The safest transactions are via USPS Money Orders sent to ONLY to a physical address, NOT a PO Box. If a large ticket item, the Postal MO serial number can be verified. Otherwise, a direct wire transfer of funds via bank-to-bank is pretty good. It wasn’t prior to about 2005, because funds could be recalled. Not anymore.
No checks and no bank drafts…NOT EVER.
My last professional gig involved buying electronic devices and software from hacks. If they were adamant about using a PO Box, I passed. If they wouldn’t accept Postal MO’s, I passed. Never got burned once and if anyone was going to burn me, it was these people.