Patent ID: 7333944

Claim:
A server system for generating an order for a product, comprising: a receiver component that receives, on behalf of a manufacturer, requests to order a product from a customer and for receiving financial authorization from a distributor, a request including a product code that identifies the product and a customer identification that identifies a customer, and a financial authorization comprising an acknowledgment from the distributor verifying a customer account even though the request is received by the receiver component in a manner independent of the distributor; a data storage medium storing information for a plurality of products, including a customer price associated with each of the plurality of products; an order placement component that retrieves from the data storage medium information for the identified product and that uses the retrieved information to place an order from the manufacturer of the identified product; and an order fulfillment component that completes a purchase of the product in accordance with the order placed by the order placement component including arrangement for shipping by the manufacturer and billing of the distributor.