E-mail invoked electronic commerce

Abstract

A system and method for electronic commerce allowing consumers to purchase items over a network and merchants to receive payment information relating to the purchases. The system includes a server configured to gather purchasing information from a consumer to complete a purchasing transaction. The system has a consumer data structure that stores purchasing information for registered consumers. The server is able to access the consumer data structure and enter the consumer's purchasing information during subsequent purchases such that the consumer does not have to enter the same information every time they purchase an item over the network. In alternate embodiments, the same technology can be applied to other arenas where a user may have to enter the same repetitive information. In addition, consumers can register with the consumer information server prior to making purchase.