Method and system to facilitate pre-ordering via an electronic commerce facility, and to automatically facilitate satisfying of a pre-order upon listing of an appropriate offer via the electronic commerce facility

• US 20020099642A1
• Filed: 07/31/2001
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: Halfcom Incorporated (eBay Inc.)
• Inventors: Balijepali, Srinivas, Borowsky, Pete, Geshel, Vadim, Schwankl, Michael, Kopelman, Joshua
• Granted Patent: US 7,890,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method to facilitate pre-ordering of an offering via a network-based transaction facility includes, responsive to user identification of an offering, communicating offering information to the user regarding the offering. In conjunction with the offering information, a selectable option is communicated to the user to pre-order the offering by specifying pre-order attribute information. Following selection the pre-order option by a user and provision of the pre-order attribute information, a pre-order relating to an item is recorded at the transaction facility. The pre-order specifies a plurality of pre-order attributes. An offer to sell the item is received at the transaction facility, the offer specifying a plurality of offer attributes. A matching operation is automatically performed to detect a correspondence between the pre-order and the offer. The matching operation utilizes at least one pre-order attribute of the pre-order attributes and at least one offer attribute of the offer attributes to detect the correspondence. Responsive to a detection of the correspondence by the matching operation, a transaction facilitating operation is automatically performed to facilitate establishment of a transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer to sell the item.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate a transaction via a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

recording a pre-order relating to an item at the transaction facility, the pre-order specifying a plurality of pre-order attributes;

receiving an offer to sell the item at the transaction facility, the offer specifying a plurality of offer attributes;

automatically performing a matching operation to detect a correspondence between the pre-order and the offer, the matching operation utilizing at least one pre-order attribute of the plurality of pre-order attributes and at least one offer attribute of the offer attributes to detect the correspondence; and

responsive to a detection of the correspondence by the matching operation, automatically performing a transaction facilitating operation to facilitate establishment of a transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer to sell the item.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one pre-order attribute includes any one of a group of attributes including an item descriptor, an item price, an item condition, a seller rating and a pre-order expiration specification.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the seller rating is established based on a trading history of a seller from which the offer originates.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the seller rating is determined by input received from other users of the transaction facility.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the item description comprises any one of a UPC code and an ISBN code.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one offer attribute includes any one of a group of attributes including an item descriptor, an item price, an item condition and a seller identifier.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the matching operation utilizes multiple pre-order attributes of the plurality of pre-order attributes and multiple offer attributes of the plurality of offer attributes to detect the correspondence.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the correspondence includes any one of a group of degrees of correspondence, including an exact correspondence, a correspondence below a maximum threshold, a correspondence above a minimum threshold and a correspondence within a range.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the pre-order attributes specifies a criterion, and wherein the detecting of the correspondence includes determining whether the criterion is met or exceeded.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction facilitating operation includes communicating the pre-order to a seller from which the offer to sell was received.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the communication of the pre-order to the seller occurs prior to a publication of the offer to sell by the transaction facility.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the communication of the pre-order includes communicating to the seller a user-selectable option to instantly satisfy the pre-order with the offer and thereby to establish the transaction.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the communication of the pre-order includes communicating at least a subset of the plurality of pre-order attributes to the seller.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the communicating on the pre-order includes causing a display of a user interface communicating the pre-order to the seller.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the user interface comprises a markup-language document.

16. The method of claim 14 including transmitting the user interface via a network to a device accessible by the seller.

17. The method of claim 10 including communicating comparative price information to the seller in conjunction with the pre-order.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the comparative price information includes, for the item, any one of a group of information items including to a recommended price for the second item, a last sold price for an item substantially similar to the second item, an average list price for an item substantially similar to the second item, a current highest price for an item substantially similar to the second item, a current low price for an item substantially similar to the current item and a minimum listing price.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction facilitating operation includes automatically establishing the transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer when all of the pre-order attributes of the plurality of pre-order attributes are satisfied by the plurality of offer attributes.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the offer to sell is received as part of a batch of offers from the seller to sell a plurality of items.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the item includes any one of a group of items including goods and services.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple instances of the item are in existence, and the pre-order relates to any one of the multiple instances of the item that satisfies the pre-order attributes.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the offer to sell relates to a specific instance of the multiple instances of the item.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein a single instance of the item is in existence, and both the pre-order and the order relate to the single instance of the item.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the offering information relates to a specific offering and includes offer attribute information, and wherein the pre-order attribute information is specifiable by the user to be different from the offer attribute information.

27. The method of claim 25 including, responsive to selection by the user of the option to pre-order, soliciting the pre-order attribute information from the user.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the soliciting of the pre-order information includes causing display of a user interface to the user to receive the pre-order attribute information.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the user interface presents a plurality of a default inputs for each of a plurality of pre-order attributes to facilitate the specification of the pre-order attribute information.

30. The method of claim 25 wherein the pre-order attribute information includes any one of a group of information items including an identifier, a price, a description, a condition, a seller rating and a pre-order expiration.

25. A method to facilitate pre-ordering of an offering via a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

responsive to user identification of an offering, communicating offering information to a user regarding the offering; and

in conjunction with the offering information, communicating to the user a selectable option to pre-order the offering by specifying pre-order attribute information.

