Methods and system for facilitating bids for placement of offers in an alternative payment platform

• US 7,698,171 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2007
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Angelos, Terry, Rampell, Alastair, Campbell, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Airapetian; Mila
• Application Number:
  US11/781,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20080071634A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for facilitating bidding for placement of alternate offers in an alternative payment platform, including methods and systems for providing a platform for presenting alternate offers the completion of which serves as an alternative to payment for an item associated with a primary offer, receiving a bid for the opportunity to present an alternate offer in the platform, wherein the bid is associated with a placement attribute, wherein the placement attribute is at least one of an attribute of a prospective user and an attribute associated with the presentation of the alternate offer, and determining a placement of the alternate offer based at least in part on the bid.

Claims

1. A method of electronic commerce, wherein a user is engaged with a primary offer of a vendor, for facilitating bidding for placement of alternate offers in an alternative payment platform, comprising:

presenting, from a facilitator via an electronic display, the primary offer of the vendor;

presenting, from the facilitator, via the electronic display alternate payment offers, wherein fulfillment of any one of the alternate offers which were presented entitles the user to receive the primary offer;

establishing, via a server, a credit for the primary offer to be paid by the facilitator to the vendor, the credit including a fixed cost related to a retail cost and a variable portion determined when one of the alternate offers is fulfilled;

receiving a bid at the alternative payment platform for an opportunity to present one of the alternate offers, wherein the bid is associated with a placement attribute for a presentation of the one of the alternate offers;

presenting, from the facilitator via the electronic display, the one of the alternate offers with a placement determined according to the placement attribute;

receiving, at the server, an indication of the user'"'"'s fulfillment of the one of the alternate offers; and

paying the credit from the facilitator to the vendor.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the alternate offer in the placement as determined for the presentation of alternate offers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is an attribute of a user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the placement attribute is a demographic attribute.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is the user'"'"'s estimated income.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is associated with an assessment of the user'"'"'s preferences.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is associated with a category of item associated with the primary offer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a location of placement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with timing of placement of the alternate offer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with proximity of placement to a primary offer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with an indicator of success of past alternate offers.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a size of the presentation of the alternate offer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a duration of presentation of the alternate offer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with some type of exclusive relationship for the alternate offer.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising conducting an auction of bidders to determine the placement.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising conducting a reverse auction of bidders to determine the placement.

18. A system for facilitating bidding for placement of alternate offers in an alternative payment platform, comprising:

a memory and a processor configured to provide;

an electronic commerce platform for receiving a request to present a plurality of offers to a user to fulfill a primary offering of a vendor that includes a purchase price and a vendor credit, wherein the vendor credit is not disclosed to the user;

a bidding interface for receiving a bid for an opportunity to present one or more of the plurality of offers in the platform, wherein the bid is associated with a placement attribute for a placement of the one or more of the plurality of offers;

an offer selection facility for selecting the one or more of the plurality of offers that facilitate user acceptance, from a memory accessible by the offer selection facility;

an offer display facility for presenting the one or more of the plurality of offers which were selected;

a secondary transaction facility for receiving a user acceptance of one of the one or more of the plurality of offers which were presented; and

a payment module for processing a payment of the vendor credit to the vendor in fulfillment of the primary offering in response to the user acceptance, the vendor credit including a fixed cost determined before the user acceptance and a variable portion determined upon the user acceptance.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising displaying the one or more of the plurality of offers in the placement as determined for the presenting of the one or more of the plurality of offers.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the placement attribute is an attribute of a user.