Retro Market
Retro Market may not be a name regular darknet users instantly recognize, but having been open and trading since January 2021, it's somewhat of a veteran at this point having opened before AlphaBay 2.0, and surviving longer than it did. It's had a slow but steady level of sales to date (with many of these being for digital products for which it is most popular), but the admins of the market have shown determination to succeed, having implemented many new features during its time online, including transitioning from Bitcoin only to Monero only. Could it finally time for this old skool market to make its breakthrough?
Key Information about Retro Market:
Online since: January 1, 2021
Cryptos accepted: Monero (XMR)
Multisig support? No
Walletless? No
Vendor bond: $250
Key features: Mandatory PGP 2-FA, Escrow, Jabberbot, Autowithdraw, Dark Mode
Categories: Drugs, Fraud, Software, Tutorials, Counterfeits, Services
Captcha:
The first step when visiting Retro Market is to get past the anti-DDOS / anti-bot captcha. This is actually like a little mini game and one of the more creative captcha challenges we've seen to date. All you have to do is select the squares between the two images that are named above the maze. Where there are images in between, you simply ignore these. There are sometimes walls in place so you have to find a direct route. It's simple enough and usually only takes a few seconds to solve.
Registration / Login Process:
After getting past the captcha you can then login or create a new account. You'll need to select a display name (which is what vendors will see), a username (for logging in), password, and then verify your PGP for Two Factor Authentication (2FA). That's right, PGP is mandatory here. If you're not yet familiar with using PGP, we provide a detailed guide which will tell you everything you need to get started.
Retro Market Terms and Conditions:
The rules of the market are quite straight forward, but clearly laid out so buyers and vendors are left in no doubt as to what conduct is expected. Doxxing, scamming or listing prohibited items (weapons, hitman services etc.) is strictly forbidden and will result in an immediate ban.
Retro Market Terms and Conditions:
The rules of the market are quite straight forward, but clearly laid out so buyers and vendors are left in no doubt as to what conduct is expected. Doxxing, scamming or listing prohibited items (weapons, hitman services etc.) is strictly forbidden and will result in an immediate ban.
Searching for products:
There's multiple search search filters on offer, which allow you to filter by product, vendor name, a vendor's PGP fingerprint, category, price range and shipping locations. Alternatively you could simply select from the list of categories.
Product information:
Every listing contains one or more photos, a detailed description of the product, plus details about shipping options, price etc. You can also add a product to your favorites by clicking the blue 'Add to favorite' button, which will make the listing easy to find on future visits to the market, saving the need to carry out a further search. Where previous buyers have left feedback, you can also view this at the bottom of the listing, helping you make an informed choice before committing to a purchase. Note that products are always listed in USD (US Dollars), so you will have to calculate the price yourself in your local currency.
Other features:
As we stated previously, the Retro Market team has added quite an array of features during their years of trading. As well as all the standard features you would expect from any modern darknet market, here's a few notable features we think are worth highlighting:
Conclusions on Retro Market:
Retro Market has shown its determination to be in the darknet market game for the long haul and has gradually added more and more features over time in order to ensure that buyers and vendors alike will have a positive experience on the platform. They've already managed to attract an array of well established vendors it feels like it's only a matter of time until Retro Market establishes itself as one of the top 10 darknet markets, particularly if the administrators continue to add features and develop the platform further. If you're yet to check it out, we recommend giving it a look as you may be pleasantly surprised by its offerings.
