How to Access Awazon Market

Step 1: Get Tor Browser

Go to torproject.org and download the installer for your operating system. Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android are all supported. The file is around 25 MB on desktop and 40 MB on Android.

Save it to a location you will find again. Run the installer. It does not ask for an account, an email, or a phone number. If a window pops up asking for something like that, it is not the installer.

Step 2: First launch

Open Tor Browser. You will see a language selection screen. Pick your language and click Start. The browser builds a circuit, which takes between ten and thirty seconds. You will see a progress bar at the top. Do not close the window during this time.

Once the circuit is built, the browser opens to a welcome page. That page confirms your connection is routed through Tor. Close it and you are ready.

Step 3: Set the security level

Click the onion icon in the top left corner. You will see a security slider with three positions: Standard, Safer, and Safest. Set it to Safer.

Safer blocks scripts on sites that do not need them. The market is built to work without scripts, so you do not lose anything by setting it higher. The scripts that get blocked are the ones that have been used in past browser exploits. You are trading a small amount of functionality for a meaningful reduction in the code that runs on your machine.

Step 4: Open a mirror

Go to the mirrors page on this site. Copy one of the three addresses. Paste it into the Tor Browser address bar. Press Enter.

The first load can take thirty seconds to two minutes. The browser is building a circuit to the onion service, and the circuit is not the same one it uses for clearnet sites. Do not reload. Do not close the tab. Wait.

When the page loads, you will see a captcha. Complete it. Then you will see the login screen. That is the market. You are in.

Step 5: Register

Click "Create an account". Choose a username that you do not use anywhere else. Choose a password that is long, random, and unique to this market. Set a 6-digit PIN for withdrawals.

The market generates a mnemonic phrase. Write it on paper. This is the account. Not the username, not the password, not the PIN. The phrase. Store the paper in a physical location that is not your primary residence.

Step 6: Deposit

Go to the wallet page. Choose Bitcoin or Monero. Copy the deposit address. Open your wallet (the one you set up separately, not an exchange). Send a small amount first. Confirm that the balance updates in the market. Then send the rest.

The deposit address is for one currency. If you send Monero to a Bitcoin address, the coins are gone. Check the currency label before you paste the address.

Step 7: Place an order

Browse the catalog. Check the vendor's feedback. Read the last five negative entries. Check the shipping locations. Confirm that your country is listed. Click "Order". Enter your shipping address. Confirm.

The funds move from your balance to escrow. The vendor sees the order. The timer starts. You are done with the first session.

What to check before you open a .onion

Click the onion icon in the top left corner. It should show a green shield. If it shows a red X, your connection is not fully through Tor, and you should not open any .onion address yet. Reload the page once. If it stays red, check that no VPN or proxy is running in the background.

Common problems

If the browser shows "Circuit is not yet built" for more than two minutes, your network is either slow or blocking port 443. Tor uses port 443 for most of its traffic, and some corporate and school networks block it. Try a different network or use the bridge option in the settings.

If Windows Smart Screen blocks the installer, click "More info" and then "Run anyway". Smart Screen does not know Tor Browser because it is not a mainstream application. That is expected.

If the .onion address does not resolve, check that you are using Tor Browser and not a regular browser. A regular browser cannot resolve .onion addresses. It will show a DNS error and stop there.