The Marketplace AlphaBay is gone, to me somewhat unclear what happened but there are rumours of exit scam as well as other gossip. Already in the first months of 2023 people started to warn about AlphaBay after one of the forum moderators went public with some claims about the market warning others. Then slowly vendors started to move away, and the market also got very slow and hard to reach. During March 2023 it went down for good as far as I know.

Recommended alternatives for AlphaBay

Anyway, here some great leading markets for you to use. Archetyp is my favourite choice, check it out and you will see why. Royal Market is a great one too with a lot of vendors and users.

Top Markets Short URL (Will redirect to a live .ONION)
Archetyp Marketplace Verified http://archetyp.darkweb.wtf
Incognito Market Verified http://incognito.darkweb.wtf

About AlphaBay - history

We have quoted the admin "DeSnake" below so you can read some interesting stuff about him and the project which is actually very cool

But, if you don't have time for that now and just want to grab a working link to the market you can use the below shortlink which will redirect you to a working .ONION.

What is AlphaBay?

AlphaBay is an auction-style marketplace for all black market items. Here, anyone can obtain a seller account and put listings for the community. Transactions are made through our secure Escrow system to ensure safety for our buyers. We have a zero-tolerance policy for scamming, so you can buy with confidence! All products are sold by vendors.

Who are you?

AlphaBay (2021-now) has been put online by the AlphaBay Organization. Public figures of the current Administration include DeSnake who was the original other co-founder of AlphaBay and security administrator in the period 2014-2017. Now DeSnake is back to make AlphaBay great again.

Are you same guy?

Yes, it is the real AlphaBay. DeSnake has signed a PGP signed message confirming his identity and the return of AlphaBay. The administration is almost the same as in the 2014-2017 period which means you will find again AlphaBay runs with mature management, unparalleled security, 24/7 professional & well-trained Staff and of course unique vision for the future not only for itself but for the darknet market scene too.

How buy on AlphaBay?

You will learn here, just keep reading, step-by-step how to use AlphaBay

If you need step-by-step instructions how to use our platform as a vendor or buyer this is the place to learn. The section is constantly being updated/added to.

Purchases

Fund your wallet with Monero (XMR). There are many guides on the Internet how to buy this anonymous and untraceable cryptocurrency, we suggest you familiarize yourself with that before you continue.
Go to the homepage and select a category or type in the search function what you are looking for.
Review the listing. Make sure the listing type is correctly labelled by the vendor (digital/physical). Review the listing refund policy. Check the vendor reputation on the marketplace and on the Forums.
If the listing says Finalize Early (FE) instead of Escrow, be extra careful. We do not give out FE permissions easily but that does not mean a vendor can decide to scam you. Make sure you 100% trust the vendor before continuing.
Select quantity and click 'Purchase'. You will be met with instructions/information/safety guideliness about the escrow and purchase process, READ CAREFULLY.
Once you have selected your options and reviewed the order you wish to make, confirm your order and wait for the vendor to process it (unless it is autodispatch).
Once you have received the order and you are 100% satisfied, release the escrow as soon as possible. If all of your orders auto-finalize you will receive a penalty on your Trust Level and the vendor will probably rate your 'Release Time' low which other vendors will see and might refuse to accept an order from you in the future. 



AlphaBay boasts with unparalleled safety, ease of use and arguably the best staff team to facilitate all your deals. From a management perspective you will be governed by a mature administration with over 20 years of experience in computer security alone, underground businesses, darknet market management, customer support and most importantly evading Law Enforcement (LE).

On the technical side we have a new built from the ground up secure and audited codebase, bulletproof servers alongside multiple safeguards to handle disruptions of any sorts (hardware, raids/seizures etc.) and our very own AlphaGuard (AG) system which assures users/vendors can access their wallet funds (including escrow) at any time on I2P/Tor as well as restore core functionalities to the marketplace such as disputes, all 100% completely automated.

Administration is the same as before but all staff members have been replaced for security reasons. Trusted members have been chosen to be moderators, people which I have verified through business dealings over many years. As AlphaBay grows, the need to hire more staff will arise, that is why we have introduced a granular system to monitor staff/ScamWatch actions, restrict access to lower level moderators (Junior) or ScamWatch to functions and data they do not need unless valid reason is provided (e.g. detecting scams, fake purchases etc.). Several big changes have been made to how Staff works, given our past experience, which leads to increased productivity and much faster response times in both support tickets and disputes.

