Method and system for secure electronic transactions

Abstract

Micro-payments for electronic sales transactions are securely and anonymously enabled by a central payment agent maintaining declining balance accounts for users and separately authenticating and authorizing customer and vendor transaction requests and payment upon confirmation of delivery. No personal billing information for the customer need be provided to the vendor, maintaining anonymity of the vendor. The vendor may electively set a pricing and terms policy allowing the price of the goods or services to dynamically vary across a series of transactions or transaction portions based on events such as quantity, bandwidth, or aggregate amount paid. A transaction may involve goods or services from multiple vendors in an apparent single transaction, with payment resolved among all participating vendors.

1 . A method of processing a plurality of electronic transactions, comprising:
 receiving, at a payment processor via a telecommunication network, a buyer request relating to the electronic transactions, the buyer request including identification of a buyer and a list of items the buyer is interested in purchasing from a plurality of online sellers;   receiving, at the payment processor via the telecommunication network, a plurality of seller requests relating to the electronic transactions, the seller requests including identification of the sellers of the items buyer is interested in purchasing, wherein the sellers do not receive the buyer's personal information including the buyer's financial information;   verifying, at the payment processor, the electronic transactions by analyzing the buyer and the seller requests; and   processing, upon verification by the payment processor, the electronic transactions by charging a buyer account at the payment processor and paying the sellers for the items.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the electronic transactions by authenticating the identification of the buyer. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the electronic transactions by verifying buyer has adequate funds at the buyer account for the purchase of the items. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the electronic transactions by verifying the identity of the sellers of the items. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications network is the Internet. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the payment processor charges the buyer account at the payment processor based on the purchase price of the items set by the sellers. 
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the seller requests are generated responsive to the buyer's interests in purchasing the items. 
     
     
         8 . A method of processing a plurality of electronic transactions, comprising:
 receiving, at a payment processor via the Internet, a buyer request relating to the electronic transactions, the buyer request including identification of a buyer and a list of items buyer is interested in purchasing from a plurality of online sellers;   receiving, at the payment processor via the Internet, a plurality of seller requests relating to the electronic transactions, the seller requests including identification of the sellers of the items buyer is interested in purchasing, wherein the sellers do not receive the buyer's personal information including the buyer's financial information;   verifying, at the payment processor, the electronic transactions by verifying the identity of the buyer, the sellers, the list of items and verifying that the buyer has adequate funds at a buyer account at the payment processor for the purchase of the items; and   processing, upon verification, the electronic transactions by charging the buyer account and paying the sellers of the items.   
     
     
         9 . A method of processing a plurality of electronic transactions, comprising:
 receiving, at a payment processor via the Internet, a buyer request relating to the electronic transactions, the buyer request including identification of a buyer and a list of items the buyer is interested in purchasing from a plurality of online sellers;   receiving, at the payment processor via the Internet, a plurality of seller requests relating to the electronic transactions, the seller requests including identification of the sellers of the items, wherein the sellers do not receive the buyer's personal information including the buyer's financial information;   verifying, at the payment processor, the electronic transactions by analyzing the buyer and the seller requests;   determining, at the payment processor, the purchase price to be charged for the items based on rules set by the sellers of the items; and   processing, upon verification by the payment processor, the electronic transactions by charging a buyer account at the payment processor and paying the sellers of the items according to the rules.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising verifying, at the payment processor, the electronic transactions by verifying the identity of the buyer, the sellers, the list of items and verifying that the buyer has adequate funds at the buyer account for the purchase of the items. 
     
     
         11 . A system for processing a plurality of electronic transactions, comprising:
 a payment processor connected to a communications network; a buyer request received at the payment processor via the communications network, the buyer request relating to the electronic transactions, the buyer request including identification of a buyer and a list of items the buyer is interested in purchasing from a plurality of online sellers;   a plurality of seller requests received at the payment processor via the telecommunications network, the plurality of seller requests relating to the electronic transactions, the seller requests generated responsive to the buyer's interest in purchasing the list of items, the seller requests including identification of the sellers of the items buyer is interested in purchasing, wherein the sellers do not receive the buyer's personal information including the buyer's financial information; and   wherein the payment processor verifies the electronic transactions by analyzing the buyer and the seller requests, and upon verification the electronic transactions are processed.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the payment processor charges a buyer account at the payment processor and pays the sellers of the items. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the payment processor verifies the electronic transactions by authenticating the identification of the buyer. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the payment processor verifies the electronic transactions by verifying buyer has adequate funds at the buyer account for the purchase of the items.