The present disclosure provides a technique that enables customization of a vehicle. In an information processing apparatus, a controller presents vehicle units extracted from among a plurality of types of under units each of which is provided with a driving mechanism configured to cause wheels to rotate and a plurality of types of upper units to be loaded on any of the under units to a user, the vehicle units being combinable as a vehicle. Furthermore, the controller executes: accepting selection by a user from among the presented vehicle units; and calculating a fee in the case of providing the selected vehicle units.

A virtual payment system for paying for goods, services and content ordered over an internetwork is disclosed. The virtual payment system includes a commerce gateway. Buyers and sellers becomes registered participants by applying for virtual payment buyer and seller accounts. Once an account is established with the commerce gateway, a digital certificate is stored on the registered participant's computer. A buyer can then order a product, i.e., goods, services or content from a seller and charge it to the virtual payment account. When the product is shipped, the seller notifies the commerce gateway, which applies the charges to the buyer's virtual payment account. The buyer can settle the charges using a prepaid account, a credit account, or by using reward points earned through use of the virtual payment account. A buyer may create sub-accounts.

Devices and techniques are generally described for search using a micro-partitioned catalog. In some examples, a search system can determine a plurality of items in an online catalog. The search system can generate a similarity graph based on vector representations of the plurality of items and determine an item as a representative item for a cluster of items. The search system can receive a query and determine the cluster of items as a candidate cluster based on a comparison between the query and the representative item. The search system can determine a candidate item of the cluster of items based on a comparison between the query and the cluster of items.

A system and method for settling of a transaction is provided. The system includes a server arrangement having a rules based engine and a meta-object system comprising a runtime utility engine configured to compile multiple meta-object instances, wherein the server arrangement is configured to receive a lump sum payment proposal from the user, the lump sum payment proposal comprising only that amount the user is presently willing to pay, process information comprising the lump sum payment proposal according to the rules, and present a second transaction settlement offer set to the user including the lump sum payment proposal and a plurality of offers limited to a plurality of installment payment options with no further immediate payment offered beyond the lump sum payment proposal.

In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a plurality of uniform resource identifiers (URI's) associated with a particular domain. Each of the URI's identifies a content page comprising one or more signature elements. The method further includes, for each URI in the plurality of URI's, successively testing the URI to identify a core of the URI and any unnecessary elements of the URI. The core of the URI is sufficient to retrieve a version of the content page including all of its signature elements. The method additionally includes, for each URI in the plurality of URI's, updating a set of rules based on the identified core and the identified unnecessary elements. The set of rules establishes a normalized version of the URI.

This disclosure describes systems and methods for matching user provided images that include representations of items with sellers of those items. A management service, as described herein, may provide a web site where users can post images, view images, share images, correspond with other users, etc. The management service may identify items represented in the images and determine one or more sellers that offer those items for sale. When another user requests to view the user provided image, the image, seller information identifying the seller determined to sell the item represented in the image, and/or a purchase control that may be selected by a user to initiate a purchase with the seller is presented.

Methods and apparatus are disclosed regarding an e-commerce system having social networking aspects. The e-commerce system leverages such social networking aspects to help promote the sale of products.

A digital downloading jukebox system including a mechanism for delivering custom services to a recognized user is provided. For example, information specific to a recognized user may be stored and optionally may include a recognized user avatar representative of the recognized user. The user avatar may be an image, video, and/or animation, which may be displayed on and/or played through the jukebox. The user avatar may be associated with transactions associated with the user. For example, an avatar may be displayed when a playlist of the recognized user is played, when a message is sent, etc. In other examples, the avatar may introduce instances of media by playing an audio and/or video message, and the avatar may sing, dance, etc. while an instance of media is playing.

One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods for generating and providing recommendations of products are provided. For example, content is extracted from a message sent to a user. The content is evaluated to identify a product identifier corresponding to a product title of a product. If the product identifier is a truncated version of the product title, then a database of product titles and frequencies of occurrence of the product titles is used to complete the product title. A model is used to infer a product category for the product title. Matching scores are assigned to products within a product category based upon weighted attributes. A recommendation is provided to the user for a product having a matching score greater than a matching threshold.

Pursuant to some embodiments, systems, methods, apparatus and computer program code are provided to create a listing data record which include analyzing an item data record to identify item details, a user, and at least a first listing rule, determining that a degree of demand for the item exceeds a threshold, determining that the at least first listing rule is satisfied, and converting the item data record into a listing data record allowing the listing record to be viewed by a plurality of users interested in the item. The item details may be obtained from a point of sale device or a user device operated by the user.