Your first order with any new vendor should be structured to minimise what you lose if the vendor turns out to be worse than the page suggests. Small quantity, cheap product, standard shipping, standard escrow.

Before ordering

Read the vendor page. Dispute ratio under 5 percent. Finalisation ratio over 95 percent. Last twenty reviews consistent with older ones. PGP key published. Reasonable average shipping time.

If any of those looks off, choose a different vendor.

The order itself

  1. Click the listing. Confirm the quantity and price.
  2. At checkout, encrypt your shipping address to the vendor PGP key before pasting it into the order form. This is a two-minute habit that closes a permanent risk.
  3. Standard shipping. Do not opt for expensive express unless you specifically need it.
  4. Standard escrow. Do not select finalise-early even if the vendor asks.
  5. Submit the order. The multisig deposit address appears.
  6. Coin transfers automatically from your wallet balance to the multisig escrow.

After the order is placed

The vendor sees the order and ships. Watch the message thread for shipping notes. Wait patiently through the shipping window (check the vendor's advertised time).

Message the vendor sparingly

Ask questions if you have them, but do not spam. Vendors process many orders per day. A polite message every couple of days for updates is fine. A message every hour is not.

When the package arrives

Photo of the unopened package with a piece of paper showing the current date visible in the frame. Then open, check the item against the listing, and mark received in the storefront if everything is correct.