Patent ID: 8700484

Claim:
A system, comprising: a database including information about at least one commodity including quantity units and a current time unit purchase price; and a web server computer for interacting with the database and also for interacting with at least one client computer configured to be used by a purchaser, the web server computer designed to allow the purchaser to: establish a bulk refillable account capable of having a balance in quantity units for the commodity; perform an electronic purchase transaction that results in the system recording financial data for payment for the commodity and obtaining payment approval from a financial institution, the purchase transaction comprising the purchase of a quantity of the commodity at a posted and locked-in current time unit purchase price particular to a certain purchase zone, the purchase transaction resulting in the purchased quantity being summed with the quantity account balance and thus an increase in the balance of quantity units of the commodity in the account; and identify a redemption zone different than the purchase zone, the redemption zone identification resulting in an automatic conversion of at least a portion of the balance of quantity units in the account into a different amount of quantity units available for redemption in the redemption zone, the system subtracting from the balance for any quantity units of the commodity that are redeemed.