Transparency in hidden transaction details

• US 9,697,551 B1
• Filed: 12/07/2012
• Issued: 07/04/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bilger, Jeffrey Matthew
• Primary Examiner(s): Fadok, Mark
• Application Number:
  US13/708,777
• Time in Patent Office: 1,670 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification

Abstract

Techniques and systems provide transparency in hidden transaction details for an item. A process comprises crawling one or more electronic marketplaces to identify an item presented in an item offering, extracting offer details in the item offering, emulating an ordering process for acquiring the item to determine transaction details that are revealed after the ordering process is initiated, and presenting at least a portion of the transaction details with item and offer details. In some embodiments, the offer details include a list price for the item, and the transaction details include a true price for the item with a hidden cost included in the true price. The hidden cost may be compared to a threshold to determine if it is excessive. A seller identified with the item offering may be designated with a rating indicative of a reputation of the seller for providing excessive hidden costs with item offerings.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

under control of one or more processors of a computing device, identifying an item offered for sale at an electronic marketplace by an automated agent accessing a web page associated with the electronic marketplace and crawling the web page for identifying information associated with the item, wherein the automated agent comprises instructions stored in memory of the computing device and executable by the one or more processors;

identifying a seller of the item by the automated agent crawling the web page for identifying information associated with the seller;

extracting offer details associated with the item by the automated agent crawling the web page for the offer details and storing the offer details in a data store;

employing, by the automated agent a checkout emulator to;

select a first geographic location and a second geographic location;

proceed through a first simulated checkout process for the item on the web page up to a point in the first simulated checkout process without acquiring the item, the automated agent specifying the first geographic location as part of the first simulated checkout process;

proceed through a second simulated checkout process for the item on the web page up to a point in the second simulated checkout process without acquiring the item, the automated agent specifying the second geographic location as part of the second simulated checkout process;

determine a first hidden cost associated with a first transaction for the item, the first hidden cost comprising a first added charge that is included in the first transaction for the item and revealed after the automated agent proceeds through the first simulated checkout process up to the point in the first simulated checkout process; and

determine a second hidden cost associated with a second transaction for the item, the second hidden cost comprising a second added charge that is included in the second transaction for the item and revealed after the automated agent proceeds through the second simulated checkout process up to the point in the second simulated checkout process;

comparing the first hidden cost and the second hidden cost to a threshold;

determining that the first hidden cost or the second hidden cost exceeds the threshold;

determining, based at least in part on the first hidden cost or the second hidden cost exceeding the threshold, a frequency at which the seller has provided excessive hidden costs with item offerings;

designating a rating for the seller indicative of a reputation of the seller, the rating being based at least in part on the frequency at which the seller has provided the excessive hidden costs;

identifying at least one other seller of the item by the automated agent crawling at least one other web page that is offering the item from the at least one other seller;

employing, by the automated agent the checkout emulator to;

proceed through a third simulated checkout process for the item on the at least one other web page up to a point in the third simulated checkout process without acquiring the item, the automated agent specifying the first geographic location as part of the second simulated checkout process; and

determine a third hidden cost associated with a third transaction for the item, the third hidden cost comprising a third added charge that is included in the third transaction for the item and revealed after the automated agent proceeds through the third simulated checkout process up to the point in the third simulated checkout process;

comparing the third hidden cost to the threshold;

determining that the third hidden cost does not exceed the threshold;

determining, based at least in part on the third hidden cost not exceeding the threshold, a frequency at which the at least one other seller has provided excessive hidden costs with item offerings;

designating an additional rating for the at least one other seller indicative of a reputation of the at least one other seller, the additional rating being based at least in part on the frequency at which the at least one other seller has provided the excessive hidden costs;

storing at least the rating, the first hidden cost, and the second hidden cost in the data store in association with the item and the seller;

storing at least the additional rating and the third hidden cost in the data store in association with the item and the at least one other seller;

receiving a request, from a user device, to access the web page;

determining that the request is associated with the first geographic location; and

serving, in response to the request, the web page to the user device, wherein the item, the seller, the rating of the seller, the first hidden cost, the at least one other seller, and the additional rating of the at least one other seller are presented on the web page along with the offer details in an electronic offering of the item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the offer details include at least a list price for the item, the method further comprising determining a true price for the item, the true price being a sum of at least the list price and the first hidden cost.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

designating the first hidden cost as excessive based at least in part on the hidden cost exceeding the threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the rating is associated with a product category of the item.

5. A method comprising:

under control of one or more processors of a computing device, crawling, by a software agent, one or more web pages to identify an item presented in an item offering on a web page of the one or more web pages;

identifying a seller of the item;

extracting offer details in the item offering;

employing, by the software agent a checkout emulator to;

proceed through a first simulated ordering process for acquiring the item, the automated agent specifying a first geographic location as part of the first simulated ordering process;

determine a first hidden cost associated with a first transaction for the item, the first hidden cost comprising a first added charge that is included in the first transaction for the item and revealed after the first simulated ordering process is initiated;

proceed through a second simulated ordering process for acquiring the item, the automated agent specifying a second geographic location as part of the second simulated ordering process;

determine a second hidden cost associated with a second transaction for the item, the second hidden cost comprising a second added charge that is included in the second transaction for the item and revealed after the second simulated ordering process is initiated;

