Global sales by referral network

• US 20040230511A1
• Filed: 06/17/2004
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Arcama Limited Partners
• Original Assignee: Arcama Limited Partners
• Inventors: Kannnan, Camille C., Kannan, Leslie M., Kannan, Ariane V., Kannan, Narasimhan P.
• Application Number:
  US10/868,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20040230511A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes

Abstract

PEER BAZAAR enables, fosters and manages a global peer-to-peer sales process through a global peer-to-peer e-commerce network to distribute consumer products/services through its business model, proprietary software, and web-hosting infrastructure. PEER BAZAAR enters into distribution agreements with publishers and owners of goods/services and digital assets. The data about the goods/services and the digital assets are stored in a central server and downloaded upon completion of a peer-to-peer and/or user transaction. Users purchase products/services by downloading from PEER BAZAAR'"'"'s website. Users then try out the products/services. If they are satisfied or not, they write reviews and recommend the product/service to others. Such referrals are recorded and tracked, and if anyone downloads the goods/services and/or title responsive to the referral, then the referring individual gets a reviewer credit or the like which may be a percentage from the sale of the goods/services/assets.

Claims

1. A global sales by referral method comprising providing a central database server, storing data of products and/or services in the server, communicating with the server via internet with remote access devices, accessing the stored data via the access devices, inputting reviews of reviewers about the products and/or services via the access devices, accessing the reviews, and making choices about the products and/or services responsive to accessed reviews.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the inputting the reviews further comprises posting the reviews for each category of the products and services.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the inputting the reviews comprises storing the reviews in a database on the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the reviews comprises accessing reviews for each category of the products and services.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing comprises accessing new user reviews and/or the database of stored reviews.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the making choices comprises performing a transaction responsive to the review and sending review credits to a reviewer whose review of the products and/or services triggers the transaction.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sending review credits comprises sending the review credits to the reviewer'"'"'s account, storing the review credits in the reviewer'"'"'s account, accessing the review credits when the reviewer desires, and trading the review credits for transactions from the reviewer'"'"'s account.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing data of the products and/or services comprises allowing access to the server for authorized manufacturers and/or suppliers of products and/or services, inputting data about the product and/or services, and allowing users access to the data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising placing orders of desired products and/or services from the database, fulfilling the orders from users, accessing user accounts for payments, monitoring the reviews accessed by users and their responsive orders, and sending review credits to reviewer'"'"'s account.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating with the server via access devices comprises communicating with devices selected from the group consisting of computers, personal computers, cellular devices, telephones, modems, radio devices, PDAs, MP3 devices, satellite devices and combinations thereof.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the database comprises enrolling users as members, alerting users to rules governing all transactions, prompting users to enter user-identifier information, and registering users as members.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the prompting comprises allowing users to select a unique identifier, registering users as members and allows users to maintain anonymity.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the selecting a unique identifier comprises selecting an identifier from the group consisting of screen names, passwords, code-names, pseudonyms, alpha-numeric codes, and combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising allowing users input profiles about themselves.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the enrolling comprises updating new users enrollment data in the central server, screening the enrollment data for conflicts, security and access control, and prompting new users to set up an account for recording transactions.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the enrolling further comprises allowing users to choose from payment options selected from the group consisting of credit cards, debit cards, online banking, Pay Pal, Yahoo Pay, escrow accounts reserve accounts, and combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the recording transactions comprises recording in user accounts credits for referral fees and debits for purchases.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the enrolling further comprises assigning registered users user-defined access control after setting-up users account.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the accessing the database comprises browsing catalogued products and/or services via search engines and links.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the browsing via search engines comprises searching using terms selected from the group consisting of product and/or service categories, keywords, functions, and combinations thereof.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the inputting reviews comprises voluntarily inputting reviews in pre-determined formats about any product and/or service used by the user.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the inputting reviews comprises accessing a database of ratings for each product and/or service and inputting respective ratings corresponding to the reviews input by users.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the inputting reviews comprises disclosing any conflicts of interest.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the inputting reviews further comprises ranking users reviews for trustworthiness by other users based on their experiences on a trustworthiness ratings scale, tracking and storing the trustworthiness ratings on the central server, and allowing access to other users.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the database for the data about the products and/or services, updating reviews on the database, and updating user accounts for posting debits and credits.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing user input data in the central database server, transmitting purchase data to manufacturers and/or suppliers, crediting and/or debiting user accounts and allowing users to return to the product and/or service catalog and search engine.

27. Global sales referral network comprising a central server, a database of products and/or services on the server from manufacturers and/or suppliers, access devices communicating with the server via internet, authorized members communicating with the servers via the access devices, peer reviews about the products and/or services posted by the authorized members, and credits posted to member accounts for every review triggering a transaction from other members.

