Method, and system to publish a proxy bid and a reserve price

• US 8,001,007 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2003
• Issued: 08/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Edson, Zak, Grove, Brian Alan, Grove, Steve, Sandler, Andrew Leigh
• Primary Examiner(s): FADOK, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US10/749,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20050065866A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,786 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/35, 705/37, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A auction system includes an auction price-setting purchase process and a fixed price purchase process for purchasing a buyer'"'"'s proxy bid during an auction.

Claims

1. A network-based commerce system, said network commerce system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory through a bus;

a fixed price-setting process executable from the memory by the processor to determine that a high proxy bid submitted for an auction item is less than a reserve price set for the auction item, the high proxy bid being the highest current proxy bid for the auction item and the reserve price being the minimum price at which a seller is willing to sell the auction item; and

a communication engine to automatically publish, based on the determining, at least one of a proxy bid information set by a proxy bidder and the reserve price, the proxy bid information including the highest price that the proxy bidder is willing to pay for the item.

2. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein the communication engine is to automatically unpublish the proxy bid information upon the high proxy bid exceeding the reserve price.

3. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein the fixed price process is further to cause the processor to facilitate a request for an adjustment of a fixed price offer associated with a listing for the auction item, the request to be sent to the seller.

4. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein the publication is performed during the price-setting process of an auction.

5. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein the publication is performed after the price-setting process.

6. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, said network commerce system further comprising:

automatically notifying the bidder when the reserve price is published.

7. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein the communication engine is to publish the at least one of a proxy bid information and the reserve price for view by a specific buyer only.

8. The network-based commerce system of claim 1, wherein, when publishing, the communication engine is to display the maximum bid amount a buyer is willing to bid to purchase an item on the listing.

9. A network-based commerce system, said network commerce system comprising:

means for determining that a high proxy bid submitted for an auction item is less than a reserve price set for the auction item, the high proxy bid being the highest current proxy bid and the reserve price being the minimum price at which a seller is willing to sell the auction item;

means for automatically publishing at least one of a proxy bid information set by a proxy bidder and the reserve price in response to the determining, the proxy bid information including the highest price that the proxy bidder is willing to pay for the item; and

means for storing a listing associated with the auction item.

10. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, said network-based commerce system further comprising:

a means for automatically unpublishing the proxy bid information upon the high proxy bid exceeding the reserve price.

11. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, said network-based commerce system further comprising:

a means for facilitating a request for an adjustment of a fixed-price offer associated with a seller of the listing for the item, the request to be sent to the seller.

12. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, wherein the publication is performed during a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

13. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, wherein the publication is performed after a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

14. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, said network-based commerce system further comprising:

a means for automatically notifying a buyer when the reserve price is published.

15. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, wherein the publishing includes publishing for view by a specific buyer only.

16. The network-based commerce system of claim 9, wherein publishing includes displaying a maximum bid amount a buyer is willing to bid to purchase the auction item on the listing.

17. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions to cause a machine to perform a method to facilitate operation of a network-based commerce system, the method comprising:

determining that a high proxy bid submitted for an auction item is less than a reserve price set for the auction item, the high proxy bid being the highest current proxy bid for the auction item and the reserve price being the minimum price at which a seller is willing to sell the auction item; and

automatically publishing, based on the determining that the high proxy bid is less than the reserve price, at least one of a proxy bid information set by a proxy bidder and the reserve prices, the proxy bid information including the highest price that the proxy bidder is willing to pay for the item.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said method further comprises:

automatically unpublishing the proxy bid information upon the high proxy bid exceeding the reserve price.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said method further comprises:

facilitating a request for an adjustment of a fixed price-offer associated with the seller of a listing associated with the auction item, the request to be sent to the seller.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the publication is performed during a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

21. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the publication is performed after a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

22. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein said method further comprises:

automatically notifying a buyer when the reserve price is published.

23. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the publishing includes publishing for view by a specific buyer only.

24. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein publishing includes displaying a maximum bid amount a buyer is willing to bid to purchase the auction item on a listing associated with the auction item.

25. A method to facilitate operation of a network-based commerce system, the method including:

determining, using one or more processors, that a high proxy bid submitted for an auction item is less than a reserve price set for the auction item, the high proxy bid being the highest current proxy bid for the auction item and the reserve price being the minimum price at which a seller is willing to sell the auction item; and

automatically publishing, based on the determining that the high proxy bid is less than the reserve price, at least one of a proxy bid information set by a proxy bidder and the reserve price, the proxy bid information including the highest price that the proxy bidder is willing to pay for the auction item.

26. The method of claim 25, said method further comprising:

automatically unpublishing the proxy bid information upon the high proxy bid exceeding the reserve price.

27. The method of claim 25, said method further comprising:

facilitating a request for an adjustment of a fixed-price offer associated with the seller of a listing associated with the auction item, the request to be sent to the seller.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the publication is performed during a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the publication is performed after a price-setting process of an auction associated with the auction item.

30. The method of claim 25, said method further comprising:

automatically notifying a buyer when the reserve price is published.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the publishing includes publishing for view by a specific buyer only.

32. The method of claim 25, wherein publishing includes displaying a maximum bid amount a buyer is willing to bid to purchase an item on the listing.