Methods and apparatus for unified inventory and financial transaction management

1. A system for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, the system comprising:

one or more computers configured to implement by executing instructions on one or more processors, a transaction-related communication system, wherein the transaction-related communication system comprises:

one or more receiving modules configured for:

receiving a first item of financial transaction information, and

receiving a second item of financial transaction information from a point-of-sale interface operating in a merchant-facing client application,

a point of sale server operating in an electronic commerce management provider, the point of sale server configured for:

rendering, in a common internal format, the first item of financial transaction information, and

rendering, in the common internal format, the second item of financial transaction information from the point-of-sale interface,

wherein the system further comprises a first translation module on a mobile computing device configured for:

receiving, from the mobile computing device, the first item of financial transaction information; and

translating, to a common intake transaction ticket format, the first item of financial transaction information; and

the system further comprises a second translation module on a point of sale device configured for:

receiving, from the point of sale device, the second item of financial transaction information; and

translating, to the common intake transaction ticket format, the second item of financial transaction information.

2. The system of claim 1 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the transaction-related communication system further comprises:

a payment processing module operating in the electronic commerce management provider, the payment processing module configured for:

rendering, in a second format, the first item of financial transaction information, and

rendering, in a third format, the first item of financial transaction information; and

a transaction execution module configured for:

transmitting, in the second format, the first item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a first external financial party, and

transmitting, in the third format, the second item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a second external financial party.

3. The system of claim 1 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein:

receiving the first item of financial transaction information comprises receiving the first item of financial transaction information in the common intake transaction ticket format at the single stack application interface; and

receiving the second item of financial transaction information from the point-of-sale interface comprises receiving the second item of financial transaction information in the common intake transaction ticket format at the single stack application interface.

4. The system of claim 2 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein:

the transaction execution module is further configured for receiving a transaction authorization confirmation from the first external financial party; and

the point of sale server is further configured for transmitting an indication of the transaction authorization confirmation.

5. The system of claim 1 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the payment processing module comprises a payment processing gateway for communicating with servers of external financial processors using encrypted links over a network.

6. The system of claim 1 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising:

a business intelligence analytics module for providing business intelligence based at least in part on the first item of financial transaction information.

7. The system of claim 1 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising:

an inventory coordination module for providing transaction fulfillment information based at least in part on the first item of financial transaction information.

8. A method for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, the method comprising:

one or more computers executing instructions on one or more processors to implement a transaction-related communication system configured to perform:

receiving a first item of financial transaction information;

receiving a second item of financial transaction information from a point-of-sale interface;

rendering, by a point of sale server operating in an electronic commerce management provider, in a common internal format, the first item of financial transaction information; and

rendering, by the point of sale server operating in the electronic commerce management provider, in the common internal format, the second item of financial transaction information;

wherein the receiving the first item of financial transaction information further comprises receiving the first item of financial transaction information in a common intake transaction ticket format over a network from a mobile computing device, and

wherein the receiving the second item of financial transaction information further comprises receiving the second item of financial transaction information over the network in a common intake transaction ticket format.

9. The method of claim 8 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the method further comprises:

rendering, by a payment processing module operating in the electronic commerce management provider, in a second format, the first item of financial transaction information; and

rendering, by the payment processing module operating in the electronic commerce management provider, in a third format, the first item of financial transaction information;

transmitting in the second format, the first item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a first external financial party; and

transmitting in the third format, the second item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a second external financial party.

10. The method of claim 8 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising

receiving on the one or more servers, a transaction authorization confirmation from a first external financial party, and

transmitting an indication of the transaction authorization confirmation.

11. The method of claim 8 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the method further comprises a payment processing gateway communicating with servers of external financial processors using encrypted links over a network.

12. The method of claim 8 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising:

an inventory coordination module providing transaction fulfillment information based at least in part on the first item of financial transaction information.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

receiving a first item of financial transaction information;

receiving a second item of financial transaction information from a point-of-sale interface;

rendering, by a point of sale server operating in an electronic commerce management provider, in a common internal format the first item of financial transaction information;

rendering, by the point of sale server operating in the electronic commerce management provider, in the common internal format the second item of financial transaction information;

wherein the common internal format is a common intake transaction ticket format, and

wherein the receiving the first item of financial transaction information further comprises receiving the first item of financial transaction information in a common intake transaction ticket format at the single stack application interface from a mobile computing device, and

wherein the receiving the second item of financial transaction information further comprises receiving the second item of financial transaction information in a common intake transaction ticket format at the single stack application interface.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions of claim 13 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, wherein the program instructions further comprise:

transmitting in a second format the first item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a first external financial party; and

transmitting in a third format the second item of financial transaction information for payment processing by a second external financial party.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions of claim 14 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising

program instructions computer-executable to implement receiving on one or more servers a transaction authorization confirmation from the first external financial party, and

program instructions computer-executable to implement transmitting an indication of the transaction authorization confirmation.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions of claim 13 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising:

program instructions computer-executable to implement a payment processing gateway for communicating with servers of external financial processors using encrypted links over a network.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions of claim 13 for providing payment processing services from a plurality of disparate payment processors to a plurality of disparate transaction intake platforms, further comprising:

program instructions computer-executable to implement a business intelligence analytics module for providing business intelligence based at least in part on the first item of financial transaction information.