How to open Nexus Market, start to finish
Ten minutes if you have the Tor Browser, twenty if you do not. The whole trip is software, an address, and patience for the circuit. Here it is end to end.
Step 1. Get the Tor Browser
One file from the official Tor project, install it like any other program. Windows, macOS and Linux builds are on the Tor Browser page, which also covers Android and the honest answer for iOS. Do not install "Tor Browser" from a third party site. The market's name is used by more unofficial repacks than almost any other onion.
Step 2. New identity, then paste
Fresh circuit
In the Tor Browser, press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Shift+I on macOS), or the onion icon, New Identity. This builds a clean path and clears the tab state from whatever you were doing before.
Paste the address
Click the address bar, paste one of the three from the mirrors page, press Enter. The exact string, 56 characters plus .onion, from the clipboard, not from your memory of it.
Let the circuit build
The browser builds a path through three relays, then starts a circuit to the onion. The tab can sit at a blank or loading state for 10 to 60 seconds depending on your connection. This is normal. Refreshing early kills the circuit and starts the clock again.
Step 3. The market checks your browser
When the page finally renders, it is a dark screen with the NEXUS wordmark and the text "Checking your browser before accessing Nexus Market". The line below says the redirect happens automatically and to allow up to 30 seconds. It does. Sit still. This screen is the market's first line of defense against the traffic that would otherwise flatten it.
If the redirect does not happen in 30 to 45 seconds, refresh once. Two refreshes with no movement means the next step, the troubleshooting list on the not loading page.
Step 4. The DDoS captcha
Next comes a panel titled DDoS Protection: six empty boxes, a red circle with a distorted string of characters inside it, a countdown from 60 seconds, and a red SUBMIT button. Read the characters in the circle, type them into the boxes one by one, submit. The timer is real; if it runs out, a new circle appears and you start the round again. There is no partial credit, and there is no "I am not a robot" checkbox. The circle is the test.
Two notes from experience. The characters are small inside the circle, so if your eyes are tired, zoom the page before you guess. And do not copy paste from the image; the boxes expect your keystrokes.
Step 5. You are in
The shop loads. From here the market behaves like the market: browse without an account, check prices, read vendor feedback. Logging in is on the login page of the market, and only there. If you came to buy, the rest of the trip is covered on the vendors page and the fees page.
The three things that go wrong most
- Retyping the address. One transposed character and you are on a stranger's onion. Always paste. Always compare the last six characters in the bar against the source.
- Refreshing during the circuit build. Each refresh starts a new circuit. On a slow line, three refreshes look exactly like a dead market. The fix is one patient minute.
- Trying a clearnet gateway. A site that converts onions to normal URLs works, and lets the gateway see every page you load through it. It is a fine way to visit once in a hurry and a bad way to log in. For anything with a password field, use the Tor Browser directly.
If the first load fails
Work the list on the Nexus Market not loading page top to bottom: address check, circuit check, relay block check, then the mobile specific items. In the large majority of "the market is down" moments, one of those four is the actual story.