Method and system for providing a trial of a referral service to a merchant based on a plan for expansion

An apparatus comprising:

• a machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least one computer system configured to provide order referrals to perform a method comprising:
• assigning, by the computer system configured to provide order referrals, a trial mode of a referral service to a merchant based on an expansion plan for the referral service, in which the merchant offers for sale at least one of a good and a service;
• enabling, by a processor of the computer system, the trial mode for the merchant;
• during the trial mode, receiving, by the computer system, an indication of a first order for the merchant from a remote device;
• forwarding, by the computer system, the indication of the first order to the merchant;
• allocating, by the computer system, a first payment for the first order to the merchant;
• and
• transmitting a request for acceptance of a membership status to the merchant.

A method comprising:

• assigning, by a computer system configured to provide order referrals to merchants, a trial mode of a referral service to a merchant based at least in part on an expansion plan for the referral service, in which the merchant offers for sale at least one of a good and a service;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of prices of each of a plurality of goods or services offered by the merchant to walk-in customers of the merchant;
• providing, by the computer system, an indication of the prices to at least one remote device;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of an order for the merchant of at least one of the plurality of goods and the services from the at least one remote device;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of a payment of the price of the at least one of the plurality of goods and services;
• transmitting, by the computer system, the indication of the order to the respective merchant;
• and
• allocating, by a processor of the computer system, at least a merchant portion of the payment to the respective merchant based, at least in part, on whether the trial mode is active with respect to the referral service.

An apparatus comprising:

• a machine readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of machine instructions for controlling at least one computer system configured to provide order referrals to perform a method comprising:
• assigning, by the computer system, a trial mode of a referral service to a merchant based at least in part on an expansion plan for the referral service, in which the merchant offers for sale at least one of a good and a service;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of prices of each of a plurality of goods or services offered by the merchant to walk-in customers of the merchant;
• providing, by the computer system, an indication of the prices to at least one remote device;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of an order for the merchant of at least one of the plurality of goods and the services from the at least one remote device;
• receiving, by the computer system, an indication of a payment of the price of the at least one of the plurality of goods and services;
• transmitting, by the computer system, the indication of the order to the respective merchant;
• and
• allocating, by a processor of the computer system, at least a merchant portion of the payment to the respective merchant based, at least in part, on whether the trial mode is active with respect to the referral service.