Patent application number | Description | Published |
20100200651 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING CLOSED LOOP CARDS AND CODES - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for processing closed loop cards/codes. The method includes identifying a closed loop card/code having associated money in an account, receiving a confirmation of an amount of money in the closed loop card/code account, presenting an owner of the closed loop card/code with the amount of money in the closed loop card/code account and an offer to pay an offer amount for the closed loop card/code, receiving an indication that the owner accepts the offer, receiving the amount of money from the closed loop card/code account, and paying the owner the offer amount. Payment can be on an open loop card/code, cash, automated clearing house (ACH) to bank, check, merchant credit, or bill pay. The method can include generating a new closed loop card/code associated with the amount of money. The new closed loop card/code can be sold to another user. | 08-12-2010 |
20100200652 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCEPTING CLOSED LOOP CARDS AND CODES AT A MERCHANT POINT OF SALE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. The system receives from a merchant point of sale an indication of use of a closed loop card/code not issued by the merchant and presented by a consumer, queries and receives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associated with the closed loop card/code, presents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop card/code at a discount price, and upon accepting the offer, closes out the closed loop card/code and pays the discount price to the consumer. Paying the discount price can include applying the discount price to a purchase by the consumer at the merchant. The merchant can provide cash back to the consumer for excess value of the discount price over the consumer's purchase. Merchants can apply more than the discount price. | 08-12-2010 |
20100200653 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING CLOSED LOOP CARDS INTO GIFT CODES - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for generating a gift code. The system receives an indication from a first user identifying a closed loop card, receives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associated with the closed loop card, offers to purchase the closed loop card at an amount less than the amount of money in the account associated with the closed loop card, and upon acceptance of the offer, deactivates the closed loop card. The system then offers to sell the amount of money at a discount rate to a second user, receives acceptance of the offer to sell the amount of money at the discount rate, and associates a gift code with the amount of money for use by the second user. Gift codes can have no expiration date. A multi-process secure gateway can confirm the amount of money. | 08-12-2010 |
20100200654 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING CLOSED LOOP CARDS AND CODES - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for processing closed loop cards/codes. The method includes identifying a closed loop card/code having associated money in an account, receiving a confirmation of an amount of money in the closed loop card/code account, presenting an owner of the closed loop card/code with the amount of money in the closed loop card/code account and an offer to pay an offer amount for the closed loop card/code, receiving an indication that the owner accepts the offer, receiving the amount of money from the closed loop card/code account, and paying the owner the offer amount. Payment can be on an open loop card/code, cash, automated clearing house (ACH) to bank, check, merchant credit, or bill pay. The method can include generating a new closed loop card/code associated with the amount of money. The new closed loop card/code can be sold to another user. | 08-12-2010 |
20100200655 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING CLOSED LOOP CARDS INTO GIFT CODES - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for generating a gift code. The system receives an indication from a first user identifying a closed loop card, receives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associated with the closed loop card, offers to purchase the closed loop card at an amount less than the amount of money in the account associated with the closed loop card, and upon acceptance of the offer, deactivates the closed loop card. The system then offers to sell the amount of money at a discount rate to a second user, receives acceptance of the offer to sell the amount of money at the discount rate, and associates a gift code with the amount of money for use by the second user. Gift codes can have no expiration date. A multi-process secure gateway can confirm the amount of money. | 08-12-2010 |
20100205050 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCEPTING CLOSED LOOP CARDS AND CODES AT A MERCHANT POINT OF SALE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. The system receives from a merchant point of sale an indication of use of a closed loop card/code not issued by the merchant and presented by a consumer, queries and receives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associated with the closed loop card/code, presents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop card/code at a discount price, and upon accepting the offer, closes out the closed loop card/code and pays the discount price to the consumer. Paying the discount price can include applying the discount price to a purchase by the consumer at the merchant. The merchant can provide cash back to the consumer for excess value of the discount price over the consumer's purchase. Merchants can apply more than the discount price. | 08-12-2010 |
