Payment service

Abstract

A method and system to offer a payment service to a consumer user. The system receives a check-out request from the consumer user of an electronic storefront. The check-out request is for purchase one or more products from the electronic storefront. The system determines whether to offer a payment service to the consumer user by identifying whether the consumer user is authorized to use the payment service to make purchases from the electronic storefront. Finally, the system serves a web-based check-out interface to a client used by the consumer user. The check-out interface includes an offer to the consumer user to use the payment service. Specifically, the offer includes an option to enable the consumer user to make payment for the one or more products via the payment service.

1 . A method to offer a payment service to a consumer user, the method comprising:
 receiving a check-out request from the consumer user of an electronic storefront to purchase one or more products from the electronic storefront;   determining whether to offer the payment service to the consumer user based on whether the consumer user is authorized to use the payment service to make purchases from the electronic storefront; and   serving a web-based check-out interface to a client used by the consumer user, the check-out interface including the offer to the consumer user to use the payment service, and the offer including an option to enable the consumer user to make payment for the one or more products via the payment service.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 sending a service cookie from the payment service to the client, the cookie containing information to identify the consumer user;   passing the service cookie via the client to the payment service in response to a prompt from the electronic storefront; and   identifying the consumer user via the service cookie.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising authenticating the electronic storefront with the payment service. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising comparing a merchant identifier (ID) with user profile information to authenticate the storefront. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the merchant ID is provided to the payment service via a uniform resource locator (URL). 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , providing an application program interface (API) to the electronic storefront. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising serving a web-based check-out interface to the client that does not offer the payment service to the consumer user. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the determining whether to offer the payment service to the consumer user is transparent to the consumer user. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising embedding a return URL within a URL used to redirect the browser to the payment service, the return URL is utilized to redirect the browser to the web-based checkout interface. 
     
     
         10 . A system to offer a payment service to a consumer user, the system comprising:
 a merchant server to host the electronic storefront, the electronic storefront to receive a check-out request from the consumer user, the check-out request to purchase of one or more products from the electronic storefront; and   a payment service server to host a payment service, the payment service server to determine whether to offer the payment service to the consumer user, the payment service server to determine whether the consumer user is authorized to use the payment service to make purchases from the electronic storefront, the merchant server to serve a web-based check-out interface to a client used by the consumer user, the check-out interface includes the offer to the consumer user to use the payment service, and the offer includes an option to enable the consumer user to make payment for the one or more products via the payment service.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the payment service server is to send a service cookie to the client, the cookie to contain information to identify the consumer user, wherein the client passes the service cookie to the payment service in response to a prompt from the merchant server, wherein the payment server is to identify the consumer user via the service cookie. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the payment service server is to authenticate the electronic storefront. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the payment service server is to compare a merchant identifier (ID) with user profile information to authenticate the storefront. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the merchant ID is provided to the payment service via a uniform resource locator (URL). 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the payment server provides an application program interface (API) to the electronic storefront. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the merchant server is to serve a web-based check-out interface to the client that does not offer the payment service to the consumer user. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the payment server determines whether to offer the payment service to the consumer user is performed transparent to the consumer user. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the payment server is to embed a return URL within a URL used to redirect the browser to the payment server, wherein the return URL is utilized to redirect the browser to the web-based checkout interface. 
     
     
         19 . A machine readable medium to provide instructions which, when executed, cause operations to be performed, the operations including:
 receiving a check-out request from a consumer user of an electronic storefront to purchase one or more products from the electronic storefront;   determining whether to offer a payment service to the consumer user based on whether the consumer user is authorized to use the payment service to make purchases from the electronic storefront; and   serving a web-based check-out interface to a client used by the consumer user, the check-out interface including the offer to the consumer user to use the payment service, and the offer including an option to enable the consumer user to make payment for the one or more products via the payment service.   
     
     
         20 . A system to offer a payment service to a consumer user, the system comprising:
 a first means for hosting the electronic storefront, the electronic storefront to receive a check-out request from the consumer user, the check-out request to purchase of one or more products from the electronic storefront;   a payment service server to host a payment service, the payment service to determine whether to offer the payment service to the consumer user, the payment service to identify whether the consumer user is authorized to use the payment service to make purchases from the electronic storefront, the merchant server to serve a web-based check-out interface to a client used by the consumer user, the check-out interface including the offer to the consumer user to use the payment service, and the offer including an option to enable the consumer user to make payment for the one or more products via the payment service.