System and method for merchant interaction with and tracking of the secondary gift card marketplace

• US 8,500,007 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2010
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GiftCodes.com, LLC
• Original Assignee: GiftCodes.com, LLC
• Inventors: Wolfe, Jason, Romanelli, Mark, Akut, Sanjay, Kelly, Mike, Kelly, Mary Jane
• Primary Examiner(s): FRANKLIN, JAMARA ALZAIDA
• Application Number:
  US12/701,711
• Publication Number:
  US 20110079644A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 235/380, 235/381, 235/383, 705/35
• US Class Current: 235/380
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/06 Private payment circuits, e.g. involving electronic currency used among participants of a common payment scheme
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/28 Pre-payment schemes, e.g. "pay before"
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/42 for ticket printing or like apparatus , e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards

Abstract

Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for tracking a secondary gift card marketplace. A system configured to practice the method collects data related to a secondary market, which includes a transaction associated with a gift card, the transaction not involving an issuer of the gift card, processes the collected data, and presents at least a portion of the processed collected data to a merchant in a user interface. Gift cards can include at least one of gift cards and gift codes. The collected data can further include a plurality of transactions associated with gift cards. In one aspect, each gift card transaction in the plurality of gift card transaction does not involve an original issuing merchant of a gift card. The collected data can further include at least one of pricing, demographic, geographic, and other information related to the gift card transactions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting data of multiple transactions in which consumers, as non-issuers of gift cards, in a secondary market, sell the gift cards for at least one of cash, goods and services to yield collected data;

aggregating the collected data to yield aggregated data; and

presenting, via a user interface, at least a portion of the aggregated data to a merchant.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the gift cards comprise at least one of gift cards and gift codes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the collected data further comprises at least one of pricing information, demographic information, and geographic information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises categorizing the collected data based on a characteristic associated with at least one of the collected data and the multiple transactions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises normalizing the collected data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises removing private information from the collected data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises removing information from the collected data which could personally identify an individual.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting, via the user interface, at least the portion of the aggregated data further comprises presenting a first portion of the collected data relating to the merchant and a second comparable aggregated portion of the aggregated data for comparison with the first portion.

9. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instruction which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

collecting data of multiple transactions in which non-issuers of gift cards, in a secondary market, sell the gift cards for at least one of cash, goods and services to yield collected data;

aggregating the collected data to yield aggregated data; and

presenting, via a user interface, at least a portion of the aggregated data to a merchant.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the collected data further comprises at least one of pricing information, demographic information, and geographic information.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further stores instructions which result in the operations further comprising:

presenting at least the portion of the collected data by presenting a first portion of the collected data relating to the merchant and a second comparable aggregated portion of the collected data for comparison with the first portion.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

collecting data of multiple transactions in which non-issuers of gift cards, in a secondary market, sell the gift cards for at least one of cash, goods and services to yield collected data;

aggregating the collected data to yield aggregated data; and

presenting, via a user interface, at least a portion of the aggregated data to a merchant.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises categorizing the collected data based on a characteristic associated with at least one of the collected data and the multiple transactions.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises normalizing the data.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises removing private information from the collected data.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein aggregating the collected data further comprises removing information from the collected data which could personally identify an individual.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein presenting at least the portion of the aggregated data further comprises presenting a first portion of the collected data relating to the merchant and a second comparable aggregated portion of the aggregated data for comparison with the first portion.