Method of sales and marketing primarily involving catalogue advertising, sealed bidding type auctions
First Claim
1. A method for conducting an auction, comprising a. organizing availability from a supplier of a certain number of essentially identical items to be auctioned;
- b. making available to prospective customers relevant information regarding the auction items;
c. receiving, for a specific time period having a particular starting date and ending date, bids from bidders for the auction items;
d. sealing the bids after receipt thereof by maintaining all bids in secrecy;
e. unsealing the bids after the ending date;
f. placing the unsealed bids in order, high bid to low bid; and
g. matching the certain number of identical items to the ordered list of bids such that the highest bids are awarded the auction items.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of sales and marketing involving the combination of print catalogues, online catalogues and communication, a sealed bid auction format, telemarketing and creation of revenue streams. The combination of known prior art techniques with some lesser known and some completely novel sales and marketing techniques creates numerous synergies and paths to alternative sales and marketing options. The methods result in novel revenue streams, large amounts of marketing data and a new sales outlet for distributors/manufacturers which is very attractive to them for numerous reasons not the least of which is greatly increased sales with no deleterious effect on the value of their brand, i.e. brand devaluation. All of the methods disclosed begin with a catalogue/online offering for auction of various items and the conducting of a sealed bid auction for a specified period of time regarding these items.
57 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for conducting an auction, comprising
a. organizing availability from a supplier of a certain number of essentially identical items to be auctioned; -
b. making available to prospective customers relevant information regarding the auction items;
c. receiving, for a specific time period having a particular starting date and ending date, bids from bidders for the auction items;
d. sealing the bids after receipt thereof by maintaining all bids in secrecy;
e. unsealing the bids after the ending date;
f. placing the unsealed bids in order, high bid to low bid; and
g. matching the certain number of identical items to the ordered list of bids such that the highest bids are awarded the auction items. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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11. The method of conducting an auction according to claim _, wherein:
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a. providing each print catalogue with a serial number unique to that catalogue; and
b. awarding prizes to the holder of certain catalogues.
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20. A method of sales and marketing comprising:
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a. conducting a sealed bid auction by way of mass circulation of print catalogues containing a plurality of items to be auctioned and then receiving sealed bids from bidders over a particular time period having a certain starting date and certain ending date;
b. collecting marketing and sales information on the bidders in the sealed bid auction;
c. utilizing the collected information in later sealed bid auctions; and
d. utilizing the collected information in a direct marketing of related items which the bidder may be interested in. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification