Attaining product inventory groupings for sales in a group-buying environment
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for sourcing a featured item for an on-line group-buying sale, comprising:
- communicating to a supplier a featured item quantity and a featured item time reservation;
receiving the supplier'"'"'s consent to reserve the featured item quantity for the negotiated featured item time reservation for sale in the on-line group-buying sale;
conducting an on-line group-buying sale for the featured item during the featured item time reservation, selling at least a portion of the featured item quantity to one or more buyers; and
supplying the featured items sold in the on-line group-buying sale to one or more buyers by instructing the supplier to provide the items to one or more buyers.
14 Assignments
Litigations
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system are provided that enables a seller to reserve from a supplier a grouping of products (e.g., create a virtual inventory) for sale in an on-line group-buying sale. The supplier agrees to reserve an agreed quantity for an agreed time period. The seller conducts the group-buying sale offering the reserved product inventory to buyers. The seller and supplier then follow agreed upon procedures for shipping the products.
200 Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method for sourcing a featured item for an on-line group-buying sale, comprising:
-
communicating to a supplier a featured item quantity and a featured item time reservation; receiving the supplier'"'"'s consent to reserve the featured item quantity for the negotiated featured item time reservation for sale in the on-line group-buying sale; conducting an on-line group-buying sale for the featured item during the featured item time reservation, selling at least a portion of the featured item quantity to one or more buyers; and supplying the featured items sold in the on-line group-buying sale to one or more buyers by instructing the supplier to provide the items to one or more buyers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for sourcing a featured item for an on-line group-buying sale, comprising:
-
receiving from a seller a featured item quantity and a featured item time reservation; negotiating with the seller to determine a featured item quantity and a featured item time reservation; executing a binding agreement with the seller regarding the featured item quantity and the featured item time reservation, wherein the binding agreement requires the seller to reserve the featured item quantity for the featured item time reservation for sale in the on-line group buying sale; receiving a confirmation of the sale of a featured item in an on-line group-buying sale; and supplying a featured item sold during the on-line group-buying sale responsive to instructions from the seller. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method for sourcing an item for an on-line group-buying sale, the method comprising:
-
reserving a specified quantity of the item for a specified period of time for sale in the on-line group-buying sale with a supplier of the item; selling a plurality of the items during the specified period of time to a plurality of buyers in the on-line group-buying sale; and supplying the items bought by buyers in the on-line group-buying sale to the buyers by instructing the supplier to provide the featured items to the buyers. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A method of doing business, comprising:
-
forming an option contract between a supplier of an item and a seller of the item, the option for the seller to purchase a quantity of the items and expiring after an option period; and forming a group sale of the item between the seller and a plurality of buyers during the option period wherein all of the buyers pay the same price for the items, wherein the seller provides to the supplier delivery instructions for delivering the items directly from the supplier to the buyers. - View Dependent Claims (22)
-
-
23. A method of selling quantities of an item, the method comprising:
-
forming an option contract to obtain an option to purchase a quantity of an item during an option period; receiving, during the option period, individual offers from buyers each for an individual quantity of the item at an individual unit price; aggregating individual offers from the buyers to form an aggregated offer having an aggregated quantity of the individual quantities of the offers; responsive to an aggregated offer for a quantity of the item above a starting quantity, lowering the unit price of the item below a starting unit price; and accepting a final aggregated offer for a final quantity of the item at a final unit price, wherein accepting the final aggregated offer automatically executes contracts to sell the item to all the buyers whose offers are reflected in the final aggregated offer, wherein the contracts with the buyers are at the same final unit price and are for the individual quantities requested in the buyers'"'"' individual offers. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
-
-
26. A combination of contractual relations, comprising:
-
an option contract between a seller and a supplier granting the seller a right to purchase a reserved quantity of items from the supplier during an option period; and a plurality of individual sales contracts between the seller and a plurality of respective, individual buyers, each contract for the sale of a portion of the reserved quantity of the items, wherein the plurality of sales contracts result from an on-line group-buying sale from the seller to the buyers, all of the individual sale contracts at the same unit price, the unit price determined based on the aggregate quantity of items sold in the plurality of sales contracts.
-
Specification