Speaking of disputes, a unique innovation which we are bringing to the DNM scene is our very own Automatic Dispute Resolver (ADR) system. Based on experience we have concluded that majority of the disputes can be handled without third-party involvement given the option. ADR is basically a proposition system between buyer and seller involving extending escrow time, full refund, percentage refund or replacement options. Both parties can accept or deny proposition(s) from the other side.

We strongly recommend using ADR because it is exactly the same steps a moderator would take during a dispute without the need to babysit both parties. Even if you do not reach an agreement with the vendor, you would know where you stand or you would have tried certain options like reshipping/replacement of goods. The system has been designed to ensure quick resolution if needed by moderator by looking at what has already happened. If for some reason, at any given time ADR does not work for you and you can not reach an agreement or simply refuse to use it at all, there is always an available moderator to look into it in less than 24 hours.

Can we trust you?

AlphaBay boasts with unmatched reputation and good-standing within the darknet community. We have always been transparent, professional and fair to every party involved that is why we were the preferred place of business by hundreds of thousands of buyers and vendors. Unlike any other marketplaces we actually have a vision for the future which involves an improvement for the darknet market scene as a whole (Decentralized Market Network). By using our marketplace you help fund the development of the Decentralized Market Network.

As per quote from DeSnake from the PGP signed message:

We know how to run our marketplace and forums, we know what the darknet market scene needs and we have come prepared.
Our main goals include:

    Set the 'industry standards' with our innovations as we did in the past and mold the future towards a more sustainable model. In addition we want to use our experience in counter-surveillance, counter-signal intelligence and operational security knowledge to teach users, vendors and future darknet admins what they could do to keep themselves and their lives free from Law Enforcement. Most of AlphaBays' staff surviving the raids few years back is proof we know what we are talking about.
    Run the market longer at least 3 times as long as AlphaBay survived in the past.
    Give birth and fund through parts of our profits a new generation of decentralized marketplaces. Updated and many more details you can find in our Forum, an overview below. 

Our end goal is to create a fully autonomous, decentralized and anonymous network which can support the creation of a marketplace 'brand' by anyone. We will create an 'AlphaBay' market on that network and migrate our community, giving users and vendors ability to buy, sell and trade in a decentralized manner. Potentially other marketplaces will join the network as it mitigates their requirements and risk of arrest without giving up management control (disputes, what is allowed to be sold, hiring of staff, setting fees, control of their profit wallets etc). Users will be safe to purchase from multiple markets all without the need of trusting any market with their cryptocurrency or registering for each one individually. Vendors will be able to sell on multiple markets seemlessly or even create their own shop while preserving their anonimity and security.

Selling on AlphaBay (vendor-account)

Go to the Vendor Settings and follow instructions on there.
Pay the requested vendor bond.
Create a listing once you have been fully verified. Set your refund policy. Activate your listing if you have not done that during creation.
You are now selling 

DO NOT USE BITCOIN FOR PURCHASES YOU WISH TO BE SECRET.

Monero (XMR) is a currency which we added previously on our marketplace alongside few others. Currently it is the only available cryptocurrency to use on our marketplace due to its higher security and anonimity. Anyone serious about their privacy should migrate from Bitcoin and the likes, and only use audited privacy coins to do transactions on the darknet. Monero offers the perfect mix between usability, community support, security and anonimity.

We do not want to integrate swappers from bitcoin to monero or other currencies to monero. If we do, we would be exposing not only parts of our infrastructure to make the trades (even if using Tor to make those API calls) but potentially enable LE to halt trades or freeze balances which would result in bad situations for our customers. Users who use any DNM which offers swap service should be very careful - one for the operators who might collect that information on you/get seized and that information is collected by LE and second for the ability to freeze trades potentially resulting in losses which would then reflect on the DNM itself. It is a serious risk which the amateur admins of many of todays most popular marketplaces ignore or are too blind to see only to make a small profit.

