Contingent payment system

Abstract

A method for providing contingent payments includes receiving, from a first user through a user device over a network, a contingent payment request. The contingent payment request is stored in a database. A contingent payment intent is provided on a user profile that is associated with the first user. The user profile is monitored. When it is determined that at least one contingent payment factor in the contingent payment request has been satisfied by a second user, funds are transferred from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account in order to purchase a first product that is associated with the contingent payment request. In an embodiment, the second user may provide a coupon on the user profile that satisfies the at least one contingent payment factor and results in the purchase of the first product using the user account.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A contingent purchasing system, comprising:
 a non-transitory memory storing a first user account associated with a first user;   one or more hardware processors coupled to the memory and operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of:
 receiving a contingent payment request from the first user that identifies a first product and a second product and includes an instruction to automatically purchase the second product if the first product if purchased; 
 storing the contingent payment request in the memory in association with the first user account; 
 monitoring purchases of the first user and, in response, determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user; and 
 automatically transferring funds associated with the first user account to a merchant account in order to purchase the second product for the first user in response to determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user. 
   
     
     
         2 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 1 , wherein the contingent payment request is received from the first user through a contingent payment request web page that is accessed by the first user following a product page for the first product. 
     
     
         3 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 1 , wherein the monitoring the purchases of the first user includes monitoring at least one user purchasing account of the first user. 
     
     
         4 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 1 , wherein the contingent payment request identifies a desired price below which the first product should be purchased, and the one or more hardware processors are operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of:
 providing a contingent payment intent for display on a user profile of a social network that is associated with the first user, wherein the contingent payment intent identifies the first product and an intent to purchase the first product below the desired price, and wherein the providing the contingent payment intent for display on the user profile results in the contingent payment intent being displayed to a plurality of other users of the social network.   
     
     
         5 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 4 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of:
 monitoring the user profile and, in response, determining that a second user of the plurality of other users of the social network has provided a contingent payment intent response that is displayed on the user profile and that provides a coupon that allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price.   
     
     
         6 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 5 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are operable to read instructions from the memory to perform the steps of:
 transferring funds from the first user account to a merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user according to the coupon in response to determining that the coupon provided by the second user on the user profile allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price.   
     
     
         7 . The contingent purchasing system of  claim 6 , wherein the determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user is performed in response to transferring funds from the first user account to the merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user. 
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, are adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:
 receiving a contingent payment request from a first user that identifies a first product and a second product and includes an instruction to automatically purchase the second product if the first product if purchased;   storing the contingent payment request;   monitoring purchases of the first user and, in response, determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user; and   automatically transferring funds from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account in order to purchase the second product for the first user in response to determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the contingent payment request is received from the first user through a contingent payment request web page that is accessed by the first user following a product page for the first product. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the monitoring the purchases of the first user includes monitoring at least one user purchasing account of the first user. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the contingent payment request identifies a desired price below which the first product should be purchased, and the method further comprises:
 providing a contingent payment intent for display on a user profile of a social network that is associated with the first user, wherein the contingent payment intent identifies the first product and an intent to purchase the first product below the desired price, and wherein the providing the contingent payment intent for display on the user profile results in the contingent payment intent being displayed to a plurality of other users of the social network.   
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising:
 monitoring the user profile and, in response, determining that a second user of the plurality of other users of the social network has provided a contingent payment intent response that is displayed on the user profile and that provides a coupon that allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price.   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 12 , further comprising
 transferring funds from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user according to the coupon in response to determining that the coupon provided by the second user on the user profile allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the determining that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user is performed in response to transferring funds from the user account associated with the first user to the merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user. 
     
     
         15 . A method for providing contingent payments, comprising:
 receiving, by a system provider device from a first user through a user device over a network, a contingent payment request that identifies a first product and a second product and includes an instruction to automatically purchase the second product if the first product if purchased;   storing the contingent payment request in a database using the system provider device;   monitoring purchases of the first user by the system provider device and, in response, determining by the system provider device that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user; and   automatically transferring funds from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account by the system provider device in order to purchase the second product for the first user in response to determining by the system provider device that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the contingent payment request is received from the first user through instructions provided by the user device to a contingent payment request web page that is accessed by the user device following a product page for the first product. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the monitoring the purchases of the first user by the system provider device includes monitoring at least one user purchasing account of the first user. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the contingent payment request identifies a desired price below which the first product should be purchased, and the method further comprises:
 providing, using the system provider device, a contingent payment intent for display on a user profile of a social network that is associated with the first user, wherein the contingent payment intent identifies the first product and an intent to purchase the first product below the desired price, and wherein the providing the contingent payment intent for display on the user profile results in the contingent payment intent being displayed to a plurality of other users of the social network.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 monitoring the user profile using the system provider device and, in response, determining that a second user of the plurality of other users of the social network has provided a contingent payment intent response that is displayed on the user profile and that provides a coupon that allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising
 transferring, using the system provider device, funds from a user account associated with the first user to a merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user according to the coupon in response to determining that the coupon provided by the second user on the user profile allows for the purchase of the first product below the desired price, wherein the determining by the system provider device that the first product in the contingent payment request has been purchased by the first user is performed in response to the system provider device transferring funds from the user account associated with the first user to the merchant account in order to purchase the first product for the first user.