex toys/underwear (female vendor) and fig tree cuttings.

                [–]GfFoundOtherAccount 13 points14 points  (3 children)

                Fig tree cuttings? Can't someone just buy that on Ebay? O.o

                [–][deleted] 127 points128 points  (1 child)

                The ones from Atlantis are prettier.

                [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                Fig tree cuttings? Is that code for something?

                [–]darkangelx[🍰] 41 points42 points  (7 children)

                Aren't you worried the authorities are tracking this ama?

                [–][deleted] 165 points166 points  (6 children)

                They probably are. We aren't worried.

                [–]ThingsTrebekSucks 137 points138 points  (4 children)

                Not a singe fuck given.

                [–]Chispy 23 points24 points  (3 children)

                AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND HE'S GONE!

                [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

                baddass my brother

                [–]Triplekia 9 points10 points  (2 children)

                Had anyone ever been caught in sting operation?

                [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

                We haven't had any incidents reported to us yet (most vendors are very careful and security conscious) however we have read a case in the past where a vendor was caught on a different market place. The market place wasn't to blame, it was just that the vendor wasn't careful with his operation and thus got discovered.

                [–]britishotter 10 points11 points  (8 children)

                Regarding the IT infrastructure, Do you own the servers that host the website? How are the servers connected to the internet? Is it a corporate leased line or just some dodgy hacked cable modem :)

                Fascinating AMA, thanks.

                [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (7 children)

                Without going to depth, we use dedicated servers provided by a hosting company. All servers are equipped with a 100Mbit WAN link.

                [–]britishotter 6 points7 points  (3 children)

                Thanks for your reply!

                I'm probably misunderstanding Tor a bit here then, but how come the hosting company doesn't get into hot water and told to stop hosting Atlantis?

                [–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

                Tor traffic looks similar to SSL and our hosting provider doesn't snoop on our servers :-)

                [–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (2 children)

                Do you pay for that in bitcoins? Is the server encrypted such that someone with physical access couldn't discover its contents, should they choose to?

                I'm not sure if the second is possible whilst also offering an internet service, you must have unencrypted stuff in RAM?

                Edit. To me hosting seems to be the weakest link in your personal security (I'm sure users are fine with your encrypted messages). Have you considered distributed hosting on other darknets like freenet?

                [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (1 child)

                We pay for the servers via anonymous methods and the disks are encrypted. However when running certain applications, the vulnerable point would be RAM.

                We also monitor the data center for unauthorized access.

                For all the services we offer, we have redundant servers ready to fail over to.

                [–]mzt1 11 points12 points  (1 child)

                Do you by any chance automatically strip the EXIF data that's in the pictures used on your site? It seems that this could be used to track ppl quite easily since some contain GPS data, name, etc.

                [–]EvilTech5150 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                I need about 120 kilos of cloned stem cells to replace, uh, everything. :D

                [–]r4gt4g 17 points18 points  (1 child)

                Without going into any personal details (obviously) what brought you to this biz? I.e. formal versus informal education... comp sci vs. Mba-type edu... or whatever ur able to say

                Also, as someone who is intrigued and has made half-assed attempts to get a bit/litecoin account setup and given up after hitting various obstacles, am I right to assess your biggest barrier to growth are the hurdles customers need to jump through to make transactions? Or am I just a stupid brain?

                [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

                Can't go into education specifics sorry.

                If you'd like any assistance getting set up let us know, we can point you in the right direction. The seeming complexity of cryptocurrency is definitely a barrier to growth. It's all relatively simple once you get your head around it though. Bitcoins/Litecoins are far easier to obtain in certain countries than others.

                [–]Bubuloo 7 points8 points  (1 child)

                Did you have a history with drugs or black markets before setting up Atlantis?

                [–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                Recreational use only.

                [–]ILOVELSD 15 points16 points  (7 children)

                When deciding for your brand or website name. What other names did you consider besides Atlantis? I like the name it has now just curious to know of the brainstorming behind the site. Also I love your website! Thank you!

                [–]AgentBoJangles 21 points22 points  (0 children)

                Relevant username.

                [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (5 children)

                I can't actually remember any of the other names we considered, probably because they were all bad. Atlantis stuck from the beginning!

                And you're welcome, thanks for using it.

                [–]earthmoonsun 17 points18 points  (3 children)

                Are you a regular customer at Atlantis yourself and what do/did you buy?

                [–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

                We do everything on Atlantis except for buying products on it ;)

                [–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (7 children)

                Do you have a retirement plan? Like quit and let someone else take over in a year?

                Everyone does gets busted in the end. Hell even anonymous. Usually via neverending greed or pride.

                [–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (4 children)

                We don't plan on retiring anytime soon, we've only just begun :)

                [–]mikeno1 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                On the anonymous thing the only busts have been as a result of idiots being sloppy then turning government informant to hand others over. Atlantis and For are on a whole new level of anonymity. Fuck Sabu.

