Method and system for transferring money in business-to-business internet transactions

• US 7,516,100 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2000
• Issued: 04/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Western Union
• Original Assignee: Western Union
• Inventors: Anuszewski, William E., Portillo, Humberto C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamilton; Lalita M.
• Application Number:
  US09/570,245
• Time in Patent Office: 3,252 Days
• Field of Search: 705/39, 705/35
• US Class Current: 705/39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03

Abstract

A method for enabling two businesses to complete a transaction that includes payment from one business (the buyer) to another business (the seller). A payment enabler operates the money transfer service over a computer network of nodes, such as the Internet. Typically, the buyer and the seller use the money transfer service of the payment enabler to consummate a transaction that they have arranged over the computer network through a business-to-business transaction facilitator that enables businesses to arrange deals over the computer network. During registration with the payment enabler, a buyer typically provides information about a bank account from which the seller will be paid, and the seller typically provides information about a bank account for receiving the funds from the buyer. The payment enabler facilitates payments for transactions between businesses by enabling the employees of a business registered with the payment enabler to direct the various phases of the payment process on behalf of the business for which those employees work. A super user employee, identified by the business during registration with the payment enabler, has the power to register other employees of the business with the payment enabler and to specify the privileges that the payment enabler should grant each employee to act on behalf of the business.

Claims

1. In an online commerce system including a buyer computer associated with a buyer, a seller computer associated with a seller, a data communications network for connecting the buyer computer and the seller computer for an electronic commercial transaction, and a payment enabling system including a payment enabler server connected for electronic communications with the seller computer and the buyer computer via the network, a method for effecting a payment from a buyer to a seller in connection with a transaction using the payment enabling system, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(1) prior to a specific transaction between the buyer and the seller, effecting a registration process comprising the steps of;

at the payment enabler server, receiving seller registration information input by a seller representative via the seller computer and communicated to the payment enabler server via the data communication network, the seller registration information including identification information corresponding to an identified super user employee of the seller and seller account information identifying a seller account associated with a seller financial institution into which a payment from the buyer will be deposited;

storing the seller registration information in a database associated with the payment enabler server;

at the payment enabler server, receiving additional seller registration information input by the identified super user employee of the seller, the additional seller registration information including identification information corresponding to other identified employees of the seller and seller transaction privilege information corresponding to transaction privileges granted to such other identified employees of the seller;

storing the additional seller registration information in the database associated with the payment enabler server;

at the payment enabler server, receiving buyer registration information input by a buyer representative via the buyer computer and communicated to the payment enabler server via the data communications network, the buyer registration information including identification information corresponding to an identified super user employee of the buyer and buyer account information identifying a buyer account associated with a buyer financial institution from which a payment from the buyer will be drawn;

storing the buyer registration information in the database associated with the payment enabler server;

at the payment enabler server, receiving additional buyer registration information input by the identified super user employee of the buyer, the additional buyer registration information including identification information corresponding to other identified employees of the buyer and buyer transaction privilege information corresponding to transaction privileges granted to such other identified employees of the buyer;

storing the additional buyer registration information in the database associated with the payment enabler server;

(2) subsequent to the foregoing registration process, effecting a payment from the buyer to the seller with a payment process comprising the steps of;

at the payment enabler server, receiving transaction details information corresponding to a proposed transaction between the buyer and the seller involving a particular transaction amount;

at the payment enabler server, receiving transaction information input by a person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer;

at the payment enabler server, retrieving buyer transaction privilege information from the database to determine whether the person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer is a buyer authorized person possessing transition privileges proper to act on behalf of the buyer;

at the payment enabler server, in response to a determination that the person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer is a buyer authorized person possessing proper privileges, receiving payment authorization information from the buyer authorized person;

at the payment enabler server, in response to the payment authorization information input by the buyer authorized person, effecting a debit to the buyer account in an amount corresponding to at least the transaction amount and depositing the amount into a second account; and

at the payment enabler server, effecting a transfer of funds from the second account to the seller account.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction privilege granted to identified employees of the buyer are selected from the group comprising the following:

inquiring about the status of a transaction, informing the payment enabler server about transaction details, confirming the correctness of transaction details, authorizing payment, and authorizing payment up to a specified limit.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction privileges granted to identified employees of the seller are selected from the group comprising the following and their equivalents:

inquiring about the status of a transaction, authorizing the receipt of funds, and authorizing the receipt of funds into a bank account of the seller.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the seller account is a bank account associated with a bank that is the seller financial institution.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the buyer account is a bank account associated with a bank that is the buyer financial institution.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications between the payment enabler server, the buyer computer, and the seller computer are effected via a secure connection.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of investigating input seller registration information prior to carrying out further steps of the method.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of investigating seller registration information comprises verifying that the seller representative has authority to act on behalf of the seller, or verifying the legitimacy of the seller.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step of determining the ability to directly credit the seller account through direct deposit from a bank account associated with the payment enabler.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of underwriting the buyer based on the input buyer registration information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of investigating input buyer registration information prior to carrying out further steps of the method.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of investigating the buyer registration information comprises verifying that the buyer representative has authority to act on behalf of the buyer or verifying the legitimacy of the buyer.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the seller representative and the identified super user employee of the seller are the same person.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the buyer representative and the identified super user employee of the buyer are the same person.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the transaction information input by a person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer is a first person associated with the buyer, and further comprising the step of receiving information at the payment enabler server confirming the transaction details information from a second person associated with the buyer, the second person possessing buyer transaction privilege information proper to confirm a transaction on behalf of the buyer.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of receiving information at the payment enabler server authorizing the buyer payment from a third person associated with the buyer, the third person possessing buyer transaction privilege information proper to authorize payment on behalf of the buyer.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of determining whether the transaction amount is within a predetermined dollar limit granted to the buyer authorized person, prior to the step of effecting the debit to the buyer account.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving information at the payment enabler server from the buyer authorized person for selecting one of a plurality of settlement options offered by the payment enabler server.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining that the buyer and the seller are located in different countries such that foreign exchange risk is involved in the transaction, and further comprising the step wherein the payment enabling system assumes the risk of foreign exchange.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of notifying the buyer and the seller that the transaction has been authorized for payment in response to the payment authorization information.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of depositing the transaction amount into a second account comprises depositing the amount into an account associated with the payment enabling system.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the payment enabling system effects a charge for enabling the payment by charging a transaction fee from the funds involved in the transfer.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

at the payment enabler server, receiving information input by a person purporting to act on behalf of the seller;

at the payment enabler server, retrieving seller transaction privilege information from the database to determine whether the person purporting to act on behalf of the seller is a seller authorized person possessing transaction privileges proper to act on behalf of the seller;

at the payment enabler server, in response to a determination that the person purporting to act on behalf of the seller is a seller authorized person, receiving payment receipt information from the seller authorized person;

at the payment enabler server, in response to the payment receipt information input by the seller authorized person, authorizing receipt of funds from the second account to the seller account.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the online commerce system includes a transaction facilitator operative as an intermediary for a transaction between the buyer and the seller.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the transaction facilitator and the payment enabler server are integrated as a single server.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the transaction facilitator and the payment enabler server are separate servers operated by different entities.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the transaction facilitator and the payment enabler server are unintegrated.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the transaction facilitator and the payment enabler server are loosely integrated.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the transaction facilitator and the payment enabler server are tightly integrated.

30. For use in an online commerce system including a buyer computer associated with a buyer, a seller computer associated with a seller, and a data communications network for connecting the buyer computer and the seller computer for an electronic commercial transaction, a payment enabling system, comprising:

a payment enabler server connected for electronic communications with the seller computer and the buyer computer via the network; and

a database for storing buyer registration information, seller registration information, employee identification information including privilege information corresponding to transaction privileges assigned to employees of the buyer and of the seller;

seller account information, buyer account information, and transaction information;

the payment enabler server operative for effecting a payment from the buyer to the seller in connection with a transaction by the computer implemented steps of;

(1) prior to a specific transaction between the buyer and the seller, effecting a registration process by;

receiving seller resignation information input by a seller representative via the seller computer and communicated to the payment enabler server via the data communications network, the seller registration information including identification information corresponding to an identified super user employee of the seller and seller account information identifying a seller account associated with a seller financial institution into which a payment from the buyer will be deposited;

storing the seller registration information in the database;

receiving additional seller registration information input by the identified super user employee of the seller, the additional seller registration information including identification information corresponding to other identified employees of the seller and seller transaction privilege information corresponding to transaction privileges granted to such other identified employees of the seller;

storing the additional seller registration information in the database;

receiving buyer registration information input by a buyer representative via the buyer computer and communicated to the payment enabler server via the data communications network, the buyer registration information including identification information corresponding to an identified super user employee of the buyer and buyer account information identifying a buyer account associated with a buyer financial institution from which a payment from the buyer will be drawn;

storing the buyer registration information in the database;

receiving additional buyer registration information input by the identified super user employee of the buyer, the additional buyer registration information including identified information corresponding to other identified employees of the buyer and buyer transaction privilege information corresponding to transaction privileges granted to such other identified employees of the buyer;

storing the additional buyer registration information in the database;

(2) subsequent to the foregoing resignation process, and in response to receipt of transaction information, effecting a payment from the buyer to the seller by;

receiving transaction details information corresponding to a proposed transaction between the buyer and the seller involving a particular transaction amount;

receiving transaction information input by a person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer;

retrieving buyer transaction privilege information from the database to determine whether the person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer is a buyer authorized person possessing transaction privileges proper to act on behalf of the buyer;

in response to a determination that the person purporting to act on behalf of the buyer is a buyer authorized person, receiving payment authorization information from the buyer authorized person;

in response to the payment authorization information input by the buyer authorized person, effecting a debit to the buyer account in an amount corresponding to at least the transaction amount and depositing the amount into a second account; and

effecting a transfer of funds from the second account to the seller account.