A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING E-COMMERCE ACCESS TO AN INTERNET WEBSITE.

摘要

A webcard (160) associated with a specific website (150), or group of websites, on the Internet (130) is purchased at various retail point-of-sale locations for facilitating various e-commerce transactions referred to as e-commerce access. E-commerce access includes, but is not limited to, entry into the website (150), purchase of goods or services from the website (150), search access to various databases (420) associated with the website (150), delivery of datastreams from the website (150), etc. Customers may purchase webcards (160) from the retail point-of-sale locations in a familiar, traditional transaction using various payment mechanisms including cash, credit card, checks, etc. The webcard (160), in turn, allows them to subsequently purchase goods, services, information, etc., from the website (150) on the Internet (130). The webcard (160) also provides a practical mechanism for handling small purchases (e.g., less than $1.00, or some other small amount) over the Internet (130) that other payment mechanisms are either unwilling or unable to handle.