Demand estimation using auction price analysis

• US 20020161622A1
• Filed: 03/21/2001
• Published: 10/31/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Beyer, Dirk, Liu, Tongwei, Zhang, Alex Xin, Ward, Julie Ann
• Granted Patent: US 7,076,459 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A method for generating a demand estimate for a product includes gathering a set of auction data which is relevant to the product, removing from the auction data all but a highest bid from each unique bidder in the auction data, and correcting a bias in the auction data caused by a set of characteristics of an auction from which the auction data is obtained. In one embodiment, the auction data is obtained from an on-line auction which is characterized by bidders not necessarily knowing the start time of the auction.

Claims

1. A method for generating a demand estimate for a product, comprising the steps of:

removing from a set of auction data all but a highest bid from each unique bidder in the auction data, the auction data including a set of bids for the product;

correcting a bias in the auction data caused by a set of characteristics of an auction from which the auction data is obtained.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of gathering the auction data such that the auction data is relevant to the product.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of gathering the auction data includes the step of searching an auction web site for a relevant product.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of gathering the auction data includes the step of obtaining the auction data from an auction web site.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of correcting the bias includes the step of applying a statistical model to the auction data to obtain the demand estimate.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a graph of the demand estimate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a table containing the demand estimate.

8. A system for generating a demand estimate for a product, comprising:

a set of auction data including a set of bids for the product;

price analyzer that removes from the auction data all but a highest bid from each unique bidder in the auction data and that corrects a bias in the auction data caused by a set of characteristics of an auction from which the auction data is obtained.

9. The system of claim 8, further comprising means for gathering the auction data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the means for gathering the auction data includes means for searching an auction web site for a relevant product.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the means for gathering the auction data includes means for obtaining the auction data from an auction web site.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the price analyzer corrects the bias by applying a statistical model to the auction data to obtain the demand estimate.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the price analyzer generates a graph of the demand estimate.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the price analyzer generates a table containing the demand estimate.