All my orders went the paypal route, I think 4. No issues with paypal, but I did have a delay on some rectangle nodes late in the season. With paypal you have protection for 90 days to dispute. Not as good as escrow, but as a hobbyist I see that as a reasonable risk. Now, if I was was doing $10-20k business deals I would probably go escrow. When I am not making lights blink I run a title co doing escrows... All I think Ray is doing is avoiding fees to Alibaba and/or the escrow co.