Vendors may ask buyers to FE for all sorts of reasons, some are legitimate and some are not depending on the intentions of the vendor and in your case the vendor has offered an incentive for you to FE so you saved a few $$$ and now you do not have your order and no recourse via escrow. Personally I would advise against being enticed into releasing payment for a small benefit because should you run into difficulties as you are now there is very little you can do. I would invite you to take this experience as a learning opportunity and next time you are asked to FE you can politely respond by saying thank you but no, you would prefer to use escrow as it protects both parties. If the vendor then decides to cancel your order take your coins elsewhere.