Patent ID: 7970654

Claim:
A system for processing sales transactions, the system comprising: a first computing device in communication with a buyer-operated computing device; and a computer-readable storage medium in communication with the first computing device, wherein the computer-readable storage medium comprises one or more programming instructions for: receiving an order comprising one or more of: a commitment of a buyer to purchase an item, and a preferred share value associated with the buyer, wherein the preferred share value represents at least a first portion of a purchase price associated with the item, receiving contact information associated with one or more third parties, receiving a fractional share value associated with each of the one or more third parties, and in response to a sum of the fractional share values associated with each third party and the preferred share value equaling the purchase price associated with the item, using the received contact information to send a message to each third party, wherein each message comprises the fractional share associated with the third party, receiving a response from at least one of the one or more third parties, wherein the response comprises a funding commitment value equal to a portion of the purchase price to be paid by the third party, processing payment of the funding commitment value from the at least one third party by transmitting the funding commitment value and charge account information associated with the third party to a credit card payment system, receiving, from the credit card payment system, an indication of a failed charge associated with one of the at least one third party, and determining a balance owed by the buyer by: determining a first value equal to a difference between the purchase price and a sum of the funding commitment values associated with the at least one third party, determining the funding commitment value associated with the third party having the failed charge, and summing the first value and the determined funding commitment value.