Method and system automatically to support multiple transaction types, and to display seller-specific transactions of various transaction types in an integrated, commingled listing

• US 20020188551A1
• Filed: 12/14/2001
• Published: 12/12/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Aidun, Rashid, Rajesh, S.N., Somani, Preeti, Yan, Steve, Grove, Steve, Singh, Premendra, Cooney, Kevin
• Granted Patent: US 8,428,996 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0643 Graphical representation of items or shoppers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

This invention provides for a method of (or apparatus for) facilitating the display of items of multiple transaction types in a commingled listing. The display of items of multiple transaction types in a commingled listing may include items which are being offered by a specific Seller at a network based commerce facility.

Claims

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

receiving a request from a buyer accessing the network-based transaction facility to view offerings that are offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility;

responsive to the request, retrieving information concerning a plurality of offerings, wherein the plurality of offerings include a first offering of a first transaction type and a second offering of a second transaction type;

integrating information concerning the first and second offerings into a commingled list; and

causing the display of the commingled list to the buyer.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first transaction type implements a first price-setting process, and the second transaction type implements a second price-setting process.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one of the first and second price-setting processes includes a fixed price-setting process, an auction price-setting process, and an hybrid auction/fixed price setting process.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the request from the buyer accessing the network-based transaction facility to view the offerings includes receiving a request from a buyer accessing an network-based auction facility to view only offerings offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility by a specific seller.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein retrieving the information concerning the plurality of offerings includes retrieving offerings of a plurality of transaction types that meet a keyword search criteria provided by the buyer.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the keyword search criteria includes searching titles and descriptions, stored by the network-based transaction facility, of the plurality of offerings.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the display of the commingled list to the buyer includes causing display of the commingled list sorted according to price of the plurality of offerings.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein causing the display of the commingled list sorted according to the price of the items includes causing display of the commingled list sorted by price in descending order.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the display of the commingled list for the buyer includes causing the display of a predetermined number of the plurality of offerings in the commingled list to the buyer.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the predetermined number of the parameter offerings is specified by the buyer.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein causing the display of the commingled list to the buyer includes filtering the commingled list to into offerings of a specific transaction type only.

12. The method of claim 11 further including causing the display of offerings of the specific transaction type, wherein the offerings of the specific transaction type are sorted according to price.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the specific transaction type is an auction transaction type, the method including causing the display of offerings of the auction transaction type only, wherein the offerings of the auction transaction type are sorted according to end time of a respective auction

14. The method of claim 1 wherein causing display of the commingled list includes:

determining if there is additional information concerning each offering for which information is included within the commingled list;

if so, retrieving the additional information associated with at least one offering for which information is included within the commingled list; and

displaying the additional information associated with the at least one offering within the commingled list.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the additional information includes any one of a thumbnail image associated with the offering, a title associated with the offering, applicable icons associated with the offering, the price of the offering, number of bids associated with the offering, or ending time associated with the offering.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the causing of the display of the commingled list includes generating a markup language document including the commingled list.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the causing of the display of the commingled list includes transmitting the markup language document from the network-based transaction facility, via a network, for display on a client computer system.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein the first transaction type implements a first price-setting process, and the second transaction type implements a second price-setting process.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the at least one of the first and second price-setting processes includes a fixed price-setting process, an auction price-setting process, and a hybrid/auction/fixed price setting process.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the transaction engine to receive a request from a buyer seeking access to the network-based transaction facility wherein the request is to view only offerings offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility by a specific seller.

22. The system of claim 18 wherein the transaction engine to retrieve the information concerning the plurality of offerings includes the transaction to retrieve offerings of a plurality of transaction types that meet a keyword search criteria provided by the buyer.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the keyword search criteria includes searching titles and descriptions, stored by the network-based transaction facility, of the plurality of offerings.

24. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine to cause the display of the commingled-list sorted according to rice of the plurality of offerings.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list sorted according to the price of the items includes the display of the commingled list sorted by price in descending order.

26. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list for the buyer includes the display of a predetermined number of the plurality of offerings in the commingled list to the buyer.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the predetermined number of the parameter offerings is specified by the buyer.

28. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list to the buyer includes filtering the commingled list into offerings of a specific transaction type only.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the display engine to displays offerings of a specific transaction type includes the items of a specific transaction type sorted according to price.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the specific transaction type is an auction transaction type, the display engine to display offerings of the auction transaction type only, wherein the offerings of the auction transaction type are sorted according to an end time of a respective auction.

31. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list to the buyer includes:

the transaction engine to determine if there is additional information concerning each offering of which information is included within the commingled list;

if so, the transaction engine to retrieve the additional information associated with at least one offering for which information is included within the commingled list; and

the display engine to display the additional information associated with the at least one offering within the commingled list.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the additional information includes any one of a thumbnail image associated with the offering, a title associated with the offering, applicable icons associated with the offering, the price of the offering, number of bids associated with the offering, or ending time associated with the offering.

33. The system of claim 18 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list is to generate a markup language document including the commingled list.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the display engine to display the commingled list includes the display engine transmitting the markup language document form the network-based transaction facility, via a network, for display on a client computer system.

18. A system to facilitate a transaction by a network-based transaction facility, the system comprising:

a transaction engine to receive a request from a buyer accessing the network based transaction facility to view offerings that are offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility;

the transaction engine in response to the request, to retrieve information concerning a plurality of offerings, wherein the plurality of offerings include a first offering of a first transaction type and a second offering of a second transaction type;

the transaction engine to integrate information concerning the first and second offerings into a commingled list; and

a display engine to display the commingled list to the buyer.

35. A computer readable medium storing a sequence of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive a request from a buyer accessing the network based transaction facility to view offerings that are offered for sale via the network-based transaction facility;

retrieve information concerning a plurality of offerings, wherein the plurality of offerings include a first offering of a first transaction type and a second offering of a second transaction type;

integrate information concerning the first and second offerings into a commingled list; and

display engine to display the commingled list to the buyer.