Pos terminal(s) with free form rewards architecture

Abstract

A merchant point-of-sale (“POS”) system architecture is provided. Systems and methods are provided for enabling free form rewards in a custom rewards transaction at a POS terminal. A custom rewards transaction may be a transaction in which a customer opts-in to a merchant-funded rewards (“MFR”) program. The merchant may offer rewards in the MFR program based on location and customer data. The merchant may offer rewards that promote customer behaviors that are advantageous to the merchant. Opting-in to the MFR program may terminate the customer's default enrollment in a conventional issuer-bank funded rewards program.

1 - 14 . (canceled) 
     
     
         15 . A method of electronically processing credit card payments, the method comprising:
 formulating, on a merchant computer system processor, a merchant-funded reward (MFR) to offer to a customer, wherein data in a database of a merchant computer system is used to formulate the MFR;   notifying the customer of the MFR via a notifying device;   receiving a request from a customer to opt-in to the MFR;   in response to receiving the request:
 linking a payment instrument of the customer to the MFR; 
 terminating a default customer enrollment in a conventional, issuer-funded rewards program; and 
 triggering an enrollment of the payment instrument in a bypass transaction processing network; 
   receiving an authorization request from a merchant to process a transaction initiated using the payment instrument;   in response to receiving the authorization request from the merchant, detecting that the payment instrument is linked to the MFR;   via the bypass transaction processing network, adjusting the fee imposed on the merchant for processing the transaction, the adjusted fee being a reduced transaction cost; and   processing the transaction based on the adjusted fee;   
       wherein formulating the MFR to offer the customer further comprises:
 generating a set of potential MFRs; 
 eliminating, from the set of potential MFRs, potential MFRs comprising a cost to the merchant above a threshold cost, said threshold cost that is a predetermined amount or a predetermined percentage of the purchase price of the products being purchased; 
 calculating, for each potential MFR remaining in the set, a customer received value, based, at least in part, on the data in the database; 
 further calculating, for each MFR in the set, the difference between a first, customer received, value, and a second, merchant cost, value; 
 selecting an MFR with the greatest difference between first and second values; and 
 communicating the selected MFR to the notifying device to offer to the customer, wherein the selected MFR is the MFR. 
 
     
     
         16 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the data in the database comprises:
 customer geolocation data;   customer spend analysis data;   customer social media data; or   market data.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the merchant computer system processor formulating the MFR to offer to the customer further comprises generating at least one MFR that incentivizes a merchant-desired customer behavior. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the merchant-desired customer behavior includes online pre-ordering of products. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the merchant-desired customer behavior includes purchasing products from a store whose sales performance is below a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the merchant-desired customer behavior includes purchasing products whose sales performance is below a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the merchant-desired customer behavior includes purchasing products at certain times, said certain times during which sales performance is below a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the linking of the payment instrument of the customer to the MFR in response to a customer request in a transaction is only vis-à-vis the transaction. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the linking of the payment instrument of the customer to the MFR in response to a customer request in a transaction becomes a default rewards program for every purchase from the merchant using the payment instrument. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the data in the database is updated when the customer enters a predetermined location.