Patent ID: 6862572

Claim:
A system for facilitating transactions between customers and businesses comprising: first means for initiating a transaction between a customer and a business entity, said transaction associated with a product or service; second means for automatically selecting a mechanism for delivering said product or service to said customer from a plurality of mechanism for delivering in accordance with predetermined selection criteria and providing a signal in response thereto, said plurality of mechanism for delivering independent from said business entity, and wherein said predetermined selection criteria includes a maximum value of w c , which is defined in accordance with the following equation: W c =aW P +bW R +cW D , where W P is a function of delivery prices associated with said mechanism for delivering, W R is a function of delivery reliability of said mechanism for delivering, W D is a function of the distance between said mechanism for delivering, said customer, and a business outlet associated with said business entity, and a, b, and c, are values that may be specified by a customer; and third means for automatically facilitating delivery of said product or service to said customer via said mechanism for delivering in response to said signal.