METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR E-COMMERCE ENABLING AN OBJECT

摘要

A method and apparatus for e-commerce enabling a target object, wherein the target object might include a product displayed on a web page, in a banner ad, or within an e-mail message. A multi-vendor central server (or system) is provided whereby merchant vendors register with the central server, and provide information thereto. The merchant vendor might supply catalog information for display to a customer. The merchant vendor then provides a description of the target object, and a linking code generator provides code which links that target object back to the central server. The linking code can be copied by the merchant vendor and associated with the target object in a presentation format accessible by a customer. If the customer selects the object, then the customer will be linked back to the central server to facilitate completion of an e-commerce transaction. The target object information might be stored in a database or the like associated with the central server, or associated with the merchant vendor. The amount of information passed back in the linking code will depend upon where the target object information is being stored. If the information is stored with the central server, then a short-form identifier can be passed back, and the central server can use this identifier to retrieve information for the database. More information will need to be linked back if the information is stored (in large part) with the merchant vendor.