For users of a network-based commerce transaction, a reliable and convenient payment mechanism is particularly important for enhancing user trust in the transaction facility. A typical network-based transaction facility, however, does not ensure the expedient and secure completion of payment transactions. For network-based commerce transactions, often the seller is directly paid by the buyer. This is risky for buyers because the buyers may receive a defective product, a misrepresented product, or not receive the product at all. Further, disreputable sellers may not be motivated to resolve any dispute because they have already received funds.
For some markets, buyers and sellers may instead agree to use an escrow account for the buyer to deposit funds. The buyer may instruct the escrow holder to release the funds to the seller upon satisfactory receipt of the item. However, the seller may wait a prohibitively long time to receive funds, that is, until the buyer receives the item and approves of funds release.
Accordingly, current payment transactions may delay payments to sellers and delivery of purchased goods to buyers.