When a customer purchases goods or services from a retailer or other merchant, the merchant often presents the customer with a plurality of payment options. Such options may include, for example, payment by credit card, debit card, cash, check, electronic check, ACH (Automated Clearing House), loyalty card or system, EMV, house or local account or card, I.O.U., mobile device, and pay later system. Each payment option has a different cost associated with it that the merchant must bear if the merchant accepts the payment option. For example, for credit card transactions, the merchant must often pay the credit card processor a fixed percentage of the total purchase price and/or a flat fee in order to process payment using the customer's credit card. For purchase of gasoline using a credit card at the pump, the merchant must often pay a fixed-fee per gallon. As another example, an ACH transaction will have an associated cost with it that must be born by the merchant (and/or passed along to the merchant's customer). Even acceptance of cash by a merchant entails a certain cost, such as the costs to secure the currency, count and sort the currency, transport the currency to the bank, loss due to theft by employees or others, and buying charges.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds