System and method for initiating returns over a network

• US 8,417,574 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2008
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Chalmers, Geoff S., Hoffmann, Thomas V.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZURITA, JAMES H
• Application Number:
  US12/195,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20080306758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26, 705/27, 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0837 Return transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for processing return transactions over a network. An embodiment of the invention discloses an online return application that generates an electronic return shipping label that can be delivered to a browser of a customer that wishes to make a return. Also, disclosed is the creation and transmission of label delivery links, which provide for dynamic generation and delivery of shipping labels.

Claims

1. An electronic return shipping system, comprising:

one or more computers and a network wherein said one or more computers are configured to;

receive a return service request to return a good previously purchased by a customer from a merchant;

generate a shipping label based at least in part on said return service request, wherein the shipping label includes a package tracking number; and

format and send a label delivery link that is associated with said shipping label and includes a hypertext link to a uniform locator address.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to generate said return service request as an extensible markup language document.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to obtain a package tracking number for said return service request and include said package tracking number on said shipping label.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to send said label delivery link to said merchant via electronic mail.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to send said label delivery link to said customer via electronic mail.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said uniform locator address of said label delivery link and said one or more computers are configured to deliver said shipping label to a browser associated with said customer upon activation of said label delivery link.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said label delivery link includes at least one of a locality string, a merchant registration identification and a shipping label creation date.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to encrypt at least a portion of said label delivery link.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to encode at least a portion of said label delivery link.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said one or more computers are configured to generate an electronic return notification.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein said electronic return notification comprises a human-readable portion and a machine-readable portion.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said one or more computers are configured to send said electronic return notification to said merchant via an electronic mail.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein said one or more computers are configured to send said electronic return notification to a vendor that supplied the merchant with said good to be returned.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein one or more computers are configured to add a vendor email address and a bounce email address to said electronic mail, and wherein said online return application is further configured to forward said electronic mail to said bounce email address upon receipt of a notification that said electronic mail could not be delivered to said vendor email address.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said bounce email address is an address associated with said merchant.

16. An electronic return shipping system, comprising:

one or more computers and a network wherein said one or more computers are configured to;

receive a return service request to return a good previously purchased by a first entity from a second entity;

generate a shipping label based at least in part on said return service request, wherein the shipping label includes a package tracking number; and

format and send a label delivery link that is associated with said shipping label and includes a hypertext link to a uniform locator address.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable code embodied in said medium, said computer-readable code comprising:

receiving a return service request from a merchant application over a computer network generated by said merchant application in response to a request from a customer to return a good previously purchased from a merchant;

generating a shipping label based at least in part on said return service request, wherein the shipping label includes a package tracking number; and

formatting and sending a label delivery link that is associated with said shipping label and includes a hypertext link to a uniform locator address.