                [–][deleted]  (3 children)

                [deleted]

                  [–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (2 children)

                  Incognito mode.

                  [–][deleted]  (1 child)

                  [deleted]

                    [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                    Haha, you're welcome :-)

                    [–]Tylerddrummer 19 points20 points  (13 children)

                    What non-legal things other than drugs are done through your site specifically what's the most common things non-drug?

                    [–][deleted] 19 points20 points  (12 children)

                    Popular non-legal items other then typical illicit drugs include money handling services, identity services (generating passports) and cybercrime (malware).

                    The most common popular legal items include books, digital goods, legal money services and erotica.

                    [–]Tylerddrummer 12 points13 points  (11 children)

                    Can you add some detail to "money handling services"

                    [–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (10 children)

                    I could be mistaken, but this might mean money laundering.

                    [–]Tylerddrummer 9 points10 points  (9 children)

                    I'm thinking that too but I might find out about ninjas or something I want secretly

                    [–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (8 children)

                    Non-legal services include mules and offshore bank accounts. Legal includes virtual credit cards, exchange services and gift-cards.

                    [–]Raptor5150 8 points9 points  (3 children)

                    Whats a "virtual credit card"?

                    [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (2 children)

                    Prepaid virtual credit cards aren't issued by a bank, have no contract, usually have a set amount and can be used online.

                    [–]nickrenfo2 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                    Would this be closer to a virtual debit card then? Similar to the prepaid visa cards you can buy at many convenience stores?

                    [–]WilliamSI 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                    It is exactly that, just naming differs between EU, US and UK.

                    [–]Tylerddrummer 8 points9 points  (3 children)

                    That's actually pretty cool, thanks. Oh also what made you want to get into this buisness?

                    [–][deleted] 27 points28 points  (2 children)

                    We love cryptocurrency, libertarianism, technology and saw an opportunity to make a free market place when SR was experiencing frequent down time.

                    [–]boringaccount 7 points8 points  (5 children)

                    How much do you get paid, and how do you as a business generate revenue?

                    Also, who'd you vote for in the last US Presidential election? (or would have voted for if you're not into disclosing your location).

                    [–]drambox07 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                    How does a typical black market starts up?

                    [–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

                    For us, we love cryptocurrency, libertarianism, technology and saw an opportunity to make a free market place when SR was experiencing frequent down time.

                    [–]earthmoonsun 7 points8 points  (1 child)

                    If I pay in bitcoins, one can check where the bitcoins come from and eventually who changed his $ into said bitcoins. How can I stay anonymous?

                    [–][deleted] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

                    Do a quick Google search of 'bitcoin fog'. It will remove all traceability of your coins.

                    [–]piezod 6 points7 points  (2 children)

                    Is there anything that you will not sell on your website?

                    [–][deleted] 12 points13 points  (1 child)

                    Straight from the guides:

                    Restricted items

                    Restricted items include anything related to paedophilia, poisons, loans, investment opportunities, assassination services or anything which can inflict harm on another person. If you infringe on these rules we will terminate your account instantly.

                    Trading any digital currencies (for example Bitcoins, Litecoins, Ukash, Moneypak, Western Union, Moneygram, etc) is forbidden and will result in the items being removed and a warning or ban being issued to the vendor. This is to prevent scams. (See exceptions below for exceptions to this rule).

                    The trading of counterfeit money is forbidden, and will result in a warning or ban being issued.

                    We also do not allow listings for 0.01 in the money section. Your items must have a full cost associated to them to prevent people processing transactions outside of the escrow system.

                    Exceptions to the restricted items:

                    We allow the purchase of physical fiat for Bitcoins and/or Litecoins (has to be legitimate currency; not counterfeit). This is the only exception to the currency rule. We do not, however, allow the reverse of these transactions i.e. customers mailing vendors real currency as this is outside the escrow system.

                    As an example, if you were a vendor and you wanted to buy $1000 worth of Bitcoins/Litecoins you could do so by making a listing for $1000 labelled "Buying $1000 worth of Bitcoins/Litecoins", and then mail the real currency to the purchaser of your listing in exchange for their Bitcoins/Litecoins that are currently travelling through the escrow system.

                    [–]piezod 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                    Thank you

                    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (8 children)

                    What is the most absurd thing you know that was sold on your platform?

                    [–][deleted] 7 points8 points  (7 children)

                    As previously stated the top two items would be used sex toys/underwear (female vendor) and fig tree cuttings.

                    [–]minos16 4 points5 points  (6 children)

                    Used underwear wholesale is in very high in demand...I sold it by the ton legally and openly across borders

                    Fig tree cuttings confuse the hell out of me.....might be code word for some banned service or meeting.

                    [–][deleted] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

                    My question may have gotten buried so here it is again: You say that a tracking number must be provided by the vendor to release escrow funds. Doesn't this compromise the whole process? A tracking number has an origin and a destination...

