Systems and Methods for Live Auctioneer Led Sales

• US 20140032351A1
• Filed: 07/26/2012
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Manheim Investments Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Manheim Investments Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Inventors: Fraser, Alexander Harley, Blobner, John, Rigdon, Lance, Wright, Krista Gayle, MacConnell, Richard Neil, Mills, Amy Andrews, Su Tai, Veronica Yung
• Application Number:
  US13/559,315
• Publication Number:
  US 20140032351A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing live auctioneer led sales of products, such as vehicles, between remotely located buyers, sellers, and auctioneers are provided herein. In certain aspects, systems and methods may facilitate one or more auctions led by a remotely located live auctioneer who receives bids from one or more remotely located buyers. Accordingly, in some examples, the auctioneer may accept bids from the buyers, encourage bidding from the buyers, and/or declare (or not declare) a product sold in real-time. In this manner, in certain aspects, the systems and methods enable an auction to be conduct by a live auctioneer.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computers comprising one or more processors, information associated with a vehicle from a seller computing device;

receiving, by the one or more computers, a signal indicative of a live auctioneer conducting a sale of the vehicle by auction from an auctioneer computing device, wherein the signal comprises one or more of a real-time audio signal, a video signal, or a combination thereof of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the vehicle by auction;

providing, by the one or more computers, the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the vehicle by auction to one or more buyer computing devices, the auctioneer computing device, the one or more buyer computing devices, and the vehicle being geographically remotely located from one another; and

receiving, by the one or more computers and based at least in part on the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the vehicle by auction, one or more bids for the vehicle from the one or more buyer computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying, by the one or more computers and based at least in part on the one or more bids for the vehicle from the one or more buyer computing devices, a winning bid for the vehicle.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, the one or more bids for the vehicle from the one or more buyer computing devices to the auctioneer computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the vehicle by auction to the seller computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the one or more computers, the information associated with the vehicle from one or more third-party computing devices.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more third-party computing devices comprise one or more vehicle identification number decoders, inventory management systems, dealer management systems, original equipment manufacturer databases, or distributor databases.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computers, a reserve price for the vehicle from the seller computing device; and

determining, by the one or more computers, if a bid for the vehicle is greater than or equal to the reserve price for the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving one or more bids for the vehicle further comprises receiving, by the one or more computers, a proxy bid for the vehicle from the one or more buyer computing devices.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the one or more computers, a no-sale for the vehicle from the seller computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, the information associated with the vehicle to the one or more buyer computing devices.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, a listing of one or more vehicles to be sold by auction to the one or more buyer computing devices.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the one or more computers, market value information associated with the vehicle from a market value database; and

providing, by the one or more computers, the market value information associated with the vehicle to the one or more buyer computing devices.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the vehicle comprises at least one of:

a vehicle identification number (VIN), a make, a model, a year, a condition, a color, a trim, a value, a mileage, a feature, an option, an image, a recording, a video, a location, a seller, an inventory identifier, a rating, a review, an amount of time the vehicle has been in a particular inventory, or an amount of time the vehicle has been available for exchange, trade, or sale.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, an interface to the one or more buyer computing devices that facilitates sending, to the seller computing device, an email, a text message, an instant message, a voice message, a video message, a telephone call, or a video call.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing, by the one or more computers, access to one or more settlement services for completing a transaction between the seller computing device and the one or more buyer computing devices.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the one or more computers, an indication of one or more services offered by the seller.

17. A system, comprising:

at least one memory that stores computer-executable instructions;

at least one processor configured to access the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to;

receive, from a seller database, information associated with a plurality of vehicles in an inventory of a seller;

receive, from a computing device of the seller, an indication of one or more of the plurality of vehicles to sell at auction;

receive, from the computing device of the seller, an indication of an auction to sell the one or more vehicles;

receive, from an auctioneer computing device, a signal indicative of a live auctioneer conducting a sale of the one or more vehicles by auction, wherein the signal comprises one or more of a real-time audio signal, a video signal, or a combination thereof of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the one or more vehicles by auction;

provide, to one or more buyer computing devices, the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the one or more vehicles by auction, the auctioneer computing device, the one or more buyer computing devices, and the one or more vehicles being geographically remotely located from one another; and

receive, from the one or more buyer computing devices and based at least in part on the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the one or more vehicles by auction, one or more bids for the one or more vehicles.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to identify, based at least in part on the one or more bids for the one or more vehicles from the one or more buyer computing devices, a winning bid for the one or more vehicles.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to provide, to the one or more buyer computing devices, a listing of the one or more vehicles to be sold at the auction, wherein the list comprises the information associated with the one or more vehicles.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to receive, from the one or more buyer computing devices, a filter parameter for filtering the listing of the one or more vehicles to be sold at the auction.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the filter parameter comprises one or more of:

at least a portion of a vehicle identification number (VIN), a make, a model, a year, a condition, a color, a trim, a value, a mileage, a location, a seller, an inventory identifier, a rating, a review, an amount of time the vehicle has been in a particular inventory, an auction parameter, or an amount of time the vehicle has been available for exchange, trade, or sale.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to receive, from the computing device of the seller, a filter parameter for filtering the plurality of vehicles in the inventory of the seller.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the filter parameter comprises one or more of:

at least a portion of a vehicle identification number (VIN), a make, a model, a year, a condition, a color, a trim, a value, a mileage, a location, an inventory identifier, a rating, a review, an amount of time the vehicle has been in a particular inventory, an auction parameter, or an amount of time the vehicle has been available for exchange, trade, or sale.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to provide, to the one or more buyer computing devices, an indication of which of the one or more vehicles is currently up for auction.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the one or more vehicles are auctioned individually or collectively.

26. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to:

receive, from the one or more buyer computing devices, one or more proxy bids for the one or more vehicles; and

identify, based at least in part on the results of one or more auctions, a proxy bid for the one or more vehicles in subsequent auctions.

27. A method, comprising:

receiving, by one or more computers comprising one or more processors, information associated with one or more vehicles from one or more seller computing devices;

receiving, by the one or more computers, a signal indicative of a live auctioneer conducting a sale of one of the one or more vehicles by auction from an auctioneer computing device, wherein the signal comprises one or more of a real-time audio signal, a video signal, or a combination thereof of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of one of the one or more vehicles by auction;

providing, by the one or more computers, the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of one of the one or more vehicles by auction to one or more buyer computing devices, the auctioneer computing device, the one or more buyer computing devices, and the one or more vehicles being geographically remotely located from one another; and

receiving, by the one or more computers and based at least in part on the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of one of the one or more vehicles by auction, one or more bids for the vehicles from the one or more buyer computing devices.

28. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving information associated with a product from a seller computing device;

receiving a signal indicative of a live auctioneer conducting a sale of the product by auction, wherein the signal comprises one or more of a real-time audio signal, a video signal, or a combination thereof of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the product by auction;

transmitting the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the product by auction to one or more buyers, the auctioneer, the one or more buyers, and the product being geographically remotely located from one another; and

receiving, based at least in part on the signal indicative of the live auctioneer conducting the sale of the product by auction, one or more bids for the product from the one or more buyers.