Method and system for delayed payment of prepaid cards

Abstract

Methods and systems provide prepaid cards. The method includes, responsive to receiving a delayed payment at a purchase terminal, providing a prepaid card to a purchaser, the prepaid card redeemable for a consideration by a card recipient. The method includes processing the delayed payment. The method includes, responsive to an expiration of a predetermined amount of time, determine if a balance remains on the prepaid card. The method includes refunding a remaining balance.

1 . A method for providing a prepaid card, comprising:
 responsive to receiving a delayed payment at a purchase terminal, providing a prepaid card to a purchaser, the prepaid card redeemable for a consideration by a card recipient;   processing the delayed payment;   responsive to an expiration of a predetermined amount of time, determine if a balance remains on the prepaid card;   refunding a remaining balance to the purchaser.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delayed payment is processed by being charged to a checking account or a credit card. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the consideration is a product or a service. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delayed payment includes a value of the consideration and a service charge. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein multiple prepaid cards are packaged together for sale as gifts for gifting to multiple gift recipients. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving a purchaser request over a network, displaying a status of the prepaid card.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the remaining balance is a prorated portion of the delayed payment dependent on a number of redemptions of the prepaid card. 
     
     
         8 . A method for registering a domain name, comprising:
 providing a prepaid card to a purchaser in exchange for a delayed payment, the prepaid card further provided to a card recipient and redeemable for a domain name registration;   responsive to an indication of redemption of the prepaid card by the card recipient, initiating a domain name registration process, the registration process including,
 receiving a prepaid card identifier and a requested domain name from the card recipient, 
 verifying an availability of the requested domain name, 
 receiving registration approval from the purchaser, 
 registering the requested domain name; 
   processing the delayed payment after the domain name has been registered.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the registration process further includes receiving domain name registration information. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the requested domain name and domain name registration information are forwarded to a domain name registrar for registration. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 offering at least one of: a hosting service and a website design service to the card recipient after registering the requested domain name.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein multiple prepaid cards are packaged together for sale as gifts for gifting to multiple card recipients. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving a purchaser request over a network, displaying a status of the prepaid card.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein a portion of the delayed payment is refunded to the purchaser if the prepaid card is not redeemed within a predetermined time. 
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable medium including instructions adapted to execute a method for providing a prepaid card, the method comprising:
 responsive to receiving a delayed payment at a purchase terminal, providing a prepaid card to a purchaser, the prepaid card redeemable for a consideration by a card recipient;   processing the delayed payment;   responsive to an expiration of a predetermined amount of time, determine if a balance remains on the prepaid card;   refunding a remaining balance.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein account charged is a checking account or a credit card. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the consideration is a product or a service. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the delayed payment includes a value of the consideration and a service charge. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein multiple prepaid cards are packaged together for sale as gifts for gifting to multiple gift recipients. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 responsive to receiving a purchaser request over a network, displaying a status of the prepaid card.