Patent ID: 7899759

Claim:
A machine-implemented method for obtaining information about a seller, the method comprising machine-implemented steps of: receiving, from a user, over a computer network, input that indicates identifying information; determining, based on data stored on a machine-readable medium, whether there exist any selling entity accounts that are associated with the identifying information; and in response to a determination that at least one selling entity account is associated with the identifying information, sending, toward the user, over a computer network, stored data associated with one or more particular selling entity accounts that are associated with the identifying information; wherein the stored data associated with the one or more particular selling entity accounts comprises one or more ratings for the one or more particular selling entity accounts; wherein the one or more ratings were submitted by one or more people other than (a) the user and (b) selling entities associated with the one or more particular selling entity accounts; and wherein the identifying information comprises at least one of a company name, a telephone number, a uniform resource locator (URL), a product name, and a service name.