초록 ▼

A system and process for establishing prices for products on line and for allowing acquisition of those products from retailers that honor such prices. The system and process involve a customer having a credit card account, a computer terminal configured to access a network, and a central authority

A system and process for establishing prices for products on line and for allowing acquisition of those products from retailers that honor such prices. The system and process involve a customer having a credit card account, a computer terminal configured to access a network, and a central authority coupled to the computer terminal via the network. The central authority maintains information about a product and a corresponding price. The price is established by the central authority and the central authority is configured to communicate the information about the product and the price to the customer via the network. Also involved is a credit card processor that is coupled to the central authority. The credit card processor is configured to query the information maintained by the central authority and to receive the price from the central authority. A retailer is involved and includes a point-of-sale system coupled to the central authority and to the credit card processor. The retailer is configured to deliver the product to the customer after the customer purchases the product from the retailer via his credit card account or other form of payment at the price established by the central authority and provided to the retailer and the point-of-sale system by the credit card processor.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method, comprising:receiving from a first merchant at a central controller, first inventory data of a product;receiving from a second merchant at the central controller, second inventory data of the product;displaying, via a Web site associated with the central controller, t

What is claimed is: 1. A method, comprising:receiving from a first merchant at a central controller, first inventory data of a product;receiving from a second merchant at the central controller, second inventory data of the product;displaying, via a Web site associated with the central controller, the first inventory data and the second inventory data of the product and a purchase price for the product;receiving, via the Web site, a request from a buyer to purchase the product for the purchase price from the first merchant;receiving, by the central controller, the purchase price from the buyer;receiving, via the Web site, credit card information and identification information descriptive of the buyer;storing, by the central controller, the credit card information and the identification information descriptive of the buyer in a customer database;transmitting, by the central controller, a transaction confirmation indicator to the buyer;receiving, by the central controller, after the transmitting of the transaction confirmation indicator and from a POS device of a store location of the first merchant, a query including an indication of at least one of the transaction confirmation indicator, the credit card information, and the identification information descriptive of the buyer; andtransmitting, by the central controller, in response to the receiving of the query, and to the POS device of the store location of the first merchant, information that permits the buyer to physically acquire the product at the store location of the first merchant wherein the information comprises at least an indication of the purchase price.