Apparatus, systems and methods for online, multi-parcel, multi-carrier, multi-service parcel returns shipping management

• US 7,660,721 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2001
• Issued: 02/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Auctane LLC (Stamps.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Iship Incorporated, Stamps.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Antush, Richard M., McLaughlin, Paul R., Teglovic, Stephen M., Glavin, Dennis, Liu, Jinyue, Dietz, John M., Bennett, David Allison, Mentzer, Charles D., Bilibin, Paul, Bean, Scott Joseph, Meyer, Scott, Krett, Lory Elizabeth, Smith, William W. III, Williams, Daniel F., Hu, Sean, Goldhaber, Lynn Shaindell
• Primary Examiner(s): Plucinski; Jamisue A
• Application Number:
  US09/820,292
• Publication Number:
  US 20020032612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,241 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1, 705/26
• US Class Current: 705/330
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

The present invention provides a computer system (the “System”, or the “Return System”) that is configured and programmed to provide online stores with a fast, simple, convenient way for eCommerce customers of an online store to return merchandise purchased from that store from within that online store. The Return System provides multi-carrier shipment rating, shipment labeling, shipment tracking, shipment tracking management reports, returns analysis and returns management reporting In an exemplary embodiment, the Return System has three major components: 1.) A Returns Manager Subsystem that provides a user interface to each Merchant to setup the Merchant'"'"'s account, setup the Merchant'"'"'s return policy and rules, and to monitor the status and movement of return shipments; 2.) A Consumer Returns Subsystem (also sometimes referred to as a “Customer Returns Subsystem”) that provides each consumer using the Returns System with an online user interface that leads the consumer through the returns process, displays the return policies and rules to the consumer, provides shipping document to ship the return package if appropriate, and permits the consumer to track their return shipments; and 3.) a Returns Processing Subsystem that, in the exemplary embodiment, provides background shipping and tracking functionality. In one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the Online Merchant integrates the Merchant'"'"'s online system with the Returns Processing Subsystem. In another exemplary embodiment, the Returns Processing Subsystem is provided as an independent web-based application service (referred to as a “Return Merchant Service System”) operated by a common provider. In such an embodiment, the Merchant'"'"'s system interacts with the Return Merchant Service System through Application Program Interfaces (“API”).

Claims

1. An online merchandise return computer system, said computer system comprising:

at least one computer device, said at least one computer device programmed to;

receive a pre-selection by a particular online merchant of a set of carriers from a list of available carriers for use by consumers of merchandise sold by the particular online merchant for return shipping of returnable merchandise;

receive from an online retail computer system of a particular online merchant, an indication from the online retail computer system of a shipment on behalf of the particular online merchant of an at least one item of merchandise purchased by a consumer through the online retail computer system, the online retail computer system comprising at least one remote computer device that is remote from the at least one computer device of the online merchandise return computer system;

in response to the indication of the shipment, designate through the online retail computer system, the at least one item as a potentially returnable item;

receive through the online retail computer system, a request by the consumer for an identification of potentially returnable items;

in response to the request, generate a display through the online retail computer system to a display device adapted for communication with a remote consumer computer device associated with the consumer, the display comprising an identification of potentially returnable items, the identification of potentially returnable items comprising an identification of the at least one item of merchandise, and further comprising a respective interactive means associated with each respective item of merchandise identified in the identification of potentially returnable items, each respective interactive means being configured for designating a return of each respective item of merchandise identified in the identification of potentially returnable items;

receive through the online retail computer system, a merchandise return request by the consumer to return at least one item of merchandise, the merchandise return request comprising a designation of a particular respective interactive means associated with a particular respective item of merchandise identified in the identification of potentially returnable items;

determine a set of information about the particular respective item of merchandise;

compare the set of information about the particular respective item of merchandise to a set of return policy rules input to the online merchandise return computer system by the particular online merchant to determine whether the particular respective item of merchandise is returnable; and

if the particular respective item of merchandise is returnable, generate a display to the display device configured for communication with the remote consumer computer device associated with the consumer, the display comprising information corresponding to the set of carriers that was pre-selected by the particular online merchant.

2. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 1, wherein a subset of the return policy rules input by the merchant comprises:

a set of return questions;

a set of anticipated return question responses corresponding to each of said return questions; and

a set of return response rules, each return response rule corresponding to at least one of said anticipated return question responses, each return response rule identifying an anticipated return question response as comprising either an acceptable response or unacceptable response.

3. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 2, wherein each return response rule comprises a set of instructions to direct said online retail computer system to perform an action to process the return request.

4. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 3, wherein each set of return questions comprises a first return question and a set of subsequent return questions, said first return question having a corresponding set of anticipated first return question responses and each of said subsequent return questions having a corresponding set of anticipated subsequent return question responses.

5. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 4, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

select from the return policy rules set by the merchant a first selected return questions; and

display to the display device adapted for communication with the remote consumer computer device associated with the user, the first selected return question.

6. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 5, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

receive user input of a return reason.

7. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 6, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

compare said return reason to each of the anticipated first return question responses.

8. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 7, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

identify an anticipated first return reason question response that matches said return reason.

9. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 8, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

direct the online retail computer system to process the return request in accordance with the return question response rules that correspond to the anticipated first return question response that matches said return reason.

10. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 1, the display to the display device configured for communication with the remote consumer computer device associated with the consumer further comprising information corresponding to a respective set of delivery services selected by the particular online merchant for each respective carrier of the set of carriers for potential use by the consumer for the return shipping of the particular respective item of merchandise to the particular online merchant.

11. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 10, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

for each respective delivery service selected by the particular online merchant for each respective carrier of the set of carriers for potential use by the consumer, calculate a shipping rate for the return shipping of the particular respective item of merchandise from an address associated with the consumer, to an address associated with the particular online merchant, according to a respective set of pricing rules for each respective carrier.

12. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 11, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

generate a display of an interactive graphic comparison of each respective shipping rate.

13. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 12, the interactive graphic shipping rate comparison display comprising an array.

14. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 13, said array comprising a plurality of cells.

15. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 14, each of said cells comprising an intersection that coincides with a delivery date and a delivery time, and each respective shipping rate being displayed in a respective cell that coincides with an intersection of a particular delivery date and a particular delivery time by which a particular delivery service by a particular carrier would deliver the particular respective item of merchandise to the particular online merchant for the respective shipping rate relevant to a particular shipping date.

16. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 15, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

receive as a return order, user input of a selection of one of the cells of the array.

17. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 16, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

generate an internal system tracking number for the return order; and

save said internal system tracking number for the return order in a database.

18. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 17, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

generate a graphic representation of a shipping label corresponding to the return order; and

display the graphic representation of the shipping label to a display device that is configured for communication with the remote consumer computer device associated with the consumer.

19. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 18, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

generate a set of printable shipping label data in response to a shipping label print request by the consumer.

20. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 19, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

send in response to a user request to print a shipping label the set of printable shipping label data to a printer device that is configured for communication with the remote consumer computer device associated with the consumer.

21. The online merchandise return computer system of claim 20, wherein each return order with a tracking number is characterized by a shipping status, said at least one computer device further programmed to:

generate a tracking report record depicting the shipping status of a return order in response to a user tracking report request for said return order.

22. An online merchandise return computer system, said online merchandise return computer system comprising

one or more online merchandise return computers programmed to:

receive, through the online merchandise return computer system, a merchandise return request by a consumer to return to a merchant, an at least one item of merchandise;

in response to receiving said merchandise return request, generate through the online merchandise return computer system, a display of an interactive graphic comparison of shipping rates for shipping a package containing the at least one item of merchandise to be returned, said display showing a respective shipping rate for each respective service of a set of services offered by each respective carrier of a set of carriers, the set of carriers and the set of services being selected by the computer system for display according to a pre-selected set of carriers that was pre-selected through the online merchandise return computer system by the merchant from a list of available carriers and according to a set of return policy rules input by the merchant, and each respective shipping rate being calculated by the online merchandise return computer system according to information about the at least one item of merchandise that is accessible by the online merchandise return computer system; and

process through the online merchandise return computer system said merchandise return request according to the set of return policy rules input by the merchant.

