Multi-party transaction system with collective purchases

A collective-purchasing server for performing a remote purchase of an item at a retail location using communication devices, the collective-purchasing server comprising:

• at least one processor;
• a tangible, non-transitory data storage system including memory;
• a communication system for interconnecting the at least one processor and the data storage system;
• a network interface for communicating with a network;
• computer-readable program code stored in the data storage system for
• recording one or more items to be purchased,
• associating with a record or records of the one or more items to be purchased, a reference to the communication context in which the set of multiple users is defined and by way of which the set of multiple users communicate with each other electronically,
• authorizing a user to add to, remove from, and modify the one or more items to be purchased by determining if the user is a member of the set of multiple users, and
• establishing amounts that authorized users are to pay as part of a collective purchase of the items to be purchased.

A system for performing a collective purchase of one or more goods or services by a set of multiple users who are members of a communication context, the system comprising:

• a collective-purchasing server comprising
• at least one processor,
• a tangible, non-transitory data storage system including memory,
• a communication system for interconnecting the at least one processor and the data storage system,
• a network interface for communicating with a data communication network,
• computer-readable program code stored in the data storage system for
• recording one or more items to be purchased,
• associating with a record or records of the one or more items to be purchased, a reference to the communication context in which the set of multiple users is defined and by way of which the set of multiple users communicate with each other electronically,
• authorizing a user to add to, remove from, and modify the one or more items to be purchased by determining if the user is a member of the set of multiple users, and
• establishing amounts that authorized users are to pay as part of a collective purchase of the items to be purchased;
• and
• a plurality of mobile communication devices executing a client software application for communicating with the collective-purchasing server by way of the data communications network.