WO2021186213A1

WO2021186213A1 - Method and system for electronic payment of a purchase subject to the receipt of the purchased goods

Info

Publication number: WO2021186213A1
Application number: PCT/IB2020/052453
Authority: WO
Inventors: Donato VADRUCCIO; Paolo Zanni
Original assignee: Paydo S.P.A.
Priority date: 2020-03-18
Filing date: 2020-03-18
Publication date: 2021-09-23

Abstract

The described system and method allow the conditioned transfers of titles in electronic form between a buyer user and a seller user who have agreed on the purchase of goods and are provided with communication devices adapted to exchange data over a data interconnection network, such as, for example, the Internet. The irrevocable transfer of titles in electronic form is performed following the exchange of messages preparatory to the movement of the titles, messages which are duly approved by the involved users before making the transfer, and is subject to the approval by an independent third party represented by a checking user or by an automatic goods delivery tracking system. Furthermore, the transfer does not require the seller user to download software programs or mobile apps, to make registrations to currency transfer services or to have a current account with the same financial institution where the buyer user holds a current account.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONIC PAYMENT OF A PURCHASE

SUBJECT TO THE RECEIPT OF THE PURCHASED GOODS

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FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the technical field of computer systems and of communications between computer systems. More in particular, the present invention relates to the technical field of computer systems and of communications between computer systems adapted to transfer money and titles in electronic form between users.

PRIOR ART

The present invention relates to the fields of computer and communication systems. More in particular, a system and methods are provided to facilitate the exchange of electronic money between users through computer devices.

Electronic money has become a major part of modern economic and financial systems. It is estimated that only about 5% of the world's currency exists on media such as coins, banknotes, securities, while about 95% is managed only in electronic form and allocated on storage devices associated with data processing systems. Electronic money solves several problems associated with the use of banknotes and other physical media, such as banker's drafts and bank checks and are gradually being more widespread, replacing traditional payment methods.

To date, several examples of economic transactions which require the money transfer and the exchange of goods to be contemporaneous are available. Cash on delivery payment is one of these examples. As known, cash on delivery payment is basically a method of payment for purchased goods which is conditioned to the receipt of the purchased goods by the user. In general terms, cash on delivery payment can be used to pay for goods and services, so in the present description, the term “goods” will refer to both goods and services which can be sold by a seller and purchased by a buyer. Similarly, in the present description, the term “seller” will, in a general sense, indicate both a seller of goods and a supplier of a service and, in even more general terms, a creditor of the payer. Cash on delivery payment is established at the time of purchase of goods offered for sale by a seller user, through an agreement between seller user and buyer user. Cash on delivery payment is generally made to the courier that delivers the goods to the buyer. The payment method usually used is cash or check.

In further detail, cash on delivery payment involves the following steps: A seller user and a buyer user agree on the sale of goods and the payment of the goods by cash on delivery, using cash or a bank check; the seller user hires a forwarding agent to deliver the goods and informs them that the buyer user will pay cash on delivery; the forwarding agent, in turn, hires a courier and informs them that the buyer user will pay cash on delivery; the courier takes charge of the goods and delivers the goods to the buyer user; the buyer user pays for the goods by delivering the cash or check to the courier; the courier, in turn, delivers the cash or the check to the forwarding agent and finally the forwarding agent collects the cash or the check and then transfers the amount due to the seller user.

However, it is not always possible to have the required synchronism between delivery of goods and payment, either because of the distance between seller and buyer that makes it necessary to introduce third parties in the relationship between buyer and seller or because of the very nature of the economic transaction which cannot be carried out with instant payment systems.

The solutions adopted to ensure the correctness of cash on delivery payment are generally as follows: the use of impartial parties acting as guarantors for the transaction to be performed correctly by both parties (e.g. using an escrow agent or the aforesaid cash on delivery payment to the courier who delivers the goods etc.). In the case of payment collected by the courier who delivers the goods, if, for any reason (lapse, lack of communication by the forwarding agent, bad faith, etc.), the courier delivers the goods and does not proceed with the collection the forwarding agent would lose the proceeds and should, in any case, deliver the amount provided for payment on delivery to the seller with consequent problems and difficulties in recourse to the defaulting courier.

