METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING FULFILLMENT SERVICES

• US 20080301009A1
• Filed: 05/31/2007
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Patel, Ankit, Murray, Jason, Rawcliffe, Alan, Griffith, Mark B., Freeman, Kyle A., Plaster, Thomas W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,189,768 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/28
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

Method and apparatus for providing inventory fulfillment services to customers who have small quantities of heterogeneous items to sell. A self-service registration interface for generating lists of items to sell via the inventory fulfillment service is provided. The inventory fulfillment service may provide pricing suggestions to the customer. The inventory fulfillment service may determine whether a listed item satisfies one or more listing rules. Shipping information for a list of items may be automatically generated and provided to the customer. The customer may ship the items in one shipment to a specified facility. The customer is the seller of record for all items listed. The customer may not be charged for services until an item is sold. A listing period may be specified for which listed items will be carried. If an item does not sell within the period, option(s) for disposal of the item may be provided.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to said memory, wherein said instructions are executable by at least one of said one or more processors to implement an inventory management system, wherein said inventory management system is configured to;

implement a fulfillment services registration interface;

receive, from a customer via said fulfillment services registration interface, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider for a sale of one or more of said customer'"'"'s items;

in response to receiving said request, provide to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, suggested pricing information for said one or more items;

determine whether said request to receive inventory fulfillment services for said one or more items satisfies one or more listing rules; and

in response to determining that said request satisfies said one or more listing rules, provide to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, in response to determining that said request satisfies said one or more listing rules, said inventory management system is further configured to generate respective sales listings for said one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, to provide said suggested pricing information to said customer for a given one of said one or more items, said inventory management system is further configured to:

evaluate historical sales data corresponding to said given item; and

generate a suggested price range for said given item dependent upon said historical sales data.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein, to determine that said customer'"'"'s request satisfies a particular one of said one or more listing rules with respect to said given item, said inventory management system is further configured to determine that a sales price specified by said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, for said given item is within said suggested price range.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, to determine whether said customer'"'"'s request satisfies a particular one of said one or more listing rules with respect to a given one of said one or more items, said inventory management system is further configured to:

estimate said customer'"'"'s profit for said given item net of expected fulfillment services transaction costs for said given item; and

reject said request to receive inventory fulfillment services for said given item in response to estimating that said customer'"'"'s profit for said given item is less than a specified threshold.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein, to provide to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider, said inventory management system is configured to convey to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, a document including shipping data suitable for identifying one or more packages including said one or more items for shipment to said fulfillment services provider.

7. The system as recited in claim 6, wherein said document is formatted to enable said customer to generate one or more labels suitable for applying to said one or more packages including said one or more items, wherein said one or more labels are indicative of at least some of said shipping data.

8. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein to receive said request via said fulfillment services registration interface, said inventory management system is further configured to receive said request via one or more web pages presented to said customer by said fulfillment services registration interface.

9. A method, comprising:

a fulfillment services provider receiving, from a customer, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from said fulfillment services provider for a sale of one or more of said customer'"'"'s items, wherein said request is received via a computer-implemented fulfillment services registration interface;

in response to receiving said request, said fulfillment services provider providing to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, suggested pricing information for said one or more items;

said fulfillment services provider determining whether said customer'"'"'s request to receive inventory fulfillment services for said one or more items satisfies one or more listing rules; and

in response to determining that said request satisfies said one or more listing rules, said fulfillment services provider providing to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, further comprising said fulfillment services provider generating respective sales listings for said one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels in response to determining that said request satisfies said one or more listing rules.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said providing said suggested pricing information to said customer for a given one of said one or more items comprises evaluating historical sales data corresponding to said given item and generating a suggested price range for said given item dependent upon said historical sales data.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein said determining that said customer'"'"'s request satisfies a particular one of said one or more listing rules with respect to said given item comprises determining that a sales price specified by said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, for said given item is within said suggested price range.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said determining whether said customer'"'"'s request satisfies a particular one of said one or more listing rules with respect to a given one of said one or more items comprises:

estimating said customer'"'"'s profit for said given item net of expected fulfillment services transaction costs for said given item; and

rejecting said request to receive inventory fulfillment services for said given item in response to estimating that said customer'"'"'s profit for said given item is less than a specified threshold.

14. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said providing to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider comprises conveying to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, a document including shipping data suitable for identifying one or more packages including said one or more items for shipment to said fulfillment services provider.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein said document is formatted to enable said customer to generate one or more labels suitable for applying to said one or more packages including said one or more items, wherein said one or more labels are indicative of at least some of said shipping data.

16. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein said receiving said request via said fulfillment services registration interface comprises receiving said request via one or more web pages presented to said customer by said fulfillment services registration interface.

17. A system, comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to said memory, wherein said instructions are executable by at least one of said one or more processors to implement an inventory management system, wherein said inventory management system is configured to;

implement a fulfillment services registration interface;

receive, from a customer via said fulfillment services registration interface, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider for a sale of one or more of said customer'"'"'s items; and

in response to receiving said request;

provide to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider; and

generate respective sales listings for said one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels.

18. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein, for a given one of said one or more items, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to said customer for inventory fulfillment services dependent upon a sale of a given one of said one or more items via a corresponding one of said one or more electronic commerce channels.

19. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein, for a given one of said one or more items, a corresponding one of said sales listings is configured to expire after an expiration period, and wherein if said given item has not sold prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured not to assess fees to said customer for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

20. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein, after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured to instruct that said given item be returned to said customer or otherwise removed from inventory.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein, in response to said inventory management system instructing that said given item be returned to said customer, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to said customer for costs of returning said given item to said customer.

22. The system as recited in claim 19, wherein, after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said inventory management system is configured to assess fees to said customer for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred subsequent to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

23. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises one or more web pages.

24. The system as recited in claim 17, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises a web services interface, wherein said sales listings are accessible from the inventory management system via said web services interface to expose said sales listing on an electronic commerce web site corresponding to the given electronic commerce channel.

25. A method, comprising:

a fulfillment services provider receiving, from a customer, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from said fulfillment services provider for a sale of one or more of said customer'"'"'s items, wherein said request is received via a computer-implemented fulfillment services registration interface; and

in response to receiving said request, said fulfillment services provider;

providing to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider; and

generating respective sales listings for said one or more items within one or more electronic commerce channels.

26. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

for a given one of said one or more items, said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to said customer for inventory fulfillment services dependent upon a sale of a given one of said one or more items via a corresponding one of said one or more electronic commerce channels.

27. The method as recited in claim 25, further comprising:

for a given one of said one or more items, a corresponding one of said sales listings expiring after an expiration period;

in response to said given item not having sold prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said fulfillment services provider not assessing fees to said customer for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred prior to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

28. The method as recited in claim 27, further comprising:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, returning said given item to said customer or otherwise removing said given item from inventory.

29. The method as recited in claim 28, further comprising:

said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to said customer for costs of returning said given item to said customer.

30. The method as recited in claim 27, further comprising:

after expiration of said corresponding sales listing, said fulfillment services provider assessing fees to said customer for costs of inventory fulfillment services incurred subsequent to expiration of said corresponding sales listing.

31. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises one or more web pages.

32. The method as recited in claim 25, wherein a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels comprises a web services interface, wherein said sales listings are accessible from the inventory management system via said web services interface to expose said sales listing on an electronic commerce web site corresponding to the given electronic commerce channel.

33. A system, comprising:

a memory configured to store instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to said memory, wherein said instructions are executable by at least one of said one or more processors to implement an inventory management system, wherein said inventory management system is configured to;

implement a fulfillment services registration interface;

receive, from a listing customer via said fulfillment services registration interface, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from a fulfillment services provider for each of a plurality of said listing customer'"'"'s items, wherein at least two of said plurality of items are heterogeneous; and

in response to said request;

provide to said listing customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface information for conveying said plurality of items to said fulfillment services provider in a single package; and

generate respective sales listings for each of said items within one or more electronic commerce channels.

