Everything is a risk on the markets. I have taken my steady buisness off market (I am a buyer online, seller IRL). I suggest others do the same. Have a great relationship with a seller? Good enough that you'd FE with them? Then who needs a market to deal with that person. I stock my "store" IRL with product obtained through PGP email and pay up front with btc. I use the market to find and test new sellers. Once I find people I can trust I invite them offline and deal direct. It has worked beautifully since SR1 crashed. Added sellers to my stable through BMR, Sheep, Black Flag, Tormarket, Agora, Pandora now here. Markets come and go, are honest or crooked, run or crash. My business keeps going. Markets are for networking now, off market is for trade. As such, unless SR2 crashes before I get my pending test orders, I have had VERY little money (under $250) disappear on me even with the Sheep and Black Flag bullshit. And my WEEKLY bitcoin purchases to pay for goods exceed $10,000.
I take the risk of someone running off with my cash, but its never happened. Good, dependable, honest buyers are just as valuable to sellers as Good, dependable, honest sellers are to us buyers. You can make a bunch of money off me once, or fair profit off me every week until you screw me one time. Every seller I've worked with has taken the long term money.
There seems to be "honor amongst thieves" around the darkweb. Site admins have been far shadier than my suppliers. DPR and Backopy excluded, especially Backopy, that guy is THE MAN.
Never been screwed by a seller. Could have been Anally Raped without KY by markets, several times.
Just my 2 cents, Do What Thou Wilst. But I think people have forgotten that the safety the markets can/do/pretend to provide is only necessary if you can't trust your seller. Users only need the darkweb to establish anonymous communications and secure trusted connections. Sellers don't need markets at all if they have a customer base established.