"Wait a minute, am I missing something here? Why the hell would anyone go to the trouble of trading their standard currency - which is acceptable anywhere legitimate - into an non-traceable, anonymous electronic currency like Bitcoins unless they needed to stay anonymous or use a shop that only accepted Bitcoins - like the blackmarket sites."
I'm guessing that mostly miners are the ones buying with bitcoins. But believe it or not, not everyone who buys bitcoins uses them for illegal purchases...
"As far as i have seen only sites accessed through the deepweb / tor etc demand payment in Bitcoins."
Look further.
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade.
"If you want to use a 'Legit' site, take your credit card and buy stuff off Amazon. It will save you an unbeleivable amount of time and effort... Forget all about bitcoins if your looking for regular, legitimate goods..."
Not sure what the condescending remarks are for. I'm not the one who got screwed out of $300 in an obvious scam. And yes, buying off of Amazon would save you time and effort, so why didn't you? Even if you don't use Amazon there are plenty of counterfeit sites that sell products for cash without using Tor.
There are plenty of legal, clearnet sites that accept bitcoins, without going through Tor. Google it or search on these forums. But, if you're looking for ILLEGAL things (counterfeit Samsung products?), then you might have to use Tor. However, when using Tor sites which have NO regulation, as they're illegal, don't make purchases unless you know for sure that they are not scams. And don't complain when you got scammed. You should know that you're taking a risk.