Method and Apparatus For Facilitating Sales of Goods By Independent Parties
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for pricing an independent seller'"'"'s good using a marketeer controller capable of communicating with a buyer interface and a seller interface via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU and containing a program stored in the memory and executable by said CPU for deriving a sale price of the good, the method comprising the steps of:
- (a) receiving from the seller, via the communications network, an expression of interest in selling the good;
(b) querying a vendor'"'"'s controller to determine the vendor'"'"'s price of a comparable good; and
(c) executing the program to derive the sale price for the good from the vendor'"'"'s price using a predetermined method.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for facilitating sales and pricing of independent parties'"'"' goods. The method removes price control from buyers and sellers by deriving a sale price from an index price using a method set by either the seller or a third party. The index price is provided by a party other than the buyer or seller. The sale price may be derived at a time of sale or at a time of registering the good for sale. The standard ID code of readily identifiable, fungible, durable goods is used by sellers to identify used goods to the marketeer. The marketeer exploits the nature of such goods by choosing the price of a comparable new good as an index price and deriving a discounted sale price for the used good from the price of a new good having essentially the same value due to its fungible, durable nature. A best price for a good is ensured by using as the index price a lowest price among a group of vendors for a comparable good.
In a computer-implemented version of the method, a shopping agent program is used to query one or more vendors to determine a best price for a comparable good and a pricing agent program is used to derive a discounted sale price for the good from the best price for the new good.
An apparatus for performing a computer-implemented version of the inventive method is also provided.
119 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for pricing an independent seller'"'"'s good using a marketeer controller capable of communicating with a buyer interface and a seller interface via a communications network, the marketeer controller including a CPU and a memory operatively connected to the CPU and containing a program stored in the memory and executable by said CPU for deriving a sale price of the good, the method comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving from the seller, via the communications network, an expression of interest in selling the good; (b) querying a vendor'"'"'s controller to determine the vendor'"'"'s price of a comparable good; and (c) executing the program to derive the 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 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 network interface device operatively connected to the CPU for communicating with a seller interface and a vendor'"'"'s controller via a communications network; 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 of a comparable good similar 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 of the good from the index price using a predetermined method. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method for pricing an independent seller'"'"'s used good comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving an expression of a seller'"'"'s interest in selling the good; (b) querying a vendor to determine the vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable new good; and (c) deriving a sale price for the used good from the vendor'"'"'s price for the new good, using a predetermined method. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. A method for facilitating sale of an independent seller'"'"'s used good by a marketeer comprising the steps of:
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(a) receiving from a seller a standard identification code identifying a good; (b) obtaining the seller'"'"'s agreement to sell the good at a price determined by a marketeer using a predetermined method; (c) receiving from the buyer an expression of interest in purchasing the good; (d) determining an index price equal to a vendor'"'"'s price for a comparable new good; (e) deriving a sale price for the used good from the index price using the predetermined method; and (f) presenting the good for sale at the sale price. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification