Patent ID: 8463653
Filing Date: 2013-06-11
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: communicating with a plurality of third-party applications that are on servers not controlled by a network-based commerce facility via a programmatic access application on a server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow indirect transactions between the network-based commerce facility and a first plurality of users via the respective third-party applications; receiving requests from each of the third-party applications via a network at the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein each of the requests is based on communication between one of the first plurality of users and the respective third-party application that is associated with the particular one of the first plurality of users, each of the requests generating a call function to interact through the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility with a database of the network-based commerce facility to perform an action pertaining to electronic commerce and being one of a plurality of requests recognized by the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility, wherein the call function is customized such that the call function specifies and controls the amount of information returned from the network-based commerce facility; responsive to the requests, performing actions pertaining to electronic commerce, and communicating via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility the results of the actions to the respective third-party applications that are associated with each of the first plurality of users in a programmatically accessible format, wherein the results include information to be interpreted by an interpreter and to be arranged into a customized user interface, the customized user interface being readable and available to the first plurality of users communicating with the third-party applications; and communicating directly with a second plurality of users via the programmatic access application on the server controlled by the network-based commerce facility to allow direct transactions between the network-based commerce facility and the second plurality of users, wherein the server communicates differently when communicating with the second plurality of users compared to when communicating with the first plurality of users via the third-party applications.