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The market needs to take a break from operation. It will be closed for 2 -
6 months from taking new orders.  It has been running 24/7 for five years and
has become the longest running English language DNM (1).  New orders will
need to be disabled at the end of March.  When the site comes back it will
have better layout, improved support system and a solution to the problem
of running direct pay when blockchain fees are high (2).

After new orders are disabled and there are no new support tickets to resolve
so the site will go offline some time in April.  All escrow will be paid
out and disputes resolved first.

Vendors can get free accounts on other markets so it is recommended to apply
to them before this site is offline.

Thank you for choosing this market over the larger more popular markets.


1.
https://theconversation.com/the-dark-web-down-under-whats-driving-the-rise-and-rise-of-nzs-tor-market-for-illegal-drugs-191658


2. The problem with direct pay is many buyers do not understand bitcoin
transaction fees, leading to underpaid orders, orders expiring and costs
processing refunds on chain. Also the support workload is highly correlated
to how busy the btc blockchain is (when btc fees spike up).  Of all orders
receiving some payment, 21% of them pay an incorrect amount - 1 in every 5
orders. This is a long term proportion when fees are almost always at 1-2
sat/byte. But when fees spike the number of incorrect payments goes much
higher. Therefore it is not feasible to run direct pay only when btc fees
are high. High btc fees are inevitable over time as miner rewards lower and
usage adoption grows.

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