We're currently in the middle of planning for the next major version of OpenBazaar. In the course of doing so we're taking a hard look at the entire app to find ways to improve user experience. What I want to do here is throw around some ideas to improve the checkout flow and solicit feedback.
Currently, each vendor has an opportunity to add one or more "moderators" (basically escrow/arbitration agents) to his listings. The vendor chooses only moderators he trusts and those moderators are part of the goods/service bundle offered for sale.
During the checkout process, the buyer is first given the option to select either a direct payment (which sends the bitcoins directly to the vendor) or a moderated payment. If he chooses a moderated payment, in the next step he's asked to pick from the list of moderators the vendor selected. If he finds none acceptable, he can always decline to purchase. Assuming the buyer proceeds, the public key