Why reviews are count-proof here
Classic darknet markets rank vendors by review count, which costs nothing to forge. Nexus replaces counts with Trust Weight: completed escrows × median ticket × account age, divided by disputes. A two-year vendor with 210 × $92 orders outranks a two-week vendor with 600 × $8 shill orders by roughly 37× — farming micro-orders becomes a net-loss game.
Vendor tiers and the bond
Every vendor posts a bond (≥ $500 in XMR) before listing. Trial vendors face capped volume and manual review of each listing. Verified vendors graduate to standard limits after dispute-free volume. Trusted vendors unlock high limits and multisig eligibility. Proven fraud burns the bond and blacklists the PGP pubkey — identity, not just the account, is destroyed.
Fees and settlement flow
Standard escrow carries a published commission; 2-of-3 multisig orders carry a reduced rate to reward self-custody. Withdrawals batch on a fixed schedule to blur timing correlation. Full fee tables live inside the verified zone; this archive mirrors the methodology, not live balances.
Moderation with a paper trail
Automated filters reject prohibited categories at submission; edge cases go to a two-reviewer queue with written rationale. Buyers can appeal through internal tickets, and every ruling references the public rulebook version. Arbiter decisions are PGP-signed and searchable as precedent.