System and method for providing an insurance premium for price protection

1. A method for providing insurance for commodity purchasing, comprising:

creating, at an insurance system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor, an insurance strike price matrix corresponding to a commodity, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

providing the insurance strike price matrix over a network to a price protection system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor and coupled to the insurance system via the network, wherein the price protection system is configured to: analyze, one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium, offer a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the commodity and specifies a lock price and an associated locale and obtain a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer; and

indemnifying an operator of the price protection system for a purchase of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.

3. A method for providing price protection for commodity purchasing, comprising:

receiving via a network, from an insurance system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor, by a price protection system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor, an insurance strike price matrix corresponding to a commodity, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

analyzing, by the price protection system, one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium;

offering, by the price protection system, a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the commodity and specifies a lock price and an associated locale and obtain a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer;

obtaining a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer, wherein an operator of the price protection system is indemnified by the insurance system for a purchase of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

providing, via the network, a set of interfaces to the consumer; and

receiving, from the consumer, a set of inputs regarding desired price protection; and

determining a price protection product for the consumer utilizing the received set of inputs.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein providing the set of interfaces to the consumer includes presenting the consumer with a price protection product specifying at least one lock price, quantity, locale, fuel grade or time period.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein providing the set of interfaces to the consumer includes presenting a plurality of locales.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium carrying program instructions executable by a processor to:

create an insurance strike price matrix corresponding to a commodity, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

provide the insurance strike price matrix via a network to a price protection system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium coupled to the network, wherein the price protection system is configured to: analyze one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium, offer a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the commodity and specifies a lock price and an associated locale, and obtain a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer; and

indemnify an operator of the price protection system for a purchase of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium carrying program instructions executable by a processor to:

receive from an insurance system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor via a network, an insurance strike price matrix corresponding to a commodity, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

analyze one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium;

offer a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the commodity and specifies a lock price and an associated locale;

obtain a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer, wherein an operator of a price protection system is indemnified by the insurance system for purchases of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to:

provide, via the network, a set of interfaces to the consumer; and

receive, from the consumer, a set of inputs regarding desired price protection; and

determine a price protection product for the consumer, utilizing the received set of inputs.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein providing the set of interfaces to the consumer includes presenting the consumer with a price protection product specifying at least one insurance strike price, quantity, locale, fuel grade or time period.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein providing the set of interfaces to the consumer includes presenting a plurality of locales.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.

15. An insurance system, comprising:

one or more computing devices each having a processor and coupled to a network; and

a non-transitory computer-readable media storing a set of computer instructions executable by the processor to perform:

creating an insurance strike price matrix corresponding to a commodity, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

providing the insurance strike price matrix over the network to a price protection system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor and coupled to the insurance system via the network, wherein the price protection system is configured to:

analyze one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium, offer a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the indemnifying an operator of the price protection system for a purchase of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

16. The insurance system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.

17. A price protection system, comprising:

one or more computing devices each having a processor and coupled to a network; and

a non-transitory computer-readable media storing a set of computer instructions executable by the processor to perform:

receiving an insurance strike price matrix over the network from an insurance system comprising one or more computing devices having a processor and coupled to the price protection system via the network, wherein the insurance strike price matrix comprises a set of insurance strike prices, wherein each insurance strike price is associated with an insurance premium and a locale;

analyzing one or more factors to determine a financial risk associated with at least one insurance strike price and associated insurance premium;

offering a price protection product to a consumer via the network, wherein the price protection product is for the commodity and specifies a lock price and an associated locale; and

obtaining a payment associated with the price protection product from the consumer, wherein an operator of the price protection system is indemnified by the insurance system for purchases of the commodity made by the consumer, wherein the indemnification for each purchase is made based on the locale associated with the purchase and the insurance strike price associated with the locale.

18. The price protection system of claim 17 , wherein the one or more factors include information relating to the consumer and information relating to retail locations within the locale.