Patent ID: 8744929

Claim:
A system, comprising: a data repository that stores information descriptive of items that are available for purchase; and a server system, including at least one computing device, that provides network-based access to the data repository and enables users to make purchases of items represented in the data repository, the server system hosting a user interface through which users can explicitly establish a community with at least one other user and elect whether or not their respective purchases are to be exposed to other users in the explicitly established community, wherein the server system is configured to expose purchases by at least one user that elects to have purchases exposed, wherein such exposure includes, for at least a first item purchased by the at least one user: an identifier associated with the first item purchased by the at least one user, and an identifier associated with the at least one user that individually identifies the at least one user, wherein the exposure provides the identifier associated with the at least one user for display in association with the identifier associated with the first item purchased by the at least one user, wherein the server system provides access to an electronic catalog that includes item detail pages, enables a prospective purchaser to shop for and add items to a shopping cart via respective item detail pages, and is configured to supplement one or more of the item detail pages with purchase notification messages individually identifying one or more users that are members of a community in which the prospective purchaser is a member and that have purchased respective items corresponding to the item detail pages in accordance with user elections of the one or more users to expose their respective purchase histories to other users, wherein the prospective purchaser can add an item to a shopping cart via a respective supplemented item detail page.