20110079644 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MERCHANT INTERACTION WITH AND TRACKING OF THE SECONDARY GIFT CARD MARKETPLACE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for tracking a secondary gift card marketplace. A system configured to practice the method collects data related to a secondary market, which includes a transaction associated with a gift card, the transaction not involving an issuer of the gift card, processes the collected data, and presents at least a portion of the processed collected data to a merchant in a user interface. Gift cards can include at least one of gift cards and gift codes. The collected data can further include a plurality of transactions associated with gift cards. In one aspect, each gift card transaction in the plurality of gift card transaction does not involve an original issuing merchant of a gift card. The collected data can further include at least one of pricing, demographic, geographic, and other information related to the gift card transactions. | 04-07-2011 |
20120150611 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for receiving data from a giver at a first time, the data being used to identify a merchant at which a gift from the giver to a recipient is redeemable. The system presents a group of merchants associated with the data to the giver, each merchant of the group of merchants offering a promotion in connection with the gift. The system receives from the giver a selection of a chosen merchant from the group of merchants, the chosen merchant having an associated promotion. The system then generates a policy comprising the gift, the chosen merchant, and the associated promotion such that upon receiving an indication of a triggering event caused by the recipient, the system can apply the gift and the associated promotion according to the policy. | 06-14-2012 |
20120150643 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING REMAINDER AMOUNTS OF MONEY FROM GIFT CARDS - Managing remainder amounts of a gift card using existing payment accounts such as a credit/debit card provides benefits. A system receives an identification of a giver and recipient of a gift card. A policy manages how the gift card is redeemed when the recipient makes a purchase using a recipient credit or debit card account. When the recipient makes a purchase using an existing credit/debit card according to the policy, the gift card amount is applied to the transaction. If the purchase does not exceed the gift card amount, a remainder amount on the gift card exists. After the qualifying purchase by the recipient, the remainder amount on the gift card can be transferred to at least one of the recipient account and the giver account according to the policy. The remainder amount of the gift card is never forgotten or lost. | 06-14-2012 |
20120246019 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PREVENTING FRAUD BY GENERATING NEW PREPAID GIFT ACCOUNTS - Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for preventing fraud when exchanging prepaid gift accounts. The system identifies a first prepaid gift account associated with a first prepaid gift. The system then presents an owner of the first prepaid gift with an offer to purchase the first prepaid gift account for an offer amount. Next, the system receives from the owner an acceptance of the offer. Based on the acceptance, the system provides payment to the owner for the first prepaid gift account, generates a second prepaid gift account for a second prepaid gift, transfers at least a portion of funds from the first prepaid gift account to the second prepaid gift account, deactivates the first prepaid gift account, and offers the second prepaid gift account for resale as a new prepaid gift to a person other than the owner. | 09-27-2012 |
20130080235 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR JOINT USE OF GIFT CODES AND COUPON CODES - Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for joint use of gift codes and coupon codes. This technology can provide a way to use both a gift code and a coupon code in a same transaction, to discover corresponding codes for a given code, and to easily complete purchases using a gift code and a coupon code. The system identifies a companion code associated with a first value, wherein the companion code is at least one of a deal code, a discount code, and a coupon code. The system identifies a gift code associated with a second value, wherein the companion code, when used to make a purchase in combination with the gift code, provides a discount. The system offers the gift code for sale, and, upon a user purchasing the gift code, transmits the gift code to the user for combined use with the companion code. | 03-28-2013 |
20130144707 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING GIFTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT EXCHANGE MEDIUMS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for creating a gift in one medium of exchange from stored value in another medium of exchange. The system accesses a first account representing stored value in a first medium of exchange, and chooses an amount of the stored value from the first medium of exchange. Then the system converts the amount of the stored value to a second medium of exchange to yield a converted amount, and gives the converted amount in the second medium of exchange to a recipient as a gift, wherein the gift is associated with a recipient account for the second medium of exchange, and wherein the gift is associated with a policy monitoring transactions made using the recipient account such that the converted amount is applied to a transaction satisfying conditions of the policy. | 06-06-2013 |
20130297473 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING THE SECONDARY GIFT CARD MARKETPLACE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for tracking a secondary gift card marketplace. A system configured to practice the method collects data related to a secondary market, which includes a transaction associated with a gift card, the transaction not involving an issuer of the gift card, processes the collected data, and presents at least a portion of the processed collected data in a user interface. The system can detect fraud in the secondary market. Gift cards can include at least one of gift cards and gift codes. The collected data can further include a plurality of transactions associated with gift cards. In one aspect, each gift card transaction in the plurality of gift card transaction does not involve an original issuing merchant of a gift card. The collected data can further include pricing, demographic, geographic, or other information related to the gift card transactions. | 11-07-2013 |
