Order aggregation and merchant ranking
First Claim
1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for order aggregation and merchant ranking, the method comprising:
- receiving a deal provided by a merchant of a product or service, wherein the deal includes a discounted price that becomes valid only when a predetermined number of buyers purchase or indicate a desire to purchase the deal;
posting the deal and terms and conditions associated with the deal to a publically accessible web site, acceptance of the terms and conditions being a condition of purchasing the deal;
receiving orders for the product or service from registered prospective customers who have provided a verified method of payment in connection with an associated order for the product or service;
aggregating the orders from confirmed customers until a specified end time, wherein the confirmed customers are a subset of the registered prospective customers having provided both a verified method of payment and an interest to purchase the deal;
presenting a lower discounted price for the same deal to at least one registered buyer by way of a private account;
comparing a current order volume to the minimum order volume to determine that the deal has become valid;
accepting the orders for the product or service received from the confirmed customers at the two or more discounted prices; and
presenting a ranking associated with the merchant for the product or service.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method that facilitates e-commerce volume pricing is provided. According to one aspect of the present invention, the system includes an offers and orders component that receives and aggregates orders for a product from a plurality of buyers. The system also includes a logistics component that determines a shipping price for the product for a subset of the plurality of buyers. The shipping price is determined at least in part upon the subset of buyers sharing a shipping method. According to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided in which buyers within an aggregated purchasing group may be subject to different pricing structures for the same product.
376 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to perform a method for order aggregation and merchant ranking, the method comprising:
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receiving a deal provided by a merchant of a product or service, wherein the deal includes a discounted price that becomes valid only when a predetermined number of buyers purchase or indicate a desire to purchase the deal; posting the deal and terms and conditions associated with the deal to a publically accessible web site, acceptance of the terms and conditions being a condition of purchasing the deal; receiving orders for the product or service from registered prospective customers who have provided a verified method of payment in connection with an associated order for the product or service; aggregating the orders from confirmed customers until a specified end time, wherein the confirmed customers are a subset of the registered prospective customers having provided both a verified method of payment and an interest to purchase the deal; presenting a lower discounted price for the same deal to at least one registered buyer by way of a private account; comparing a current order volume to the minimum order volume to determine that the deal has become valid; accepting the orders for the product or service received from the confirmed customers at the two or more discounted prices; and presenting a ranking associated with the merchant for the product or service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method, comprising:
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receiving a deal from a merchant of a product or service, the deal including a discounted price for the product or service that is valid only when a minimum order volume for the product or service is received before a specified end time, the deal received via a communications interface communicatively coupled to a communications network; presenting the deal and a set of terms and conditions associated with the deal to a publically accessible web site; receiving orders for the product or service in connection with the deal from a set of registered prospective customers who have provided a verified method of payment in connection with an associated order for the product or service, the orders received via the communications network by way of the communications interface; aggregating the orders from a set of confirmed customers until the specified end time, wherein the set of confirmed customers is a subset of the set of registered prospective customers and have provided a verified method of payment and having agreed to the set of terms and conditions; presenting a lower discounted price for the same deal to at least one registered buyer by way of a private account; comparing a current order volume to the minimum order volume for determining whether the discounted price is valid; accepting the orders for the product or service at the discounted price when the minimum order volume for the product or service is received before the specified end time; and storing information relating to at least one customer from the set of registered prospective customers in order to compute a ranking associated with the merchant. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to:
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receive an offer from a merchant of a product or service, wherein the offer includes at least a discounted price that becomes valid only when a minimum number of the product or service are purchased within a specified period of time; present the offer and at least a portion of terms and conditions associated with the offer to a publically accessible web site, wherein the portion of the terms and conditions includes at least an indication of the minimum number that must be purchased prior to the specified period of time in order to validate the discounted price; receive at least one order for the product or service from registered prospective customers; verify a method of payment provided by the registered prospective customers in connection with an associated order for the product or service; aggregate orders received from confirmed customers until the specified period of time expires, wherein the confirmed customers are a subset of the registered prospective customers who have agreed to the terms and conditions; presenting a lower discounted price for the same deal to at least one registered buyer by way of a private account; compare a current order volume to the minimum number to determine whether the discounted price is valid; accept the orders for the product or service at the discounted price when the discounted price is valid; and collect information relating to at least one customer from the registered prospective customers in order to determine a ranking associated with the merchant. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification