Private payment and purchasing system

A method, comprising:

• providing a private payment computer system associated with a purchaser, the private payment computer system comprising one or more file servers and/or application servers, a gateway, and a database, in communication with one another, the private payment computer system further comprising hardware elements electrically coupled via a bus and/or network, the hardware elements including one or more central processing units to execute a program and/or script for the one or more file servers and/or application servers and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing the database and instructions for the program and/or script;
• creating, by the private payment computer system, at least part of a token for a merchant offering a product and/or service to be purchased by the purchaser, the token including (a) a payee identifier that (i) identifies financial information of the merchant, the merchant financial information comprising one or more of a universal payment identification code associated with the merchant, a financial institution account number of the merchant, and a routing number of a financial institution of the merchant and (ii) includes one or more of a unique merchant name, a globally unique identifier of the merchant, an alpha numeric number associated with the merchant, a specialized name or abbreviation of the merchant, and a phone number of the merchant, and (b) a product and/or service identifier that identifies the product and/or service associated with the merchant;
• during a transaction by the purchaser to purchase the product and/or service, receiving, at the gateway of the private payment computer system directly from a computing system of the purchaser and through a communication network, the token and authentication information of the purchaser;
• authenticating, by the one or more file servers and/or application servers of the private payment computer system, the purchaser using the received authentication information;
• when the purchaser is authenticated successfully, retrieving, by the one or more file servers and/or application servers of the private payment computer system, merchant information from the database via the one or more database servers, the retrieved merchant information associated with the merchant;
• after verification that an account of the purchaser has funds available to pay for the product and/or service and upon completion of the payment transfer from an account of the purchaser to an account of the merchant, performing at least one of the following:
• sending, by the one or more file servers and/or application servers of the private payment computer system, to the merchant system, an electronic purchase order for the product and/or service associated with the token and identified by the product and/or service identifier;
• and
• sending, by the one or more file servers and/or application servers of the private payment computer system, electronic payment confirmation that funds have been transferred from an account of the purchaser to an account identified at least in part by the payee identifier.

A private payment computer system, comprising:

• one or more central processing units to execute a program and/or script for one or more file servers and/or application servers;
• a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing the instructions;
• a gateway to send communications to and receive communications from a communications network;
• and
• a bus electrically coupling the one or more central processing units, and the non-transitory computer readable storage medium,
• the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising the program and/or script that, when executed by the one or more central processing units, cause the one or more central processing units to:
• create at least part of a token for a merchant offering a product and/or service to be purchased by a purchaser, the token including (a) a payee identifier that (i) identifies financial information of the merchant, the merchant financial information comprising one or more of a universal payment identification code associated with the merchant, a financial institution account number of the merchant, and a routing number of a financial institution of the merchant and (ii) includes one or more of a unique merchant name, a globally unique identifier of the merchant, an alpha numeric number associated with the merchant, a specialized name or abbreviation of the merchant, and a phone number of the merchant, and (b) a product and/or service identifier that identifies the product and/or service associated with the merchant;
• during a transaction by the purchaser to purchase the product and/or service, receive, directly from a computing system of the purchaser and through the communication network, the token and authentication information of the purchaser;
• authenticate the purchaser using the received authentication information;
• when the purchaser is authenticated successfully, retrieve merchant information from the database via the one or more database servers, the retrieved merchant information associated with the merchant;
• and
• after verification that an account of the purchaser has funds available to pay for the product and/or service and upon completion of the payment transfer from an account of the purchaser to an account of the merchant, perform at least one of the following:
• send to the merchant system, an electronic purchase order for the product and/or service associated with the token and identified by the product and/or service identifier;
• and
• send electronic payment confirmation that funds have been transferred from an account of the purchaser to an account identified at least in part by the payee identifier.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising:

• one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more central processing units of a private payment computer system associated with a purchaser, create at least part of a token for a merchant offering a product and/or service to be purchased by the purchaser, the private payment computer system comprising one or more file servers and/or application servers, a gateway, and a database, in communication with one another and further comprising hardware elements electrically coupled via a bus and/or network, the hardware elements including the one or more central processing units to execute a program and/or script for the one or more file servers and/or application servers, and the non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing the instructions and database and the token including (a) a payee identifier that (i) identifies financial information of the merchant, the merchant financial information comprising one or more of a universal payment identification code associated with the merchant, a financial institution account number of the merchant, and a routing number of a financial institution of the merchant and (ii) includes one or more of a unique merchant name, a globally unique identifier of the merchant, an alpha numeric number associated with the merchant, a specialized name or abbreviation of the merchant, and a phone number of the merchant, and (b) a product and/or service identifier that identifies the product and/or service associated with the merchant;
• one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more central processing units of the private payment computer system, receive, during a transaction by the purchaser to purchase the product and/or service, directly from a computing system of the purchaser, and through the communication network, the token and authentication information of the purchaser;
• one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more central processing units of the private payment computer system, authenticate the purchaser using the received authentication information;
• one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more central processing units of the private payment computer system, retrieve, when the purchaser is authenticated successfully, merchant information from the database via the one or more database servers, the retrieved merchant information associated with the merchant;
• and
• one or more instructions that, when executed by the one or more central processing units of the private payment computer system, perform, after verification that an account of the purchaser has funds available to pay for the product and/or service and upon completion of the payment transfer from an account of the purchaser to an account of the merchant, at least one of the following functions:
• send to the merchant system, an electronic purchase order for the product and/or service associated with the token and identified by the product and/or service identifier;
• and
• send electronic payment confirmation that funds have been transferred from an account of the purchaser to an account identified at least in part by the payee identifier.