28. The network of claim 27, wherein the access devices are selected from the group consisting of computers, personal computers, cellular devices, telephones, radio devices, satellite devices, PDAs, MP3 devices, and combinations thereof.

29. The network of claim 27, wherein the database further comprises unique identifiers corresponding to each member for allowing network access to the respective member.

30. The network of claim 27, wherein the database further comprises products/services catalogs and a search engine for searching the database.

31. The network of claim 27, wherein the database further comprises search parameters for searching the database responsive to user queries.

32. The network of claim 27, wherein the peer reviews comprise reviews of products and/or services used by a member and ratings corresponding to the reviewed product and/or service.

33. The network of claim 27, further comprising an order-processing module for processing orders from members.

34. The network of claim 27, further comprising reviewer credits posted to reviewer accounts for every transaction triggered by a respective peer review by the member.

35. The network of claim 27, further comprising member accounts for crediting reviewer credits and for debiting payments towards transactions initiated by the respective members.

36. The network of claim 27, wherein the peer reviews are constantly updated and comprise data selected from the group consisting of new user reviews and/or stored reviews for each product and/or service, dates the peer reviews were posted, reviewer'"'"'s user name, assigned trustworthiness index, order counter, number of orders made by users after reading a specific peer review, relative rank assigned to a product and/or service based on the trustworthiness index and order counter, display list sorted by rank, from high to low, and combinations thereof.

37. The network of claim 27, wherein the database comprises details of global network manufacturers and/or suppliers for every product and/or service category.

38. The network of claim 27, further comprising documentation for every transaction initiated by members and transmitted to merchants, resellers or distributors for fulfillment.

39. The network of claim 38, wherein the documentation further comprises price of the transaction, product details, peer reviews accessed, reviewer credits to be posted to peer reviewer user account and relative-rank-weighted share of a percent of transaction price for the product or service to be posted to the server and member accounts.

40. A global sales by referral network system comprising a central server comprising a product search module, a review tracking module, a financial transactions module and an account management module, and access devices communicating with the server via internet.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the product search module comprises a database for user access, wherein the database comprises data about specific products and/or services and a proprietary search engine for allowing user queries to find products and/or services within the system.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the review tracking module creates, stores and manages product reviews from users, analyzes reviews posted by users and monitors popularity of products independently as well as with data from the other modules.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the financial transaction module obtains customer payment information, records necessary transaction information, queries and reviews past transactions from a transaction database before any transaction is completed, routes transaction through third party payment destinations, and places an order to a source of a requested product and/or service.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the account management module creates and manages user accounts, user profiles, reviewer credit allocation, purchase history, and referral distribution.

45. The system of claim 40, further comprising a security module for protecting confidential and private user events, transactions, and processes.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the security module comprises checkout, profile editing, review editing and the like.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the security module comprises a security architecture forming a virtual wall for protecting all transactions in the system.

48. The system of claim 40, further comprising order fulfillment manager for fulfilling orders, distribution manager, commission manager to review and credit commissions to the accounts management module and trigger payment transfers monitored by the accounts management module.

49. A global referral network method comprising providing a central server, maintaining a database of products and/or services and related sources for respective products and/or services, maintaining a database of member reviews of the products and/or services, communicating access devices with the central server via internet, registering a user desiring membership, routing the user to a user registration section, prompting the user for a unique identifier, ensuring the user'"'"'s anonymity, submitting the user identifier, optionally entering the user'"'"'s profile information, including payment-processing information, detecting incorrect and/or missing information, asking the user to re-enter correct and/or missing information and periodically requesting the user to verify their information.

50. The method of claim 49, further comprising logging-in members from a login screen, reviewing member log-in to determine entry via a product and/or service referral review, if the member enters via referral reviews immediately displaying a list of product and/or service reviews, providing insightful information to the user from previous members reviews of the product, and allowing members to make choices responsive to the product and/or service referral reviews.

51. The method of claim 49, further comprising allowing members to purchase the product at this stage and automatically posting reviewer credit to the reviews of the member account triggering the transaction that influenced the purchase decision.

52. The method of claim 51, further comprising acknowledging the reviewer credit and incrementing the respective reviewer'"'"'s review credits.

53. The method of claim 52, wherein if the reviewer credit is not acknowledged then posting all the reviews read by the member equal weighted scores.

54. The method of claim 53, further comprising allowing the member to enter a checkout component, finalizing the transaction and updating reviewer'"'"'s referral credits to the reviewer member'"'"'s account.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein if the user is not referred, allowing the user entry into the main section and displaying several navigation options which include, but are not limited to, product search, club Rules and/or help, create/edit review pages, view past purchases, personal profile, referral tool, and logout from the network.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the displaying comprises displaying club rules and help for educating users about regulations and restrictions for becoming a member.

57. The method of claim 55, wherein the displaying comprises displaying create/edit review for providing opportunity for users to write reviews of their past transactions.

58. The method of claim 55, wherein the displaying comprises displaying personal profile information for viewing and editing of user specific information including name, address, e-mail, credit card information, and creating a buddy list of members utilized by a Referral Tool.

59. The method of claim 49, further comprising a referral tool for creating a conduit for users to obtain new customers for a product through direct solicitation, allowing users to send referral notices to existing and external users of the network, stimulating a product purchase, and receiving referral credits if a referred user purchases a product through the referral.

60. The method of claim 49, further comprising allowing the user to search for a product, submitting a search query, returning a list of search results, if user unsatisfied with the search results allowing the user to refine the search query through resubmission, and if satisfied allowing the user select a product from the search results and enter the product review section.

61. The method of claim 49, further comprising protecting the network by a security module, protecting confidential and private user events, transactions, and processes.

64. The method of claim 49, further comprising fulfilling and distributing orders once the user is ready to checkout, triggering a commission manager to review and credit commissions to an account manager, triggering payment transfer which may also be monitored by the accounts manager, querying and reviewing past transactions from a transaction database before any transaction is completed.

65. The method of claim 49, further comprising analyzing posted reviews with a review manager, monitoring popularity of products independently as well as with data from the commission manager.

66. The method of claim 49, further comprising allowing users to check out, instantiating the checkout when the user purchases a product, supplying payment information of the purchaser in the forms of, but not limited to, an electronic payment system such as “

Yahoo Pay”

or “

Pay Pal”

, or through a credit card or other payment systems, approving the transaction, determining if product reviews were used to assist in a purchase decision, and allocating review credits to respective reviewer'"'"'s accounts or referral credits to those who enabled a sale through a direct referral.

67. The method of claim 66, wherein the allocating review credits comprises creating incentive for users to provide insightful feedback to future purchasers of a product on the product'"'"'s relevant pros and cons.

68. The method of claim 67, wherein the allocating further comprises allocating a portion of the network'"'"'s margin of each purchase from distribution agreements with suppliers of products and services to a credit pool specific to the product and at arbitrary time intervals such as a week, a month, a quarter, or the like, dividing the credit pool amongst reviewers who were recognized, acknowledged and/or cited as providing beneficial insight into the purchase of the product.

69. The method of claim 68, wherein the dividing the credit pool comprises distribution of the pool amongst reviewers based on weighted scores earned by the reviewers.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein the earning the weighted scores comprises weighting based on any arbitrary scheme such as relative frequency of readership or credits given by readers prior to making a purchase.

71. The method of claim 49, further comprising ranking the reviewers relative to each other over time based on a tool to gauge the value of a review on the trustworthiness index, wherein the index indicates the frequency at which purchases were made based on the effectiveness of a review.

72. The method of claim 71, wherein the ranking comprises applying the trustworthiness index in deciding which reviews are most beneficial for a product category, and determining which reviewers consistently provide accurate and trustworthy reviews.

73. The method of claim 49, further comprising completion of review credit distribution, prompting and recording all pertinent information necessary to conclude the transaction, wherein the information may include, but not be limited to, the purchaser, the product, a shipping address and the like, if for example, the product is non-digital.

74. The method of claim 49, further comprising determining if the product and/or service is digital or not and if the product and/or service is digital making it available for immediate download onto the user'"'"'s access device which include, but are not limited to, personal computers, cellular devices, modems, MP3 devices, PDAs, radio devices, satellite devices and/or the like.

75. The method of claim 74, wherein the digital product and/or service is copy protected and comprises encoding of buyer'"'"'s information within the digital asset.

76. The method of claim 74, wherein if the product and/or service is non-digital, retrieving the user'"'"'s shipping address and supplying along with an order to the source of the product and/or service for delivery.

77. The method of claim 49, further comprising control and management of supplier'"'"'s products through tools that provide the ability to add/edit products and set price levels, an accounting system to view revenue information and consumer purchase behaviors, accessing through a login process where the supplier is authenticated for entry, upon successful login, allowing the supplier access to the tools and providing with the ability to logout, and if a supplier has not registered, allowing the supplier register through a new supplier registration process approved by the network.

78. The method of claim 49, further comprising attracting and retaining valued members through incentives placed on product referrals and product reviews.

79. The method of claim 78, wherein the incentives comprise awarding credits with respect to product referrals and reviews.

