Patent ID: 7212991

Claim:
A method for optimizing a business transaction between a selling vendor and a shipping vendor, the method comprising the steps of: (a) initiating a query to a transaction coordination hub in response to a consumer purchase originating with said selling vendor, said transaction coordination hub further comprising: (i) a catalog subcomponent for storing detailed vendor-related data, said catalog subcomponent further comprising a plurality of vendor catalog databases, at least one master catalog database including data representing the contents of the plurality of vendor catalog .databases, and a mapping engine for mapping information in said vendor catalogs to said master catalog (ii) a transaction coordinator software subcomponent for coordinating transactions between said selling vendors and said shipping vendors, said transaction coordinator further comprising: an optimal deal finding software module, a shipping manager software module, a vendor order manager software module, a vendor catalog manager software module, a vendor rating manager software module, a payment manager software module, a notification alert manager software module, and an auction manager software module; and (b) routing said query to an optimal deal finding software module within said transactioncoordinator software component; (c) accessing, by said optimal deal finding module, a vendor catalog specific to said selling vendor, said vendor catalog accessing said master catalog to identify possible shipping vendors; (d) accessing, by said optimal deal finding module, said shipping manager module to gather shipping-related information from a shipping company; (e) accessing, by said optimal deal finding module, the other software modules present in the transaction coordinator subcomponent to gather and process other relevant information available about the shipping vendors; and (f) identifying an optimal shipping vendor for said selling vendor based on said optimal deal finding module's accessing of said vendor catalog, said shipping manager software module, and said other software modules located in said transaction coordinator subcomponent.