One even more crucial reason for why you should not be supporting/using swappers of any sorts which are integrated or tied to any DNM is the ability of LE to profile exactly who the exchanger(s) services are. By going through different exchangers what those amateur marketplaces are doing is making them "dirty". That results in breaking the law and as these exchangers are official companies... arrests, operations and the rest will follow. Anyone with a few brain cells will tell you that it is important not to taint or dirty up all exchanges otherwise you will be stuck on not enjoying your hard earned profits in the real world while making it harder for the average Ivan to use or enjoy the benefits of cryptocurrencies.

In the future when atomic swaps are available and stable, it would be possible to integrate a bitcoin->monero swapper to enable a quick and easy transition without sacrificing anonymity or security of the transaction. Using DEXs is also an option but due to lack of anonimity or high requirement of P2P connections, the technology is not there yet to make it completely viable for a DNM to integrate without risking exposure.

Per standard modes of purchase in AlphaBay are Escrow and Finalize Early (FE, given only to very trusted vendors). If you want a 'wallet-less'/non-custodial marketplace then simply transfer only amount which you will be paying into your AlphaBay XMR wallet. The whole idea of 'wallet-less' marketplaces which became popular after our raids, is naive and pure marketing bullshit, your coins always go into an address controlled by the market for the duration of that transaction. It is up to the user to find the balance between convenience and security. Multisig monero will be integrated once it is more stable and mainstream, our tests have shown it is not 'there' just yet.

Regardless of the security features of Monero, for the safety of our customers AlphaBay runs an internal mixer which guarantees that any of your monero coins will not be linked to you. The best mixer has always been and will be one with no on-chain data. For best ways to unlink coins even further, refer to our Forum for latest guideliness.

In the future our decentralized network will take care the problem of wallet trust which has been a plague to the darknet market scene for so long. Market admins will finally be able to focus on business development and customer support, exactly what we are doing now but it will be enforceable by the network and its hardcoded protocols.

You are serious with this right?

4 years have passed since the indictment for the 'AlphaBay Organization' was handed down. It is time to show the DNM scene both to new and old members alike that you can be anonymous and go through the toughest storms if you are a professional and know what you are doing.

The most essential reason of why you should use AlphaBay over any other marketplace is that by using our escrow you become part of the people who help fund building a decentralized network which benefits everyone - vendors, buyers and even other marketplaces. By purchasing from vendors on our marketplace, you generate profit percentage of which is used to fund the decentralized network. Be part of something bigger, something new, something beneficial to the entire DNM scene, something which comes once in a generation and makes a core change to how people buy and sell in a private, secure and anonymous way.

If the community is ready to move to the next generation of marketplaces then do not miss your opportunity to join us and help out - either by using the marketplace or if you are a developer/security expert/sys admin go to our Forum and see how you can contribute, get paid for that and over the long run. It is a community effort that is why this is a community call for everyone - we have the blueprints, help us now, in the present, to make it a reality to help you in the future. We do not want donations, moving your business to us and spreading the word is more than enough. If you want to go the extra mile there will be other activities which we will need help with to make the network run. Those who are outspoken and are active members members/vendors or developers will benefit from the network launching in the long term.

And the project, tell us a lttle

The project will have global rules which should be applied and followed by everyone for their own protection, low-profile of the network etc. Dealing with rule breakers within established marketplace 'brands' within the network will not be an issue. The issue comes when those people decide to make their own marketplace/open shop.

The blueprint allows network operators to use a global blocklist (probably manually shared) which would deny serving anything related to certain shop/marketplace. Operators should be able to add/extend the list depending on their views. On top of that we think that having a blocklist for operators themselves will be the ultimate solution - respected operators and marketplaces/shops will refuse working or having their information flow through operators who allow e.g. shops which sale guns, making the percentage profit of those 'bad' operators so small it would not be worth being up at all.

How will you avoid getting busted?

To begin with everyone involved in the project will be taught excellent operation security (opsec) practices. That will protect each person individually more than any technology can.

The project itself will sustain takedowns and seizures by operating a network of servers. The blueprint is each server which is ran must be zero-knowledge so the operator has no information what is going on and can not do malicious actions. Operating a server will be very profitable (multiple times what you would rent a normal server), all servers/nodes will be run through the I2P and Tor Network which gives individual servers some form of anonimity. With such a low barrier to enter and such big profits, it would be a no-brainer for anyone who wishes to make quick money.

There will be multiple types of servers/nodes and depending which type you decide to run, you will receive a profit corresponding to the risk you take.