Patent ID: 7801766

Claim:
A method for facilitating a transaction between at least one user, at least one merchant, and at least one associate, the method comprising: receiving, by an associate processing device, an associate card value from a user processing device, wherein the associate card value is included in a package of a product purchased from an offline merchant; receiving information representing an address for an associate Web site on the associate processing device; transferring, to the user processing device, a first merchant link for a first merchant Web site on a first merchant processing device; receiving a selection of the first merchant link; transferring, to the user processing device, information regarding a first product from the first merchant Web site; receiving a selection of the first product; receiving purchase information for purchasing the first product; converting the associate card value to promotional information; applying the promotional information to the received purchase information responsive to the associate card value; transferring, to the merchant processing device, the promotional information and the purchase information; and providing a user with the first product.