Method and apparatus for facilitating sales of goods by independent parties
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for pricing goods of independent sellers using a marketeer controller capable of communicating via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU, the method comprising the marketeer controller:
- receiving from an independent seller, via the communications network, data identifying the independent seller'"'"'s good;
querying a vendor'"'"'s controller, via the communications network, to determine the vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable good; and
deriving a sale price for the good from the vendor'"'"'s price using a predetermined method.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for pricing independent sellers'"'"' goods. A marketeer exploits the nature of readily identifiable, fungible, durable goods by determining a price for a good, such as a used good, by using a price of a comparable good, such as a new good, as an index price and deriving a discounted sale price for the good from the price of the comparable good having essentially the same value due to its fungible, durable nature. A best price for the good is ensured by using as the index price a lowest price among a group of vendors for the comparable good. A shopping agent program may be used to query one or more vendors to determine a best price for the comparable good, and a pricing agent program may be used to derive a discounted sale price for the good from the best price for the comparable good.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for pricing goods of independent sellers using a marketeer controller capable of communicating via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU, the method comprising the marketeer controller:
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receiving from an independent seller, via the communications network, data identifying the independent seller'"'"'s good;
querying a vendor'"'"'s controller, via the communications network, to determine the vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable good; and
deriving a sale price for the good from the vendor'"'"'s price using a predetermined method. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-implemented method for pricing goods of independent sellers using a marketeer controller capable of communicating via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU, the method comprising the marketeer controller:
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receiving from an independent seller, via the communications network, data identifying the independent seller'"'"'s good;
querying a plurality of third parties'"'"' vendor controllers, via the communications network to determine each third party'"'"'s price of a comparable good;
equating an index price to a lowest price of the third parties'"'"' prices; and
deriving a sale price for the independent seller'"'"'s good from the index price using a predetermined method. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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18. A computer-implemented method for pricing goods of independent sellers using a marketeer controller capable of communicating via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU, the method comprising the marketeer controller:
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receiving from an independent seller, via the communications network, data identifying the independent seller'"'"'s good, the independent seller'"'"'s good being a certain good in used condition;
querying a vendor'"'"'s controller, via the communications network, to determine the vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable good, the comparable good being the certain good in new condition; and
deriving a sale price for the independent seller'"'"'s good from the vendor'"'"'s price for the comparable good using a predetermined method established by the marketeer controller, the predetermined method comprising discounting the vendor'"'"'s price for the comparable good to determine the sale price for the independent seller'"'"'s good. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A marketeer controller for processing data for pricing an independent seller'"'"'s good, comprising:
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a central processing unit (CPU) for executing programs;
a memory operatively connected to the CPU;
a first program stored in the memory for receiving and storing data from the seller to identify a good;
a shopping agent program stored in the memory for querying a vendor'"'"'s controller to determine the vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable good having a standard identification code identical to the seller'"'"'s good, and for determining an index price based on the vendor'"'"'s price; and
a pricing agent program stored in the memory for deriving a sale price for the good from the index price using a predetermined method. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification