Method and apparatus for providing electronic refunds in an online payment system
First Claim
1. A method for facilitating electronic refunds in an online commercial transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
- A) establishing communication over a network between a payment computer and a buyer computer, the payment computer having a vault with buyer funds therein and a refund account for a buyer that tracks the refund activity of the buyer;
B) receiving at the payment computer a plurality of requests from the buyer computer to purchase items, each of the plurality of requests being associated with a corresponding one of the items;
C) accepting the plurality of requests to purchase items and debiting the vault to account for costs related to all of the items;
D) receiving at the payment computer from the buyer computer a buyer selected request to refund the cost of at least one of the corresponding ones of the items; and
E) upon receipt of the request to refund, the payment computer accounting for the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items in the refund account and crediting the vault with the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items thereby effectuating a refund to the buyer.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method to facilitate electronic refunds in an online commercial transaction by establishing communication over a network between a payment computer and a buyer computer includes creating at the payment computer a vault and a refund account for a buyer; receiving at the payment computer a plurality of requests from the buyer computer to purchase items, each of the plurality of requests being associated with a corresponding one of the items; accepting the plurality of requests to purchase items and debiting the vault to account for all costs related to the items; receiving at the payment computer from the buyer computer a buyer selected request to refund the cost of at least one of the corresponding ones of the items; and upon receipt of the request to refund, the payment computer accounts for the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items in the refund account and credits the vault with the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items thereby effectuating a refund to the buyer.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method for facilitating electronic refunds in an online commercial transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
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A) establishing communication over a network between a payment computer and a buyer computer, the payment computer having a vault with buyer funds therein and a refund account for a buyer that tracks the refund activity of the buyer; B) receiving at the payment computer a plurality of requests from the buyer computer to purchase items, each of the plurality of requests being associated with a corresponding one of the items; C) accepting the plurality of requests to purchase items and debiting the vault to account for costs related to all of the items; D) receiving at the payment computer from the buyer computer a buyer selected request to refund the cost of at least one of the corresponding ones of the items; and E) upon receipt of the request to refund, the payment computer accounting for the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items in the refund account and crediting the vault with the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items thereby effectuating a refund to the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for facilitating electronic refunds in an online commercial transaction, the method comprising the steps of:
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A) receiving at a payment computer a plurality of requests from the buyer computer to purchase items, each of the plurality of requests being associated with a corresponding one of the items, the payment computer including a vault having buyer funds therein and a refund account for a buyer that tracks the refund activity of the buyer; B) accepting the plurality of requests to purchase items and debiting the vault to account for costs related to all of the items; C) receiving at the payment computer from the buyer computer a buyer selected request to refund the cost of at least one of the corresponding ones of the items; and D) upon receipt of the request to refund, the payment computer accounting for the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items in the refund account and crediting the vault with the cost of the at least one of the corresponding ones of the items thereby effectuating a refund to the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification