Mind your own business.

Conduit is one way into a larger open market. Conduit Market helps shoppers discover and buy from independent merchants. Conduit Merchant Portal helps those merchants publish products, manage orders, receive payments, and stay connected with customers. Conduit does not own the underlying network or standards. Nostr provides the open identity and messaging layer. The Open Markets Foundation works with the broader ecosystem on a shared commerce specification now in draft. Because Conduit uses Nostr, you can bring a Nostr identity created outside Conduit, use it here, and use it across a wider ecosystem of Nostr apps. Conduit does not issue or control that identity; its private key stays with the signer you choose.

Peer-to-peer starts with ownership. Merchants publish under Nostr identities they control, and shoppers can bring identities created outside Conduit. The shopper orders from and pays the merchant. Order details travel through encrypted messages, and shoppers who connect a Nostr identity can keep coordinating fulfillment with the merchant. Conduit supplies discovery, checkout, and communication software, but it is not the seller, merchant of record, payment custodian, carrier, or escrow service. Peer to peer does not mean infrastructure disappears. It means the infrastructure does not become a party to the sale or take ownership of the identity and relationship behind it.

No. Open does not mean lawless. It describes how the market is built: identities and signed listings can exist beyond one platform. Illegal items and transactions are prohibited on Conduit. The product currently supports lawful physical and digital products; service listings are not supported. Other restrictions are in the Product Terms, and merchants and shoppers remain responsible for following applicable law. Conduit may restrict content or access on infrastructure it operates, though it cannot erase copies held by independent relays or clients.

There is no conventional Conduit account or password to create. You can browse without connecting anything, and eligible orders can use guest checkout. If you want a reply channel and the ability to reopen available order messages later, connect a Nostr identity through an external signer before checkout. The identity belongs to you; its private key stays with the signer, not the website. Guest checkout uses a temporary key in the current tab. Close the tab and local access ends; any remaining recovery data expires within 24 hours.

You can go straight to Sell; community membership is not required. Connect a Nostr identity through a compatible external signer, a tool that lets you approve actions while keeping your private key out of Conduit. Then configure fulfillment and use a Lightning wallet or provider that can issue invoices. A Lightning Address can enable direct checkout when the order qualifies; without one, you can still publish products and send an invoice after an order arrives. New to Nostr? nstart.me can walk you through the first steps.

Bitcoin gives shoppers and merchants a settlement asset Conduit does not issue or control; Lightning makes it practical at checkout. You authorize payment through your wallet, either for the individual checkout or within permissions you previously granted to a wallet connection. Payment settles to the merchant’s wallet or provider. Conduit coordinates the order and payment evidence, but it does not hold a balance or take custody. Nostr Wallet Connect is an optional encrypted connection that lets Conduit send payment or invoice requests to a wallet within permissions you grant. Treat its connection code like a password. Wallet fees may apply, and Bitcoin payments can be final.

The readable details of a transaction stay between the shopper and merchant. Orders and conversations are encrypted before they reach Nostr relays, keeping what was bought, where it is going, and what the parties say out of a central readable marketplace record. Conduit-operated servers do not ordinarily receive the plaintext. That is a fundamental privacy improvement over platforms built around a central record of every transaction. Profiles and product listings stay public so people can discover them. The browser, signer, wallet, and other services either party chooses may process the information needed to do their job; relays and network providers can still observe connection metadata such as timing and IP addresses. The transaction is private, not anonymous. The Product Privacy Policy explains the full boundary.

Commerce happens directly between each merchant and shopper. Merchants set and carry out their fulfillment, delivery, return, refund, warranty, and support terms; shoppers review those terms and choose whether to order. Both remain responsible for following applicable law. Conduit provides discovery, order, and messaging tools, but it is not a party to the sale, merchant of record, carrier, escrow service, or refund processor.