The need to use a payment instrument for purchased goods, which is conditioned upon receipt of the purchased goods by the user, which is immune to the problems described above and which fully exploits the benefits offered by electronic currency without resorting to corrective methods of payment in cash on delivery, such as payments in advance or arrears with respect to receipt of the purchased goods is thus apparent. Indeed, payments in advance or arrears require there to be trust between the seller and the buyer because in the case of payment in advance the buyer must pay for an item before actually receiving it and, in the case of payment in arrears, the seller must deliver the item without having yet collected the sum.

The system according to the present description makes it easy to make a payment conditioned on an event (therefore, not necessarily linked to impartial parties) which guarantees the certainty of the availability of the funds to the seller and guarantees making the payment due only upon receipt of the purchased goods to the payer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description provided by way of non-limiting example and illustrated in the accompanying figures, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a block chart of a preferred implementation of the distributed electronic payment system according to the present description;

Fig. 2 shows another block chart of a preferred implementation of the distributed electronic payment system according to the present description;

Fig. 3 shows a first diagrammatic flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present description, in which the interactions between the described system and the users of the described system are highlighted;

Fig. 4 shows a second diagrammatic flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present description, in which the interactions between the described system and the users of the described system are highlighted; and Fig. 5 shows a third diagrammatic flow chart of a preferred embodiment of the method according to the present description, in which the interactions between the described system and the users of the described system are highlighted.

The component parts of the method and system according to the present description are shown in the drawings, where appropriate, with conventional symbols, showing only the specific details which are relevant for understanding the embodiments of the present invention, so as not to highlight details which will be immediately apparent, to those skilled in the art with reference to the description given herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method and system supporting the electronic payment of a purchase subject to the receipt of the purchased goods, described below, is divided into a sequence of steps that provides the following operations after the seller and the buyer user have agreed on the goods to be exchanged: a first collection of information, provided by the buyer user, relating to the payment (e.g. the amount of the payment, the description and the identifier of the seller user, said identifier comprising at least means of making a payment to said seller user and thus, according to the platform on which the payment method and system distributed according to the present description is integrated, the telephone number, e-mail address, IBAN or other); a check, at the buyer's bank, of the availability of the sum necessary to make the agreed payment and the consequent blocking of said sum; the sending of a notification to the buyer user and to the seller user that the payment of the agreed sum has been prepared; a second collection of information, provided by the seller user, relating to the completion of the transaction and the identification of an independent third party: a verifier user, who will have to carry out the verification of the delivery or an automatic tracking system of shipments; the acceptance by the buyer user of the independent third party indicated by the seller user; the sending to the possible verifier user means for the unblocking of the payment transaction; the shipment or delivery by the seller user of the goods to the buyer user; the verification of the delivery and the unblocking of the payment transaction prepared by the independent third party; the sending of a notification to the buyer user, the seller user and the verifying user of the completion of the transaction (delivery of goods and respective payment). If the identifier of the independent third party is an automatic tracking code instead of a verifier user, the system according to the present description will verify, at periodic intervals, the status of the tracking, and will unblock and finalize the payment once the goods are delivered to the buyer user.

The initial payment information can be collected through different channels which must have access to the payer’s current account from which the payment will withdraw the sums to be transferred. The aforesaid channels may be traditional banking channels (home banking, mobile banking, credit or debit cards, either virtualized or not, etc.) or other channels such as fintech platforms which, by taking advantage of the new European open banking regulations dictated by the PSD2 (Payment Service Directive), have access to the current account.

The steps through which the distributed electronic payment method and system are structured are briefly described below in the following paragraphs.

(Collection of required information from the buyer user)

The information to be collected through one of the aforesaid channels relates to the following data:

The seller user’s name and surname;

A unique identifier of the seller user. This identifier may be a telephone number, an e-mail address, an account number, the tax code or any code which uniquely identifies the seller user within the distributed payment system according to the invention; In general, the required identification data will be consistent with the requirements of the regulatory system with which the system according to the present description is integrated;

The amount of the payment;

A description of the conditioned payment to be made, which may consist of either a free text or a text from a predefined list, possibly in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory system with which the system according to the present description is integrated;

The payment method which provides the immediate blocking of funds to be transferred.

