Method and medium for selecting a merchant for a trial mode of a delivery service

• US 7,689,470 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Issued: 03/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Original Assignee: CFPH LLC (Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P.)
• Inventors: Lutnick, Howard W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith; Jeffrey A
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZIMMERMAN, MATTHEW E
• Application Number:
  US11/673,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20080195538A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,145 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• 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 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0635 Processing of requisition or of purchase orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/02 Banking, e.g. interest calculation or account maintenance credit or loans G06Q40/03
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/12 Hotels or restaurants

Abstract

Disclosure includes selecting a merchant from a plurality of merchants, enabling a trial mode for the merchant, during the trial mode, receiving an indication of a first order for the merchant, forwarding the indication of the first order to the merchant, allocating a first payment for the first order to the merchant, requesting an acceptance of a membership status from the merchant, and receiving an indication of the payment for the first order.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting, by a computer system of a delivery service, a merchant from a plurality of merchants based on an expansion plan for the delivery service, in which each of the plurality of merchants offer for sale at least one good, and wherein the selected merchant did not request to be selected;

enabling, by a processor of the computer system, a trial mode of the delivery service for the selected merchant;

during the trial mode, receiving by the computer system, an indication of a first order for the at least one good from a remote device of a customer;

forwarding, by the computer system, the indication of the first order to the selected merchant;

transmitting, by the computer system, a request to deliver the at least one good from the selected merchant to the customer;

receiving, by the computer system, an indication of receipt of a first payment for the first order;

allocating, by the computer system, at least a first part of the first payment for the first order to the selected merchant based on the trial mode of the selected merchant; and

requesting, by the computer system, an acceptance of a membership mode from the selected merchant, in which the membership mode ends the trial mode.

2. The method of claim 1, in which allocating the at least a first part of the first payment to the selected merchant includes allocating the entirety of the first payment to the selected merchant because the selected merchant is in the trial mode.

3. The method of claim 1, in which the indication of the first payment for the first order is received from a financial institution.

4. The method of claim 1, in which the indication of the first payment includes information identifying a transfer of money to a desired location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a first price for the at least one good charged by the selected merchant to walk-in customers of the selected merchant, and providing the customer with a second price for the at least one good, wherein the second price is the first price plus the cost of delivery to the customer by the delivery service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the acceptance of the membership mode;

enabling the membership mode for the selected merchant in response to receiving the acceptance;

during the membership mode, receiving an indication of a second order for the at least one good from a second remote device of a second customer;

forwarding the indication of the second order to the selected merchant;

receiving an indication of receipt of a second payment for the second order;

allocating part of the second payment to the selected merchant based on the membership mode of the selected merchant.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the first payment; and

providing the first payment to the selected merchant.

11. The method of claim 1, in which selecting the selected merchant from the plurality of merchants includes selecting the selected merchant based on a location of the selected merchant and number of other merchants proximate to an area that use the delivery service.

12. The method of claim 1, in which selecting the selected merchant from the plurality of merchants includes selecting the selected merchant based on a type of the selected merchant and number of other merchants of the type that use the delivery service.

13. The method of claim 1, in which selecting the selected merchant from the plurality of merchants includes selecting the selected merchant based on at least one of a capacity and a market share of the selected merchant.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising preventing the requesting of the acceptance until after a predetermined number of orders is forwarded to the selected merchant.

15. The method of claim 1, in which the order is for a second good not offered for sale by the selected merchant, in which the method includes forwarding the order to a second merchant that offers the second good for sale, in which the request to deliver includes a request to deliver the second good from the second merchant to the customer, and in which the allocating includes allocating a second part of the first payment to the second merchant based on whether the second merchant is in a trial mode with the delivery service.

8. A tangible computer readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, that when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer to perform the following steps:

select, for a delivery service, a merchant from a plurality of merchants, wherein the selected merchant did not request to be selected,

enable a trial mode of the delivery service for the selected merchant,

during the trial mode, receive an indication of a first order for a first good from a remote device of a customer,

forward the indication of the first order to the selected merchant,

transmit a request to deliver the first good from the selected merchant to the customer,

receive an indication of receipt of a first payment for the first order,

allocate at least part of the first payment for the first order to the selected merchant based on a trial mode of the delivery service, and

request an acceptance of a membership mode from the selected merchant, in which acceptance of the membership mode ends the trial mode.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, in which the indication of the first payment for the first order includes at least one electronic message.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, in which the allocating the at least a part of the first payment to the selected merchant includes allocating the entirety of the first payment to the selected merchant because the selected merchant is in the trial mode.