Method and system for scheduling transaction listings at a network-based transaction facility

• US 20030229544A1
• Filed: 09/20/2002
• Published: 12/11/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Veres, Robert Dean, Liang, Ching-Jye
• Granted Patent: US 7,941,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• 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 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

According to the present invention, there is provided a method to facilitate propagating a plurality of transaction listings to a network-based transaction facility. An input interface is presented at a seller application to receive from a user, a plurality of transaction listings, each transaction listing including an associated start time. Also, a data file is composed at the seller application to include the plurality of transaction listings. Moreover, the data file is propagated, using the seller application, from the client computer to the network-based transaction facility.

Claims

1. A method to facilitate propagating a plurality of transaction listings to a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

presenting at the seller application, an input interface to receive from a user, a plurality of transaction listings, each transaction listing including an associated start time;

composing a data file at the seller application to include the plurality of transaction listings; and

propagating the data file, using the seller application, from the client computer to the network-based transaction facility.

2. The method of claim 1 including executing the seller application to present a plurality of input interfaces to receive respective transaction listings of the plurality of transaction listings.

3. The method of claim 2 including executing the seller application to present the plurality of input interfaces further to receive the associated start time for each transaction listing of the plurality of transaction listings.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the associated start times are future start times.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the associated start times include a different starting time for at least a portion of the plurality of transaction listings in the data file.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the associated start times include a starting date and time of a first transaction listing in the data file.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the transaction listing following the first transaction listing have associated start times that are staggered.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the associated start times are staggered by a user selectable amount of time.

9. The method of claim 1 including executing the seller application to update the transaction listings after the propagating of the data file to the network-based transaction facility.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the updating includes establishing a connection with the network-based transaction facility and updating the transaction listings online utilizing the established connection.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the updating includes generating updates to the transaction listings offline at the seller application and then propagating the updates to the network-based transaction facility.

12. The method of claim 1 including executing the seller application to prevent the user from specifying the associated start times which exceed a maximum advanced scheduling value.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the maximum advance scheduling value includes a number of days a transaction listing may be scheduled in advance.

14. The method of claim 1 including executing the seller application to prevent the user from specifying the associated start times as being less than a minimum scheduling value.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the minimum scheduling time value includes a minimum amount of time a transaction listing may be scheduled for in advance.

16. The method of claim 1 including charging a fee for each transaction.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the fee is based on a user'"'"'s level of service.

18. A method to receive and schedule a plurality of transaction listings, transmitted by a seller application, at a network-based transaction facility, the method including;

receiving a data file at the network-based transaction facility from the seller application executed at a client machine, the data file including a plurality of transaction listings, each of the plurality of transaction listings including an associated start time;

scheduling publication of each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network-based transaction facility according to the associated start time; and

publishing each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network-based transaction facility according to a respective associated start time.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein receiving the data file at the network-based transaction facility including the network-based transaction facility verifying user login information supplied by the seller application before receiving the data file.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein each of the associated start times for each of the plurality of transaction listings in the data file is specific to a respective transaction listing.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein each of the associated start time includes a starting data and time.

22. The method of claim 18 wherein each of the associated start times for each of the plurality of transaction listings in the data file is different.

23. The method of claim 18 wherein the associated start times of the plurality of transaction listings define a staggered publication schedule for the plurality of transaction listings.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the staggered time is a user selectable amount of time included in the data file.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein start times are staggered according to a user selectable amount of time.

26. The method of claim 18 including updating the transaction listings and their respective associated start times after the receiving of the data file at the network-based transaction facility.

27. A seller application to facilitate propagating a plurality of transaction listings to a network-based transaction facility, the application including;

an interface module to present an input interface to receive a plurality of transaction listings, each of the plurality of transaction listings including a respective associated start times;

a composer module automatically to compose a data file including the plurality of transaction listings; and

a communication module to propagate the data file from the client computer to the network-based transaction facility.

28. The seller application of claim 27 wherein the interface module presents a plurality of input interfaces to receive respective transaction listings of the plurality of transaction listings.

29. The seller application of claim 28 wherein the plurality of input interfaces further receives respective associated start times for each transaction listing of the plurality of transaction listings.

30. The seller application of claim 27 wherein the associated start times are future start times.

31. The seller application of claim 27 wherein the associated start times include a different starting time for at least a portion of the plurality of transaction listings in the data file.

32. The seller application of claim 31 wherein the associated start times include a starting date and time of a first transaction listing in the data file.

33. The seller application of claim 32 wherein the transaction listings following the first transaction listing have associated start times that are staggered.

34. The seller application of claim 33 wherein the associated start times are staggered by a user selectable amount of time.

35. The seller application of claim 27 wherein the seller application executes to update the transaction listings after the propagating of the data file to the network-based transaction facility.

36. The seller application of claim 35 wherein to update includes establishing a connection with the network-based transaction facility and updating the transaction listings online utilizing the established connection.

37. The seller application of claim 35 wherein to update includes generating updates to the transaction listings offline at the seller application and then propagating the updates to the network-based transaction facility.

38. The seller application of claim 27 includes executing so as to prevent the user from specifying the associated start times which exceed a maximum advanced scheduling value.

39. The seller application of claim 38 wherein the maximum advance scheduling value includes a number of days a transaction listing may be scheduled in advance.

40. The seller application of claim 27 includes executing to prevent the user from specifying the associated start times as being less than a minimum scheduling value.

41. The seller application of claim 40 wherein the minimum scheduling time value includes a minimum amount of time a transaction listing may be scheduled for in advance.

42. The seller application of claim 27 includes charge a fee for each transaction.

43. The seller application of claim 27 wherein the fee is based on a user'"'"'s level of service.

44. A system to receive and schedule a plurality of transaction listings, transmitted by a seller application, at a network-based transaction facility, the system including:

a communicator module including a parser to receive a data file from a seller application executed at a client machine, the data file including a plurality of transaction listings and respective associated start times;

a scheduler module to schedule publication of the plurality of transaction listings according to their respective associated start times; and

a publisher module to publish each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network based transaction facility according to their associated start times.

45. The system of claim 44 includes the communicator module to verify user login information supplied by the seller application before receiving the data file.

46. The system of claim 44 wherein the associated start times include a different starting time for at least a portion of the plurality of transaction listings in the data file.

47. The system of claim 46 wherein the associated start times include a starting date and time of a first transaction listing in the data file.

48. The system of claim 44 wherein the transaction listings following the first transaction listing have associated start times that are staggered.

49. The system of claim 48 wherein the associated start times are staggered by a user selectable amount of time.

50. A network-based transaction facility application at the network-based transaction facility to receive and schedule a plurality of transaction listings, the network-based transaction facility application including:

a communicator module including a parser to receive a data file from a seller application executed at a client machine, the data file including a plurality of transaction listings and respective associated start times;

a scheduler module to schedule publication of the plurality of transaction listings according to their respective associated start times; and

a publisher module to publish each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network based transaction facility according to their associated start times.

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

present at a seller application, an input interface to receive from a user, a plurality of transaction listings, each transaction listing including an associated start time;

compose a data file at the seller application to include the plurality of transaction listings; and

propagate the data file, using the seller application, from the client computer to the network-based transaction facility.

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

receiving a data file at the network-based transaction facility from the seller application executed at a client machine, the data file including a plurality of transaction listings, each of the plurality of transaction listings including an associated start time;

scheduling publication of each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network-based transaction facility according to the associated start time; and

publishing each of the plurality of transaction listings at the network-based transaction facility according to a respective associated start time.