(Sending the payment request) The data collected through one of the above channels are sent to the system which is the subject of the present description for creating the required conditioned payment. Upon receipt of the information relating to the payment request, the system queries the payer's financial institution to verify the availability of the payment amount, and if the financial institution confirms said availability, the funds are blocked and removed from the buyer user’s availability. At this point, the system sends the buyer user and the seller user a notification about the positive outcome of the payment preparation. This notification is sent on one of the channels previously communicated by the buyer user.

(Choice of the verifier user)

Such notification may contain a first link through which the seller user may enter the information necessary to complete the transaction, in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory system with which the system according to the present description is integrated, and the identification of a verifier user, acting as an independent third party. Alternatively, the seller user can choose, as an independent third party, an automatic shipment and delivery tracking system, such as one of the tracking systems used by forwarding agents and couriers.

The system records the entered information and communicates the identifier of the independent third party (automatic tracking system or verifier user) to the buyer user chosen by the seller user. The communication sent by the system comprises a second link through which the buyer user can accept the verifier user indicated by the seller user, after which, if a verifier user is chosen as an independent third party, the verifier user receives a further notification containing, for example, a third link through which the verifier user themselves can unblock the transaction after the goods have been correctly delivered.

(Unblocking and making the payment)

After verifying the delivery of the goods, the verifier user unblocks the transaction by interacting with said third link. The system verifies the correctness of the performed unblocking by verifying the tracking code used or by verifying the information (e.g. a security code) entered by the verifier user during the interaction with said third link, and then asks the financial institution of the buyer user to arrange the agreed payment with the user seller. Afterwards, the financial institution of the buyer user arranges the payment from the paying user to the seller user according to the details previously entered, during the first step of creation of the payment (as in the case of a standard bank transfer) or in that of completion made by the seller user, and finally, the system notifies all involved parties, the buyer user, the seller user and the verifier user about the outcome of the transaction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Economic transactions that require the contemporaneousness of the transfer of money and the exchange of goods, the prominent example of which is the cash on delivery payment, have drawbacks which limit and complicate its use. Cash on delivery is usually used for the payment of purchased goods and is conditioned upon receipt of the purchased goods by the buyer. This method of payment is established between the buyer and a seller at the time of purchase of the goods and is usually made to the courier of the forwarding agent that delivers the goods to the buyer user, using cash or checks.

Cash on delivery payment, therefore, requires a synchronism between the delivery of the goods and the respective payment, which makes it necessary to insert third parties, in the relationship between buyer and seller, that act as guarantors for the transaction to be performed correctly by both parties. For example, escrow agents or the courier of the forwarding agent that delivers the goods to the buyer may be employed. Besides, cash on delivery payment does not currently involve the use of instant electronic payment systems.

The present description illustrates a conditioned electronic payment service which is free from the limitations and complications of the systems currently in use.

With reference to the attached Fig. 1 , the distributed electronic conditioned payment system 103 according to the present description is configured to communicate, through an interconnection network 8, e.g. the Internet, with a buyer user 100 provided with a communication device 9, with a seller user 101 provided with a communication device 10, and with a financial institution 102 which has access to the current account of the buyer user 100. The financial institution 102 may be a bank, an electronic money institution, a payment institution, afintech and, in general, any organization which has access to the current account of the buyer user 100. The distributed electronic payment system 103 according to the present description will be integrated into the channels of the financial institution 102 to make it available to the buyer users 100 who hold a current account with said financial institution 102. The buyer user 100, after having established contact with a seller user 101 and agreed on the purchase of goods with conditioned payment upon delivery of the purchased goods, through an initial communication device 9 accesses their current account through the channels provided by the financial institution 102 connected to the current account. These channels may be home banking, mobile banking, corporate banking, or even apps for smartphones or smartwatches, or any other channel on which the financial institution 102 has integrated its services and made them available to users. Correspondingly, the communication device 9 of the buyer user 100 may be a personal computer, a smartwatch, a smartphone or any other device configured to reach the aforementioned channels provided by the financial institution 102 with access to the current account of the payer user 100.

