User interfaces and methods for facilitating user-to-user sales
First Claim
1. An electronic marketplace system that supports user-to-user sales of products, the system comprising:
- a browsable electronic catalog that includes descriptions of products that may be listed by users for sale to other users;
a marketplace listing creation component that enables a seller to specify a product to be listed for sale by browsing the electronic catalog to a description of the product and then selecting an option associated with selling a unit of that product, whereby the seller may create a marketplace listing for the product without supplying an identifier of the product; and
a marketplace listing display component that displays pending marketplace listings of products in conjunction with the corresponding product descriptions in the electronic catalog, whereby a buyer may browse the electronic catalog to a description of a target product to locate pending marketplace listings for the target product.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An online marketplace system provides various features for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. If the user previously purchased the product via the system, the user may alternatively select the product from a personal purchase history. To create the listing for the selected product, the user preferably specifies the product'"'"'s condition and a selling price. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product'"'"'s detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided. In one embodiment, the catalog also servers as a retail sales catalog of an online merchant.
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Citations
41 Claims
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1. An electronic marketplace system that supports user-to-user sales of products, the system comprising:
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a browsable electronic catalog that includes descriptions of products that may be listed by users for sale to other users;
a marketplace listing creation component that enables a seller to specify a product to be listed for sale by browsing the electronic catalog to a description of the product and then selecting an option associated with selling a unit of that product, whereby the seller may create a marketplace listing for the product without supplying an identifier of the product; and
a marketplace listing display component that displays pending marketplace listings of products in conjunction with the corresponding product descriptions in the electronic catalog, whereby a buyer may browse the electronic catalog to a description of a target product to locate pending marketplace listings for the target product. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An online sales system that supports user-to-user sales, the sales system comprising:
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a database containing descriptions of a plurality of products that are sellable within a marketplace; and
a server system that provides a browsable electronic catalog of the products represented in the database, wherein each of the plurality of products is represented in the electronic catalog by at least one corresponding product detail page that specifies the product and provides an option to sell a unit of that product within the marketplace, wherein selection of said option by a user initiates a process in which the user creates a listing in the marketplace for selling a unit of the product;
wherein the server system further displays within a product detail page an indication of whether a unit of the corresponding product is currently listed for sale within the marketplace. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. An electronic sales system, comprising:
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an electronic catalog of products that are sold by a retail merchant, wherein the electronic catalog provides an option to purchase retail units of the products from the retail merchant;
a listing creation component that provides functionality for users to add marketplace listings to the electronic catalog for selling at least used units of products represented in the electronic catalog, wherein at least some of the marketplace listings are displayed in the electronic catalog in association with corresponding product descriptions used for retail sales of such products by the retail merchant; and
a transaction processing system that supports at least (a) sales of products from the retail merchant to users, and (b) user-to-user sales associated with the marketplace listings. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of listing a unit of a product for sale within an online marketplace system that supports user-to-user sales transactions, the method comprising:
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registering with the online marketplace system as a seller;
browsing an electronic catalog of products to locate a description of the product to be listed for sale, said description displayed in the electronic catalog in conjunction with an option to purchase a unit of the product; and
selecting an option to list a unit of the product for sale, said option to list a unit of the product displayed within the electronic catalog in conjunction with both the description of the product and the option to purchase a unit of the product - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A product detail page of an electronic catalog, the product detail page adapted for display by a computer of a user of the electronic catalog, the product detail page comprising:
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a description of a product;
an option to sell a unit of the product, wherein selection of the option to sell a unit of the product initiates a process in which a user may add a marketplace listing to the product detail page to offer a unit of the product for sale to other users of the electronic catalog; and
a representation of pending marketplace listings for the product, said pending marketplace listings including listings from each of a plurality of sellers of units of the product, and being selectable to initiate purchases from said sellers. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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Specification