20140012752 | System and Method for Preventing Fraud by Generating New Prepaid Gift Accounts - Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for preventing fraud when exchanging prepaid gift accounts. The system identifies a first prepaid gift account associated with a first prepaid gift. The system then presents an owner of the first prepaid gift with an offer to purchase the first prepaid gift account for an offer amount. Next, the system receives from the owner an acceptance of the offer. Based on the acceptance, the system provides payment to the owner for the first prepaid gift account, generates a second prepaid gift account for a second prepaid gift, transfers at least a portion of funds from the first prepaid gift account to the second prepaid gift account, deactivates the first prepaid gift account, and offers the second prepaid gift account for resale as a new prepaid gift to a person other than the owner. | 01-09-2014 |
20140207542 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING GIFT CARD OFFER CONTINGENT UPON AN EVENT - A system and method provide for offering a consignment of a closed-loop card/code. The method includes presenting an offer associated with a closed-loop card/code to pay an offer amount, wherein the offer is triggered based on an occurrence of an event. The system receives an acceptance of the offer from a user and performs one of deactivating and suspending of the closed-loop card/code after receiving the acceptance. When the event occurs, the system notifies the user and pays an offer amount to the user after the event occurs. | 07-24-2014 |
20140207662 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING GIFTS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage devices for receiving an identification of a giver, a gift, an amount of money to pay for the gift, and a recipient of the gift at a first time. The system can associate a policy with the gift, and initiate, at the first time, a transfer of at least part of the amount of money to pay for the gift from the giver payment account to a holding account that is separate from the recipient payment account. The system can monitor, according to the policy, purchases of the recipient using the recipient payment account to yield purchasing information based on the purchasing information, and determine whether the recipient has made a qualifying purchase according to the policy. If so, the system can apply the amount of money to pay for the gift from the holding account to the recipient payment account. | 07-24-2014 |
20140214663 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATION-BASED DELIVERY OF DISCOUNTED PREPAID GIFT ACCOUNTS OFFERS - Delivery of offers to sell discounted prepaid gift accounts in the secondary prepaid gift account marketplace to consumers present at retail point of sale location is disclosed. The system receives information from a mobile device while a user is at a retail location. The system communicates with a database of discounted prepaid gift accounts to identify a discounted prepaid gift account. The system sends an offer to sell a selected discounted prepaid gift account to the device while the user is at the location. If the user accepts the offer to purchase the discounted prepaid gift account, the system accepts payment from the user via the device for the prepaid gift accounts. Upon receipt of payment, the system transmits information regarding the purchased prepaid gift accounts to the device enabling the user to use the prepaid gift account to make a purchase. | 07-31-2014 |
20140214666 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING GIFTS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for processing gift transactions, related to retaining a social and gratitude-based experience surrounding giving and receiving gifts, monitoring gift recipients on-premises at merchants and providing gift-related notifications, and managing funds in a gift that the recipient does not redeem. A system configured to practice a first method receives an object associated with a gift, receives a tag associated with the object, and transmits the object to the giver. A system configured to practice a second example method uses face identification at the merchant to identify a recipient of a gift. The system can transmit a reminder to the recipient regarding the gift. In a third example method, the system creates a gift and notifies the recipient of the gift. If the recipient never redeems the gift, then the giver is not charged for the gift and no transaction occurs. | 07-31-2014 |
20140214667 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CHOPPING UP AND PROCESSING GIFT CARDS - Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for chopping up a gift card/code into smaller multiple gift card/codes. The system receives a request from a user to convert a closed-loop card/code having a value amount into two different closed-loop cards/codes and divides (or “chops up”) the closed-loop card/code into a first closed-loop card/code having a first value amount and a second closed-loop card/code having a second value amount, wherein the first value amount and the second value amount add up to no more than the value amount. The system offers the first closed-loop card/code and the second closed-loop card/code to one of the user and a third party. | 07-31-2014 |
20140249986 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SECONDARY MARKET GIFT CARD AUCTIONS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for auctioning gift cards on the secondary market. The system can receive a prepaid debit account for resale from an owner and determine a face value for the prepaid debit account. The system can establish a floor price and offer the prepaid debit account for sale via an auction, starting at an initial price above the floor price and up to and including the face value, and can decrement the sale price at regular time intervals. The system can end the auction when a purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account at the decremented price. However, if no purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account before the decremented price is below the floor price, the system can purchase the prepaid debit account from the owner for the floor price. The system can store the prepaid debit account in an inventory for resale. | 09-04-2014 |
