an act of the retail kiosk receiving account credentials corresponding to a registered user purchasing account for a registered user of the separately located purchasing account management system, the registered user purchasing account having an account balance representing funds from previously cleared deposit transactions submitted to the separately located purchasing account management system, the previously cleared deposit transactions electronically depositing funds into the registered user purchasing account, the account balance indicating previously cleared funds allocated for direct transfer to other accounts within the separately located purchasing account management system to minimize the risks associated with settling transactions for the purchase of items without reference to external authorization or banking networks;

an act of the retail location submitting the received account credentials to the separately located purchasing account management system;

an act of the retail location receiving the account balance for the registered user purchasing account from the separately located purchasing account management system, the separately located purchasing account management system handling purchases for a variety of different, geographically remote retail locations, reception of the account balance indicating to the retail location that the registered user has an account with the purchasing account management system such that payment for purchased items is to be made from previously cleared funds so as to thereby further indicate to the retail location the minimized risk associated with settling transactions involving the registered user;

an act of configuring the retail kiosk to permit a user transaction to purchase items from the retail location based on the account balance for the registered user purchasing account;

an act of the retail kiosk calculating a total cost for one or more items, including a last item, that are to be purchased, including:

an act of receiving an indication of the cost of an item; and

an act of adding the cost of the item to the total cost for the one or more items;

an act of detecting that a received indication of the cost of an item is the cost of the last item; and

an act of the retail kiosk sending an electronic message to the separately located purchasing account management system to clear the transaction for purchasing the one or more items in response to detecting the last item, the electronic message indicating that the calculated total cost is to be debited from the balance of the registered user purchasing account and the calculated total cost is to be credited to the balance of the retail account, the electronic message indicating that previously cleared funds are to be transferred between accounts under the control of the purchasing account management system such that the transaction for purchasing the one or more items is cleared electronically and internally within the purchasing account management system without reference to any external authorization or banking networks.