MULTIPLE CRITERIA BUYING AND SELLING MODEL

• US 20110270699A1
• Filed: 06/15/2011
• Published: 11/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Valentine Communications LLC
• Original Assignee: Ewinwin Incorporated
• Inventors: Mesaros, Gregory J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,285,600 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation

Abstract

A multiple criteria buying and selling system and method is provided. A seller initially establishes a deal structure for a product, which provides seller defined selling criteria information relating to the purchasing of the product, such as volume per unit price, quality, delivery time and warranty information. A buyer will be able to review a list of deals if the seller'"'"'s selling criteria matches a buyer defined buying criteria. The deal structure is preferably set up so as to provide buyers with both price and non-price criteria information that the buyer'"'"'s would consider important in a purchase of the type of product being offered by the seller. The deal structure is electronically made available to potential buyers of the product. For example, the deal structure may be displayed on an Internet site.

Claims

1. A business transaction methodology, including the steps of:

offering a plurality of deals for at least one of a product and service offered by at least one seller;

inputting a plurality of buying criteria by a buyer for the at least one of a product and service; and

outputting a list of deals from amongst the plurality of deals that match the buying criteria of the buyer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of deals is based on a plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller includes an offering criteria which defines the limits of each of the plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of buying criteria inputted by the buyer includes an ordering criteria which defines the limits of each of the plurality of buying criteria inputted by the buyer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of deals from amongst the plurality of deals that match the buying criteria of the buyer are the deals which the ordering criteria of the buyer match the offering criteria of the seller.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the seller can add additional selling criteria to each of the plurality of deals.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of buying criteria inputted by the buyer includes an ordering criteria which defines the limits of each of the plurality of buying criteria inputted by the buyer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the list of deals from amongst the plurality of deals that match the buying criteria of the buyer are the deals which match the ordering criteria of the buyer.

9. An Internet business transaction system, including:

a computer adapted to be employed by a facilitator for hosting a commercial transaction over the Internet, the computer providing access to at least one buyer and at least one seller to carry out the commercial transaction, wherein at least one buyer makes a purchase from the at least one seller when a plurality of buying criteria defined by the buyer matches a plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller includes an offering criteria which defines the limits of the each of the plurality of selling criteria defined by the seller.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of buying criteria defined by the buyer includes an ordering criteria which defines the limits of the each of the plurality of buying criteria defined by the buyer.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one buyer makes a purchase from the at least one seller when the ordering criteria of the buyer matches the offering criteria of the seller.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one buyer receives a discount on the purchase based on a previous purchase made by the at least one buyer from the at least one seller.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the commercial transaction is limited to certain buyers of the at least one buyer by the at least one seller.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one seller can review other buyer defined buying criteria not used in the matching of the plurality of buying criteria and the plurality of selling criteria.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one seller can review other seller defined selling criteria not used in the matching of the plurality of buying criteria and the plurality of selling criteria.

17. A method of conducting a business transaction, comprising the steps of:

electronically offering a plurality of deals on at least one of a product and service for sale, each of said plurality of deals being based on different offering criteria than each other of said plurality of deals;

electronically searching the deals on the product for sale based on a plurality of ordering criteria;

outputting a list of deals of the plurality of deals which offering criteria matches the ordering criteria; and

selecting one of the deals of the list of deals which offering criteria matches the ordering criteria.

18. An electronic signal adapted to be transmitted between at least two computers, comprising:

an algorithm for matching a buyer with at least one deal offered by at least one seller, the algorithm matching the buyer with the at least one deal based on a plurality of buying criteria defined by the buyer matching a plurality of selling criteria defined by the at least one seller.

19. An Internet business transaction system, including:

means for hosting a commercial transaction over the Internet, the means for hosting providing access to at least one buyer and at least one seller to carry out the commercial transaction, wherein the at least one buyer makes a purchase from the at least one seller when a plurality of ordering criteria, fall within the outer limits of a plurality of offering criteria, each ordering criteria being based on a buyer defined buying criteria, and each offering criteria being defined by the seller.

20. An Internet business transaction system, including:

a first computer adapted to be employed by a facilitator for hosting a commercial transaction over the Internet;

a second computer adapted to be used by a buyer to link to the first computer to participate in the commercial transaction;

a third computer adapted to be used by a seller to link to the first computer to participate in the commercial transaction;

wherein the buyer makes a purchase from the seller when a plurality of buyer defined buying criteria matches a plurality of seller defined selling criteria.

21. A server, comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor; and

a network interface coupled to the processor for transmitting and receiving data with at least one remote computer system;

wherein a plurality of deals for a product offered for sale electronically is stored in the memory, each of the plurality of deals having different seller defined selling criteria, and wherein the server is configured to receive orders for the product from a plurality of different buyers via the at least one remote computer system, by providing the plurality of buyers with at least one deal of the plurality of deals matching a plurality of buyers defined buying criteria.

22. The server of claim 21, wherein the server is configured to provide the plurality of different buyers access to view the at least one of the plurality of deals via one or more of the at least one remote computes.

23. The server of claim 21, wherein the server is configured to provide the plurality of different buyers with deals that the buyer defined buying criteria match the seller defined selling criteria.

24. A system for conducting business electronically, comprising:

a central server;

at least one computer system coupled to the server via a network;

wherein a plurality of deals for a product offered for sale electronically is stored in the central server, each of the plurality of deals having different seller defined selling criteria, and wherein the server is configured to receive orders for the product from a plurality of different buyers via the at least one remote computer system, by providing the plurality of buyers with at least one deal of the plurality of deals matching a plurality of buyer defined buying criteria.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the server is configured to provide the plurality of different buyers access to view the at least one of the plurality of deals via one or more of the at least one remote computes.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein the server is configured to provide the plurality of different buyers with deals that the buyer defined buying criteria match the seller defined selling criteria.

27. A business transaction methodology, including the steps of:

offering a plurality of deals for at least one of a product and service offered by at least one buyer;

inputting a plurality of selling criteria by a seller for the at least one of a product and service; and

outputting a list of deals from amongst the plurality of deals that match the selling criteria of the seller

28. An electronic-based forum for conducting business transactions, comprising:

means for creating a virtual deal room accessible by at least one seller and a plurality of buyers, the virtual deal room being dedicated to carrying out a business transaction for a specific product or service;

means for aggregating purchase orders from at least two of the buyers of the plurality of buyers;

means for presenting the aggregated purchase orders to the at least one seller; and

means for closing a transaction between the at least one seller and the at least two buyers regarding the aggregated purchase orders.

29. An electronic-based forum for conducting business transactions, comprising:

a first system for creating a virtual deal room accessible by at least two sellers and at least two buyers, the virtual deal room being dedicated to carrying out a business transaction for a specific product or service;

a second system for aggregating at least one of purchase orders or offers for sale of the specific product or service from at least one group of the sellers and buyers;

a third system for presenting the at least one of the aggregated purchase orders or aggregated offers for sale to at least one seller or buyer, respectively; and

a fourth system for closing a transaction for the specific product or service.

30. An electronic-based forum for conducting business transactions, comprising:

a first system for creating a virtual deal room accessible by one buyer and a plurality of sellers of a specific product or service;

a second system for aggregating offers for sale of the specific product or service from at least two of the sellers;

a third system for presenting the aggregated offers for sale to the buyer; and

a fourth system for closing a transaction for the specific product or service.