In further detail, a preferred implementation of the system 103 comprises a remote server 3 configured to communicate with at least one server of at least one bank or financial institution 102. Said remote server 3 is connected to a first database 1 containing the general transaction information which must be shared between the financial institutions which manage the current accounts of payer and recipient and is configured to manage payment transactions centrally and to communicate and exchange data with recipient users 101 through said interconnection network 8. Advantageously, the remote server 3 may be associated with cryptographic communication protocols or security layers 5, 6 which allow secure communication over said interconnection network 8, e.g. a TCP/IP type network, such as the Internet, providing authentication, data integrity and encryption.

Furthermore, said remote server 3 is further connected to a second database 2 containing confidential information for the financial institution, i.e. information which must not be shared between financial institutions which manage the current accounts of payer and recipient users.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, said remote server 3 comprises a first server 30 and a second server 40. The remote server 30 is connected to a first database 1 containing the general transaction information which must be shared between the financial institutions which manage the current accounts of payer and recipient and is configured to manage payment transactions centrally and to communicate and exchange data with the recipient users 101 through said interconnection network 8. The second server 40 is connected to the second database 2 containing confidential information for the financial institution, i.e. information which must not be shared between financial institutions which manage the current accounts of payer and recipient users. Advantageously, the second server 40 may preferably be associated with cryptographic communication protocols or security layers 5, 6 which allow secure communication over said interconnection network 8, e.g. a TCP/IP type network, such as the Internet, providing authentication, data integrity and encryption. Said security layers 5, 6 may be built using state-of-the-art techniques and comprise, for example, at least one firewall and one network balancer associated with said firewall.

The conditioned electronic currency transfer according to the present invention occurs in three steps: generating and sending the conditioned payment request by a buyer user 100 of an amount taken from their bank account, receiving and accepting the conditioned payment request by a seller user 101 , choosing a verifier user 104 by said seller user 101 , accepting the choice of the verifier user 104 by the buyer user 100 and finally irrevocably transferring the money by the bank of the buyer user 100 to the seller user 101 , following the authorization given by the verifier user 104.

In further detail, and with reference to attached Fig. 3, 4 and 5, the payment method according to the present description provides a buyer user 100 accessing, from their personal computer, tablet, smartwatch or smartphone or other enabled channels, the Internet Banking (IB) or Mobile Banking (MB) application of their financial institution and choosing a section relating to the new method of payment according to the present invention. In more general terms, the buyer user 100 accesses 201 , through their communication device 9, the server on which the channel of the financial institution 102 which has access to the current account from which the payer 100 wants to send money is hosted. This access is performed according to the usual procedures of the concerned financial institution, using the requirements and user experience (UX) typical of the chosen channel (e.g., the IB or MB application used can now ask the payer user 100, at this point, for the OTP or PWD required for the ordering operations and a confirmation to make the transfer). The buyer user 100 then enters information about a promise of conditioned payment (e.g. comprising details of the seller user 101 , the amount to be transferred, any security PIN, description and payment method, etc.) in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory system with which the system according to the present description is supplemented) which are sent to the financial institution 102. At this point, the server of the financial institution 102 sends 202 to server 3 (or the second server 40) of the system 103 information about the availability on the account of the buyer user 100 of the sum requested for payment and, if so, blocks 203 the sum by removing it from the buyer user’s availability. The server 3 (or the second server 40) of the system 103 prepares 204 payment (e.g. by creating an identifier within the system by entering the payment record with all the information in said database 2) and sends 205 a payment notification prepared to the buyer user

100 and the seller user 101 , through a channel consistent with the unique ID of the recipient used by the payer user 100 (e.g. e-mail in the case of email address, text message or instant message in the case of telephone number, etc.).

Said notification preferably comprises means (e.g. a first web link in the case of e- mail or text messages) to enable the seller user 101 to enter 206 the information necessary to complete the transaction, in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory system with which the system according to the present description integrates, and the identifier of the independent third party chosen, a verifier user 104 or an automatic tracking system.

