Patent ID: 7991693

Claim:
A method for distributing payment media to a customer, the method comprising: at a server of a transaction service provider, receiving a request for generation, activation, and distribution of payment media from a user via a network; in a processor coupled to the server, generating a virtual payment number and associating the virtual payment number to a user account related to the user and maintained at the transaction service provider; in the processor, setting one or more user defined payment parameters for the virtual payment number based on user information passed with the request for payment media from the user, the payment parameters including one or more of permitted number of uses, spending limits, and authorized users of the payment media, and authorized merchants at which the payment media can be used; in the processor, associating the virtual payment number to a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip embedded in a sticker as the requested payment media; activating the RFID chip; and, distributing the sticker having the embedded RFID chip to the user, wherein the user defined payment can be changed by the user at any time before or after activation of the RFID chip.