Methods for an alternative payment platform

• US 10,387,948 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2012
• Issued: 08/20/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TrialPay Incorporated (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rampell, Alastair, Campbell, Alexander E., Angelos, Terry
• Primary Examiner(s): Sittner, Matthew T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Henry, Rodney M
• Application Number:
  US13/444,364
• Publication Number:
  US 20120197717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,687 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for providing an alternative payment platform, including method and systems for providing a platform for presenting an alternate offer to a user who is engaged with a primary offer and receiving an indication of the user'"'"'s engagement with the alternate offer, wherein the user'"'"'s engagement with the alternate offer serves as an alternative form of payment for an item associated with the primary offer. Such methods and systems may further include methods and systems for selecting one or more alternate offers engagement with which serves as an alternative form of payment for an item associated with a primary offer, presenting the selected alternate payment offers to a user, receiving an indication of engagement with at least one of the alternate offers, receiving payment in exchange for presenting the accepted offer and providing payment to the offeror of the primary offer.

Claims

1. A computerized method of electronic commerce, wherein a user is engaged with a primary offer of a vendor on a mobile device for facilitating bidding for placement of alternate offers in an alternative payment platform comprising:

presenting for the vendor, from a processor of a facilitator via an electronic display of the mobile device, the primary offer of the vendor on a site of the vendor in response to a request from the processor to the vendor, said request including a digital security encryption known only to the facilitator and the vendor, said facilitator being different from the vendor;

presenting, from the processor of the facilitator, via the electronic display of the mobile device alternate offers to pay for the primary offer wherein a fulfillment of any one of the alternate offers which were presented entitles the user to receive the primary offer;

establishing, via a computer server, a credit for the primary offer to be paid by the facilitator to the vendor, the credit including a fixed cost related to a retail cost and a variable portion determined when one of the alternate offers is fulfilled;

receiving, by the processor of the facilitator, a bid at the alternative payment platform for an opportunity to present on the GUI one of the alternate offers for selection by the user, wherein the bid is associated with a placement attribute for a presentation of the one of the alternate offers;

presenting, from the processor of the facilitator via the electronic display of the mobile device, the one of the alternate offers with a placement determined according to the placement attribute with graphical user interface (GUI) elements which give an overall appearance that it was the vendor who presents the one of the alternate offers to the user, wherein GUI elements including a selection element for selection by the user to engage in the alternate offers, said selection element triggering a transition from the site of the vendor to the alternate payment platform and causing additional (GUI) elements to be displayed from the alternate payment platform on the electronic display, said the additional GUI elements interacting with the user as an indication to acquire the primary offer via the alternate payment platform through the one of the alternate offers;

receiving, at the server, the indication of the user'"'"'s fulfillment of the one of the alternate offers; and

paying the credit from the processor of the facilitator to the vendor for the primary offer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the alternate offer in the placement as determined for the presentation of alternate offers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is an attribute of a user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the placement attribute is a demographic attribute.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is based on the user'"'"'s transaction history.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is the user'"'"'s estimated income.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is associated with an assessment of the user'"'"'s preferences.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the attribute is associated with a category of item associated with the primary offer.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a location of placement.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with timing of placement of the alternate offer.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with proximity of placement to a primary offer.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with an indicator of success of past alternate offers.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a size of the presentation of the alternate offer.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with a duration of presentation of the alternate offer.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the placement attribute is associated with some type of exclusive relationship for the alternate offer.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising conducting an auction of bidders to determine the placement.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising conducting a reverse auction of bidders to determine the placement.

18. A system for facilitating bidding for placement of alternate offers in an alternative payment platform, comprising a memory and a processor configure to provide:

an electronic commerce platform for receiving a request from a facilitator to present, on behalf of a vendor, a plurality of offers to a user on a mobile device to fulfill a primary offering of the vendor on a source affiliated with the vendor that includes a purchase price and a vendor credit, wherein the vendor credit is not disclosed to the user, said request including a digital security encryption known only to the facilitator and the vendor, said facilitator being different from the vendor;

a bidding interface for receiving a bid for an opportunity to present one or more of the plurality of alternate offers by other vendors in the platform, wherein the bid is associated with a placement attribute for a placement of the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers on a graphical user interface (GUI), wherein the GUI is triggered in response a selection by the user, and the GUI enables the user to transact via the alternate payment platform to acquire the primary offer through the one of the plurality of alternate offers, wherein the GUI organizes display areas thereof based on the placement attribute of the one of the plurality of alternate offers for the user to engage in the plurality of alternate offers, said placement attribute includes one or more bidding flexibility factors, said one or more bidding flexibility factors comprising a bid amount, a likelihood acceptance of a secondary offer, amounts debited from a secondary offeror, and click-throughs of secondary offers;

an offer selection facility for selecting the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers that facilitate user acceptance, from a memory accessible by the offer selection facility;

an offer display facility for presenting the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers which were selected to the mobile device for display;

a secondary transaction facility for receiving from the mobile device a user acceptance of one of the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers which were presented; and

a payment module for processing a payment of the vendor credit to the vendor in fulfillment of the primary offering in response to the user acceptance, the vendor credit including a fixed cost determined before the user acceptance and a variable portion determined upon the user acceptance.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising displaying the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers in the placement as determined for the presenting of the one or more of the plurality of alternate offers.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the placement attribute is an attribute of a user.