Patent ID: 8521642

Claim:
A system comprising: a computer interface configured to enable a plurality of remote sellers to offer at least one item for sale on a website, wherein the plurality of remote sellers includes a first remote seller; a database configured to store first data comprising: location information for the first remote seller; and one or more shipping preferences of the first remote seller, wherein the shipping preferences comprise any one of, or some combination of: (i) a flat fee, (ii) a fee set by the seller, (iii) one or more rates charged by one or more common carriers, (iv) a distance between the seller location and the buyer location, (v) size of the item, (vi) weight of the item, (vii) free shipping, and (viii) one or more dimensions of the item; a database configured to store second data corresponding to a price of a first item offered for sale by the first remote seller ; a rate engine configured to: (1) determine, for a remote buyer, a shipping rate for the first item, wherein the item is offered for sale by the first remote seller by the computer interface, by performing the steps of: retrieving, from the database, the first data corresponding to the one or more shipping preferences of the remote seller; retrieving data corresponding to location information for the remote buyer; determining whether a tax is applicable for the item that is offered for sale on the website based, at least in part, on the location information for the remote buyer; if a tax is determined applicable, determining, based on the location information for the remote buyer, a tax factor for the first item by further performing the steps of: identifying, from the location information of the remote buyer, a political division associated with the remote buyer; and determining a tax rate corresponding to the political division associated with the remote buyer for the purchase of the first item; calculating the shipping rate of the item based at least in part on the one or more shipping preferences of the remote seller; (2) provide the shipping rate to the remote buyer computer over a network.