Patent ID: 8126779

Claim:
A machine-implemented method of ranking merchants, the method comprising: receiving a set of weighting factors from a consumer, the set of weighting factors pertaining to a query related to a potential consumer transaction, the weighting factors corresponding to stored comparison data related to a plurality of merchants, wherein at least one weighting factor of the set of weighting factors has been input by the consumer prior to execution of the query; prior to receiving the set of weighting factors, outputting to the consumer data identifying a plurality of suggested weighting factor paradigms, each said paradigm representing a plurality of suggested weighting factors for possible use as said set of weighting factors corresponding to stored comparison data, each said paradigm representing a different preference set; receiving the query; accessing the stored comparison data in response to the query; generating a ranking of the merchants, by a data processing device, based on the set of weighting factors and the comparison data; and returning the ranking to the consumer as a response to the query.