Method and apparatus for charging fee to customer
First Claim
1. A method for charging a discount fee of a credit card or debit card to a customer, comprising:
- providing a value carrier to the customer usable at one or more purchasing locations to purchase goods or services of a merchant;
adding monetary value to the value carrier using the customer'"'"'s credit card or debit card; and
charging the credit card or debit card discount fee to the customer so that the value carrier has less monetary value than was charged by the customer to the credit card or debit card.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an apparatus for charging all or a portion of the credit card discount fee or debit card discount fee (or other type of card, e.g., smart card, discount fee) to the consumer, customer, end user, credit card owner, or debit card owner, thereby reducing or eliminating the cost of the discount fee to the merchant upon a transaction initiated at the merchant location, are disclosed herein. With the cost of the discount fee to the merchant reduced or eliminated, embodiments disclosed herein allow the merchant to choose to optionally provide benefits, incentives, prizes, discounts (e.g., on services or goods), and/or a game of chance where the consumer, customer, end user, credit card owner, or debit card owner is capable of winning prizes, benefits, incentives, and/or discounts for the consumer, customer, end user, credit card owner, or debit card owner with any portion or all of the discount rate amount saved by the merchant.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for charging a discount fee of a credit card or debit card to a customer, comprising:
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providing a value carrier to the customer usable at one or more purchasing locations to purchase goods or services of a merchant; adding monetary value to the value carrier using the customer'"'"'s credit card or debit card; and charging the credit card or debit card discount fee to the customer so that the value carrier has less monetary value than was charged by the customer to the credit card or debit card. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for charging a discount fee of a credit card or debit card to a customer, comprising:
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a credit card or debit card reader for reading information from a credit card or debit card of a customer; a value carrier reader for reading a currency value amount on a value carrier and for adding currency value to the currency value amount; a processor for transferring currency value from the credit card or debit card of the customer to the value carrier and for charging the discount fee to the customer; and a display for displaying the currency value amount on the value carrier and currency value which may be added to the value carrier from the credit card or debit card.
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15. A method for purchasing goods or services at one or more merchant purchasing locations having a value carrier reader using a value card, comprising:
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providing a value carrier to the customer usable at one or more merchant purchasing locations to purchase goods or services of the merchant; adding monetary value to the value carrier using the customer'"'"'s credit card, debit card, or other currency, the monetary value added to the value carrier being less than the sales price charged to the customer; and upon the customer'"'"'s use of the value carrier to purchase goods or services at one or more of the merchant purchasing locations, providing one or more incentives, benefits, prizes, bonuses, or discounts on goods or services or providing or one or more chances to win incentives, benefits, prizes, bonuses, discounts on goods or services to the customer using at least a portion of the difference between the sales price and the monetary value. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification