Determining the availability of purchasable items in a network environment

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide for a method, system and article of manufacture for operating vending machines. In general, a plurality of vending machines are nodes of a network. Each node is configured to send, receive and process signals carrying inventory, pricing, reservation and/or refund information. In particular, a first signal is sent to one or more nodes requesting inventory/price information from other nodes. Those nodes carrying the product may reply with a second signal. In this manner, the location of vending machines carrying one or more items specified by a customer may be determined. In another embodiment, vending machine items may be reserved from a remote location. In still another embodiment, vending machines may be configured to provide refunds under controlled conditions. A consumer may request a refund in cases where the consumer was improperly charged for goods are services that were not provided.

1 . A method of requesting a refund for a purchase order of a vending machine item, comprising: 
 receiving, at a vending machine, a payment amount for the vending machine item;    receiving an electronic refund request for at least a portion of the payment amount; and    determining whether to refund the portion.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether to refund the portion comprises: 
 transmitting by the vending machine via a network connection with a network of vending machines, a request for the item at another vending machine in the network of vending machines; and    receiving, at the vending machine, a response indicative of whether the item is available at at least one other vending machine;    if the item is available at at least one other vending machine, providing an option to a refund requestor to retrieve the item at the at least one other vending machine.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic refund request is received at the vending machine.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic refund request is received at a refund processing computer networked to the vending machine.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising refunding the portion of the payment amount.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether to refund the portion comprises determining whether a requestor of the refund is a repeat customer.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining whether to refund the portion comprises determining whether a requestor of the refund has previously requested a vending machine refund within a predetermined time period.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising receiving, at the vending machine, the purchase order for the vending machine item.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising refunding the portion if customer information stored in a database satisfies refund conditions.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the refund conditions comprise a threshold number of purchases made by a requester of the refund.  
   
   
       11 . A method for deploying computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a method of requesting a refund for a purchase order of a vending machine item, comprising: 
 receiving, at a vending machine, a payment amount for the vending machine item;    receiving an electronic refund request for at least a portion of the payment amount; and    determining whether to refund the portion.