People are only happy nowadays to purchase items using the internet due to consumer protection through payment gateways and credit cards.
The flaw in bitcoin for purchasing products seems to be the fact the seller has an advantage over the buyer.

It seems to be fine for trading currencies, virtual goods or face to face transactions, but I don't see how one could trust an online seller accepting bitcoins when you have no recourse?

Clearcoin would be helpful, but it doesn't fully address the issue because it means the seller loses out.
For example someone could pay 100BTC for an apple
 the buyer sends clearcoin 100BTC
 the seller notices payment & sends the apple
 buyer receives item and forgets to confirm clearcoin
 transaction expires & seller doesn't receive coins?

The other issue is that the seller only gets their money a lot later than using a service such as paypal/googlecheckout.

Solutions??