Patent ID: 8234133

Claim:
A method of providing receipt insurance coverage by a receipt insurer to a consumer for coverage of losses resulting from the loss of a physical receipt for purchase of goods, the method comprising the steps of: forming a receipt insurance agreement between a receipt insurer and a retailer of products and a consumer whereby the retailer agrees to accept as proof of purchase an electronic record of a receipt for a purchase transaction with a consumer, whereby the retailer becomes a receipt insurance participating retailer; offering to a consumer, by a communication device receipt insurance under the receipt insurance agreement whereby a the receipt insurer agrees to cover losses which the consumer would incur as a result of loss or absence of a physical receipt from a retailer in connection with a purchase transaction; issuing, by a communication device a receipt insurance policy to a consumer by receiving the consumer's agreement and acceptance of terms of the receipt insurance agreement; providing a receipt insurance system configured to receive and store a plurality of electronic receipt records from a participating retailer; establishing a data transfer connection between the receipt insurance system and a point of sale system or enterprise resource planning system of a participating retailer; providing the option, for each consumer making a purchase at a receipt insurance participating retailer, to have an electronic receipt of the sales transaction generated and sent to the receipt insurance system for storage and later retrieval if necessary, in lieu of receiving a paper receipt of the sales transaction; assigning a unique customer identification number to each consumer opting to have an electronic receipt of the sales transaction generated and sent to the receipt insurance system, and insuring for each consumer that each electronic receipt stored within the receipt insurance system will be available to the consumer on demand by providing a secure web portal by which consumers can access a personal account in the receipt insurance system containing all of the consumer's electronic receipts from participating retailers, which electronic receipts will be accepted by the participating retailers as proof of a purchase transaction pursuant to the participating retailer agreement with the receipt insurer.