Method, medium, and system of presenting resale opportunities to purchasers of resalable items

• US 8,489,464 B1
• Filed: 09/20/2011
• Issued: 07/16/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Parihar, Sunil Singh, Jeyaratnam, Joe Jony
• Primary Examiner(s): ZIMMERMAN, MATTHEW E
• Application Number:
  US13/236,936
• Time in Patent Office: 665 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 705/26.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Technologies are described herein for presenting resale opportunities to purchasers of resalable items. An identifier of a resalable item is received. A number of resale estimates are determined for the item and presented to the purchaser of the item, and the purchaser indicates whether or not he or she intends to resale the item at a future date. Upon receiving an indication that the purchaser intends to resale the item, a resale prospect is stored containing the identifier of the item, an identifier of the purchaser, the date for resale of the item, the resale estimates, and the like. The purchaser may then be presented with at least one reminder regarding the resale of the item on or near the date for resale. The reminder may further include the resale estimates and a facility allowing the purchaser to quickly and easily initiate resale of the item.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to:

receive an identifier of an item which is resalable and is purchased by a purchaser;

determine a date for resale for the item, wherein the date for resale is determined based upon a purchase date of the item and an average age of the same or similar items upon resale;

determine one or more resale estimates for the item, each of the one or more resale estimates comprising an estimated value to the purchaser upon reselling the item on the date for resale;

present the one or more resale estimates to the purchaser;

receive an indication from the purchaser of an intent to resale the item;

upon receiving the indication of the intent to resale the item, store a resale prospect comprising the identifier of the item, an identifier of the purchaser, the date for resale of the item, and the one or more resale estimates; and

present a resale reminder to the purchaser on or near the date for resale of the item, the resale reminder comprising the one or more resale estimates for the item and a facility allowing the purchaser to initiate resale of the item.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the item is received during the purchase of the item by the purchaser.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the date for resale of the item is received from the purchaser.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more resale estimates corresponds to the estimated value to the purchaser upon reselling the item through one of a plurality of options for reselling the item.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, having further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that cause the computer to periodically update the one or more resale estimates in the resale prospect based on resale history data.

6. A computer-implemented method of presenting resale opportunities to a purchaser of an item which is resalable, the method comprising executing instructions in a computer system to perform the operations of:

receiving an identifier of the item;

determining a date for resale for the item, wherein the date for resale is determined based upon a purchase date of the item and an average age of the same or similar items upon resale;

determining, using a computer processor, a resale estimate for the item corresponding to an option for reselling the item, the resale estimate comprising an estimated value to the purchaser upon reselling the item on the date for resale;

presenting the resale estimate for the item to the purchaser;

receiving an indication from the purchaser of an intent to resale the item at a future date;

upon receiving the indication of the intent to resale the item, store a resale prospect comprising the identifier of the item, an identifier of the purchaser, the date for resale of the item, and the resale estimate; and

presenting a resale reminder to the purchaser on or near the date for resale of the item, the resale reminder comprising the resale estimate for the item and a facility allowing the purchaser to initiate resale of the item.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the identifier of the item is received during the purchase of the item by the purchaser.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the resale estimate comprises an estimated value to the purchaser upon reselling the item through the corresponding option for reselling the item.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the date for resale of the item is received from the purchaser in conjunction with the indication of the intent to resale the item.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein presenting the resale reminder to the purchaser comprises sending an email message containing the resale reminder to the purchaser.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising periodically updating the resale estimate in the resale prospect based on resale history data.

12. A system for presenting resale opportunities to a purchaser of a resalable item, the system comprising:

an online marketplace system comprising one or more application servers;

an online shopping module executing on the one or more application servers and configured to

receive an identifier of the item during purchase of the item by the purchaser,

determine a date for resale for the item, wherein the date for resale is determined based upon a purchase date of the item and an average age of the same or similar items upon resale;

determine one or more resale estimates for the item, each of the one or more resale estimates corresponding to an option for reselling the item on the date for resale;

present the one or more resale estimates to the purchaser;

receive an indication from the purchaser of an intent to resale the item;

upon receiving the indication of the intent to resale the item, store a resale prospect comprising the identifier of the item, an identifier of the purchaser, the date for resale of the item, and the one or more resale estimates; and

a resale reminder module executing on the one or more application servers and configured to present a resale reminder to the purchaser on or near the date for resale of the item, the resale reminder comprising the one or more resale estimates for the item and a facility allowing the purchaser to initiate resale the item.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the date for resale of the item is received from the purchaser.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein presenting the resale reminder to the purchaser comprises sending an email message containing the resale reminder to the purchaser.