Abstract: A method to provide an e-commerce based third party buyer protection service (BPS) to monitor and direct a business transaction between a buyer and seller is provided. The BPS is designed to release a buyer payment to the seller after product acceptance by the buyer or to affect a refund to the buyer when the purchased product is not received or the buyer is dissatisfied with and returns the received product. Buyer determination to return the product may be due to having received the wrong product, shipment damage or the product is not as advertised. The service process begins with an agreement between the buyer and seller to agree to the terms of the BPS policies and directives. The buyer provides transaction information and a buyer payment where the payment is issued to the BPS to be cleared, deposited and held for distribution by the BPS dependent on buyer satisfaction of the product for purchase.