Marketplace Payments

• US 20120150689A1
• Filed: 02/17/2012
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Woolston, Thomas G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

Described herein is a virtual marketplace via which buyers and sellers can conclude transactions for the sale of goods and services. To facilitate payments for goods and services, and to encourage use of the marketplace, the system facilitates the establishment of interest bearing accounts, via which a buyer can fund transactions,

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a market maker computer to facilitate an internet-accessible virtual market for goods via which seller-participants, using a client computer, can post goods to be offered for sale, and buyer-participants can, using a client computer, search or browse the goods having been posted to the virtual market hosted at the market maker computer;

the market maker computer including a transaction processor for processing a transaction involving the sale of a good from a seller-participant to a buyer-participant, the transaction processor to interface with one or more external payment systems to facilitate payments between buyer-participants and seller-participants by transferring funds between accounts and by debiting and crediting accounts; and

the market maker computer including an accounts database to store information concerning cash balances for participant accounts and to facilitate investments in highly liquid, safe assets for funds of any positive cash balance in a participant account, thereby providing an interest bearing account for use in transactions entered into via the virtual market.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the market maker computer enables a seller-participant to indicate that a good being offered for sale via the virtual market is being offered via an auction format, or at a fixed price.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the market maker computer includes a posting module to receive one or more records from a posting terminal, the one or more records specifying a category to which the good is to be assigned.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the market maker computer facilitates a buyer-participant making an offer for a good being offered for sale, where the offer is less than the offering price established by the seller-participant.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the transaction processor is to extract a commission fee for a sales transaction.

5. The system of claim it wherein the transaction processor is to interface with a credit card clearing network.

7. A machine-readable storage medium storing instructions thereon, which, when executed by a processor of a market maker computer, cause the computer to:

facilitate an internet-accessible virtual market for goods via which seller-participants, using a client computer, can post goods to be offered for sale, and buyer-participants can, using a client computer, search or browse the goods having been posted to the virtual market hosted at the market maker computer; and

process a transaction involving the sale of a good from a seller-participant to a buyer-participant, the processing of the transaction involving an interface with one or more external payment systems to facilitate payments between buyer-participants and seller-participants by transferring funds between accounts and by debiting and crediting accounts;

store information concerning cash balances for participant accounts in an accounts database; and

facilitating investments in highly liquid, safe assets for funds of any positive cash balance in a participant account, thereby providing an interest bearing account for use in transactions entered into via the virtual market,

8. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, enabling a seller-participant to indicate that a good being offered for sale via the virtual market is being offered via an auction format, or at a fixed price.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving one or more records front a posting terminal, the one or more records specifying a category to which a good being offered for sale via the virtual market is to be assigned,

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

facilitating a buyer-participant making an offer for a good being offered for sale, where the offer is less than the offering price established by the seller-participant.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, providing an interface to a credit card clearing network.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

when processing a sales transaction, extracting a commission fee.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising receiving one or more records from a posting terminal, the one or more records specifying a category to which a good being offered for sale via the virtual market is to be assigned.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

facilitating a buyer-participant making an offer for a good being offered for sale, where the offer is less than the offering price established by the seller-participant.

17. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, providing an interface to a credit card clearing network.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, further comprising:

when processing a sales transaction, extracting a commission fee.

13. A method comprising:

with a market maker computer, facilitating an internet-accessible virtual market for goods via which seller-participants, using a client computer, can post goods to be offered for sale, and buyer-participants can, using a client computer, search or browse the goods having been posted to the virtual market hosted at the market maker computer; and

with the market maker computer, processing a transaction involving the sale of a good from a seller-participant to a buyer-participant, the processing of the transaction involving an interface with one or more external payment systems to facilitate payments between buyer-participants and seller-participants by transferring funds between accounts and by debiting and crediting accounts;

storing information concerning cash balances for participant accounts in an accounts database; and

facilitating investments in highly liquid, safe assets for funds of any positive cash balance in a participant account, thereby providing an interest bearing account for use in transactions entered into via the virtual market.

14. The method of claim 13, enabling a seller-participant to indicate that a good being offered for sale via the virtual market is being offered via an auction format, or at a fixed price.