Seller’s Reputation and Capacity on the Online Drug Markets

• In Event: Drug Dealing Markets, Networks, and the Internet

Abstract

This 11-month follow-up study analyzed illicit drug sales on the anonymous Tor network and focused on investigating whether seller’s reputation and capacity increase drug sales on a anonymous setting. Data was gathered from the Finnish version of The Silk Road called Silkkitie by web crawling the site on daily basis for 11 months in 2014-2015. Data includes daily-based information on 260 sellers and 3823 products. Measurements include seller’s reputation, euro amounts of sales, amount of available products and types of drugs sold. Regression models estimated the effects of seller’s reputation and capacity, which was measured as their full euro amount sales potential. Overall illicit drugs sales were over 2 million Euros during the follow-up. Many products were not sold at all and sellers remained active only short period of time. Stimulants were most widely purchased followed by cannabis, MDMA and psychedelics. Regression models showed that seller’s reputation and capacity were both associated with drug sales. Tor network has enabled transformation of drug sales, but as market places they are unstable. Due the anonymity both seller’s reputation and capacity have major impact on sales.

Authors

• Atte Oksanen, University of Tampere, Finland

• Juha Nurmi, Dignify

• Teemu Kaskela, A-Clinic Foundation

• Jussi Perala, University of Helsinki