Mars Market Reference Plain descriptions of what each step involves, what you will experience, and where it can go wrong

Mars Market addresses

Three published addresses for the same market. Copy rather than retype, and check the signature once you are through.

Address 1 marsautkudspgk6j23cxdtrk36ae4fpis2eoe7izu5y2rsksvmfji2ad.onion
Address 2 marshjhtog245vzjzcicnmv2ci6yljibvdm4pngq5kmkfvcutppboxad.onion
Address 3 marsiujka6lrsaqpnxiwvknthhzsrlmq77mnl2fi62guc4lwxif65syd.onion

This list is published, not monitored. An address that opens is not an address that is genuine, and the check that settles it takes under a minute.

Reference › Procedures

Creating an account

Quick, and one part of it determines whether a problem six months from now is recoverable.

What this step is
Registering, setting a password, enabling a second factor and storing what you are given.
How to prepare
Credentials decided in advance, and somewhere to keep the recovery material that is not the same place as the password.
What you will see
A short form. No email, no identity details, and nothing that looks like an ordinary signup.
How it works
The account is a record on the platform. It is not tied to the address you arrived through, which is why moving between the three published addresses does not create separate accounts.
How long it takes
Five minutes, plus the minute for recovery material that people skip.
What you will experience
It will feel too easy, and the absence of an email step feels wrong to people used to ordinary services.
What can go wrong
Almost nothing at the time, and quite a lot later if the recovery material was not saved.
Benefits and limits
A second factor defeats a leaked password completely and does nothing against a live copy of the login page.

The one minute that matters

Save the recovery material before you close the page. Recovery without it is limited and frequently impossible, because the alternative would be a mechanism for taking over accounts you do not own. The position nobody wants is holding a balance behind a challenge they can no longer answer.

  • Separate from the password. Both in one place is one factor wearing a costume.
  • Not only on one device. Devices get lost and replaced, usually at the worst moment.
  • Not in a screenshot. Photo libraries sync, back up, and get indexed by software that reads text in images.
  • Test it once from a second place before you need it.

Choosing a name

Not one used anywhere else, and not one that resembles a name you use elsewhere. A username is the easiest link between an identity here and an identity somewhere else, and unlike a password it cannot be changed later without losing the history attached to it.

The same applies to writing style in messages, which people never think about and which is more distinctive than they expect. That is not worth being paranoid about and it is worth not reusing a handle you have posted under for a decade.

What is never askedNo legitimate registration anywhere asks for an email address, a phone number, or anything identifying. A form requesting any of those is not the market.