At this point, the server 3 (or the second server 40) of system 103 sends 207 a notification comprising the identifier of the verifier user 104 chosen by the seller user

101 to the buyer user 100. Said notification comprises means (e.g. said second web link in the case of e-mail or text messages) to allow the buyer user to provide their acceptance of the proposed verifier user 104 to the system 103.

The buyer user 100 accepts 208 the proposed verifier user 104 and then the verifier user 104 receives 209 a notification from the system 103 comprising means (e.g. said third web link in the case of e-mail or text messages) to allow the verifier user 104 to unblock the payment by the buyer user 100 to the user seller 101 , once the goods have been correctly delivered.

After the user seller 101 has delivered the goods to the buyer user 100, and the verifier user 104 has verified the correctness of the delivery, said verifier user 104 will unblock 210 the payment by acting on the received previously means (e.g. said third web link in case of e-mail or text messages). If the independent third party is represented by an automatic tracking system, then the system 103 will not send such notification comprising such third link, but will periodically query the chosen automatic tracking system to verify whether the goods have been correctly delivered.

Afterwards, the server 3 (or the second server 40) of system 103 receives the unblocking made by the verifier user 104, verifies its correctness and sends 211 a request to the server of the financial institution 102 to order payment from the buyer user 100 to the seller user 101. In response, the financial institution 102 orders the irrevocable payment from the buyer user 100 to the seller user 101 and the server 3 (or the second server 40) of the system 103 sends 213 a notification to the buyer user 100, the seller user 101 and the verifier user 104 of the success of the transaction just concluded and the irrevocability of the transaction.

With reference to the attached Fig. 2, in a preferred embodiment of the system according to the present description, said verifier user 104 may be replaced by an automatic tracking code which can be verified, for example, by checking a web page hosted on a remote server 11 or a service displayed by the server 11 itself. In this case, the system 103 according to the present description will verify, at periodic intervals, the status of the tracking, and will unblock 210 and finalize 211 the payment once the goods are delivered to the buyer user 100.

The system 103 according to the present description has many advantages with respect to the conditioned payment methods. The seller user 101 can only transfer the goods purchased by buyer user 100 after having verified the buyer user's financial availability and the fact that the agreed sum has already been reserved and prepared for payment; The buyer user 100, on the other hand, has the guarantee that payment will be made only after confirmation by a verifier user 104, independent third party, or the acceptance of the received goods;

The money of the payment transaction between buyer and seller does not pass through a third party (such as the courier/forwarding agent), shortening the time and improving the seller’s cash flow (especially if it is a legal person and not a natural person) ensuring the certainty of the transaction by virtue of the irrevocability;

It is not necessary to handle possible refunds, e.g. caused by refusal of delivery in case of damaged parcel, parcel lost by the courier or returned to the sender for various reasons, because the payment, in the cases listed above, is not finalized; The transaction appears to be more robust from an anti-fraud point of view than the current conditioned payment management systems. The buyer cannot cancel the payment if the goods are exchanged correctly and, moreover, the monetary transaction is canceled if the seller sends goods which do not correspond to that requested;

The verifier user does not need an escrow account to which the payment amounts must be temporarily transfered, unlike what occurs today for escrow agents;

The verifier user can manage the operation remotely.

The previous description of exemplifying embodiments makes reference to the attached drawings. The detailed description above does not limit the invention. The scope of the invention is defined by the appended claims.

The reference in the description to "an embodiment" or "a preferred embodiment" means that a particular structure or feature or a characteristic element described in relation to an embodiment is comprised in at least one embodiment of the described object. Therefore, the presence of the expression "in an embodiment" or "in a preferred embodiment” or "in the embodiment" or "in the preferred embodiment" in various points of the description does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the characteristic elements, structures of particular features may be combined in any manner suited to one more or embodiments.

