You can pay vendors directly it's your choice to use an escrow. No third party can force vendors to arbitrarily reject your transaction like what can be done on white markets. No third party can stop you from sending your transaction to them like what can be done on white markets. Permissionless.

But multisigs are the next big thing for DNMs. Already starting to use them on Haveno, MoneroMarket, and XMRBazaar.