Buying, selling and privacy
Updated 12 September 2026. Silk Road is an independent marketplace for legal goods. It is not affiliated with the former Silk Road marketplace.
Before buying
Read the item description, delivery area, condition and returns terms. The seller sets the price, including delivery. Payments go directly to the seller. Silk Road does not hold money, provide escrow, guarantee delivery or reverse blockchain transfers. A seller name is not an identity verification.
Keep your private order receipt. It lets you read payment and delivery progress, chat with the seller, and request a cancellation or return. Buyers and sellers resolve transaction issues directly. Use the chat for delivery corrections. Never publish the receipt or send a seed phrase.
Selling and delivery
List only items you own or have the right to sell. Use accurate photographs and descriptions. Set clear delivery coverage and return terms before accepting an order. Use fresh receiving addresses dedicated to each listing. After payment, provide shipment tracking, digital delivery instructions or collection details through the private order. A cancelled or expired listing needs new receiving addresses before it can be relisted.
Monero payments
Where a seller accepts XMR, payment goes directly to their fresh Monero subaddress on the network shown in the receipt. It does not settle on Robinhood Chain. The seller checks their wallet for the exact spendable amount and confirms receipt. Silk Road records the seller’s confirmation and does not verify the transfer. We never ask for a wallet seed, private spend key or private view key.
Do not send after the payment window ends. If you already sent XMR, contact the seller through the receipt. An expired XMR order stays reserved until the seller confirms payment or cancellation, or the buyer acknowledges a refund. The seller must check their wallet and confirm no payment or refund is due before cancelling. Relisting requires a fresh subaddress.
Payment problems and refunds
Send the exact amount on the network shown in your receipt. If payment is delayed or needs review, use that receipt to contact the seller. Do not send again merely because confirmation is slow. Sellers can accept an exception for an automatically checked payment as their own decision. That does not change what the blockchain verifier observed.
Refunds must be sent by the seller outside this site. A refund reference entered by a seller is a report, not proof that Silk Road sent or verified a refund. The buyer can acknowledge receipt. Never refund to a different address based only on an unauthenticated message.
House rules
No controlled drugs, weapons, stolen property or data, counterfeit goods, unlawful services, impersonation or misleading claims. Use “Report this listing” for prohibited listings. Agree delivery, returns and refunds directly with the other party in your order chat. The platform does not mediate trades. There are no email or push notifications; return to your receipt for replies. Each party remains responsible for the obligations that apply to their transaction.
What we store
Public listings include the item, photo, seller name, shipping origin, terms and prices. Private order records include delivery details, messages, payment references and order history. Buyers, the relevant seller and the marketplace operator can access the private information stored on the platform. This is not end-to-end encryption or an anonymity service. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Base transactions are public. Monero hides transfer details on its public ledger. Your order details and messages on this site remain accessible as described above.
To limit abusive reservations, we store a keyed hash of the requesting network address with the order. We do not store the raw address in that record. People sharing a network may share a reservation limit.
The service uses Vercel for hosting and Supabase for database and image storage. Server credentials are not sent to your browser. Receipt codes are stored in your browser for convenience; the database stores hashes used to check access. Anyone with a private receipt can use its permissions. Clearing browser data removes the local copy. There is no email reset if all copies are lost.
Vercel Web Analytics records anonymous, aggregated page views so the operator can understand basic site traffic. It does not use cookies or associate analytics with an individual or IP address. Analytics may include the page path, referrer, approximate country, device type, operating system and browser. We do not send receipt codes, order details, messages, wallet addresses or payment information as analytics events.
Retention and requests
Open orders are kept while a trade is unresolved. Private delivery and conversation content on closed orders is eligible for removal after 180 days. Payment references and receiving-address allocations remain to prevent payment misattribution. Your private receipt lets you view the order and correct delivery details before fulfillment. Downloaded receipts and copies held by the other party are outside the site's control.
Current release
When the marketplace shows a preview notice, new listings and payments are closed. Coin links and contract information appear only after the owner supplies the official values. A coin is not automatically a supported payment method.