80. The method of claim 79, wherein the awarding credits comprises awarding financial units and allowing a user to purchase other products by debiting the user'"'"'s credit account or allowing the user to simply receive a credit to their account.

62. The method of claim 62, wherein the protecting events comprises protecting checkout, profile editing and review editing and all user transactions.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the protecting comprises forming a security architecture and creating a virtual wall to protect the events through well-proven existing technologies such as “

Secure Socket Layer”

(SSL).

81. A global sales by referral method comprising:

providing a central database server,

storing data in the central database server,

communicating with the central database server via internet with remote access devices,

accessing the stored data via the access devices,

providing incentives for reviewers to write reviews,

inputting the reviews of the reviewers about products and services in the central database server via the access devices,

categorizing the reviews in the central database server,

accessing the reviews via the access devices,

making choices about the products and/or services responsive to accessed reviews.

82. The method of claim 81, wherein the providing incentives comprises awards for referrals and/or product reviews.

83. The method of claim 82, wherein the incentives are financial units and/or credits toward future purchases.

84. The method of claim 81, further comprising inputting the best reviews of the reviewers in the central database server.

85. The method of claim 84, wherein incentives are provided only to the reviewers providing the best reviews.

86. The method of claim 84, further comprising overseeing, analyzing, and selecting best reviews for each product and/or service by an editing board.

87. The method of claim 86, wherein the editing is performed by a neutral party.

88. The method of claim 87, wherein the editing is performed by select reviewers.

89. The method of claim 88, further comprising providing additional incentives to reviewers selected for editing.

90. The method of claim 81, further comprising providing ratings for trustworthiness of products and services.

91. The method of claim 90, wherein the providing ratings is by the reviewers.

92. The method of claim 91, further comprising providing incentives to businesses and institutions receiving positive ratings.

93. The method of claim 81, wherein the accessing of the central database server is done by consumers.

94. The method of claim 93, wherein the consumers accessing comprises accessing reviews of products and services, providing ratings, browsing reviews prior to buying, and signing up to receive product and service alerts.

95. The method of claim 81, wherein the accessing of the server is done by businesses and institutions providing products and/or services.

96. The method of claim 95, wherein the businesses and institutions access reviews of products and/or services, consumer complaints, and sales figures.

97. The method of claim 81, wherein the central database server comprises multiple separate databases.

98. The method of claim 97, wherein the multiple separate databases comprise reviews for each product and/or service, reviewers with detailed personal information, products and/or services (including previews of upcoming future products and services), government actions (such as product recalls), public complaints, court judgments on products and/or services, institutional members (businesses and institutions that provide products and services), payments to reviewers by review, consumers signing up for email alerts on specific products and services, and payments from institutional members by product and/or service category.

99. The method of claim 81, wherein information from the central database server is accessed by keywords and hierarchal tree structures.

100. The method of claim 81, wherein reviews are updated regularly.

101. The method of claim 81, wherein the reviewers submitting the best reviews are compensated.

102. The method of claim 81, further comprising soliciting reviews of products/services not in the central database server.

103. The method of claim 102, further comprising updating the products and services in the central database server based on the reviews of the products and/or services not in the central database server.

104. The method of claim 81, further comprising providing commission on sales of reviewed products and/or services for reviewers selected by an editorial board.

105. The method of claim 81, further comprising receiving a commission on sales of products and/or services in the central server database from businesses and institutions.

106. The method of claim 81, further comprising selling subscriptions for reviews and other information to businesses and institutions providing products and services.

107. The method of claim 81, further comprising validating the reviews by randomly verifying reviewer information.

108. The method of claim 107, further comprising removing biased reviews and reviews influenced by conflict of interest.

109. A global sales by referral method comprising:

providing a central database server,

storing data of products and/or services in the server,

entering subscription agreements for access to the data of products and/or services,

communicating with the server via internet with remote access devices,

accessing the stored data via the access devices,

reviewing products and/or services,

writing reviews of the products and services, and

making choices about the products and/or services responsive to the accessed stored data.

110. The method of claim 109, further comprising purchasing the products and/or services.

111. The method of claim 110, further comprising charging a transaction fee for purchasing the products and/or services.

112. The method of claim 109, further comprising charging a subscription fee for entering into subscription agreements.

113. The method of claim 112, wherein the subscription fee is greater than or equal to zero.

114. The method of claim 112, wherein businesses pay the subscription fee for responding to reviews.

115. The method of claim 112, wherein the subscription fees complement transaction fees for purchasing the products and/or services.

116. The method of claim 109, further comprising referring products and/or services to other subscribers.

117. The method of claim 116, further comprising providing incentives for referring products and/or services.