PAYMENT SYSTEM TO FACILITATE TRANSACTIONS
Disclosed herein are systems and method for facilitating transactions between a merchant-partner and a customer. In general, the systems and methods include: (a) staging a transaction between the merchant-partner and the customer; (b) tokenizing the transaction by linking one or more transaction instructions to a token ID; (c) providing the customer with the token ID, wherein the customer can then present the token ID and a payment to a point-of-sale terminal; (d) receiving confirmation that the customer has presented, to a point-of-sale terminal, the token ID and a payment in accordance with the one or more transaction instructions; (e) notifying the merchant-partner that the customer provided the payment to the point-of-sale terminal; and (f) settling the transaction between the point-of-sale terminal and the merchant-partner.
1 . A computer-implemented method for facilitating a transaction between a merchant-partner and an end-user, the method comprising:
(a) staging a transaction on a database by creating a database entry linking one or more transaction instructions to an end-user;
(b) tokenizing the transaction by linking the database entry to a token ID;
(c) providing the end-user with the token ID, wherein the token ID is provided to the end-user in a form selected from the group consisting of: a printout slip, a transaction card, a printed barcode, a pin number, a near-field communication chip, a mobile device prompt, a mobile device barcode, and any combination thereof;
(d) providing a point-of-sale terminal with an application program interface such that the point-of-sale terminal can confirm that the end-user has presented the token ID and provided a payment to the point-of-sale terminal.
(e) receiving confirmation that the end-user has presented, to a point-of-sale terminal, the token ID and the payment;
(f) verifying whether the payment is in accordance with the one or more transaction instructions; and
(g) notifying a merchant-partner that the end-user provided the payment.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
settling the transaction between the point-of-sale terminal and the merchant-partner.
3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
contacting the merchant-partner to confirm the validity of the staged transaction.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
contacting the point-of-sale terminal to reconfirm the validity of the staged transaction.
5 . A computer-implemented method for facilitating a transaction between a merchant-partner and an end-user, the method comprising:
(a) staging a transaction on a database by creating a database entry linking one or more transaction instructions to an end-user;
(b) tokenizing the transaction by linking the database entry to a token ID;
(c) providing the end-user with the token ID;
(d) receiving confirmation that the end-user has presented, to a point-of-sale terminal, the token ID and a payment;
(e) verifying whether the payment is in accordance with the one or more transaction instructions; and
(f) notifying a merchant-partner that the end-user provided the payment.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein step (a) further comprises:
providing the end-user with a checkout interface.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein step (a) further comprises:
linking the database entry to an end-user account maintained by the merchant-partner.
8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein step (a) further comprises:
linking the database entry to a merchant-partner transaction ID.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein step (b) further comprises:
linking the token ID to the merchant-partner transaction ID.
10 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the token ID is provided to the end-user via the merchant-partner.
11 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the token ID is provided to the end-user via the point-of-sale terminal.
12 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the token ID is provided to the end-user in a form selected from the group consisting of: a printout slip, a transaction card, a printed barcode, a pin number, a near-field communication chip, a mobile device prompt, a mobile device barcode, and any combination thereof.
13 . The method of claim 5 , wherein step (d) further comprises:
providing the point-of-sale terminal with an application program interface such that the point-of-sale terminal can confirm that the end-user has presented the token ID and provided the payment to the point-of-sale terminal.
14 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
settling the transaction between the point-of-sale terminal and the merchant-partner.
15 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
contacting the merchant-partner to confirm the validity of the staged transaction.
16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
contacting the point-of-sale terminal to reconfirm the validity of the staged transaction.
17 . A computer-readable storage medium, comprising:
instructions executable by at least one processing device that, when executed, cause the processing device to
(a) stage a transaction on a database by creating a database entry linking one or more transaction instructions to an end-user;
(b) tokenize the transaction by linking the database entry to a token ID;
(c) provide the end-user with the token ID;
(d) receive confirmation that the end-user has presented, to a point-of-sale terminal, the token ID and a payment;
(e) verify whether the payment is in accordance with the one or more transaction instructions; and
(f) notify a merchant-partner that the end-user provided the payment.
18 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
instructions executable by at least one processing device that, when executed, cause the processing device to settle the transaction between the point-of-sale terminal and the merchant-partner.
19 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , further comprising:
instructions executable by at least one processing device that, when executed, cause the processing device to contact the merchant-partner to confirm the validity of the staged transaction.
20 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19 , further comprising:
instructions executable by at least one processing device that, when executed, cause the processing device to contact the point-of-sale terminal to reconfirm the validity of the staged transaction.