Method to Provide Liquid Funds in the Online Auction and Marketplace Environment

An apparatus to provide funds to a seller who lists an item for sale on an e-commerce web site hosted by a web server, the e-commerce web site comprising web pages that allows sellers to list goods for sale and allows buyers to bid on or purchase the goods for sale, the apparatus comprising:

• a server comprising an electronic processor or processors configured to:
• receive, on a computer communications network, a request for cash from the seller;
• retrieve, on the computer communications network, a credit profile associated with the seller from a database, the database storing credit profiles of parties comprising respective credit information;
• make an automatic determination of whether to approve the request based on at least both the credit profile and on characteristics of the seller's sales history on the e-commerce web site, wherein the determination is an approval;
• transmit the approval to the seller;
• and
• initiate, on the computer communications network, a distribution of a cash amount to the seller using a financial processing application,
• wherein the seller is not prohibited from using the cash amount to improve the seller's cash flow.