Scary place, this bitcoin marketplace. My first purchase, I got screwed. Merchant says he never saw the payment, but my wallet is depleted -- he uses some Mt.Gox storefront service, says contact Mt.Gox, he's not interested in my blockchain cite because the wallet is some Mt.Gox wallet that he knows nothing about. If I paid with a check, I could stop payment; if a credit card, I could contest my bill. Nobody's in charge here -- all fun and games until someone loses an eye. So, serious question, to protect themselves in BTC deals, do people ever use recognized escrow services? If so, who's highly regarded? If not, someone please launch one!
There is a lot of escrow services in this forum, most of them are even free