23. A method using a computer for online merchandise return shipping, said method comprising:

collecting by the computer, a set of return policy rules input by a merchant through a merchant computer device, the set of return policy rules comprising an identification by the merchant of a set of carriers that may be used by a consumer for a return shipping of an item of merchandise to the merchant, the set of carriers being selected by the merchant from a list of available carriers;

saving by the computer, said set of return policy rules in a database accessible by the computer;

receiving by the computer, from a remote consumer computer device of a consumer, a merchandise return request by the consumer to return to the merchant a particular item of merchandise; and

in response to the merchandise return request, generating by the computer, a display to a display device configured for communication with the remote consumer computer device, the display comprising a representation of the set of carriers identified by the merchant according to the return policy rules for use by the consumer for shipping the particular item of merchandise to the merchant.

24. The method of claim 23, said method further comprising:

generating by the computer, for display to the display device adapted for communication with the remote consumer computer device, a display of rates for return shipment of the particular item of merchandise by each delivery service provided by each carrier of the set of carriers.

25. The method of claim 24, said method further comprising

processing by the computer, said merchandise return request according to said set of return policy rules.

26. A computer system for online merchandise return shipping, said computer system comprising:

a computer device programmed with a set of computer readable code embodied on a computer usable medium, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed by the computer device for;

collecting a set of return policy rules input by a merchant, the return policy rules input by the merchant comprising a set of carriers selected by the merchant from a list of available carriers for subsequent use by consumers of the merchant for shipping returned items;

saving said set of return policy rules in a database accessible by the computer device;

presenting to a display device adapted for operation with a consumer computer device accessible by a consumer, a list of items of merchandise previously purchased from the merchant and shipped by the merchant to the consumer;

receiving from the consumer computer device, a merchandise return request by the consumer to return an at least one item of merchandise;

displaying to a display device adapted for operation with the consumer computer device accessible by the consumer, in response to the merchandise return request, a display comprising an indication of the set of carriers selected by the merchant for use by the consumer for shipping returned items;

receiving from the consumer computer device, an identification by the consumer of a carrier from the set of carriers, and a delivery service provided by the carrier, for return shipping of the at least one item of merchandise to a return location for the merchant; and

facilitating printing at a printing device adapted for operation with the consumer computer device, a machine-readable carrier shipping label for delivery of the at least one item of merchandise to the return location for the merchant.

27. The computer system of claim 26, the computer readable program code further adapted to be executed by the computer device for:

receiving a merchandise return request by the consumer to return at least one item of merchandise, wherein the merchandise return request comprises an indication of at least one item on the list of items.

28. The computer system of claim 27, the computer readable program code further adapted to be executed by the computer device for:

processing said merchandise return request according to said set of return policy rules.

29. A computer program product for online merchandise return shipping, said computer program product comprising a computer readable program code embodied on a computer usable medium, the computer readable program code adapted to be executed for:

receiving from a consumer computer device accessible by a consumer, a merchandise return request by the consumer to return to a merchant, an at least one item of merchandise;

selecting a set of carriers and a set of delivery services offered by the set of carriers as potential carriers and delivery services for shipping a package containing the at least one item of merchandise to be returned, the set of carriers and the set of delivery services being selected according to a set of return policy rules previously selected by the merchant from a list of available carriers and available delivery services;

generating for display to a display device operable with the consumer computer device, in response to said merchandise return request, a display of an interactive graphic comparison of shipping rates for the return request for shipping the package containing the at least one item of merchandise to be returned, said display showing a shipping rate for each delivery service of the set of services offered by each carrier of the set of carriers; and

processing said merchandise return request according to the set of return policy rules input by the merchant.