I'm sorry but the history of world has shown over and over again that merchants are the side of the equation that needs to be regulated and kept in check. Sayin

I'm sorry but the history of world has shown over and over again that merchants are the side of the equation that needs to be regulated and kept in check. Saying "I want no protections" marks you out as weird and historically somewhat illiterate. For your contrived example, a bank transfer would work just fine, and can be done online in seconds. Good luck if the 'trusted' merchant decides to cash in their 'trusted' reputation by taking a lot of people's cash and skipping town, or if their business just plain goes under before you can get your items, though. > In other words, things that are de facto prohibited through inconvenience or risk. This is not the same as prohibited. > And disclosing your bank routing number would allow the merchant to withdraw more than agree Why would you be exposing anything? Sending a bank transfer doesn't allow anyone to withdraw anything. A cashiers cheque even less so - it comes from the bank, not your account.