System and method for purchasing a prepaid bebit account

• US 9,324,110 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GiftCodes.com, LLC
• Original Assignee: GiftCodes.com, LLC
• Inventors: Wolfe, Jason, Allen, Shawn D.
• Primary Examiner(s): FRANKLIN, JAMARA ALZAIDA
• Application Number:
  US14/275,948
• Publication Number:
  US 20140249986A1
• Time in Patent Office: 714 Days
• Field of Search: 235/379, 705/26.3
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 20/342 Cards defining paid or billed services or quantities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• 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 auctioning gift cards on the secondary market. The system can receive a prepaid debit account for resale from an owner and determine a face value for the prepaid debit account. The system can establish a floor price and offer the prepaid debit account for sale via an auction, starting at an initial price above the floor price and up to and including the face value, and can decrement the sale price at regular time intervals. The system can end the auction when a purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account at the decremented price. However, if no purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account before the decremented price is below the floor price, the system can purchase the prepaid debit account from the owner for the floor price. The system can store the prepaid debit account in an inventory for resale.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

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

receiving a prepaid debit account for resale from an owner of the prepaid debit account;

determining a face value for the prepaid debit account;

based on the face value, establishing a floor price;

offering the prepaid debit account for sale via an auction, wherein the prepaid debit account is offered for sale at an initial price above the floor price and up to and including the face value, and wherein the initial price is decremented at time intervals to yield a decremented price; and

if no purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account before the decremented price is below a threshold based on the floor price, purchasing the prepaid debit account from the owner for the floor price.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further stores instructions which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

storing the prepaid debit account in an inventory after purchasing the prepaid debit account.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further stores instructions which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

offering the prepaid debit account for sale at a resale price above the floor price and below the face value.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein a size of the time intervals is established based on a difference between the face value and the floor price.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer-readable storage medium further stores instructions which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

ending the auction when a purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account at the decremented price above or equal to the floor price.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the prepaid debit account comprises at least one of a physical gift card, a gift certificate, a virtual gift card, an electronic gift card, or a gift code.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a prepaid debit account for resale from an owner of the prepaid debit account;

determining a face value for the prepaid debit account;

based on the face value, establishing a floor price;

offering the prepaid debit account for sale via an auction, wherein the prepaid debit account is offered for sale at an initial price above the floor price and up to and including the face value, and wherein the initial price is decremented at time intervals to yield a decremented price; and

if no purchaser purchases the prepaid debit account before the decremented price is below a threshold based on the floor price, purchasing the prepaid debit account from the owner for the floor price.