I would like to use escrow so I don't get accused as scammer and have my ass covered but don't know how they work?
forum escrow
both people deciding on a mutually trusted person to be the middle man to hold both funds and arrange the swap once both have paid in. that way one person cant run off before the other one does.
local bitcoins escrow
the bitcoin are locked in and cannot be withdrawn unless the person hand over the fiat which gets acknowledged by the seller, to allow the buyer to receive the bitcoins. or for the buyer to cancel the purchase thus allowing the seller their bitcoins back
inshort both methods are middle men storage that release funds when both sides forfill the trade requirements, otherwise both sides get refunded.