An apparatus and method for remote third party payment of in-store item(s) selected by a user are disclosed herein. The first user selects one or more items located in a store, requests a particular person who is not in the store to pay for those item(s) in real-time or near real-time, and obtains proof of payment in response to the particular person making an electronic form of payment. The proof of payment is sufficient for the sales clerk in the store (or the store checkout system) to deem the purchase of those in-store item(s) to be complete so that the first user can leave the store with the item(s).