Patent ID: 7890393

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for completing a transaction between a customer and at least one merchant, comprising the steps of: receiving, by a transaction system, an authorization request including customer data and transaction specific data from the merchant, wherein, prior to the authorization request, the customer is unknown to the transaction system; authenticating the customer by the transaction system based at least in part upon at least one of the following: at least a portion of the customer data, at least a portion of the transaction specific data or any combination thereof; authorizing the transaction by the transaction system based at least in part upon at least one of the following: at least a portion of the customer data, at least a portion of the transaction specific data or any combination thereof; communicating the authorization response to the merchant; establishing a customer account on the transaction system; and creating a customer-specific authorization key that is unknown to the customer and privately held between the transaction system and the merchant, wherein the authorization key is transmitted from the merchant to the transaction system during subsequent transactions with the customer and the merchant.