System and method for allocating business to one of a plurality of sellers in a buyer driven electronic commerce system

• US 7,516,089 B1
• Filed: 02/18/1999
• Issued: 04/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Priceline.com LLC (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The Priceline Group, Inc. (Booking Holdings, Inc., fka Priceline Group Inc.)
• Inventors: Wisse, Robert S., Sparico, Thomas M., Walker, Jay S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D
• Application Number:
  US09/252,574
• Time in Patent Office: 3,701 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/26, 705/27, 705/37
• US Class Current: 705/26.41
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/02 involving a neutral party, e.g. certification authority, notary or trusted third party [TTP]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/24 Credit schemes, i.e. "pay after"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/403 Solvency checks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 9/026 for alarm, monitoring and auditing in vending machines or means for indication, e.g. when empty

Abstract

A system and method for allocating conditional purchase offers (CPO) among a plurality of agency-based and broadcast-based sellers in a buyer-driven commerce system. In one embodiment, the system determines which agency-based or broadcast-based sellers can fulfill or satisfy the CPO and orders those sellers in a priority order. In another embodiment, the priority is determined by relative market share and number of recent opportunities to satisfy the CPO. In another embodiment, the priority is also determined by metrics and buyer information. In another embodiment, the priority is determined randomly. The system ensures that when a buyer can satisfy the CPO at multiple prices levels, the highest price level fulfills the CPO. This ensures maximum seller revenue for each CPO.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented allocation method in a buyer-driven system in which conditional purchase offers are received and considered by or on behalf of a plurality of sellers, the conditional purchase offers each including:

(1) a buyer-specified price for a good or service

(2) a payment identifier specifying a financial account to be used to pay for said good or service upon acceptance of a conditional purchase offer by a seller and

(3) authorization to charge said payment identifier for said good or service upon acceptance of a conditional purchase offer, comprising;

determining, by a processor, which of at least two sellers of the plurality of sellers have the ability to provide the good or service and satisfy the conditional purchase offer;

determining a priority schedule for the at least two sellers from at least one processor-implemented priority metric and at least one seller criterion;

identifying one of the at least two sellers as a priority seller based on the priority schedule; and

after receiving said buyer-specified price, payment identifier and authorization, providing the priority seller with a first look opportunity to satisfy a conditional purchase offer.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising providing another of the at least two sellers with a second look opportunity to satisfy the conditional purchase offer.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising binding the buyer to the conditional purchase offer.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising notifying the buyer that the conditional purchase offer will not be satisfied.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein one of the at least two sellers is an agency-based seller.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein one of the at least two sellers is a broadcast-based seller.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the conditional purchase offer is a binding conditional purchase offer.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller includes:

assigning a random number to each of the at least two sellers; and

using the random numbers to identify the priority seller.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller further includes:

determining a buyer preference metric for each of the at least two sellers; and

using the buyer preference metric to identify one of the at least two sellers as the priority seller.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller further includes providing an advantage to one of the at least two sellers.

11. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether more than one seller price will satisfy the conditional purchase offer; and

selecting the highest seller price.

12. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether there are other sellers that could satisfy the conditional purchase offer; and

performing a low price search of the other sellers.

13. A system for allocation in a buyer-driven system in which conditional purchase offers are received and considered by or on behalf of a plurality of sellers, the conditional purchase offers each including:

(1) a buyer-specified price for a good or service

(2) a payment identifier specifying a financial account to be used to pay for said good or service upon acceptance of a conditional purchase offer by a seller and

(3) authorization to charge said payment identifier for said good or service upon acceptance of a conditional purchase offer, comprising;

means for determining which of at least two sellers of the plurality of sellers have the ability to provide the good or service and satisfy the conditional purchase offer;

means for determining a priority schedule for the at least two sellers based on a processor-implemented priority metric and at least one seller criterion;

means for identifying one of the at least two sellers as a priority seller based on the priority schedule; and

means for, after receiving said buyer-specified price, payment identifier and authorization, providing the priority seller with a first look opportunity to satisfy a conditional purchase offer.

14. A system according to claim 13, further comprising means for providing another of the at least two sellers with a second look opportunity to satisfy the conditional purchase offer.

15. A system according to claim 13, further comprising means for binding the buyer to the conditional purchase offer.

16. A system according to claim 13, further comprising means for notifying the buyer that the conditional purchase offer will not be satisfied.

17. A system according to claim 13, wherein one of the at least two sellers is an agency-based seller.

18. A system according to claim 13, wherein one of the at least two sellers is a broadcast-based seller.

19. A system according to claim 13, wherein the conditional purchase offer is a binding conditional purchase offer.

20. A system according to claim 13, wherein means for identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller includes:

means for assigning a random number to each of the at least two sellers; and

means for using the random numbers to identify the priority seller.

21. A system according to claim 13, wherein means for identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller further includes:

means for determining a buyer preference metric for each of the at least two sellers; and

means for using the buyer preference metric to identify one of the at least two sellers as the priority seller.

22. A system according to claim 13, wherein means for identifying one of at least two sellers as a priority seller further includes means for providing an advantage to one of the at least two sellers.

23. A system according to claim 13, further comprising:

means for determining whether more than one seller price will satisfy the conditional purchase offer; and

means for selecting the highest seller price.

24. A system according to claim 13, further comprising:

means for determining whether there are other sellers that could satisfy the conditional purchase offer; and

means for performing a low price search of the other sellers.