Dynamic determination of item returns

• US 8,156,007 B1
• Filed: 11/12/2004
• Issued: 04/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kaufman, Donald, Yang, Weiling, Evarts, Jeffrey D., Anthony, Felix
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg, Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US10/987,213
• Time in Patent Office: 2,706 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1- 45, 705/500
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

Techniques are described for automatically and dynamically determining, at the time that items are being returned from customers, how to handle the returns of the items. A variety of factors may be considered to determine appropriate item return handling for an item, including by assessing current conditions at the time of the item return. In addition, the dynamic item return handling may include selecting one of a variety of potential return locations for each item being returned and one of a variety of types of return routing for the return. After the item return handling is dynamically determined, information may be provided to the customer to facilitate the item return in the determined manner. This abstract is provided to comply with rules requiring an abstract, and with the intention that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for dynamically determining a location to which an item of merchandise is to be returned, the method comprising:

receiving at a first time an indication that an item previously sent to a customer by a merchant is to be returned;

at a later second time after the receiving of the indication,

automatically determining current conditions and one or more projected future conditions at each of multiple possible return locations for a return of the item, the one or more projected future conditions at the return locations including projected future labor capacity at the return locations to perform processing of item returns, the automatic determining of the current conditions and the projected future conditions being performed by a configured computing system of the merchant and including, for each of the multiple possible return locations, performing electronic interactions with one or more other computing systems at that possible return location to obtain information about the current conditions at that possible return location; and

dynamically selecting at the second time one of the multiple possible return locations for the item based at least in part on the determined current conditions and the determined projected future conditions at the multiple possible return locations, the dynamic selecting being automatically performed by the configured computing system; and

providing information regarding the dynamically selected return location to enable the item to be sent to that return location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding the dynamically selected return location is provided to the customer so as to enable the customer to ship the item to that return location.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the information provided to the customer includes a dynamically generated shipping label that is addressed to the dynamically selected return location and is for use in shipping the item to that return location.

4. The method of claim 1 further including, after the receiving of the indication, dynamically determining one or more types of routing for use in sending the item to a return location, and facilitating the use of the one or more determined routing types for the sending of the item.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the determining of the one or more types of routing is performed after the dynamic selecting of the one return location, and wherein the one or more determined types of routing are based at least in part on the selected return location.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the determining of the one or more types of routing includes identifying one or more types of routing for each of the multiple possible return locations, and wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location is performed so as to select a combination of the one return location and the one or identified types of routing for that one return location.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein the facilitating of the use of the one or more determined routing types for the sending of the item includes providing information to the customer regarding the one or more determined routing types so that the customer can send the item in such a manner as to use those routing types.

8. The method of claim 4 wherein the facilitating of the use of the one or more determined routing types for the sending of the item includes providing information regarding the one or more determined routing types in such a manner that a shipping carrier via which the item will be sent to the selected return location will use those routing types.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more determined types of routing include one or more of a shipping carrier via which the item will be sent to a return location, a transportation speed with which the item will be sent to a return location, a transportation mode via which the item will be sent to a return location, a transportation path via which the item will be sent to a return location, and one or more shipping methods for use in sending the item to a return location.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the determining of the one or more types of routing is based at least in part on the current conditions related to sending the item to one or more of the multiple possible return locations.

11. The method of claim 4 wherein the determining of the one or more types of routing includes selecting from multiple possible types of routing.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on multiple factors whose values are based on current conditions and on weightings assigned to the factors that indicate a relative influence of the factors on the dynamic selecting.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the current conditions at each of the return locations reflect an ability of and/or need for that return location to perform return processing for the item.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the current conditions at each of the return locations further reflect an ability of and/or need for that return location to perform disposition processing for the item after the return processing is performed.

15. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining, by the configured computing system, current conditions at the second time related to sending the item to each of the multiple possible return locations, wherein the current conditions related to sending the item to each of the return locations reflect a cost and/or an amount of time to send the item to that return location, and wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based in part on the determined current conditions related to sending the item to the return locations.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on current conditions related to the item and/or to the customer.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on an indication that the item has been recalled.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on a determined possibility that the return of the item involves fraud.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the selected return location is associated with a law enforcement agency who may prosecute the fraud.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein the selected return location is associated with an investigative agency to investigate the fraud.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on a type of the item.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on information about past activities of the customer.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on a determined value of the customer to a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on a selection by the customer related to the one return location that is made after the receiving of the indication.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication that the item is to be returned further includes an indication of one or more reasons for the return of the item, and wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location is further based at least in part on one or more of the indicated reasons.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the projected future conditions at each of the return locations include a level of ability of that return location to perform return processing at a future time.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the projected future conditions at each of the return locations further reflect a level of ability of that return location to perform disposition processing at the future time after the return processing is performed.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the determined current conditions at each of the multiple possible return locations includes current labor capacity at the possible return location, and wherein the level of ability of a return location to perform return processing is based on the current labor capacity at the return location, the projected future labor capacity at the return location, current storage capacity at the return location, and projected future storage capacity at the return location.

29. The method of claim 25 wherein the current conditions at the multiple possible return locations is based on an indicated current desire of at least one of the multiple possible return locations to perform return processing.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the current desire for the at least one return location to perform return processing is based on at least one of excess capacity at the at least one return location for performing return processing and a received indication to provide the item to another customer from the at least one return location.

31. The method of claim 25 wherein the current conditions at the multiple possible return locations is based on an indicated current need of at least one of the multiple possible return locations to perform return processing.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the current need for the at least one return location to perform return processing is based on a lack of inventory of the item at the at least one return location relative to at least one of current and/or projected future demand for the item at the at least one return location.