31. A commerce system to facilitate a transaction, the system including:

a database to record a pre-order relating to an item at the transaction facility, the pre-order specifying a plurality of pre-order attributes; and

matching logic automatically to perform a matching operation to detect a correspondence between the pre-order and an offer received at the system, the matching operation utilizing at least one pre-order attribute of the plurality of pre-order attributes and at least one offer attribute of the offer attributes to detect the correspondence;

the matching logic further, responsive to a detection of the correspondence by the matching operation, automatically to perform a transaction facilitating operation to facilitate establishment of a transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer to sell the item.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the at least one pre-order attribute includes any one of a group of attributes including an item descriptor, an item price, an item condition, a seller rating and a pre-order expiration specification.

33. The system of claim 32 wherein the seller rating is established based on a trading history of a seller from which the offer originators.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the seller rating is determined by input received from other users of the transaction facility.

35. The system of claim 32 wherein the item description comprises any one of a UPC code and an ISBN code.

36. The system of claim 31 wherein the at least one offer attribute includes any one of a group of attributes including an item descriptor, an item price, an item condition and a seller identifier.

37. The system of claim 31 wherein the matching operation utilizes multiple pre-order attributes of the plurality of pre-order attributes and multiple offer attributes of the plurality of offer attributes to detect the correspondence.

38. The system of claim 31 wherein the correspondence includes any one of a group of degrees of correspondence, including an exact correspondence, a correspondence below a maximum threshold, a correspondence above a minimum threshold and a correspondence within a range.

39. The system of claim 31 wherein at least one of the pre-order attributes specifies a criterion, and wherein the detecting of the correspondence includes determining whether the criterion is met or exceeded.

40. The system of claim 31 wherein the transaction facilitating operation includes communicating the pre-order to a seller from which the offer to sell was received.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein the communication of the pre-order to the seller occurs prior to a publication of the offer to sell by the transaction facility.

42. The system of claim 40 wherein the communication of the pre-order includes communicating to the seller a user-selectable option to instantly satisfy the pre-order with the offer and thereby to establish the transaction.

43. The system of claim 40 wherein the communication of the pre-order includes communicating at least a subset of the plurality of pre-order attributes to the seller.

44. The system of claim 40 wherein the communicating on the pre-order includes causing a display of a user interface communicating the pre-order to the seller.

45. The system of claim 44 wherein the user interface comprises a markup-language document.

46. The system of claim 44 wherein the communicating of the pre-order includes transmitting the user interface via a network to a device accessible by the seller.

47. The system of claim 40 including communicating comparative price information to the seller in conjunction with the pre-order.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein the comparative price information includes, for the item, any one of a group of information items including to a recommended price for the second item, a last sold price for an item substantially similar to the second item, an average list price for an item substantially similar to the second item, a current highest price for an item substantially similar to the second item, a current low price for an item substantially similar to the current item and a minimum listing price.

49. The system of claim 31 wherein the transaction facilitating operation includes automatically establishing the transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer when all of the pre-order attributes of the plurality of pre-order attributes are satisfied by the plurality of offer attributes.

50. The system of claim 31 wherein the offer to sell is received as part of a batch of offers from the seller to sell a plurality of items.

51. The system of claim 31 wherein the item includes any one of a group of items including goods and services.

52. The system of claim 31 wherein multiple instances of the item are in existence, and the pre-order relates to any one of the multiple instances of the item that satisfies the pre-order attributes.

53. The system of claim 31 wherein the offer to sell relates to a specific instance of the multiple instances of the item.

54. The claim of claim 31 wherein a single instance of the item is in existence, and both the pre-order and the order relate to the single instance of the item.

55. A system to facilitate pre-ordering of an offering via a network-based

transaction facility, the system including:

a database to store information concerning a plurality of offerings; and

an application server, responsive to user identification of an offering, to communicate offering information to a user regarding the offering, and in conjunction with the offering information, to communicate to the user a selectable option to pre-order the offering by specifying pre-order attribute information.

56. The system of claim 55 wherein the offering information relates to a specific offering and includes offer attribute information, and wherein the pre-order attribute information is specifiable by the user to be different from the offer attribute information.

57. The system of claim 55 wherein the application server, responsive to selection by the user of the option to pre-order, is to solicit the pre-order attribute information from the user.

58. The system of claim 57 wherein the soliciting of the pre-order information by the application server includes causing display of a user interface to the user to receive the pre-order attribute information.

59. The system of claim 58 wherein the user interface presents a plurality of a default inputs for each of a plurality of pre-order attributes to facilitate the specification of the pre-order attribute information.

60. The system of claim 55 wherein the pre-order attribute information includes any one of a group of information items including an identifier, a price, a description, a condition, a seller rating and a pre-order expiration.

61. A commerce system to facilitate a transaction, the system including:

first means for recording a pre-order relating to an item at the transaction facility, the pre-order specifying a plurality of pre-order attributes; and

second means for automatically performing a matching operation to detect a correspondence between the pre-order and an offer received at the system, the matching operation utilizing at least one pre-order attribute of the plurality of pre-order attributes and at least one offer attribute of the offer attributes to detect the correspondence;

the second means further, responsive to a detection of the correspondence by the matching operation, for automatically performing a transaction facilitating operation to facilitate establishment of a transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer to sell the item.

62. A machine-readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to facilitate a transaction via a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

recording a pre-order relating to an item at the transaction facility, the pre-order specifying a plurality of pre-order attributes;

receiving an offer to sell the item at the transaction facility, the offer specifying a plurality of offer attributes;

automatically performing a matching operation to detect a correspondence between the pre-order and the offer, the matching operation utilizing at least one pre-order attribute of the plurality of pre-order attributes and at least one offer attribute of the offer attributes to detect the correspondence;

responsive to a detection of the correspondence by the matching operation, automatically performing a transaction facilitating operation to facilitate establishment of a transaction whereby the pre-order is satisfied by the offer to sell the item.