Method and system for harvesting feedback and comments regarding multiple items from users of a network-based transaction facility

• US 7,428,505 B1
• Filed: 02/29/2000
• Issued: 09/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Grove, Steve, Mohnia, Dheeraj, Poon, Alex, Levy, Daniele V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Subramanian; Narayanswamy
• Application Number:
  US09/515,575
• Time in Patent Office: 3,129 Days
• Field of Search: 705/37, 705/35, 705/36, 705 38- 40, 705/707
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/06 Asset management; Financial planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/10 Tax strategies

Abstract

A method of displaying a user interface to harvest feedback information pertaining to transactions facilitated by a computerized transaction facility includes the display of multiple feedback windows, or other distinct areas, within a user interface displayed on a display device. Each feedback window includes transaction identifier information that identifies a respective transaction. Each feedback window also includes a feedback input that receives feedback information, pertaining to an associated transaction identified by the transaction information. The feedback input is displayed, within each feedback window, to indicate an association with the respective transaction information. Accordingly, feedback input for multiple transactions may conveniently be inputted through a single user interface.

Claims

1. A method of harvesting feedback pertaining to transactions facilitated by a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

identifying a plurality of transactions associated with a first user, the plurality of transactions comprising completed transactions, facilitated by the network-based transaction facility, in which the first user participated with at least two other users;

communicating user interface information from the network-based transaction facility to a client associated with the first user via a communications network, the user interface information including transaction information concerning at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions associated with the first user and specifying a single feedback interface facilitating user input of feedback information for each of the at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions, the first transaction comprising a first completed transaction in which the first user participated with a second user, the second transaction comprising a second completed transaction in which the first user participated with a third user; and

receiving at the network-based transaction facility, the feedback information provided by the first user through the single feedback interface, for each of at least the first and second transactions, the feedback information being received via the communications network.

2. The method of claim 1 including identifying the completed transactions as transactions in which the first user participated as a buyer and the at least two other users participated as sellers.

3. The method of claim 1 including identifying the completed transaction as transactions in which the first user participated as a seller and the at least two other users participated as buyers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying comprises identifying the completed transactions in which the first user participated within a predetermined time period.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication of the user interface information comprises communicating a markup language document and wherein the transaction information includes text information describing at least the first and second transactions.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the user interface information defines a respective feedback input field associated with each of the first and second transactions via which the feedback information for each of at least the first and second transactions is user-inputted.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the user interface information defines a type indicator via which type information, indicating a feedback type for the feedback information for each of the at least first and second transactions, is user-inputted.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the type information indicates the feedback type as being selected from a group consisting of positive feedback, negative feedback and neutral feedback.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the type indicator is selected from a group consisting of a collection of check boxes and a collection of radio buttons.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the user interface information defines a respective skip indicator for each of the at least first and second transactions, each skip indicator being user-selectable to indicate whether or not feedback is being provided via the feedback interface for an associated transaction.

11. The claim of 10 wherein each of the respective skip indicators is selected from a group consisting of a check box and a radio button.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the user interface information defines a filter input field via which a filter criteria is user-inputted, the filter criteria being applied to the plurality of transactions to define a subset thereof for display via the feedback interface.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the filter criteria comprises a user identifier identifying a fourth user associated with at least one transaction of the plurality of transactions.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the filter criteria comprises a transaction identifier identifying at least one of the plurality of transactions.

15. The method of claim 1 including populating a feedback data structure with the feedback information for each of the at least first and second transactions.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the transaction information is selected from a group consisting of user, item, description and date information.

17. A method of displaying a single user interface to harvest feedback pertaining to transactions facilitated by a computerized transaction facility, the method including:

displaying transaction identification information for each of a plurality of transactions within the single user interface displayed on a display device, the plurality of transactions comprising completed transactions, facilitated by the computerized transaction facility, in which a first user participated with at least two other users, the plurality of transactions comprising a first completed transaction in which the first user participated with a second user and a second completed transaction in which the first user participated with a third user; and

displaying a feedback input for each of the plurality of transactions within the single user interface as displayed on the display device,

each feedback input is being displayed so as to indicate an association with respective transaction identification information and comprises an input field to receive at least one of text, numeric and alpha-numeric information.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the transaction identification information is selected from a group consisting of user information identifying a party to a transaction, item information identifying a subject of a transaction and date information indicating a date associated with the transaction period.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the feedback input comprises at least one of a plurality of user-selectable feedback options.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the plurality of user-selectable feedback options are presented in the form of a drop-down menu.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the plurality of user-selectable feedback options are type options that indicate a feedback type associated to feedback information.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the feedback type is selected from a group consisting of positive feedback, negative feedback and neutral feedback.

23. The method of claim 19 wherein the plurality of user-selectable feedback options are presented as being user-selectable, wherein the plurality of user-selectable feedback options are selected from a group consisting of a plurality of check boxes and a plurality of radio buttons.

24. The method of claim 17 including displaying a skip input for each of the plurality of transactions within the user interface, each skip input being user-selectable to indicate whether or not feedback is being provided for associated transaction identification information.