20140250001 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING GIFTS BETWEEN DIFFERENT PAYMENT ACCOUNT TYPES - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for creating a gift in one medium of exchange from stored value in another medium of exchange. The system accesses a first account representing stored value in a first medium of exchange, and chooses an amount of the stored value from the first medium of exchange. Then the system converts the amount of the stored value to a second medium of exchange to yield a converted amount, and gives the converted amount in the second medium of exchange to a recipient as a gift, wherein the gift is associated with a recipient account for the second medium of exchange, and wherein the gift is associated with a policy monitoring transactions made using the recipient account such that the converted amount is applied to a transaction satisfying conditions of the policy. | 09-04-2014 |
20140250012 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACQUIRING TRANSACTIONAL DATA ON CONSUMER USE OF GIFT CERTIFICATES AT MERCHANT RETAIL LOCATIONS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage devices for acquiring transactional data on consumer use of discounted gift certificates at merchant retail locations. The system sells a discounted gift certificate in combination with a payment network branded prepaid gift account to a consumer. The consumer can use the prepaid gift account to make a purchase and redeem the gift certificate. The point of sale terminal recognizes that the prepaid gift account has an associated gift certificate value and credits the value of the gift certificate to the purchase. If the purchase amount exceeds the gift certificate, the prepaid gift account processor partially authorizes the amount of the gift certificate and presents the remaining balance of the purchase to the consumer for additional payment. The system can create transaction data describing the amount spent by the consumer in excess of the gift certificate value. | 09-04-2014 |
20140258055 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A GIFT TRACKER - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for a gift tracker portal that provides an interface to view and manage a history of gift transactions, and provides an interface to give gifts. In this gift tracker interface, a user can view a history of gifts given and received, and can view the status of each individual gift. The system can import gift transactions from other sources, as well as include gift transactions processed by the system itself. The gift tracker system can receive gift transaction history data associated with a user, provide an interface for accessing the gift transaction history data, and receive, via the interface and on behalf of the user, a request associated with the gift transaction history data. Then the gift tracker system can respond to the request. | 09-11-2014 |
20140316920 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR IMMERSIVE MOBILE GIFTS - Disclosed are systems and method related to media and gift credits. A method includes receiving an indication that a giver has given a gift credit to a recipient for use at a merchant. The system then receives a media from the giver, such as an image or a video or other input. Upon confirmation or input from the recipient, the system presents the media on a device of the recipient. | 10-23-2014 |
20140330713 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for receiving data from a giver at a first time, the data being used to identify a merchant at which a gift from the giver to a recipient is redeemable. The system presents a group of merchants associated with the data to the giver, each merchant of the group of merchants offering a promotion in connection with the gift. The system receives from the giver a selection of a chosen merchant from the group of merchants, the chosen merchant having an associated promotion. The system then generates a policy comprising the gift, the chosen merchant, and the associated promotion such that upon receiving an indication of a triggering event caused by the recipient, the system can apply the gift and the associated promotion according to the policy. | 11-06-2014 |
20140372223 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ACCEPTING CLOSED LOOP CARDS OR CODES AT A MERCHANT POINT OF SALE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. The system receives from a merchant point of sale an indication of use of a closed loop card/code not issued by the merchant and presented by a consumer, queries and receives a confirmation of an amount of money in an account associated with the closed loop card/code, presents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop card/code at a discount price, and upon accepting the offer, closes out the closed loop card/code and pays the discount price to the consumer. Paying the discount price can include applying the discount price to a purchase by the consumer at the merchant. The merchant can provide cash back to the consumer for excess value of the discount price over the consumer's purchase. Merchants can apply more than the discount price. | 12-18-2014 |
20140372314 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING CLOSED LOOP CARDS AT A MERCHANT POINT OF SALE - Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for redeeming a closed loop card/code funded with an amount of money. The system receives, at a merchant, an indication from a consumer of a desire to sell a closed loop account not issued by the merchant and receives a confirmation, via a computing device, of an amount of money in the closed loop account. The system presents the consumer with an offer to buy the closed loop account and receives from the consumer an acceptance of the offer. The system processes the closed loop account to yield a processed closed loop account such as by transferring the account to one of the merchant and an entity and applies a benefit to the consumer based on the processed closed loop account. | 12-18-2014 |