System for providing integrated financing services

• US 7,287,004 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2003
• Issued: 10/23/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/26/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Penney, James, Kenny, Tara M., Mark, Kathryn
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D.
• Application Number:
  US10/746,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20050149408A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/38
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof

Abstract

An integrated financing services system provides a leasing service for vendors accessible through the Internet, embedding financing into the checkout process using several Web services. The present system is accessed by a vendor to provide lease prices on a line item by line item basis within an electronic shopping catalog. Depending on the detail provided by the sales company in the request for those rates, these lease prices can map to the specificity of the catalog. The present system provides a service for the vendors to integrate leasing into their sales agents'"'"' and customers'"'"' shopping experience without a large investment in a flexible, and customer-customizable way. The lessor can now support vendors and customers in a very repeatable manner, using the same technology with no new special development for each vendor.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented system for providing an integrated financing service that allows a plurality of vendors to integrate a leasing service as part of a sales transaction, the system comprising:

a computer configured to communicate via a network;

a first network device configured to communicate with the computer, and to provide lease prices for items within an electronic shopping catalog to a plurality of vendors;

a second network device to request lease terms from a vendor, upon a selection by a customer of a payment option for an item within the electronic shopping catalog;

a lease calculation device for automatically determining the lease terms for the item;

a proposal generation device for automatically transmitting and proposing the lease terms via the network to the customer for approval, as an alternative to a direct purchase of the item; and

a vendor commitment to finance module configured to send an acknowledgement to the plurality of vendors via the network in response to an approval by the customer, acknowledging that the sale of the item is based on the lease terms that have been approved by the customer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first network device comprises an Internet service.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second network service comprises an Internet service.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the lease terms comprise a lease rate.

5. The system of claim 4, further comprising an update lease rate table module for updating a lease rate table for at least some of the items in the electronic shopping catalog.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the electronic shopping catalog comprises a catalog that is specific to the customer.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising a credit check device for performing a credit check on the customer for use in determining the lease rate for the items within the electronic shopping catalog.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the lease terms comprise a lease prices;

and

further comprising a lease calculation module for calling a lease calculation made for the items in the electronic shopping catalog.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the lease calculation module determines the lease terms for the item comprises determining a monthly lease payment for the item.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the lease calculation module determines whether a minimum finance amount has been met by an accumulated value of items that are to be financed and that are deposited in a customer'"'"'s electronic shopping cart.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the customer accesses the second network device at customer checkout.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the lease calculation module presents the lease price in the form of a proposal.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the lease calculation module presents the lease price in the form of a firm rate.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising an update lease status device for providing a delayed response to the customer.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a notification module for notifying the customer of the availability of the lease price.

16. The system of claim 1 lease calculation module, wherein the lease calculation module determines whether lease rates are available for the items in the customer'"'"'s electronic shopping cart.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a display for displaying in the electronic shopping catalog, the lease rates and a plurality of lease terms for the items in the electronic shopping cart.

18. The system of claim 1, further comprising a credit confirmation module for verifying a customer'"'"'s credit worthiness.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of vendors provide the purchase prices for which lease prices have been calculated on a line item-by-line item basis within the electronic shopping catalog.

20. The system of claim 1, further comprising displaying the lease terms in a country-specific format.

21. A processor-implemented method for providing an integrated financing service that allows a plurality of vendors to integrate a leasing service as part of a sales transaction, the method comprising:

providing lease prices for items within an electronic shopping catalog to a plurality of vendors;

requesting lease terms from a vendor, upon a selection by a customer of a payment option for an item within the electronic shopping catalog;

automatically determining the lease terms for the item;

automatically proposing the lease terms to the customer for approval, as an alternative to a direct purchase of the item; and

sending an acknowledgement to the plurality of vendors that the sale of the item is based on the lease terms that have been approved by the customer, upon approval by the customer.

22. A computer program product having a plurality of executable instruction codes stored on a computer usable medium, for providing an integrated financing service that allows a plurality of vendors to integrate a leasing service as pan of a sales transaction, the computer program product comprising:

a set of instruction codes for providing lease prices for items within an electronic shopping catalog to a plurality of vendors;

a set of instruction codes for requesting lease terms from a vendor, upon a selection by a customer of a payment option for an item within the electronic shopping catalog;

a set of instruction codes for automatically determining the lease terms for the item;

a set of instruction codes for automatically proposing the lease terms to the customer for approval, as an alternative to a direct purchase of the item; and

a set of instruction codes for sending an acknowledgement to the plurality of vendors that the sale of the item is based on the lease terms that have been approved by the customer, upon approval by the customer.

23. A service for providing an integrated financing service that allows a plurality of vendors to integrate a leasing service as part of a sales transaction, the service comprising:

a computer configured to communicate via a network;

a device configured to communicate with the computer, for providing lease prices for items within an electronic shopping catalog to a plurality of vendors;

a device for requesting lease terms from a vendor, upon a selection by a customer of a payment option for an item within the electronic shopping catalog;

a device for automatically determining the lease terms for the item;

a device for automatically transmitting and proposing the lease terms to the customer for approval via the network, as an alternative to a direct purchase of the item; and

a device configured to send an acknowledgement to the plurality of vendors via the network in response to an approval by the customer, acknowledging that the sale of the item is based on the lease terms that have been approved by the customer.