                    [–]jcy 11 points12 points  (12 children)

                    how pure is the coke?

                    [–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (11 children)

                    It depends on the vendor. They advertise the purity on their product, the majority of it seems to be in the 85% range.

                    [–]kintu 4 points5 points  (9 children)

                    How much do you make ?(give us a range ?) Is the money vs risk worth it ?

                    [–][deleted] 14 points15 points  (8 children)

                    Unfortunately we can't give you specifics on how much we earn however all of our profits have been used to enhance our platform. We take more pride in forming a true free market place rather than the dollars earned.

                    [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                    In other words... a lot

                    [–]iCHRYST 6 points7 points  (6 children)

                    What does "confirmed member" mean?

                    Have you caught any scammers yet?

                    What's the benefit of Atlantis over SR?

                    [–]HMS_ 15 points16 points  (5 children)

                    Hi. I have never posted/commented on reddit before, after about 5 years of being a lurker. This is too cool an opportunity not to.

                    How many hours a week on average do you work? What do you do outside of work for fun? What kind of music do you listen to?

                    [–][deleted] 17 points18 points  (4 children)

                    It's progressed to a full time job for us at this point. There isn't a day we aren't working on Atlantis.

                    I'd love to answer those questions but they're a bit revealing sorry.

                    [–]BigMikeMac 18 points19 points  (2 children)

                    This makes me laugh. The topic of the AMA was so exiting to him, he just HAD to create an account to ask about two completely different subjects. Lurker for 5 years, mmhmm.

                    [–]SchunderDownUnder 21 points22 points  (1 child)

                    Smells like pork in here

                    [–]HMS_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                    Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for the AMA and keep up the good work.

                    [–]pimpingken 4 points5 points  (2 children)

                    i'm pretty sure this is a "noob" question, but what the super secret URL to atlantis. i'm familiar with sr, and how to get there. i'll accept a PM, please and thank you :DD

                    [–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

                    You can find it in the sidebar of our subreddit /r/atlantis :-) Keeping this thread clean of URLs.

                    [–]escalat0r 14 points15 points  (0 children)

                    When you've found the link you can just add a 

                    .to

                    at the end (after .onion) and the guys at onion.to will show you what it looks like, you won't need to install Tor if you just want to take a peek.

                    [–][deleted]  (6 children)

                    [removed]

                      [–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (5 children)

                      Never too late. It's quite scary actually. Tor, SSL, PGP, OTR, all of these technologies are your friends.

                      Although I will say this is nothing new, the NSA has been doing this for years now. I guess it's finally caught up to them.

                      We haven't started taking any new precautions as a result, we were already using them.

                      [–][deleted]  (4 children)

                      [removed]

                        [–][deleted] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                        Definitely, with PRISM making headlines this week its always good to protect your privacy.

                        [–]WilliamSI 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                        FYI, yes, after this leaks the Tor network had a high traffic influx, i actually had to add more middlenodes as mine maxed out their 100Mbit links.

                        [–]spadinskiz 2 points3 points  (13 children)

                        So say someone bought some drugs on your website and it gets caught by the postal service. What happens to the buyer? The vendor can obviously get away easily if he has half a brain, but the buyer is pretty much fucked.

                        [–]datshitberacyst 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                        What do you do to prevent cops from running sting operations on your site?

                        [–]gordoodle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        How is it that Atlantis isn't just undercover law enforcement buying from undercover law enforcement?

                        [–]CaptainCunnigulis 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        whats stopping the dea from simply setting up a sting and crack down on your buyers ?

                        [–]-goodguygeorge 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        So if I were to order from this site, what are the chances of me being arrested?

                        [–]mikeno1 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        You mentioned tracked delivery, is it a rule that your vendors must use tracked? I ask because wouldn't this mean the customer would have to sign for the delivery? In that case in the event of a controlled delivery the buyer is fucked.

                        Edit: Bonus Question. Do you have a cool nickname like DPR? If not may I suggest Poseidon?

                        [–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        For someone wanting to learn more about how cryptography works and would maybe want to take a job or something in it, are there any books or websites that you recommend?

                        [–]senecaa2015 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        how discreet is the shipping? on average

                        [–]fdsafsgfdg 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        Remember kids.
                        US dollars are probably the most traded currency in illegal activities.
                        Don't let that fail argument 'tarnish' things like bit-coin or other technologies.

                        [–]ogbrien 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                        What is stopping a fed from selling drugs and busting people?

                        [–]Adventcybernetic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        This seems like a precursor to the government fully cracking down on bit coin...maybe it's by design...

                        [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (5 children)

                        Do you have vendors in India?
                        Share some tips on being anonymous on the web.

                        [–]dredawg 4 points5 points  (3 children)

                        How does one connect to this 'marketplace'? I keep getting errors when I try to connect to any links to items and webpages.