Short of using something like cash...for buying something off Craigslist? What else would you use? Why do you make it sound so difficult to use the most easily accessible form of currency around? Joe Craigslist isn't going to have a debit/credit machine for me to pay on. I'm not writing him a personal cheque. Use a burner email, don't give names, meet in a public place..how would you track somebody down like that?

Because buying something online might mean the item has to be shipped? Since buyer and seller may not be able to meet up for some reason? Mailing cash seems like a terrible idea. Do you think we should find a cash escrow service too?

Craigslist is for in person deals. Craigslist itself warns against shipping items[1].

[1] http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams

So this discussion doesn't apply to other online sites which do ship items?

What stops an ebay buyer from the same malicious litigation?

Usually markets like ebay have reputation systems for both sides, and it is easier to enforce disclaimers and arbitration agreements.

None of that stops a willful malicious individual like the topic of this post.

And that's just ebay. The comments in this thread were about generic online transactions between strangers, not about any specific site.

Short of using something like cash? I bet most transactions on Craigslist are done through cash (those under $1k or so). Correspond through CL or using relatively anonymous email, meet in public, use cash, and then go on your merry way.

The point is to keep trolls like the one in the article from being easily able to serve & sue you. Realistically, they're unlikely to go through elaborate chains of subpoenas; they'll find an easier target.