I always use escrow anywhere else I'm trading. I did ask what kind of escrow he preferred, even set up a bitmit post so we could trade through them.  He replied and told me to look at his  me to look at his stats on the otc site. They were good but I still suggested escrow. He said he would agree to a certain guy but I had to cover fees through some other payment since he was getting the full amount loaded on the card. With his rep and my lack of he said I needed to send first. I was hoping to get the transaction over with quickly and had not had any other offers.
That being my first time here and being a newbie I knew it'd be hard to find anyone to trust me. I admit my fault. I should have turned down the offer when he got weird about escrow.