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

• US 20070112643A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 05/17/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Liang, Ching-Jye, Veres, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 7,895,082 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 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.