Patent ID: 8489461

Claim:
A method of facilitating return of products sold in connection with services through a seller, the method comprising: registering with an electronic registration (ER) system a sale of a service and a product associated with the service to a customer, the registering including storing an original sale date and an identifier associated with the product in an ER database of the ER system; when the service is cancelled by the customer through the seller: processing a return transaction through the ER system in accordance with a return policy of the seller and/or the service provider, and updating the ER database to reflect the return of the product and the cancellation of the service; and when the service is cancelled by the customer through the service provider: taking a monetary interest from the customer, on behalf of the seller, in the event that the customer does not subsequently return the product to the seller in order to help protect the seller from having to absorb a loss associated with the customer's failure to physically return the product, the monetary interest taken being related to an amount of commission owed to the seller from the service provider, and updating the ER database to reflect the cancellation of the service and the taking of the interest.