"An Insider Look at the Industry Secrets in Transit Numbers"

This article uses Claude @claudeai as an example
The Claude channel is mainly divided into:
- Official transfer packages
- Reverse engineering
- Connecting to official APIs
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Official transfer packages
This method is very common, simply setting up a pool and directly distributing via a website, nothing special to elaborate on.
The pure-blood source price is about $1.35 per item, or you can directly package accounts and host the pool yourself.
There are also people in this industry who specialize in KYC certification, usually costing around 80 yuan.
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Reverse engineering
Usually involves APIs from small sites (but now there are fewer sites available for trial, most have been exploited), or building pools through reverse engineering yourself.
Another method is Kiro, which is currently the most stable. But after large-scale account bans, Kiro has split into domestic, international, private, and corporate sections.
Domestic accounts have been fully banned after version 131, meaning neither individual nor corporate accounts can be used domestically; since May 1, the Claude model has also been fully delisted.
Foreign corporate accounts use a parent company account to create unlimited sub-accounts.
Regarding the international section: common operations involve paying with real cards first, then switching to fake cards to achieve overdraft.
Recently, there’s also a trend of old accounts being sold for zero cost (some say it's student verification), with Pro+ versions priced around 90, also supporting overdraft.
Currently, only two AWS partners nationwide can handle foreign corporate accounts.
As far as I know, one upstream channel in Shandong is very strong, capable of unlimited account creation with stable accounts that don’t drop (unless distilled).
As for proxying, most don’t enable caching; enabling caching isn’t cost-effective.
Most don’t use caching, and the cost can be around $0.20 per item.
But recently, personal account management has become very strict, real cards may fail to pay, and domain email accounts are easily invalidated.
Many people are doing this now, mainly because Kiro’s prices are dropping daily—original price on the 1st, halving by the 15th, with the total unchanged, effectively free profit, and crazy proxying can make money.
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Connecting to official APIs
This is the most expensive and difficult package to manage. Common channels include Google, AWS, and official keys.
Let's go through them one by one:
1. Google is rarely used because applying for the Claude model separately is required, and it’s not profitable, so most have shifted to AWS.
2. AWS is the common official package, but it’s very complex.
First, you need internal cooperation, applying through an overseas entity to get startup support, packaging it as a legitimate business, and avoiding detection as a transit.
Recently, distillation checks have become very strict. Usually, an initial $4,000 credit is provided, then API purchases are made, divided into large and small packages.
What’s the difference? After activation, points are awarded, and the redemption ratio varies: small packages can get at least 85% off the official price, large packages can reach 75% off, but large packages require a minimum annual usage of 2 million RMB.
Someone asked what to do with the remaining points?
That’s where it gets interesting—leftover points can be used with Kiro for proxying, effectively free of charge.
3. Official keys are another route, supported by startup grants of $30k, roughly translating to about $4 per token, provided with accounts and keys, but only guaranteed for five days.
Only large upstream players can handle transit, which can be completed in three to five days; buying transit separately costs about $4.50 per token.
4. The last method is recharging OpenRouter, which mainly involves gift cards.
Some people can get legitimate gift cards, not black cards that are easily reclaimed, with the funds being only for spending, linked to Google Pay or Apple Pay.
But OpenRouter doesn’t support gift cards; it requires SP payments.
Gift cards can be bought at about 60% of face value, and at the current exchange rate of 6.8, roughly $5.80 per token.
Where does this exchange rate difference come from?
It’s from big players collecting US tail-end cards, such as helping international students pay thousands of dollars in tuition, relying on state policies and tax rate differences.
Most of these are half-year or longer capital pools, with scale often exceeding tens of millions.
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