Multiple criteria buying and selling model

• US 8,285,600 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2011
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Valentine Communications LLC
• Original Assignee: Ewinwin Incorporated
• Inventors: Mesaros, Gregory J.
• Primary Examiner(s): RUDY, ANDREW J
• Application Number:
  US13/161,192
• Publication Number:
  US 20110270699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 482 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/26.2, 705/26.4, 705/28, 705/26.8, 705/30, 235/376, 235/383
• US Class Current: 705/26.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation

Abstract

A system and method for aggregating demand is provided. At least one seller may sponsor a deal room to aggregate selling goods/services from a plurality of buyers. The demand aggregation system can include a dashboard for allowing the at least one seller to set up DealRooms, price curves, offers, products, customers, and/or customer groups, for example. The dashboard can include a plurality of wizards for configuring such information. The demand aggregation system can also include seller displays for notifying buyers of changes in prices relative to ship dates and times of order. The demand aggregation system can also include a predictive modeling and reporting function. An algorithm is employed to utilize product information to post a probability chart on a product price point.

Claims

1. A business transaction methodology, comprising:

executing computer readable instructions stored in memory to allow for display of an interface to a merchant over a network;

receiving a set of information from the merchant through the interface, the set of information including a volume schedule for a product or service, the volume schedule specifying a predetermined quantity of orders for the product or service required to activate a discounted price for the product or service;

executing computer readable instructions stored in memory to allow for the display, over a network, of a quantity of orders necessary to activate the discounted price for a product or service to a buyer based in part on a profile of the buyers, wherein the profile and the set of information are distinct data sets; and

receiving orders for the product or service from two or more of the buyers over the network.

2. The business transaction methodology of claim 1, further comprising classifying buyers into at least one segmented group based on at least one of an indication of geographic location or a current location.

3. The business transaction methodology of claim 2, further comprising displaying the set of information to the at least one segmented group identified by a merchant, a third-party sponsor, or a system administrator.

4. The business transaction methodology of claim 1, further comprising displaying information necessary to allow the merchant to create new offers as a part of the interface.

5. The business transaction methodology of claim 4, further comprising creating the new offers based on previous offers.

6. The business transaction methodology of claim 1, wherein the interface allows for adding a product or service to an offer.

7. The business transaction methodology of claim 6, wherein the interface allows for adding a second product or service to the offer, wherein the second product or service differs from an existing product or service included in the offer.

8. The business transaction methodology of claim 1, wherein the interface allows for registration of new merchants.

9. The business transaction methodology of claim 1, further comprising creating a new customer group, reassigning a customer within a group, removing a customer from a group, or removing groups.

10. An Internet business transaction method, comprising:

providing access to at least one of a buyer, a merchant, a third-party sponsor, or a system administrator to carry out a commercial transaction, access provided over a communications network;

providing an interface allowing for configuration of an offer for a product or service, wherein the offer includes a volume schedule comprising a predetermined amount of the product or service that must be ordered to achieve a discounted price, the interface provided over the communications network as a result of executing computer readable instructions by a processor;

presenting the offer to a buyer based on a profile associated with the buyer that is distinct from the offer, the offer presented to the buyer as a result of the execution of computer readable instructions stored in memory, the offer presented over the communications network; and

receiving orders placed by multiple buyers for the product or service based on the offer, the orders received over the communications network.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a deal room is assigned a unique uniform resource locator (URL) for each presented offer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the unique URL is determined by at least one of a merchant, a third-party sponsor, or a system administrator.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing access to ratings or feedback associated with a particular buyer, a particular merchant, a particular third-party sponsor, or a particular system administrator.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a probability the predetermined amount of the product or service will be ordered within a particular time period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the probability is determined based upon an analysis of buyer patterns.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein a trend analysis component contributes to a buyer profile based upon at least one of an analysis of buyer patterns, an analysis of offer views without a subsequent purchase, an analysis of an industry associated with a product or service, a buyer, or the buyer patterns, or a geographical location of the buyer.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to:

provide access to at least one of a buyer, a merchant, a third-party sponsor, or a system administrator to carry out a commercial transaction;

provide a dashboard to configure an offer for a product or service, wherein the offer includes a volume schedule comprising a predetermined amount of the product or service that must be ordered to achieve a discounted price;

present the offer to a buyer based on a profile associated with the buyer that is distinct from the offer; and

receive orders placed by multiple buyers for the product or service based on the offer.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the offer further includes a list of deal rooms associated with the offer or an associated product or service.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the offer further includes a list of products or services associated with an offer, a merchant, or a third-party sponsor.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the offer further includes a list of customers or potential customers associated with the offer.