Marketplace system in which users generate and browse user-to-user preorder listings via a definitive products catalog

• US 7,493,274 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2002
• Issued: 02/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Tucker, Emily M., Kenny, Erin B., Blackburn, Jeffrey M., Dalzell, Richard L., Moore, Bruce C., Dilley, Alandra S., Roseman, Neil C., Kotas, Paul, Bezos, Jeffrey P., George, Michael M.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US10/142,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20030083961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,476 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 235/385, 235/383, 235/375
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

An electronic marketplace system embodies various inventions for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. If the user previously purchased the product via the system, the user may alternatively select the product from a personal purchase history. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product'"'"'s detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided, and the resulting preorders may be displayed on the associated product detail pages to entice potential sellers. In one embodiment, the electronic catalog also serves as a retail sales catalog of a merchant.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of facilitating user-to-user sales of products within an electronic marketplace, the method comprising:

providing access to a browsable electronic catalog of products that may be purchased and sold by users within the electronic marketplace;

providing, in association with the electronic catalog, at least (a) a user option to create a marketplace listing to list a unit of a product for sale within the electronic marketplace, and (b) a user option to create a preorder listing to preorder a product from a seller within the electronic marketplace;

receiving, by a computer system that comprises computer hardware, a submission from a buyer of a preorder listing for a first product, wherein the preorder listing specifies at least a minimum product condition and a maximum purchase price;

receiving a submission from a seller of a marketplace listing for a unit of the first product, wherein the marketplace listing specifies a condition of the unit of the first product and a selling price;

determining whether the preorder listing and the marketplace listing match; and

in response to determining that a match exists between the preorder listing and the marketplace listing, transacting a sale of the unit of the first product between the buyer and the seller.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the user options to create a marketplace listing and to create a preorder listing are provided on product detail pages of the electronic catalog, such that a user can select a product for which to create a preorder listing or a marketplace listing by browsing to a corresponding product detail page of the electronic catalog.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the user option to create a marketplace listing is presented in conjunction with a display of a personal purchase history such that a user can select a product to list for sale from the personal purchase history.

4. The method as in claim 1, further comprising including an indication of an existence of the preorder listing within the electronic catalog in association with a catalog description of the first product to thereby notify potential sellers of the existence of the preorder listing.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein the marketplace listing is a fixed-price listing.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the marketplace listing is an auction listing.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises, in response to determining that no marketplace listings are currently pending for a first product, including, in an electronic catalog page for the first product, a user-selectable option to pre-order the first product from an unspecified seller.

22. The method of claim 2, further comprising automatically incorporating an indication of an existence of the preorder listing into a product detail page for the first product.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the indication of the existence of the preorder listing is incorporated into the product detail page for the first product without revealing said maximum purchase price.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the indication of the existence of the preorder listing is an indication of how many buyers are waiting.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising providing a user option on said product detail page for the first product to select the first product for purchase from a retail merchant.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

providing an electronic catalog that includes interactive functionality for users to submit pre-order requests for purchasing selected products represented in the electronic catalog;

receiving a preorder request submitted by a first user via said interactive functionality, the preorder request corresponding to a product selected by the first user from the electronic catalog, and specifying a maximum price designated by the first user for purchasing the product from an unspecified seller, wherein the preorder request is received by a computer system that comprises computer hardware;

subsequent to receiving the preorder request, receiving, from a second user, a submission of a marketplace listing for selling the product;

determining whether the preorder request matches the marketplace listing such that the determination is dependent upon the maximum price designated by the first user and a price associated with the marketplace listing; and

transacting a sale of the product from the second user to the first user in connection with a determination that the pre-order request matches the marketplace listing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the marketplace listing is a fixed-price listing.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the marketplace listing is an auction listing.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining whether the pre-order request matches the auction listing comprises determining whether the maximum price exceeds a buy-it-now price of the auction listing.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the preorder request additionally specifies a minimum product condition designated by the first user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the determination of whether the preorder request matches the marketplace listing is further dependent upon said minimum product condition specified in the preorder request and a product condition specified in the marketplace listing.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising publishing an existence of the pre-order request in the electronic catalog in association with the product, without exposing the maximum price designated by the first user.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the sale is transacted at a selling price that falls below said maximum price.

15. The method of claim 7, further comprising automatically incorporating an indication of an existence of the preorder request into a product detail page of the electronic catalog, said product detail page corresponding to the product and providing a user option to initiate creation of a marketplace listing for selling a unit of the first product.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the indication of the existence of the preorder request comprises an indication of how many buyers are waiting.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a user-selectable option on said product detail page to initiate creation of a preorder request for the first product.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising providing a user-selectable option on said product detail page to select the first product for purchase from a retail merchant.

19. The method of claim 7, wherein the method comprises, in response to determining that no marketplace listings are currently pending for a first product, including, in an electronic catalog page for the first product, a user-selectable option to pre-order the first product from an unspecified seller.

20. A server system comprising:

a plurality of computing devices coupled to a network, said plurality of computing devices collectively configured to at least;

provide access to an electronic catalog that includes interactive functionality for users to submit pre-order requests and to purchase selected products represented in the electronic catalog;

receive, via said network, a preorder request submitted by a first user via said interactive functionality, the preorder request corresponding to a product selected by the first user from the electronic catalog, and specifying a maximum price designated by the first user for purchasing the product from an unspecified seller;

subsequent to receiving the preorder request, receive, from a second user, a submission of a marketplace listing for selling the product;

determine that the preorder request matches the marketplace listing such that the determination is dependent upon the maximum price designated by the first user and a price associated with the marketplace listing; and

transact a sale of the product from the second user to the first user in connection with said determination that the pre-order request matches the marketplace listing.

26. A server system, comprising:

a plurality of computing devices coupled to a network and operative to provide an electronic marketplace, said plurality of computing devices collectively configured to at least;

provide access to a browsable electronic catalog of products that may be purchased and sold by users of the electronic marketplace;

provide, in association with the electronic catalog, at least (a) a user option to create a marketplace listing to list a unit of a product for sale within the electronic marketplace, and (b) a user option to create a preorder listing to preorder a product from a seller within the electronic marketplace;

receive, via said network, a submission from a buyer of a preorder listing for a first product, wherein the preorder listing specifies at least a minimum product condition and a maximum purchase price;

receive a submission from a seller of a marketplace listing for a unit of the first product, wherein the marketplace listing specifies a condition of the unit of the first product and a selling price;

determine whether the preorder listing and the marketplace listing match; and

in connection with a determination that the preorder listing and the marketplace listing match, transact a sale of the unit of the first product between the buyer and the seller.