Patent ID: 7376628

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of carrying out an electronic transaction that includes a payment from a buyer to a seller via a secure electronic draft, comprising the steps of: storing on a server a document comprising the draft and a set of contingencies for releasing payment on the draft to the seller via a financial service provider; assigning at least one secondary party to the transaction to at least one contingency of the set of contingencies; linking a website to the server; providing the buyer and the seller access to the transaction via the website; providing restricted access to the contingencies to the secondary parties via the website, the restricted access enabling each secondary party to access only the at least one contingency assigned to the secondary party; authenticating the secondary party at the website; based on the authentication, retrieving the assigned at least one contingency from the document and displaying the retrieved at least one contingency to the authenticated secondary party; receiving, via an interaction between the displayed at least one contingency and a user interface of the authenticated secondary party, a request for removal of the contingency assigned to the authenticated secondary party; responsive to the request, removing the at least one contingency assigned to the authenticated secondary party; tracking removal of the set of contingencies at the server; determining that each of the contingencies has been removed; and based on the determination, releasing the payment to the seller via the financial service provider using the draft from the document.