Patent ID: 7895129

Claim:
A method for enabling, via a third party payment service, a first party to arrange for shipment of a package to a second party via a shipping vendor, the method comprising: receiving, by the third-party payment service, a request from the first party to arrange for shipment of the package; receiving shipping information entered by the first party, via a first computer interface provided by the third-party payment service; providing a second computer interface by the third party payment service that functions as a proxy to enable a user to obtain, using the second computer interface, a shipping account with the shipping vendor; determining, via the second computer interface, whether the first party has a shipping account; responsive to determining that the first party does not have a shipping account, setting up, through the third party payment service, the first party's shipping account with the shipping vendor, the setting up to appear to the shipping vendor as if the first party directly accesses on-line facilities hosted by the shipping vendor; arranging, by the third-party payment service, for the shipment of the package through the shipping vendor to appear to the shipping vendor as if the first party directly accesses on-line facilities hosted by the shipping vendor; and facilitating payment from the first party to the shipping vendor for the shipment via the third-party payment service, the facilitating payment to the shipping vendor, by the third-party payment service, to appear to the shipping vendor as if the first party directly accesses on-line facilities hosted by the shipping vendor.