Method and apparatus for vending products

Abstract

A method and apparatus is disclosed for advancing the sale of vending machine products. The invention enables selling products without revealing the identity of the product. By concealing the identity of the products from a consumer prior to receiving payment, the present invention promotes the automated sale of perishable, slow-selling and/or less profitable products, to increase the overall profitability of a vending machine. Various embodiments are disclosed, including: predetermined price embodiments in which a vending machine sells one or more mystery products for a predetermined price; consumer-specified price embodiments in which a consumer is allowed to specify a price for one or more mystery products; and upsell embodiments in which a vending machine offers one or more upsell mystery products in exchange for the amount of change owed to a consumer, or in exchange for an amount of change owed to a consumer plus an additional monetary value.

1 . A method for selling a product from a vending machine, the product identity being concealed at the time of offer, the method comprising: 
 maintaining a database of product data, including normal price data and minimum acceptable price data for each of a plurality of products;    identifying a monetary value available for purchasing a product;    selecting a product from among the plurality of products based on the monetary value and the minimum acceptable price data;    outputting via an output device an offer of the product to a consumer;    determining whether the consumer accepts the offer; and    dispensing the product if the consumer accepts the product, thereby revealing the identity of the product to the consumer.