Methods for payment and merchant systems

A computer-implemented method for a payment system comprising the steps of:

• receiving, over a network, an identifier of a user device and information indicative of requested item for purchase from a network-accessible merchant by the user device;
• determining, based on the user device identifier, a creditworthiness indicator associated with the user device;
• transmitting an authorization signal to the network-accessible merchant for the requested purchase without concurrently requiring payment for the purchases, when the creditworthiness indicator satisfies predetermined conditions;
• monitoring a total outstanding purchase balance associated with the user device;
• and
• transmitting a request signal to the user device for settlement of at least a part of the total outstanding purchase balance when the total outstanding balance will have exceeded a predetermined threshold amount and/or accrued over a period of time that exceeds a predetermined time interval.

A computer-implemented method for a network-accessible merchant comprising the steps of:

• receiving, over a network, request information and an identifier of a user device, wherein the request information represents a request to purchase an item from the network-accessible merchant by the user device;
• receiving information from the user device indicating acceptance of a fee to be paid for the item;
• storing information related to the fee in association with the user device identifier;
• monitoring a total outstanding balance of fee(s) associated with the user device identifier;
• transmitting a request signal for settlement of at least a part of the total outstanding purchase balance when the total outstanding fees balance exceeds a predetermined threshold amount;
• and
• transmitting an authorization signal to the network-accessible merchant when the total outstanding fees balance has not exceed the predetermined threshold amount.

A computer-implemented method for a network-accessible merchant comprising the steps of:

• receiving, over a network, request information and an identifier of a user device, wherein the request information represents a request to purchase an item from the network-accessible merchant by the user device;
• receiving information from the user device indicating acceptance of a fee to be paid for the item;
• storing information related to the fee in association with the user device identifier;
• monitoring a total outstanding balance of fee(s) associated with the user device identifier;
• transmitting a request signal for settlement of at least a part of the total outstanding purchase balance when the total outstanding fees over a period of time exceeds a predetermined time interval;
• and
• transmitting an authorization signal to the network-accessible merchant when the total outstanding fees over a period of time does not exceed the predetermined time interval.