US Patent 10157375 Alternative payment implementation for electronic retailers

A method of processing a transaction between a merchant and a buyer over a communication network is provided. The transaction is processed using one of a plurality of alternative payment options and each of the alternative payment options are provided by one of a plurality of alternative payment providers. Each of the alternative payment providers uses a different alternative payment implementation. The method includes: obtaining transaction information from the merchant; returning a redirection URL and an order identifier to the merchant; obtaining a transaction message from the merchant, where the transaction message specifies the type of operation; performing the operation type specified in the transaction message with the appropriate alternative payment provider; and returning a processing message to the merchant containing the results from performing the operation type specified in the transaction message.