good discussion so far. As a vendor here for longer than most, I'll add my 2 cents.First of all, vendors can choose to practice whatever they like as far as early finalize. All associations on this site are 100% voluntary, so you as buyers can pick and choose whoever you want to do business with, and early finalize will be one of those criteria.do I personally think that sellers should make all customers finalize early? Hell, no. Not because it's shady or whatever (although the possibilities for scamming are pretty high here), but because it's just bad business practice.With all that being said, I do have caveats for certain buyers and products. My policies are all clearly laid out on my profile page for FE (essentially if you are buyer with 5 or less transactions and/or above 0% refund rate, you have to FE. If you are unsure, PM me) and most of the buyers who stop by are already well aware of the policies. The only other instance where I do FE are on my sales and special offers. I can't offer up 1oz AA grade for $200, including shipping, and have to wait 3 weeks for that to roll back over into cashflow, at least not if I want to sell a significant amount. I am willing to forego 15% of my margin if a buyer is willing to trust me based on the fact I've been here 9 months and never ripped anyone off, plus it makes that much more product available to the community as a whole. I think my personal practice is pretty fair, maybe a little bit stringent (but I can't tell you how many scam buyers that has saved me from). But if a seller makes their policies very clear upfront, buyers can pick and choose who they want to do business with, and it's about a lot more than just price (which is good - the more market information everyone has, the better). I also think there's a good mix right now - the vendors who have finalize early options are usually cheaper than the full-escrow vendors, and so buyers have options based on their personal risk tolerance. I know it seems shitty to be a brand new buyer on here, but it's at least as shitty being a brand new vendor and trying to entice people to take a shot on you over your existing, established, trusted competitors (and usually involves giving away several $100's of dollars in free or insanely discounted product).It's good for the community to keep discussing this and to stay on top of shady vendors taking advantage of this practice, but in the end it all comes down to choice on both vendor and buyer side - nobody's forcing you to do business together. And free choice and free association are always good in my book.