Method and system providing out-sourced, merchandise return services, and exchange and escrow services

A method providing a prospective acceptor an opportunity to inspect the offered goods of a remote offeror as a condition precedent to acceptance, comprising the steps of:

• providing the offeror and prospective acceptor with a goods-inspection information service, including storage of inspection and terms-of-acceptance information pertaining to the offered goods of the offeror;
• providing a distributed community of point-of-access associates who can physically process such inspections with links to the goods-inspection information service by a communications medium;
• the offeror entrusting the offered goods to a given point-of-access associate and thereby affording the acceptor the condition-precedent opportunity to inspect the offered goods;
• the given point-of-access associate providing the prospective acceptor with the opportunity to inspect the offered goods upon application to inspect;
• and, upon further application to accept, the given point-of-access associate requesting from the goods-inspection information service the pertinent inspection and terms-of-acceptance information, and then processing the acceptance of the offered goods if the pertinent terms of acceptance are met.

A method providing a prospective acceptor an opportunity to inspect an offered item of a remote offeror as a condition precedent to acceptance, comprising the steps of:

• providing a distributed community of intermediary point-of-access associates for physically hosting such inspections;
• a remote offeror of an item offering a prospective acceptor the item for acceptance upon condition precedent of an inspection of the offered item;
• the offeror inputting the item with an arbitrary one of the point-of-access associates who in consequence transfers the item to a given other of the point-of-access associates where the prospective acceptor will inspect;
• providing the distributed community of intermediary point-of-access associates with links to an inspection-transaction information service by the Internet computer information network;
• the offeror inputting with the inspection-transaction information service the terms of acceptance of the offered item;
• the given other point-of-access associate providing the prospective acceptor with the opportunity to inspect the offered item upon application to inspect;
• and, upon further application to accept, the given other point-of-access associate requesting from the inspection-transaction information service the pertinent terms of acceptance, and then processing the acceptance of the offered goods if the pertinent terms of acceptance are met.