METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING ONLINE PAYMENT TRANSACTIONS IN A NETWORK-BASED TRANSACTION FACILITY USING MULTIPLE PAYMENT INSTRUMENTS

摘要

Method and apparatus for online payments are described. See Figure 5. In one embodiment, user interface information is communicated to a first participant via a communications network (506). The user interface information identifies payment instruments for processing online payments in the networked transaction facility. Payment option information is received from the first participant via the communications network (508). The payment option information indicates the first participant's willingness to accept payment from a second participant via one or more instruments. This payment option information is passed to the second participant via the network (510). Afterwards, personal billing information is accepted from the second participant via the network to facilitate an online payment between the participants (512). The personal billing information concerns a payment instrument selected by the second participant from the payment instruments specified by the first participant.