Patent ID: 8635150

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 configurations, wherein the shipping configurations comprise any one of, or some combination of: (i) a flat fee, (ii) a percentage-based fee, (iii) one or more rates determined by one or more common carriers, (iv) a distance between a ship location and the buyer location, (v) size of the item, (vi) weight of the item, (vii) free shipping, (viii) one or more dimensions of the item; and (ix) fulfillment service provided by a third party; 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 configurations; 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 configurations; (2) provide the shipping rate to the remote buyer computer over a network.