Claims

1. A method implemented on a computer (103) to make, in a distributed electronic currency transfer system, an irrevocable payment conditioned to the receipt of goods from a buyer user (100) of said goods, having a current account with a financial institution (102), to a seller user (101 ) of said goods, said method comprising: a) receiving (201 ) a conditioned payment request from the payer user (100) to the recipient user (101) and a unique identifier of the recipient user (101), by a remote server (3) of said distributed electronic currency transfer system configured to create payment transactions and associated with an interconnection network (8), said promise of payment comprising the amount of the payment and the identifier of the seller user (101); b) sending (202) the conditioned payment request by said remote server (3 ) to a server of the financial institution (102); c) verifying (203) by the server of the financial institution (102) the availability of the sum required for the payment on the account of the buyer user

(100) and, in the affirmative case, blocking the sum; d) preparing the conditioned payment and sending (205) a conditioned payment notification prepared by said remote server (3) to the seller user

(101 ), said notification comprising means to allow the seller user (101 ) to communicate (206) to said remote server (3) the identification of an independent third party adapted to verify that said goods were delivered to said buyer user (100); e) sending (207) by said remote server (3) to the buyer user (100) a notification comprising the identifier of said independent third party, said notification comprising means to allow the buyer user (100) to provide their acceptance (208) of said independent third party to said server (3) of the system (103); f) receiving (210) by said remote server (3) confirmation of delivery of said goods coming from said independent third party; g) sending (211) by said remote server (3) to said server of the financial institution (102) a request to order said conditioned irrevocable payment in favor of the seller user (101 ).

2. A method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said identifier of the seller user (101 ) comprises at least means to be able to make a payment in favor of said seller user (101 ).

3. A method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said means to allow the seller user (101) to communicate (206) the identifier of an independent third party to said remote server (3) comprise a first web link.

4. A method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that such means to allow the buyer user (100) to provide said server (3) of the system (103) their acceptance (208) of said independent third party comprise a second web link.

5. A method according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that said independent third party comprises a verifier user (104).

6. A method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said step f) is preceded by the sending (209) by said remote server (3) to the verifier user (104) of a notification comprising means to allow the verifier user (104) to provide said server (3) of the system (103) with the confirmation of delivery of said goods.

7. A method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said means to allow the verifier user (104) to provide the confirmation of delivery of said goods to said server (3) of the system (103) comprise a third web link.

8. A method according to one or more of claims from 1 to 4, characterized in that said independent third party comprises an automatic shipment tracking system adapted to be queried by said remote server (3) of said system (103) to know the status of delivery of said goods.

9. A method according to the preceding claim, characterized in that said step f) is preceded by the periodic checking, by said remote server (3) of the system (103), of said automatic tracking system to verify whether the goods were delivered correctly.

10. A computer-readable storage medium which stores instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to one or more of claims 1 to 9 to make, in a distributed electronic money transfer system, a conditioned payment upon receipt of goods from a user who is a buyer user (100) of said goods and has a current account with a financial institution (102), to a seller user (101 ) of said goods.

11. A distributed electronic currency transfer system to make an irrevocable payment conditioned upon receipt of goods from a buyer user (100) of said goods, having a current account with a financial institution (102), to a seller user (101) of such goods, said method comprising: receiving means (201 ) of a conditioned promise of payment from the payer user (100) to the recipient user (101 ) and of a unique identifier of the recipient user (101 ), by a server (3) of distributed electronic currency transfer system configured to create payment transactions and associated with an interconnection network (8), said promise of payment comprising the amount of the payment and the identifier of the seller user (101 ); sending means (202) of the conditioned payment request by said remote server (3) to a server of the financial institution (102); verifying means (203) by the server of the financial institution (102) as to the availability of the sum required for payment on the account of the buyer user

(100) and, in the affirmative case, blocking the sum; preparing means of the conditioned payment and sending (205) to the seller user (101 ) of an irrevocable conditioned payment notification prepared by said remote server (3), said notification comprising means to allow the seller user (101 ) to communicate (206) to said remote server (3) the identification of an independent third party adapted to check that said goods have been delivered to said buyer user (100); sending means (207) by said remote server (3) to the buyer user (100) of a notification comprising the identifier of that independent third party, said notification comprising means to allow the buyer user (100) to provide their acceptance (208) of said independent third party to said server (3) of the system (103); receiving means (210) by said remote server (3) confirmation of delivery of said goods from said independent third party; and sending means (211 ) by said remote server (3) to said server of the financial institution (102) of a request to order said conditioned irrevocable payment in favor of the seller user (101 ).