System and method for providing shipping insurance as a service

• US 8,626,535 B2
• Filed: 04/04/2011
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Vasavada, Maulin, Muppirala, Prakash, Jayapal, Mohan, Narang, Sanjay
• Primary Examiner(s): JOHNSON, GREGORY L
• Application Number:
  US13/079,625
• Publication Number:
  US 20120116823A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,009 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance

Abstract

A shipping insurance service application has an electronic marketplace platform interface, a shipping insurance module, and an insurance provider module. The electronic marketplace platform interface communicates with at least one electronic marketplace application. The shipping insurance module provides a shipping insurance policy to a seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application and processes a claim from the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application based on the shipping insurance policy. The carrier module obtains the shipping insurance policy from an insurance provider among a plurality of insurance providers.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one processor;

an electronic marketplace platform interface, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to communicate with at least one electronic marketplace application;

a shipping insurance module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to present a plurality of shipping insurance policies from a plurality of insurance providers to a seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application, to receive a selection of one of the shipping insurance policies from the seller, to provide a shipping insurance policy selected and paid for by the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application, and to process a claim from the seller using information from the corresponding electronic marketplace application and the shipping insurance policy;

an insurance provider module, implemented by the at least one processor, configured to obtain the shipping insurance policy from an insurance provider among the plurality of insurance providers; and

a dynamic pricing module configured to receive a base shipping insurance rate for each insurance provider, to calculate a rate adjustment for the seller based on a tier profile of the seller, and to compute a shipping insurance policy rate for each shipping insurance policy using the basic shipping rate for each insurance provider modified with the rate adjustment for the seller.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the shipping insurance module comprises:

a claim module configured to process the claim from the seller; and

a fraud module configured to detect a fraudulent activity associated with the claim.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the dynamic pricing module comprises:

a seller profile retriever module configured to retrieve a profile of the seller on the corresponding marketplace application; and

an insurance pricing generator module configured to compute a shipping insurance policy rate for the seller based on the profile of the seller and the insurance provider.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the profile of the seller comprises a volume of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, a reputation of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, and an insurance profile of the seller.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the volume of transactions comprises a total monetary amount of all transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace or a total number of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the reputation of the seller comprises a feedback rating from buyers of the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the insurance profile of the seller comprises a number of claims previously filed by the seller and a status of the claims previously filed by the seller.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the claim module comprises:

a claim and complaint receiver module configured to receive a complaint from a buyer for receiving an item damaged or not receiving the item, and to receive a claim from the seller based on the shipping insurance policy; and

a claim processing module configured to process the claim from the seller based on the corresponding complaint from the buyer.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the claim and complaint receiver module comprises a seller claim module configured to receive the claim from the seller based on the shipping insurance policy, and a buyer complaint module configured to receive the complaint from the buyer based on the item,

wherein the claim processing module comprises a claim and complaint verification module configured to correlate the claim from the seller with the complaint from the buyer for a shipped item, and a claim approval and rejection module configured to approve or reject the claim from the seller based on results from the claim and complaint verification module, and the fraud module.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

communicating with at least one electronic marketplace application;

presenting a plurality of shipping insurance policies from a plurality of insurance providers to a seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application;

receiving a selection of one of the shipping insurance policies from the seller;

providing a shipping insurance policy selected and paid for by the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application, and processing a claim from the seller using information from the corresponding electronic marketplace application and the shipping insurance policy;

obtaining the shipping insurance policy from an insurance provider among the plurality of insurance providers;

receiving a base shipping insurance rate for each insurance provider;

calculating a rate adjustment for the seller based on a tier profile of the seller; and

computing a shipping insurance policy rate for each shipping insurance policy using the basic shipping rate for each insurance provider modified with the rate adjustment for the seller.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 further comprising:

processing the claim from the seller; and

detecting a fraudulent activity associated with the claim.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

retrieving a profile of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace application.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the profile of the seller comprises a volume of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, a reputation of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, and an insurance profile of the seller.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein the volume of transactions comprises a total monetary amount of all transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace or a total number of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the reputation of the seller comprises a feedback rating from buyers of the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the insurance profile of the seller comprises a number of claims previously filed by the seller and a status of the claims previously filed by the seller.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 further comprising:

receiving a complaint from a buyer for receiving an item damaged or not receiving the item and a claim from the seller based on the shipping insurance policy; and

processing the claim from the seller based on the corresponding complaint from the buyer.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 further comprising:

correlating the claim from the seller with the complaint from the buyer for a shipped item; and

approving or rejecting the claim from the seller based on results from correlating the claim with the complaint and detecting a fraudulent activity.

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

communicating with at least one electronic marketplace application;

presenting a plurality of shipping insurance policies from a plurality of insurance providers to a seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application;

receiving a selection of one of the shipping insurance policies from the seller;

providing a shipping insurance policy selected and paid for by the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace application, and processing a claim from the seller using information from the corresponding electronic marketplace application and the shipping insurance policy;

obtaining the shipping insurance policy from an insurance provider among the plurality of insurance providers;

receiving a base shipping insurance rate for each insurance provider;

calculating a rate adjustment for the seller based on a tier profile of the seller; and

computing a shipping insurance policy rate for each shipping insurance policy using the basic shipping rate for each insurance provider modified with the rate adjustment for the seller.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:

processing the claim from the seller; and

detecting a fraudulent activity associated with the claim.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:

retrieving a profile of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace application; and

computing the shipping insurance policy rate for the seller based on the profile of the seller and the insurance provider.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein the profile of the seller comprises a volume of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, a reputation of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, and an insurance profile of the seller.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the volume of transactions comprises a total monetary amount of all transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace or a total number of transactions of the seller on the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the reputation of the seller comprises a feedback rating from buyers of the seller of the corresponding electronic marketplace, wherein the insurance profile of the seller comprises a number of claims previously filed by the seller and a status of the claims previously filed by the seller.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:

receiving a complaint from a buyer for receiving an item damaged or not receiving the item and a claim from the seller based on the shipping insurance policy; and

processing the claim from the seller based on the corresponding complaint from the buyer.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the processor further performs operations comprising:

correlating the claim from the seller with the complaint from the buyer for a shipped item; and

approving or rejecting the claim from the seller based on results from correlating the claim with the complaint and detecting a fraudulent activity.