Expedited seller registration

• US 8,768,784 B1
• Filed: 11/30/2010
• Issued: 07/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Varadarajan, Anand, Degwekar, Seema P., Boshes, Brian J., Allen, Kimberly E., Niejadlik, Gregory P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Garg, Yogesh C
• Application Number:
  US12/956,669
• Time in Patent Office: 1,309 Days
• Field of Search: 705/26.1, 705/26.35
• US Class Current: 705/26.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for facilitating expedited registration of sellers in an electronic marketplace. It is determined in one or more computing devices whether a buyer in an electronic marketplace is preapproved for registration as a seller in the electronic marketplace based at least in part on one or more factors related to a history of the buyer in the electronic marketplace. The buyer is invited to register as a seller in the electronic marketplace using an expedited registration process when the buyer is preapproved. The expedited registration procedure leverages previously collected data that is associated with the buyer to omit one or more data collection tasks.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable by a computing device, wherein, when executed, the program causes the computing device to at least:

determine a measure of buyer credibility for a buyer in an electronic marketplace by analyzing a plurality of buyer credibility factors relating to a history of the buyer in the electronic marketplace;

determine whether the buyer is preapproved to register as a seller in the electronic marketplace, wherein the preapproval of the buyer is based at least in part on the measure of buyer credibility;

generate a detail network page regarding a product offered for purchase in the electronic marketplace, the detail network page including an invitation to the buyer to sell the product in the electronic marketplace;

implement an expedited seller registration procedure that omits at least one seller verification task and is initiated and completed through a single selection of one user interface component in the detail network page; and

implement a non-expedited seller registration procedure that includes at least one seller verification task;

wherein the invitation is configured to initiate the expedited seller registration procedure when the buyer is determined to be preapproved, and the invitation is configured to initiate the non-expedited seller registration procedure when the buyer is determined not to be preapproved.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein, when executed, the program further causes the computing device to perform the at least one seller verification task by:

obtaining a telephone number of the buyer through a form on a network page;

providing a verification credential to the buyer on the network page;

initiating a call to the telephone number; and

determining whether the verification credential has been provided during the call.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the expedited registration procedure and the non-expedited registration procedure include obtaining a price for the product and a condition for the product from the buyer.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the plurality of buyer credibility factors includes at least one of:

a length of time the buyer has been registered with the electronic marketplace, an item return history associated with the buyer, a purchase frequency associated with the buyer, a frequency of order shipment to a configured address of the buyer, or whether at least one valid payment instrument is associated with the buyer.

4. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store computer-executable instructions; and

a processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to at least;

determine a measure of buyer credibility for a buyer in an electronic marketplace by analyzing a plurality of buyer credibility factors relating to a history of the buyer in the electronic marketplace;

determine whether the buyer is preapproved for registration as a seller in the electronic marketplace based at least in part on the measure of buyer credibility;

invite the buyer to register as a seller in the electronic marketplace using an expedited registration procedure when the buyer is determined to be preapproved, the expedited registration procedure leveraging previously collected data that is associated with the buyer to omit at least one data collection task; and

when the buyer is determined not to be preapproved, refrain from inviting the buyer to register as a seller in the electronic marketplace or invite the buyer to register as a seller in the electronic marketplace using a non-expedited registration procedure that includes the at least one data collection task.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one data collection task includes verifying a telephone number of the buyer.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to at least generate at least one form to collect information about the buyer, at least one field of the at least one form being prepopulated with information obtained from the previously collected data.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the expedited registration procedure includes a single selection of one user interface component on one network page that initiates and completes a registration of the buyer as a seller.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one network page includes a form to collect information about the buyer, and wherein all fields of the form are prepopulated with a respective default value.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of buyer credibility factors includes at least one of:

a length of time the buyer has been registered with the electronic marketplace, an item return history associated with the buyer, a purchase frequency associated with the buyer, a frequency of order shipment to a configured address of the buyer, or whether at least one valid payment instrument is associated with the buyer.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to at least generate a detail network page regarding an item, the detail network page including an invitation for the buyer to sell the item in the electronic marketplace.

12. The system of claim 4, wherein the processor is further configured to at least generate an electronic message to the buyer that invites the buyer to sell an item that the buyer purchased previously in the electronic marketplace.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the electronic message is included within at least one network page of the electronic marketplace.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the electronic message comprises an email to the buyer.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by at least one computing device, a plurality of buyers in an electronic marketplace who have purchased at least one item from a catalog of items;

determining, by the at least one computing device, individual measures of buyer credibility for the plurality of buyers by analyzing a plurality of buyer credibility factors relating to buyer history in the electronic marketplace;

selecting, by the at least one computing device, a subset of the plurality of buyers to be preapproved to register as sellers in the electronic marketplace using an expedited registration procedure, the subset of the plurality of buyers being selected based at least in part on the individual measures of buyer credibility;

preapproving, by the at least one computing device, the subset of the plurality of buyers to register as sellers in the electronic marketplace using the expedited registration procedure; and

inviting, by the at least one computing device, the preapproved subset of the plurality of buyers to register as sellers in the electronic marketplace and to sell the at least one item in the electronic marketplace.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of buyers are further determined based at least in part on a demand for the at least one item in the electronic marketplace.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the demand for the at least one item is indicated by a turnover of an inventory of the at least one item in the electronic marketplace meeting a predefined threshold.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of buyers are further determined based at least in part on a sales price of the at least one item in the electronic marketplace meeting a predefined threshold.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the expedited registration procedure includes a single selection of one user interface component on one network page that initiates and completes a registration of a respective buyer as a seller, the one network page includes a form to collect information about the respective buyer, and all fields of the form are prepopulated with a respective default value.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the plurality of buyer credibility factors includes at least one of:

a length of time a respective buyer has been registered with the electronic marketplace, an item return history associated with the respective buyer, a purchase frequency associated with the respective buyer, a frequency of order shipment to a configured address of the respective buyer, or whether at least one valid payment instrument is associated with the respective buyer.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the expedited registration procedure leverages previously collected data that is associated with each of the preapproved subset of the plurality of buyers to omit at least one data collection task.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the expedited registration procedure omits a seller verification task.