comparing the first hidden cost and the second hidden cost to a threshold;

determining that the first hidden cost or the second hidden cost exceeds the threshold;

designating a rating for the seller indicative of a reputation of the seller, the rating being based at least in part on the first hidden cost or the second hidden cost exceeding the threshold;

identifying at least one other seller of the item by the software agent crawling the one or more web pages to identify the item presented in another item offering on at least one other web page of the one or more web pages;

employing, by the software agent the checkout emulator to;

proceed through a third simulated ordering process for acquiring the item on the at least one other web page, the automated agent specifying the first geographic location as part of the third simulated ordering process;

determine a third hidden cost associated with a third transaction for the item, the third hidden cost comprising a third added charge that is included in the third transaction for the item and revealed after the third simulated ordering process is initiated;

comparing the third hidden cost to a threshold;

determining that the third hidden cost does not exceed the threshold;

designating an additional rating for the at least one other seller indicative of a reputation of the at least one other seller, the additional rating being based at least in part on the third hidden cost not exceeding the threshold;

storing at least the rating, the first hidden cost, and the second hidden cost in a data store in association with the item and the seller;

storing at least the additional rating and the third hidden cost in the data store in association with the item and the at least one other seller;

receiving a request, from a user device, to access the web page;

determining that the request is associated with the first geographic location; and

causing the item, the rating of the seller, the first hidden cost, the at least one other seller, and the additional rating of the at least one other seller to be presented along with the offer details in the item offering.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the rating is further based on a frequency that the seller has provided excessive hidden costs with other item offerings.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the offer details include at least a list price for the item, the method further comprising determining a true price for the item, the true price being a sum of at least the list price and the first hidden cost.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

designating the first hidden cost as excessive based at least in part on the first hidden cost exceeding the threshold.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the rating is associated with a product category of the item.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the rating is indicative of a trust level on a rating spectrum from a minimum trust level to a maximum trust level.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein designating the rating for the seller comprises decrementing an existing rating on the rating spectrum to a lower rating.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein causing the rating to be presented along with the offer details in the item offering comprises presenting the rating in the form of at least one of a color-coded rating or a numerical rating.

13. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

causing a details button to be presented in association with the rating; and

in response to selection of the details button, causing presentation of information that factored into the rating.

14. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more memories;

a crawler maintained in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to crawl one or more web pages to identify an item presented in an item offering, to identify a seller of the item, to extract offer details in the item offering, and to identify at least one other seller of the item presented in another item offering;

a checkout emulator maintained in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to execute an automated task to;

proceed through a first simulated ordering process for acquiring the item from the seller to determine a first hidden cost associated with a first transaction for the item, the checkout emulator specifying a first geographic location as part of the first simulated ordering process, the first hidden cost comprising a first added charge that is included in the first transaction for the item and revealed after the first simulated ordering process is initiated, wherein the crawler and the checkout emulator comprise one or more software agents configured to execute automated tasks over a network;

proceed through a second simulated ordering process for acquiring the item from the seller to determine a second hidden cost associated with a second transaction for the item, the checkout emulator specifying a second geographic location as part of the second simulated ordering process, the second hidden cost comprising a second added charge that is included in the second transaction for the item and revealed after the second simulated ordering process is initiated; and

proceed through a third simulated ordering process for acquiring the item from the at least one other seller to determine a third hidden cost associated with a third transaction for the item, the checkout emulator specifying the first geographic location as part of the third simulated ordering process, the third hidden cost comprising a third added charge that is included in the third transaction for the item and revealed after the third simulated ordering process is initiated;

a true price analysis module maintained in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to compare the first hidden cost, the second hidden cost, and the third hidden cost to a threshold and to determine whether each of the first hidden cost, the second hidden cost, and the third hidden cost exceeds the threshold;

a rating module maintained in the one or more memories and executable by the one or more processors to designate a rating for the seller indicative of a reputation of the seller, and to designate an additional rating for the at least one other seller indicative of a reputation of the at least one other seller, the rating being based at least in part on whether the first hidden cost or the second hidden cost exceeds the threshold, the additional rating being based at least in part on whether the third hidden cost exceeds the threshold; and

a graphical user interface to cause a display, in response to receiving a request associated with the first geographic location to access a web page of the one or more web pages, of the rating of the seller, the first hidden cost, and the additional rating of the at least one other seller with the offer details in the item offering.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the offer details include at least a list price for the item, and wherein the checkout emulator is further configured to determine a true price for the item, the true price being a sum of at least the list price and the first hidden cost.

16. The system of claim 15, the true price analysis module is further configured to:

designate the first hidden cost as excessive based at least in part on the first hidden cost exceeding the threshold.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the rating is further based on a frequency that the seller has provided excessive hidden costs with other item offerings.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the rating is associated with a product category of the item.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the rating is indicative of a trust level on a rating spectrum from a minimum trust level to a maximum trust level.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein designating the rating for the seller comprises decrementing an existing rating on the rating spectrum to a lower rating.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein causing the display of the rating with the offer details in the item offering comprises presenting the rating in the form of at least one of a color-coded rating or a numerical rating.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the graphical user interface is further configured to cause a display of a details button associated with the rating that, upon selection, reveals information that factored into the rating.