Relational-based online commerce system and method

A system for relational-based online commerce, said system comprising:

• an administration server configured to define a virtual ecommerce marketplace accessible via the Internet by means of a marketplace GUI;
• a buyer database configured to maintain a plurality of buyer profiles;
• a seller database configured to maintain a plurality of seller profiles each assigned to a pre-registered seller, each seller profile including a virtual seller shop within the ecommerce marketplace for listing goods and/or services provided by, and available from, a particular seller;
• a goods and/or services database configured to maintain a record of goods and/or services provided by a particular seller across the marketplace;
• and
• a payment facility configured to accept online payment from a buyer for goods and/or services purchased from a particular seller shop;
• wherein each seller profile is customisable to provide a user-definable virtual seller shop within the ecommerce marketplace, and each seller profile allows selective listing of goods and/or services provided by another seller as part of goods and/or services available from that particular seller's shop;
• wherein the goods and/or services database is configured to monitor inventory of goods and/or services provided by and available from respective sellers across the marketplace;
• wherein the payment facility is configured to allocate received payment from buyers to sellers according to such provision and availability of purchased goods and/or services, so that goods and/or services provided by one seller is available from other sellers, and selective listing of goods and/or services facilitates relational exchanges between respective sellers and buyers;
• and
• wherein the marketplace is used to promote and sell goods and/or services of a particular society.