What the first screen actually shows
A first visit to the market is the one you remember, and the thing you remember is not the storefront. It is the order of the screens. Knowing that order beforehand is the difference between opening the real market and opening a clone that got the sequence wrong. Clones copy the logo and the dark background. They rarely copy the sequence, because the sequence is what takes thirty seconds and cannot be faked with a landing page.
- The browser checkThe tab title reads "Nexus Market". The page shows the NEXUS logo with the tagline "Next Generation Market" and the line "Checking your browser before accessing Nexus Market". Below it: "This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly." and "Please allow up to 30 seconds". The instruction is not to refresh. A refresh restarts the check and can push you back to the beginning.
- The DDoS challengeThe next tab title is "DDoS Protection - Nexus Market". It is a challenge page, and on a slow circuit it can look almost empty: a spinner, a blank, a sentence about verifying your connection. Give it a few seconds to a couple of tens of seconds. It is doing its job. This is the screen clones forget, because it is the one that does not look like a shop.
- The storefrontThe challenge clears and the actual market loads. Dark interface, the NEXUS logo top left, a login button and a register button, and a navigation row of categories across the top. Until you log in you can browse the category layout and the vendor cards, but you cannot see prices on everything or place an order.
- After loginThe left side gains your wallet, your open orders, and the escrow status of each one. The header shows your balance per coin. Everything you paid for now sits in the 2 of 3 contract described on the escrow page until the funds are released.
That is the whole first load. Browser check, challenge, storefront, then the logged in view. If the page you are on skipped any of the first three, you are not where you think you are.
The first ten minutes, in order
- Read the built in help and FAQ inside the market before you touch a product. The in market docs explain the wallet, the orders, and the dispute flow in the market's own words, which beats guessing.
- Open your profile page and find the PGP key. Compare its fingerprint against the one on the verification page. A key that does not match is the single fastest way to tell a real profile from a lookalike.
- Do not buy on day one. Browse, read vendor feedback, watch how a card looks, and let the layout settle. The first order should be the cheapest, safest item, not the one you came for.
- Go to the wallet page and look at the deposit address for one coin. Seeing where the money actually goes, before any of it has, is the habit that keeps later deposits honest.
- Scroll a category in the categories section and study how a vendor card is laid out: name, feedback count, shipping, price. You will be reading hundreds of these, and the pattern is easier to learn now than mid checkout.
What a clone shows instead
Real
- The browser check screen with the exact text "Checking your browser before accessing Nexus Market".
- A DDoS Protection page in between, not a jump straight to a form.
- The NEXUS logo with the "Next Generation Market" tagline.
- A PGP key on the profile page that matches the fingerprint above.
- A .onion in the address bar, from the first character to the last.
Clone
- A .com or .net address, or a gateway domain wrapping the onion.
- A login that appears the instant you type, with no check screen before it.
- A pop up asking for your seed or recovery phrase before you have done anything.
- A logo that is close but not the same, or a different font on the login field.
- A sequence that is shorter than four screens. The real one is not short.
One first impression
If any of the screens above is missing, wrong, or asking for more than a PIN and a recovery phrase, close the tab. Do not type a password into a page that failed the sequence. Open a different one of the three addresses on the addresses page. The correct market does not move to punish a wrong first impression. It is at the next address, and the order of its screens is the same every time.