Patent ID: 7801773

Claim:
A method for conducting an online shopping session between an end customer and a one or more vendors through a central host, comprising the steps of: (a) the end customer contacting the central host to initiate an online shopping session; (b) the end customer invoking at the central host an address of a vendor site; (c) the central host entering an idle state for passing through communications between the end customer and the vendor site as the end customer makes purchase selections on the vendor site; (d) the central host setting a trigger in response to a payment information screen being sent to the end customer by the vendor site; (e) while the trigger is set, the central host intercepting payment information returned by the end customer; (f) the central host holding the purchase selections already made and returning to steps (b)-(e) invoking another address for another vendor site; (g) the central host receiving an indication from the end customer that the online shopping session is completed; (h) the central host calculating appropriate sales taxes in response to the held purchase selections; (i) the central host obtaining payment authorization electronically according to the intercepted payment information to collect at least the sales taxes; and (j) the central host sending an enumerated receipt including all purchase selections from the online shopping session and the collected sales taxes, and then closing the online shopping session.