Patent ID: 7853481

Claim:
A method for a bank to enable anonymous shipment by a shipper of a package containing goods purchased by a customer from a vendor for delivery to an address unknown to the vendor, the method comprising: storing personal and financial information associated with the customer in a bank database including an address associated with an account maintained by the customer at the bank; authenticating the customer to a secure Web site hosted by one or more computer systems operated by the bank providing authenticated customers with electronic access to a plurality of vendors with whom the bank has a partner relationship based on encrypting at least a portion of an identification data provided by the customer via the secure Web site; receiving an electronic draft directly from the customer via the secure Web site for the purchase of the goods along with a request for a package code for the package; retrieving at least the authenticated customer's financial information and address from the bank database; guaranteeing payment to the vendor on the draft only if the customer is authenticated to the secure Web site and bank-imposed restrictions are met; if the customer is authenticated to the secure Web site and bank-imposed restrictions are met, generating the requested package code using one or more computer systems operated by the bank, the package code being devoid of delivery address information; sending the generated package code from at least one of the one or more computer systems operated by the bank directly to the vendor, wherein the generated package code does not include any delivery address information for the package; and generating, using one or more computer systems operated by the bank, a shipping identifier for the package that is associated with the generated package code; and sending the generated shipping identifier and the address associated with the customer's account at the bank from at least one of the one or more computer systems directly to the shipper to enable the shipper, after picking up the package for shipment from the vendor, to associate the package code sent to the vendor with the shipping identifier, to identify the associated address as the delivery address of the package, and to ship the package directly from the vendor to the delivery address without divulging any delivery address for the package to the vendor.