Method and system for improved online auction

• US 20030182222A1
• Filed: 03/25/2002
• Published: 09/25/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Paid Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Sales Online Direct, Inc.
• Inventors: Martin, John, Rotman, Richard, Rotman, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 7,324,968 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08345 Pricing
• 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

Methods and systems for improving auction-based online commerce are provided, including methods and systems for facilitating advance, rapid, accurate estimation of shipping costs between a seller and the winner of an online auction. Methods and systems include an application for facilitating seller estimation of shipping costs, including various components of shipping costs, and for providing to the buyer a shipping estimate based on the circumstances of the buyer and the auction.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating auction-based online commerce, comprising:

providing a rate engine for determining the cost of shipping an item from a location designed by a seller to a location designed by a buyer, the rate engine comprising an insurance rate calculator, a carrier rate calculator, and a packaging calculator;

providing a retrieval application for retrieving auction data via a communication network; and

providing a calculation module for automatically determining a shipping cost for the item, based on data from the rate engine and the retrieval application.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing a platform-independent module for allowing a seller to insert a shipping rate calculator into an item description for the auction.

3. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing a tax calculator for determining the contribution of tax to the shipping cost.

4. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

5. A method of claim 4, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

6. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing an auction-builder application for allowing a seller to insert a shipping calculator into an online auction.

7. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing a data storage facility for storing shipping preferences of the seller.

8. A method of claim 7, wherein the auction-builder application accesses stored shipping preferences of the seller.

9. A method of claim 8, wherein shipping preferences stored for a seller are selected from the group consisting of fee type preferences, shipping type preferences, tax preferences, packaging preferences, and insurance preferences.

10. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing a view of multiple auctions of a buyer.

11. A method of claim 10, wherein the view automatically updates auction data for the auctions to provide a current view for the buyer.

12. A method of claim 10, wherein the calculator automatically consolidates shipping rate estimates for multiple items to be sent from the same seller to the same buyer.

13. A method of claim 1, further comprising providing an address verification process for verifying whether and address is commercial or residential and providing the best rate available for the appropriate type of address.

14. A program for building a shipping calculator for an online auction, comprising:

a rate engine for determining shipping rates based on a plurality of inputs;

a code generator for generating code for insertion of a shipping calculator into a listing of an item in an online auction; and

a user interface for allowing a user to interact with the code generator to generate the code, wherein the code generated by the code generator calls on the rate engine to obtain a shipping rate when an auction user uses the shipping calculator.

15. A program of claim 14, wherein the code generator generates HTML for insertion into an HTML form for an auction.

16. A program of claim 14, further comprising a retrieval application for retrieving inputs for the rate engine.

17. A program of claim 16, wherein the retrieval application obtains inputs for the rate engine in real time from the data for the auction.

18. A program of claim 14, further comprising a rate database for storing rate values for the rate engine.

19. A program of claim 18, wherein the values are selected from the group consisting of shipping rate values, tax rate values, insurance rate values, packaging values and user-specified rate values.

20. A program of claim 14, further comprising a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

21. A program of claim 20, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

22. A shipping calculator for an online auction, comprising:

a screen display for entry of a buyer'"'"'s zip code;

a database for storing a seller'"'"'s shipping preferences; and

a rate engine for determining a shipping rate based on the buyer'"'"'s location and the seller'"'"'s shipping preferences.

23. A calculator of claim 22, wherein the rate engine estimates the shipping rate based on an anticipated winning bid entered by the buyer.

24. A calculator of claim 23, wherein the rate engine updates the shipping rate estimate based on the actual current high bid of the auction.

25. A calculator of claim 22, wherein the rate engine further comprises a module for determining a rate based on another factor selected from the group consisting of a tax factor, an insurance factor, a winning bid factor, an anticipated winning bid factor, a packaging factor, a shipping-type factor, a handling factor and a seller-designed factor.

26. A computer-based shipping calculator system, comprising:

an operating system,

a shipping wizard server for serving a builder application for building a shipping calculator into an online product offering;

a rate engine for calculating a shipping rate based on a plurality of inputs in response to use of the shipping calculator;

a shipping rate server for serving a shipping rate calculated by the rate engine; and

a data storage facility for storing data used by at least one of the shipping wizard server, the rate engine and the shipping rate server.

27. A system of claim 26, further comprising a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

28. A system of claim 27, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

29. A method of creating an online auction, comprising:

preparing a description of an item to be auctioned;

generating an HTML page describing the auction; and

inserting into the HTML page code for a shipping calculator, the shipping calculator accessing a rate engine for determining shipping costs based on a plurality of factors.

