He have some good point too,it happened in history so we can't trust anyone for that much of money.So he might be looking to deal personally.But the better option will be splitting the transactions into multiple times when the amount it big.
OP might have few good points regarding escrow. And also Op could make transaction by splitting. But it is a matter of fact still op could not verify his/her ownership. Also OP is offline from the same day of posting the thread. I think op just created the account and create post and vanish away (this might be a alter account of an old member)