25. The method of claim 17 wherein the single user interface comprises a markup language document displayed within a browser.

26. The method of claim 17 wherein the association is indicated by display of a respective feedback input proximate to the specific transaction identification information.

27. The method of claim 17 wherein the association is indicated by display of a graphical indication that indicates the association between the respective feedback input and the specific transaction identifier information.

28. A method of harvesting comments pertaining to items of a network-based transaction facility, the method including:

identifying a plurality of items, the plurality of items being items transacted between a user and at least two other users utilizing the network-based transaction facility;

communicating user interface information to a client via a communications network, the user interface information including item information from the network-based transaction facility concerning at least first and second items of the plurality of items and specifying a single input interface facilitating user input of comments pertaining to each of the at least the first and second items of the plurality of items, the first item being transacted between the first user and a second user, the second item being transacted between the first user and a third user; and

receiving, at the network-based transaction facility, the comments provided by the user through the single input interface, for each of the at last first and second items, the comments being received via the communications network.

29. A method of displaying a single user interface to harvest comments pertaining to items of a computerized transaction facility, the method including:

displaying item identification information for each of a plurality of items within the single user interface displayed on a display device, the plurality of items being items transacted between a user and at least two other users utilizing the computerized transaction facility; and

displaying a comment input for each of the plurality of items within the single user interface as displayed on the display device, the plurality of items including a first item and a second item, the first item being transacted between a first user and a second user, the second item being transacted between the first user and a third user,

each comment input by a user is being displayed so as to indicate an association with respective transaction identification information and comprises an input field to receive at least one of text, numeric and alpha-numeric information.

30. A system for harvesting feedback pertaining to facilitated network-based transactions, the system including:

a network-based transaction facility to facilitate the network-based transactions between a first user and at least two other users, the network-based transaction facility to identify a plurality of transactions associated with the first user, the plurality of transactions being comprised of completed transactions, facilitated by the network-based transaction facility, in which the first user participated with the at least two other users;

a user interface of a first client machine associated with the first user to receive information communicated from the network-based transaction facility, the user interface information including transaction information concerning at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions associated with the first user and the at least two other users and specifying a single feedback interface facilitating user input of feedback information for each of the at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions, the first transaction comprising a first completed transaction in which the first user participated with a second user, the second transaction comprising a second completed transaction in which the first user participated with a third user; and

the network-based transaction facility to receive the feedback information provided by the first user pertaining to the at least two other users through the single feedback interface, for each of at least the first and second transactions, the feedback information being received via the communications network.

31. A machine readable-medium storing instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

identify a plurality of transactions associated with a first user, the plurality of transactions comprising completed transactions, facilitated by a network-based transaction facility, in which the first user participated with at least two other users;

communicate user interface information from the network-based transaction facility to a client associated with the first user via a communications network, the user interface information including transaction information concerning at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions associated with the first user and specifying a single feedback interface facilitating user input of feedback information for each of the at least first and second transactions of the plurality of transactions, the first transaction comprising a first completed transaction in which the first user participated with a second user, the second transaction comprising a second completed transaction in which the first user participated with a third user; and

receive at the network-based transaction facility, the feedback information provided by the first user through the single feedback interface, for each of at least the first and second transactions, the feedback information being received via the communications network.

32. A machine readable-medium storing instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

display transaction identification information for each of a plurality of transactions within a single user interface displayed on a display device, the plurality of transactions comprising completed transactions, facilitated by a computerized transaction facility, in which a first user participated with at least two other users, the plurality of transactions comprising a first completed transaction in which the first user participated with a second user and a second completed transaction in which the first user participated with a third user; and

display a feedback input for each of the plurality of transactions within the single user interface as displayed on the display device,

each feedback input is being displayed so as to indicate an association with respective transaction identification information and comprises an input field to receive at least one of text, numeric and alpha-numeric information.

33. A machine readable-medium storing instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

identify a plurality of items, the plurality of items being items transacted between a user and at least two other users utilizing a network-based transaction facility;

communicate user interface information to a client via a communications network, the user interface information including item information from the network-based transaction facility concerning at least first and second items of the plurality of items and specifying a single input interface facilitating user input of comments pertaining to each of the at least the first and second items of the plurality of items, the first item being transacted between the first user and a second user, the second item being transacted between the first user and a third user; and

receive, at the network-based transaction facility, the comments provided by the user through the single input interface, for each of the at last first and second items, the comments being received via the communications network.

34. A machine readable-medium storing instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

display item identification information for each of a plurality of items within a single user interface displayed on a display device, the plurality of items being items transacted between a user and at least two other users utilizing a computerized transaction facility; and

display a comment input for each of the plurality of items within the single user interface as displayed on the display device, the plurality of items including a first item and a second item, the first item being transacted between a first user and a second user, the second item being transacted between the first user and a third user,

each comment input by a user is being displayed so as to indicate an association with respective transaction identification information and comprises an input field to receive at least one of text, numeric and alpha-numeric information.