Great product ... bad reputation ....
I want one .... but I'm afraid to buy it ... 8$ is not much ... but I don't want to encourage scammers so escrow would be nice

I wouldn't mind to way a few days until you get something like 10-20 orders ... so you only pay the fee for escrow once

Check
this thread, he doesn't want to use escrow because he wants to build his reputation up. Feel free to deal without it but I would suggest escrow for ANY amount when dealing with someone over the internet, there's no repercussions if someone decides to scam you unless there are legal aspects involved.