30. A system for facilitating auction-based online commerce, comprising:

a rate engine for determining the cost of shipping an item from a location designed by a seller to a location designed by a buyer, the rate engine comprising an insurance rate calculator, a carrier rate calculator, and a packaging calculator;

a retrieval application for retrieving auction data via a communication network; and

a calculation module for automatically determining a shipping cost for the item, based on data from the rate engine and the retrieval application.

31. A system of claim 30, further comprising a platform-independent module for allowing a seller to insert a shipping rate calculator into an item description for the auction.

32. A system of claim 30, further comprising a tax calculator for determining the contribution of tax to the shipping cost.

33. A system of claim 30, further comprising a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

34. A system of claim 33, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

35. A system of claim 30, further comprising an auction-builder application for allowing a seller to insert a shipping calculator into an online auction.

36. A system of claim 30, further comprising a data storage facility for storing shipping preferences of the seller.

37. A system of claim 36, wherein the auction-builder application accesses stored shipping preferences of the seller.

38. A system of claim 37, wherein shipping preferences stored for a seller are selected from the group consisting of fee type preferences, shipping type preferences, tax preferences, packaging preferences, and insurance preferences.

39. A system of claim 30, further comprising a view application for showing a view of multiple auctions of a buyer.

40. A system of claim 39, wherein the view automatically updates auction data for the auctions to provide a current view for the buyer.

41. A system of claim 39, wherein the calculator automatically consolidates shipping rate estimates for multiple items to be sent from the same seller to the same buyer.

42. A system of claim 30, further comprising an address verification process for verifying whether and address is commercial or residential and providing the best rate available for the appropriate type of address.

43. A method of building a shipping calculator for an online auction, comprising:

providing a rate engine for determining shipping rates based on a plurality of inputs;

providing a code generator for generating code for insertion of a shipping calculator into a listing of an item in an online auction; and

providing a user interface for allowing a user to interact with the code generator to generate the code, wherein the code generated by the code generator calls on the rate engine to obtain a shipping rate when an auction user uses the shipping calculator.

44. A method of claim 43, wherein the code generator generates HTML for insertion into an HTML form for an auction.

45. A method of claim 43, further comprising providing a retrieval application for retrieving inputs for the rate engine.

46. A method of claim 45, wherein the retrieval application obtains inputs for the rate engine in real time from the data for the auction.

47. A method of claim 43, further comprising providing a rate database for storing rate values for the rate engine.

48. A method of claim 47, wherein the values are selected from the group consisting of shipping rate values, tax rate values, insurance rate values, packaging values and user-specified rate values.

49. A method of claim 43, further comprising providing a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

50. A method of claim 49, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

51. A method of providing a shipping calculator for an online auction between a buyer and a seller, comprising:

providing a screen display for entry of the buyer'"'"'s zip code;

providing a database for storing the seller'"'"'s shipping preferences; and

providing a rate engine for determining a shipping rate based on the buyer'"'"'s location and the seller'"'"'s shipping preferences.

52. A method of claim 51, wherein the rate engine estimates the shipping rate based on an anticipated winning bid entered by the buyer.

53. A method of claim 51, wherein the rate engine updates the shipping rate estimate based on the actual current high bid of the auction.

54. A method of claim 51, wherein the rate engine further comprises a module for determining a rate based on another factor selected from the group consisting of a tax factor, an insurance factor, a winning bid factor, an anticipated winning bid factor, a packaging factor, a shipping-type factor, a handling factor and a seller-designed factor.

55. A method of providing a computer-based shipping calculator system, comprising:

providing an operating system, providing a shipping wizard server for serving a builder application for building a shipping calculator into an online product offering;

providing a rate engine for calculating a shipping rate based on a plurality of inputs in response to use of the shipping calculator;

providing a shipping rate server for serving a shipping rate calculated by the rate engine; and

providing a data storage facility for storing data used by at least one of the shipping wizard server, the rate engine and the shipping rate server.

56. A method of claim 55, further comprising providing a consolidation module for estimating a shipping rate of a combined shipment of multiple auction items to a buyer from a seller.

57. A method of claim 56, wherein the consolidation module automatically recognizes the presence of multiple shipments to the same buyer from the same seller.

58. A system for an online auction, comprising:

an editor for preparing a description of an item to be auctioned;

a generator for generating an HTML page describing the auction; and

an inserter for inserting into the HTML page code for a shipping calculator, the shipping calculator accessing a rate engine for determining shipping costs based on a plurality of factors.