Abstract: A retail unit facilitating a purchase of a customer having an electronic wallet (9) which includes an electronic checkbook (320) and an electronic purse (310). The retail unit includes a POS (10) which determines the purchase price, and a payment unit (8) for receiving payment from electronic wallet (9). Payment unit (8), upon receipt of an electronic wallet (9) and of a purchase price from POS (10), determines automatically whether to: (a) receive via electronic checkbook (320) a purchase price.gtoreq. a predetermined minimal checkbook payment sum; or, (b) receive the purchase price from electronic purse (310); or, (c) first replenish the electronic purse (310) via electronic checkbook (320) with at least the larger of a predetermined minimal purse replenishment sum and the difference between the purchase price and the electronic purse's stored value, and then receive the purchase price from electronic purse (310).

Abstract: A vending machine for serving a plurality of customers, each having a payment card, which includes a vending unit for storing and displaying an accessible inventory and for selectively enabling and barring free access of a customer to a plurality of items therefrom, a card payment unit which upon receipt of a payment card from a customer, validates, prior to said enabling, that the payment card can be charged for the value of the accessible inventory, and which charges, after the barring, the payment card with a sum in accordance with the items removed from the accessible inventory by the customer and a control unit for coordinating the operations of said vending unit and said card payment unit.