ON-LINE TRADING OF PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMER LEADS

• US 20080189199A1
• Filed: 02/02/2007
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Ashantiplc Limited
• Original Assignee: Ashantiplc Limited
• Inventors: Bhavnanie, Kishore, SARID, Sahar
• Application Number:
  US11/670,716
• Publication Number:
  US 20080189199A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

A system and method for providing an on-line trading environment of partial-disclosure informational leads are disclosed. The method includes presenting an on-line auction to a user. The on-line auction is for auctioning partial-disclosure informational leads to users. The method also includes receiving a bid request from the user for the partial-disclosure informational lead being auctioned in the on-line auction. Real-time information representing auction events can be transmitted by the system to the user, contemporaneous with the auction events occurring. The transmission of the real-time information is unevoked by the user.

Claims

1. A method, with an information processing system, for providing an on-line trading environment of informational leads, the method comprising:

presenting an on-line auction to a user, wherein the on-line auction presents to the user partial-disclosure information associated with an informational lead; and

receiving a bid request from the user for the informational lead based on the partial-disclosure information presented in the on-line auction, wherein the informational lead includes full disclosure information associated with a potential customer.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the partial-disclosure information with a quality metric; and

presenting the quality metric to the user in association with the presenting of the partial-disclosure information.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the quality metric is based on a readiness of a buyer associated with the partial-disclosure information to make a purchase.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the partial disclosure informational presented to the user comprises a portion of lead identification information associated with at least one buyer, wherein the portion of lead identification information presented to the user prevents the user from circumventing the on-line auction to contact the at least one buyer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting real-time information associated with the auction to a group of users subscribed to the auction, wherein the real-time information associated with the auction is transmitted contemporaneous with an auction event occurring, and wherein the transmission of the real-time information is unevoked by the group of users.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the auction event comprises at least one of:

a bid being placed in the auction; and

a given period of time existing prior to the auction closing, and wherein

the transmitted real-time information represents the auction event to the group of users.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining if the received bid request is higher than a given threshold;

if the received bid request is higher than the given threshold, setting a user ID associated with the user as a current high bidder for the on-line auction; and

if the received bid request is lower than the given threshold, rejecting the received bid request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a time interval associated with the on-line auction has expired; and

providing to a user who is a current high bidder after the on-line auction ends the full-disclosure information including identification of the potential customer, wherein the full-disclosure information comprises the partial-disclosure information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the full disclosure information includes at least contact information associated with the potential customer.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying a list of on-line auctions to the user, wherein each on-line auction in the list of on-line auctions is associated with at least one partial-disclosure information being auctioned in the respective each on-line auction.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the displaying includes:

displaying partial-disclosure information for each on-line auction in the list displayed to the user; and

displaying a quality metric associated with the displayed partial-disclosure information for each on-line auction, wherein the displayed quality metric indicating a quality of an informational lead associated with the displayed partial-disclosure information for each on-line auction in the list.

13. A method, with an information processing system, for providing an on-line trading environment of informational leads associated with prospective customers, the method comprising:

presenting an on-line auction to a user, wherein the on-line auction presents to the user partial-disclosure informational leads indicating a commercial interest of a prospective customer; and

receiving a bid request from the user on the basis of the partial-disclosure informational leads in the on-line auction, wherein the bid request represents an offer for purchasing full disclosure information associated with the partial-disclosure informational leads for identifying the prospective customer.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

associating the partial-disclosure informational leads with a quality metric that is provided to the user; and

presenting the quality metric to the user in association with the auctioning of the partial-disclosure informational leads.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the quality metric is based on a readiness of a buyer associated with the partial-disclosure informational lead to make a purchase.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining if the received bid request is higher than a given threshold;

if the received bid request is higher than the given threshold, setting a user ID associated with the user as a current high bidder for the auction;

if the received bid request is lower than the given threshold, rejecting the received bid request;

determining that a time interval associated with the auction has expired; and

providing to a user who is a current high bidder after the auction ends the full-disclosure information.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting real-time information associated with the on-line auction to a group of users subscribed to the on-line auction, wherein the real-time information associated with the on-line auction is transmitted contemporaneous with an on-line auction event occurring, and wherein the transmission of the real-time information is unevoked by the group of users.

18. A system for providing an on-line trading environment of partial-disclosure informational leads, the system comprising:

a memory;

an information processing system communicatively coupled to the memory, the information processing system comprising at least

an on-line auction user interface for allowing a user to interact with a partial-disclosure informational lead auction; and

a user input receiver for receiving at least a bid request from the user for a partial-disclosure informational lead being auctioned in the on-line auction.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the information processing system further comprises:

an auction item analyzer for associating the partial-disclosure informational lead with a quality metric, wherein the quality metric is presented to the user in association with the auctioning of the partial-disclosure informational lead.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the partial disclosure informational lead comprises a portion of lead identification information associated with at least one buyer, wherein the portion of lead identification information prevents the user from circumventing the on-line auction to contact the at least one buyer.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the information processing system further comprises:

a user input analyzer for determining if the received bid request is higher than a given threshold, wherein if the received bid request is higher than the given threshold, a user ID associated with the user is set as a current high bidder for the auction, and wherein if the received bid request is lower than the given threshold the received bid request is rejected;

an auction analyzer for determining that a time interval associated with the auction has expired; and

a transmitter for providing to a user who is a current high bidder after the auction ends a full-disclosure information associated with the partial-disclosure informational lead, wherein the full-disclosure information comprises at least contact information associated with a buyer to make a purchase.