33. The method of claim 25 further comprising determining, by the configured computing system, current conditions at the second time related to sending the item to each of the multiple possible return locations that reflect a current cost and a current amount of time to send the item to that return location.

34. The method of claim 25 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on current conditions related to the item.

35. The method of claim 25 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item is further based at least in part on current conditions related to the customer.

36. The method of claim 25 wherein the indicated reasons reflect that the item is not defective, and wherein the dynamically selected return location is an item distribution center of a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer so that the returned item can be subsequently provided to another customer.

37. The method of claim 25 wherein the indicated reasons reflect that the item is not defective, and wherein the dynamically selected return location is another customer to whom a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer is providing the item.

38. The method of claim 25 wherein the indicated reasons reflect that the item is defective, and wherein the dynamically selected return location is a repair facility and/or a location associated with a party involved in supplying the item to a merchant who subsequently sent the item to the customer.

39. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item further includes dynamically determining one or more activities to be performed at the return location related to the item.

40. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication that the item is to be returned is received from the customer based on an interaction of the customer with a Web site of a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer, and wherein a shipping label is provided to the customer via a Web page from the Web site as part of the interaction.

41. The method of claim 1 wherein the indication that the item is to be returned is received from a party other than the customer, and wherein the information regarding the dynamically selected return location is provided to the customer so as to notify the customer that the item is to be returned.

42. The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding the dynamically selected return location is provided to the customer, and wherein the providing of the information to the customer is performed after the receiving of the indication.

43. The method of claim 1 wherein the information regarding the dynamically selected return location is provided to the customer, and wherein the providing of the information to the customer is performed after the dynamic selecting of the one return location.

44. The method of claim 1 wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location includes attempting to obtain from multiple sources in parallel information of multiple types related to selecting a return location, evaluating information that is obtained, and selecting the one return location based on the evaluating once the obtained information is sufficient to perform the selecting.

45. The method of claim 44 wherein the information of the multiple types that is attempted to be obtained includes information about the current conditions at each of the return locations and about current conditions related to sending the item to each of the return locations.

46. The method of claim 44 wherein the evaluating of the obtained information is performed in such a manner as to evaluate each of at least some of the multiple return locations, and wherein the selecting of the one return location based on the evaluating once the obtained information is sufficient includes repeatedly performing the evaluating until an evaluation for one of the multiple return locations reaches a specified threshold.

47. The method of claim 1 further including, after the receiving of the indication, dynamically determining whether to immediately provide a refund to the customer based at least in part on current conditions that include information about the customer.

48. The method of claim 1 further including, after the receiving of the indication, dynamically determining whether to immediately promise a refund to the customer based at least in part on current conditions that include information about the customer.

49. The method of claim 1 further including, after the dynamic selecting of the one return location for the item, receiving one or more indications from an administrative user to adjust how return locations are dynamically selected for items and implementing the indicated adjustments so that dynamic selection of return locations for subsequent items being returned will be modified based on the adjustments.

50. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure a computing device to dynamically determine a location to which an item of merchandise is to be returned, by performing a method comprising:

receiving an indication that an item previously sent to a customer is to be returned;

after the receiving of the indication,

automatically determining current conditions and one or more projected future conditions at each of multiple possible return locations for the item, the multiple return locations being associated with a merchant that previously sent the item to the customer, the one or more projected future conditions at the return locations including projected future storage capacity at the return locations to store items being returned, the automatic determining of the current conditions and the projected future conditions being performed by the configured computing device and including performing electronic interactions with one or more computing systems of the merchant to obtain information about the current conditions at each of the multiple possible return locations; and

dynamically selecting one of the multiple possible return locations for the item based at least in part on the determined current conditions and the determined projected future conditions at each of the multiple possible return locations, the dynamic selecting being performed by the configured computing device; and

providing information regarding the dynamically selected return location to enable the item to be sent to that return location.

51. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 50 wherein the indication that the item is to be returned further includes an indication of one or more reasons for the return of the item, and wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location is further based at least in part on one or more of the indicated reasons.

52. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 51 wherein the indicated reasons reflect that the item is not defective, and wherein the dynamically selected return location is an item distribution center of a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer so that the returned item can be subsequently provided to another customer.

53. A computing system configured to dynamically determine a location to which an item of merchandise is to be returned comprising:

a processor;

a first component that is configured to, when executed by the processor, receive at a first time an indication that an item previously sent to a customer is to be returned and to, at a later second time after the receiving of the indication;

automatically determine current conditions and one or more projected future conditions at each of multiple possible return locations for the item, the current conditions and the one or more projected future conditions being changing conditions that have different values at different times, the automatic determining of the current conditions and the projected future conditions including performing electronic interactions with one or more other computing systems to obtain information from one or more of the multiple possible return locations about the current conditions at the one or more possible return locations; and

dynamically select at the second time one of the multiple possible return locations for the item based at least in part on the determined current conditions and the determined projected future conditions at each of the multiple possible return locations; and

a second component that is configured to, when executed by the processor, provide information regarding the dynamically selected return location to enable the item to be sent to that return location.

54. The computing system of claim 53 wherein the indication that the item is to be returned further includes an indication of one or more reasons for the return of the item, and wherein the dynamic selecting of the one return location is further based at least in part on one or more of the indicated reasons.

55. The computing system of claim 54 wherein the indicated reasons reflect that the item is not defective, and wherein the dynamically selected return location is an item distribution center of a merchant who previously sent the item to the customer so that the returned item can be subsequently provided to another customer.