Abstract: A gift registry providing a partial payment option for gift givers and a mandatory and contingent gift substitution for gift recipients. The gift recipient registers any type of gift idea from any store or establishment, for any occasion with an associated gift amount in the registry. The registrant is able to name their own gift price by selecting a gift amount not necessarily the same as the retail cost of the gift idea. The gift recipient also indicates whether they will accept a contingent substitute of gift or cash if the system is unable to provide the gift idea at the gift amount. The recipient can also select mandatory substitution of gift or cash. The difference between mandatory and contingent substitution is that mandatory substitution automatically occurs while contingent substitution occurs if and only if the selected gift is unavailable at the specified gift amount or could not be delivered in time.

Abstract: A gift system and method enable gift givers to, among other things, each make a respective commitment for a monetary contribution of any giver-desired amount toward a gift for a gift recipient. This system and method may, for example, be implemented by providing an on-line display of gift ideas to the gift givers. This on-line display of the gift ideas reflects uncommitted balances of purchase prices for one or more of the gift ideas having the partial purchase option. When the monetary contribution from the gift givers exceed the purchase price of the gift, a purchase request is generated.