FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to computing systems, and more particularly, to providing payment options that do not require integration with an online shop.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

Online purchasing of goods and services continues to grow, and a large percentage of goods and services are now purchased through online sources. While online purchasing is convenient, a user is typically limited to payment options provided by the online shop via a payment service that is integrated with the online shop.

The proliferation of various means and methods for transferring currency has increased in recent years. Because retailers typically enter into agreements with only a finite number of payment services, a user may not always have the option to make a purchase using a payment service of their preference.

Accordingly, a need exists for a system and method providing users with an option to make purchases through a payment service that is not integrated with the retailer from which they are purchasing. A need also exists for a system and method adapted for selecting from one or more non-integrated payment services based on offers provided by various payment services.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a system and method for providing a non-integrated payment service for an online shop or other retailer. One embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method wherein a purchase detector can be configured for detecting that a purchase has been initiated at the online shop. A risk assessor may be adapted for performing a risk evaluation of the user by determining and analyzing one or more risk factors associated with the user. A determination may be made if one or more of a plurality of non-integrated payment services is available. The results of the risk evaluation may be forwarded to the plurality of non-integrated payment services. At least one of the of non-integrated payment services may be configured for determining terms of an offer based, at least in part, on the results of the risk evaluation. Offers from one or more of the non-integrated payment services may be received and evaluated.

One of the non-integrated payment services made be selected from the plurality of non-integrated payment services. The non-integrated payment service may be selected by one or more processors or applications executed thereon. The selection of the non-integrated payment service can be based, at least in part, on the terms of the offer. Alternatively, the non-integrated payment service may be selected by the user. A user account may be created or logged into on behalf of the user. A detection of items in a first shopping cart associated with the online shop or other retailer may be undertaken. The items from the first shopping cart can be added to a second shopping cart that is associated with a backend server, for example. The addition of the items from the first shopping cart into the second shopping cart may be achieved by copying the items from the first shopping cart into the second shopping cart. In other embodiments, the addition of the items into the second shopping cart may be achieved by accessing a web page for each of the items in the first shopping cart and autonomously clicking to have the respective items added to the second shopping cart. In a further embodiment, the addition of the items into the second shopping cart may be achieved by accessing a uniform resource locator (URL) associated with the first shopping cart and copying the URL into the second shopping cart.

The items in the second shopping cart associated with the user account can then be purchased. The items in the second shopping cart may be paid for utilizing a virtual payment device associated with the selected non-integrated payment service. The virtual payment device can be a virtual credit card and may be supplied by the selected non-integrated payment service.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising computer executable instructions that when executed are configured for providing a non-integrated payment service for an online shop or other retailer. In one embodiment, the computer executable instructions cause one or more processors to undertake one or more steps of the method generally described above.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a system that includes one or more processors and a non-transitory machine-readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon adapted for providing a non-integrated payment service for making purchases as generally described above.

