How to access Catharsis market, from no Tor to a first order

To access Catharsis market you need three things in order: Tor Browser from the Tor Project, a verified onion address, and an account you register yourself. That takes an evening the first time, most of it spent on the parts that have nothing to do with Catharsis. The places newcomers come unstuck are few, and they're the same every time: a Tor Browser downloaded from the wrong site, an address taken from a search result, and an account with a password and nothing behind it.

Installing Tor Browser the right way

Download Tor Browser from the Tor Project's download page and from nowhere else. Search results for "Tor browser" carry ads and lookalike sites, and a modified browser is the one mistake that undoes everything after it, since it sees every page you open. The official site is also the only place the installer's signature is published, so if you want to be thorough, the Tor Project's Tor Browser manual explains how to verify it. I'd do that once, even though most people skip it.

Install it, open it, and press Connect. When the status bar says you are connected, that is all the setup the browser needs to reach an onion address. There is one setting I change straight away: the shield icon opens the security level, and I move it to Safer. It turns off some page features that have been used to unmask people in the past, and Catharsis works with it. Safest goes further and switches JavaScript off everywhere; if the captcha or the login page misbehaves under it, Safer is the level to drop back to.

Two habits belong here, before you've visited anything. Leave the browser window at the size it opens, because a maximised window is a small fingerprint. And do not install extensions or add a VPN on top; the browser is built to look the same as every other Tor Browser, and each addition makes yours more distinctive. Tor Browser on an everyday computer is the minimum, not the ceiling, and the safety guide covers the steps above it, Tails and a separate device.

Getting a link you can trust

The address is the next place people lose money. Catharsis has no clearnet login and no app, and copies of its login page circulate in search results, so the address you type is the whole security of your first session. The Catharsis link page keeps the current mirrors and the routine I use to check one against the operator's signed announcement. Open it, copy the full address, and paste it into Tor Browser rather than retyping it.

If you can already use PGP, verifying that signature is the only check that proves who published the address. If you can't yet, you will be able to after the PGP and 2FA guide, which is worth doing before you put any real money in the market and costs nothing to do at this point.

Catharsis market registration: username, password, no email

The Catharsis market sign up is a single step: a username, a password, and an optional PGP key. Catharsis market registration asks for no email address and no phone number, which is what you want, and it also means nobody can rescue you later.

Pick a username that has nothing to do with any name you use anywhere else. It will sit on your orders and your messages, and a handle you have used on a forum or another market ties the two together for anyone who looks. The password should be long and used nowhere else; a few random words strung together does the job and is easier to type into a field you can't paste into.

The PGP field is optional at this stage. I would still fill it in now if you can, because adding a key later means logging in with only a password in between. Skipping it for the first session is a reasonable thing to do if you are following this walkthrough for the first time, and I explain below why that isn't as casual as it sounds.

Do you need PGP and 2FA to buy?

No. You can place orders without either, and many people's first order is exactly that. What PGP does here is two things: it lets you encrypt your delivery details so that only the vendor can read them, and, with two-factor login turned on, it makes a stolen password useless without your private key. A market that has no withdrawal PIN behind its login makes the second one matter more, not less. The review says more about why.

My advice, then, is to treat the account as unfinished until PGP is on. For a small first order you can skip it and live with the consequences. For anything you would mind losing, do the PGP and 2FA setup first, since changing security settings on an account that already holds a balance is how mistakes happen.

Funding the account and placing the first order

You fund after you register, not before. The account gives you a deposit address for the coin you choose, and the balance appears once the network has confirmed the transaction. The coin is a decision of its own: Catharsis takes Monero, Bitcoin, and Litecoin, and I would use Monero. Getting it, and getting it into the market without handing a trail to an exchange that knows your name, is the subject of the payments guide.

Open the deposit page and copy the address it shows you for that session. A transfer to a wrong address can't be reversed, which is why the payments guide sends a small test first and the rest only once it lands.
Browse the listings and open the vendor profile before the listing itself. Read the feedback, how long the account has existed, and whether the PGP key matches the one the vendor uses elsewhere. Vendor vetting is the biggest single factor in whether an order goes well.
Add the item, choose escrow, and encrypt your delivery details with the vendor's public key if your order needs an address or a drop instruction. The message you paste in should be the ciphertext, never the plain text.
Place the order and note the dates on it. As the market currently runs, the vendor is expected to confirm within three days and to ship within five. That clock is what you point to if the order goes quiet.
Wait for the goods. Release the money only once they are in your hands. Releasing early is the most common way a first-timer loses an order, and it is explained in the escrow and disputes guide.

One thing I'd decide before the first deposit rather than after it is how much to keep on the market between orders. The review sets out a deposit rule and the reasoning behind it.

When Tor won't connect on the first try

On a first session it's worth separating two problems that look identical from the chair: Tor not working at all, and Catharsis not answering. Start with Tor. If Tor Browser never gets past connecting, or connects but no onion address opens, the cause is on your side, and it is usually one of two things.

The network blocks Tor: Some workplaces, campuses, and countries block connections to Tor. The connection screen lets you configure bridges, relays that aren't publicly listed, and the built-in options are the first thing to try. The Tor Browser manual explains each type and when to request a private bridge instead.
The computer's clock is wrong: Tor refuses to connect when the system clock is far off, and the error it shows doesn't say so plainly. Set the date, time, and time zone correctly and connect again.

Once Tor is connected and other onion sites open, a Catharsis address that still hangs is a mirror problem rather than a setup problem, and the link page has the checklist for that, including why searching for "a working link" at that moment is the worst move.