Systems, methods, and mediums for transaction management
First Claim
1. A transaction management system for managing the purchase of an item and/or service by a buyer from a seller, the system comprising;
- a data store for storing seller data comprising, for each of a plurality of sellers, a seller identifier, seller offer data indicating at least one service or item of commerce offered for sale, the data store further storing, for each of the sellers, seller defined seller contactability data indicating at least one date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable which date and/or time defines a contactability window;
a program store storing processor implementable instructions; and
a processor coupled to the data store and to the program store for implementing the stored instructions;
wherein the stored instructions comprise instructions for controlling the processor to;
implement a buyer interface to output seller offer data for a plurality of sellers, and to receive a purchase request from the buyer accepting a said offer, the purchase request comprising request data indicating a service or item of commerce requested by the buyer and a delivery date and/or time for a requested service or item as well as a purchase request deadline indicating the date and/or time by when a response to the purchase request is required;
determine a system confirmation deadline using the purchase request deadline;
identify a seller offering the requested service or item, which seller'"'"'s contactability window indicates a date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable, which date and/or time is prior to the system confirmation deadline;
implement a seller interface to output the request data to the identified seller for requesting purchase of the service or item;
monitor communication of the identified seller with the system during the seller'"'"'s contactability window to ascertain compliance data for determining whether the identified seller is willing or able to comply with the buyer purchase request;
determine whether the identified seller has accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline using said compliance data; and
output compensation data by selecting one or more sellers of an alternative service or item to replace the service or item requested by the buyer if the identified seller has not accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline, and the one or more sellers of the alternative service or item being contactable before the delivery date and/or time for the requested service or item thereby to compensate the buyer.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A transaction management system is described in which transactions between buyers and sellers are monitored to determine sellers qualifying for guaranteed or underwritten status. The sellers log details of their goods or services with the system which are then presented to buyers together with an indication of the seller'"'"'s underwritten status. A buyer purchasing from a guaranteed or underwritten seller using the system obtains some form of compensation in the event that the seller does not deliver as promised. In a preferred embodiment, the system selects an alternative service or good for delivery to the buyer by the agreed date using the database of sales data. The sellers are advantageously graded into brands using historical transaction-related data.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A transaction management system for managing the purchase of an item and/or service by a buyer from a seller, the system comprising;
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a data store for storing seller data comprising, for each of a plurality of sellers, a seller identifier, seller offer data indicating at least one service or item of commerce offered for sale, the data store further storing, for each of the sellers, seller defined seller contactability data indicating at least one date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable which date and/or time defines a contactability window; a program store storing processor implementable instructions; and a processor coupled to the data store and to the program store for implementing the stored instructions;
wherein the stored instructions comprise instructions for controlling the processor to;implement a buyer interface to output seller offer data for a plurality of sellers, and to receive a purchase request from the buyer accepting a said offer, the purchase request comprising request data indicating a service or item of commerce requested by the buyer and a delivery date and/or time for a requested service or item as well as a purchase request deadline indicating the date and/or time by when a response to the purchase request is required; determine a system confirmation deadline using the purchase request deadline; identify a seller offering the requested service or item, which seller'"'"'s contactability window indicates a date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable, which date and/or time is prior to the system confirmation deadline; implement a seller interface to output the request data to the identified seller for requesting purchase of the service or item; monitor communication of the identified seller with the system during the seller'"'"'s contactability window to ascertain compliance data for determining whether the identified seller is willing or able to comply with the buyer purchase request; determine whether the identified seller has accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline using said compliance data; and output compensation data by selecting one or more sellers of an alternative service or item to replace the service or item requested by the buyer if the identified seller has not accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline, and the one or more sellers of the alternative service or item being contactable before the delivery date and/or time for the requested service or item thereby to compensate the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for managing the purchase of an item and/or service by a buyer from a seller, the method comprising:
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storing in a data store seller data comprising, for each of a plurality of sellers, a seller identifier, seller offer data indicating at least one service or item of commerce offered for sale, further storing in the data store, for each of the sellers, seller defined seller contactability data indicating at least one date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable, which date and/or time defines a contactability window; implementing a buyer interface to output seller offer data for a plurality of sellers, and to receive a purchase request from the buyer accepting a said offer, the purchase request comprising request data indicating a service or item of commerce requested by the buyer and a delivery date and/or time for a requested service or item as well as a purchase request deadline indicating the date and/or time by when a response to the purchase request is required; determining a system confirmation deadline using the purchase request deadline; identifying a seller offering the requested service or item, which seller'"'"'s contactability data indicates at least one date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable, which date and/or time is prior to the system confirmation deadline; implementing a seller interface to output the request data to the identified seller for requesting purchase of the service or item; monitoring communication of the identified seller with the system during the seller'"'"'s contactability window to ascertain compliance data for determining whether the identified seller is willing or able to comply with the buyer purchase request; determining whether the identified seller has accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline using said compliance data; and outputting compensation data by selecting one or more sellers of an alternative service or item to replace the service or item requested by the buyer if the identified seller has not accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline, and the one or more sellers of the alternative service or item being contactable before the delivery date and/or time for the requested service or item thereby to compensate the buyer. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A machine-readable medium embodying instructions to manage the purchase of an item and/or service by a buyer from a seller, which, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:
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store in a data store seller data comprising, for each of a plurality of sellers, a seller identifier, seller offer data indicating at least one service or item of commerce offered for sale, further storing in the data store, for each of the sellers, seller contactability data indicating at least one date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable which date and/or time defines a contactability window; implement a buyer interface to output seller offer data for a plurality of sellers, and to receive a purchase request from the buyer accepting a said offer, the purchase request comprising request data indicating a service or item of commerce requested by the buyer and a delivery date and/or time for a requested service or item as well as a purchase request deadline indicating the date and/or time by when a response to the purchase request is required; determine a system confirmation deadline using the purchase request deadline; identify a seller offering the requested service or item, which seller'"'"'s contactability data indicates a date and/or time by when the seller should be contactable, which date and/or time is prior to the system confirmation deadline; implement a seller interface to output the request data to the identified seller for requesting purchase of the service or item; monitor communication of the identified seller with the system during the seller'"'"'s contactability window to ascertain compliance data to determine whether the identified seller is willing or able to comply with the buyer purchase request; determine whether the identified seller has accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline using said compliance data; and output compensation data by selecting one or more sellers of an alternative service or item to replace the service or item requested by the buyer if the identified seller has not accepted the requested purchase by the system confirmation deadline, and the one or more sellers of the alternative service or item being contactable before the delivery date and/or time for the requested service or item thereby to compensate the buyer.
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Specification