34. The system as recited in claim 33, wherein said inventory management system is further configured to:

detect that said package has been received at a fulfillment center; and

responsively instruct that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center.

35. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein, to instruct that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center, said inventory management system is configured to instruct that ones of said plurality of items be commingled with other items not associated with said listing customer within an inventory storage area of said fulfillment center.

36. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein said inventory management system is further configured to:

subsequent to instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center, receive an order for a given one of said items from a purchasing customer via a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels; and

in response to receiving said order, instruct that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer, where said listing customer is seller of record of said given item.

37. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein in response to receiving said order, said inventory management system is further configured to credit to said listing customer a sales price for said given item less inventory fulfillment services fees assessed to said listing customer for said given item.

38. The system as recited in claim 36, wherein to instruct that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer, said inventory management system is further configured to:

determine whether said order is eligible for a discount shipping program; and

if said order is eligible, instruct that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer under terms of said discount shipping program.

39. The system as recited in claim 34, wherein said inventory management system is further configured to:

subsequent to instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center, receive an order from a purchasing customer, wherein said order specifies a given one of said items associated with said listing customer and a second item not associated with said listing customer; and

in response to receiving said order, instruct that said given item and said second item be shipped to said purchasing customer, where said listing customer is seller of record of only said given item.

40. The system as recited in claim 33, wherein to provide to said listing customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider, said inventory management system is further configured to convey to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, a document including shipping data suitable for generating a prepaid shipping label for said package.

41. A method, comprising:

a fulfillment services provider receiving, from a listing customer via a computer-implemented fulfillment services registration interface, a request to receive inventory fulfillment services from said fulfillment services provider for each of a plurality of said listing customer'"'"'s items, wherein at least two of said plurality of items are heterogeneous; and

in response to receiving said request, said fulfillment services provider;

providing to said listing customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said plurality of items to said fulfillment services provider in a single package; and

generating respective sales listings for each of said items within one or more electronic commerce channels.

42. The method as recited in claim 41, further comprising an inventory management system:

detecting that said package has been received at a fulfillment center; and

responsively instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center.

43. The method as recited in claim 42, wherein said instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center comprises instructing that ones of said plurality of items be commingled with other items not associated with said listing customer within an inventory storage area of said fulfillment center.

44. The method as recited in claim 42, further comprising:

subsequent to instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center, said inventory management system receiving an order for a given one of said items from a purchasing customer via a given one of said one or more electronic commerce channels; and

in response to receiving said order, said inventory management system instructing that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer, where said listing customer is seller of record of said given item.

45. The method as recited in claim 44, further comprising:

in response to receiving said order, said inventory management system crediting to said listing customer a sales price for said given item less inventory fulfillment services fees assessed to said listing customer for said given item.

46. The method as recited in claim 44, wherein said instructing that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer comprises:

determining whether said order is eligible for a discount shipping program; and

if said order is eligible, instructing that said given item be shipped to said purchasing customer under terms of said discount shipping program.

47. The method as recited in claim 42, further comprising:

subsequent to instructing that each of said plurality of items be stored as inventory within said fulfillment center, said inventory management system receiving an order from a purchasing customer, wherein said order specifies a given one of said items associated with said listing customer and a second item not associated with said listing customer; and

in response to receiving said order, said inventory management system instructing that said given item and said second item be shipped to said purchasing customer, where said listing customer is seller of record of only said given item.

48. The method as recited in claim 41, wherein said providing to said listing customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, information for conveying said one or more items to said fulfillment services provider comprises conveying to said customer, via said fulfillment services registration interface, a document including shipping data suitable for generating a prepaid shipping label for said package.