Chapter 3 of 6 / I cannot get in
It says the account does not exist
Different from a refused password, because the site is claiming there is nothing there at all. That narrows the possibilities considerably and most of what is left is dull.
What it usually turns out to be
| Cause | How often | What settles it |
|---|---|---|
| A detail in the username | Very common | Case, a digit, an underscore. Check it character by character |
| You are on a different market | Common and slightly embarrassing | Several look similar. Check which address you opened |
| A copied page that does not have your account | Uncommon | It cannot find you because it has no user table worth the name |
| The account was removed | Uncommon | Long inactivity does this on some platforms |
| You never finished registering | Occasional | A half completed signup leaves nothing behind |
How to tell which
- A password field that accepts anything and then says no account. Worth a hard look at the address.
- The same username works at another address in the set. Then it is that address, not you.
- You cannot remember creating it recently. Inactivity removal is real and it is not personal.
- The page spells the market name slightly differently. You are somewhere else entirely.
The test that costs you something
Do not create a new account with the same username to see whether it is taken. If the original exists you have just told a stranger which name is worth attacking, and if it does not, you have created a second identity with the same handle for no reason.
If the account really is gone
There is no appeal process, no support address to write to and nobody to ask. That is unsatisfying and it is the honest answer. The practical response is a new account, a username used nowhere else, recovery material saved before you close the setup page, and no balance left sitting in it.
The reason this matters more than it seems is covered in the money chapter. Losing access to an empty account is a bad afternoon. Losing access to one holding a balance is a permanent loss, and the difference was decided weeks earlier.
Registering again, if it comes to that
- A username used nowhere else, and not a variation on one you use. Variations are matched trivially.
- A password used nowhere else, because the attack that matters is a leaked pair being tried everywhere automatically rather than anybody guessing.
- Recovery material saved before you close the setup page, kept apart from the password, and not as a screenshot.
- No balance. Fund an order, and move the remainder out when it closes.
Those four take about ten minutes between them and they remove most of the reasons anybody ends up reading this chapter twice.