Patent ID: 8086531

Claim:
A method of making a financial transaction over the internet, the method comprising: receiving at a virtual credit card terminal (VCT) gateway a request for a transaction number from a merchant after the merchant has received an indication from a purchaser that the purchaser has elected to pay for selected items from the merchant by credit card means using a virtual credit card terminal comprising a credit card means reader, and a digital processing device operatively associated with the credit card means reader and encoding transaction programs that allow opening of an interactive terminal window for processing of the transaction, and wherein the virtual credit card terminal is registered with the VCT gateway; sending the transaction number from the VCT gateway to the merchant, the merchant providing the purchaser with the transaction number received from the VCT gateway, a merchant identification, and a transaction amount, wherein the merchant is registered with the VCT gateway; receiving a VCT transaction request at the VCT gateway from the purchaser, the VCT transaction request comprising the transaction number, the merchant identification, and details of credit card means entered into the virtual credit card terminal by the purchaser; determining whether the merchant identification of the VCT transaction request received by the VCT gateway identifies the merchant to which the transaction number was sent by the VCT gateway; and when it is determined that the merchant identification of the VCT transaction request received by the VCT gateway identifies the merchant to which the transaction number was sent by the VCT gateway, processing the VCT transaction request by the VCT gateway to facilitate formation of a bank transaction request, sending the bank transaction request from the VCT gateway to a bank, in response to the bank transaction request, receiving advice sent from the bank to the VCT gateway as to whether the transaction has been approved, and sending the advice from the VCT gateway to the merchant and the purchaser.