Universal shopping cart and order injection system

A method of ordering products from a shopping site having a web page comprising a consistent user interface that provides information on a plurality of product types from a plurality of merchants, said method comprising:

• accessing said shopping site;
• selecting one of said plurality of product types;
• searching a local database for information relating to said at least one selected product type prior to searching a plurality of websites for said information;
• selecting at least one of said merchants that sells at least one product that belongs to said selected product type;
• adding said at least one selected product corresponding to said selected product type and said selected merchant to a universal shopping cart;
• and
• repeating said steps of selecting at least one of said product types, selecting said at least one merchant, and adding said at least one selected product until a check out command is received from said consumer.

A method of providing a web page comprising a consistent user interface to allow a consumer to order products via a network, comprising:

• providing a search component for searching a local database for information relating to at least one product prior to searching a plurality of websites for said information;
• providing a window for said consumer to browse said information from a plurality of merchants, said plurality of merchants including a non-affiliated merchant;
• providing a universal shopping cart link for retrieving a universal shopping cart;
• providing product selection links for selecting and adding selected products to said universal shopping cart;
• and
• providing a universal shopping cart check out link for checking out said universal shopping cart without directing said consumer to a selected site of said merchant.

An apparatus for processing product orders from a consumer via a network to provide a web page comprising a consistent user interface for said consumer to view product information and order products from a plurality of merchants, comprising:

• a network interface unit for interfacing said network;
• a memory unit for storing a universal shopping cart service program and a universal shopping cart database;
• and
• a processing unit operative to process product orders from said consumer according to said universal shopping cart service program by:
• searching a local database for said product information relating to at least one of said products prior to searching a plurality of websites for said product information;
• displaying said product information from said merchants within said web page comprising a consistent user interface;
• storing at least one selected product selected by said consumer to said universal shopping cart database;
• injecting at least one product order to said merchant associated with said at least one selected product in said universal shopping cart database;
• and,
• storing reputation information on said consumer on a reputation server, wherein said universal shopping cart service program further comprises displaying reputation information of said consumer to said merchant.