You are probably correct in thinking the .01btc fee minimum is a bit much with the price being where it is but using the trusted guys makes your transaction safer. Escrows also have to deal with alot of bullshit with most transactions. I personally have been involved in deals that take half a day or longer because 1 party logs off, then replies and other party is offline. It's just too much a mess to deal with half the time.
Monbux, SebastianJu, and a handful of others listed in the escrow thread(I am not searching the link) are the way to go in most cases. You can try to speak with 1 of them and ask for a lower fee.
**EDIT**
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=855778.0 I get that bro... but lets pretend I used one of those names and it takes half a day for the person doing the escrow to respond and me and the person agreeing to the deal are waiting on them half a day.
No, lets not pretend, I have been trying this and the rate is .01. It's fucking ridiculous especially when me and the buyer on the same page waiting on him to take $72. Lord forbid I sent the funds and have to wait another 12 hours on escrow to accept.
There has to be a better way. Hell I am bitching and I am the buyer!!!
Scrap'