So. All of my vendors were on agora, which I've been using reliably since last year with no problems. I don't trust any other market, especially considering the public announcement by agora, I feel some will take this opportunity to get as many clients from agora as they can and exit scam.
I know this is a vendor-by-vendor case (I'm especially interested on T5, TGUK and lostheaven), but would it be reliable contacting them directly, with no escrow and only their word?
It'd be the same thing as FEing on a market. It's up to you to take the risk or not. Personally I would only ever do a direct deal with someone who has a standup reputation (meaning 1000+ deals done with a perfect rating). And even then you still can't guarantee you won't get ripped off.