System for Online Sales With Automatic Rebate and Coupon Redemption

• US 20120150622A1
• Filed: 02/16/2012
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Enpulz LLC
• Inventors: Bennett, James D., Winslade, Christopher C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,505,812 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.39
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0222 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0224 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0239 Online discounts or incentives
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0244 Optimization
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0253 During e-commerce, i.e. online transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0257 User requested
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0611 Request for offers or quotes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/03 : Credit; Loans; Processing thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 : Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 : Insurance

Abstract

An online sales/automatic rebate and coupon redemption system provides online customers automatic retrieval and redemption of all applicable rebates and coupons during purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system purchases from merchants using applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system makes it possible to automatically retrieve coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site. The system provides coupons to potential customers via email, based on customer profile, geographical information, etc. Manufacturers and merchants can update coupon value and content based on ongoing sales and volume of customer activity.

Claims

1. A promotion system supporting a plurality of customer computers used by a corresponding plurality of customers, the promotion system comprising:

a promotion management service having a customer interface and a seller interface, the seller interface being used by both a first seller and a second seller respectively via a computer of the first seller and a computer of the second seller, to correspondingly establish a first promotion for the first item and a second promotion for the second item;

the promotion management service gathering via the customer interface a plurality of customer information associated with each of the plurality of customers, the plurality of customer information comprising first customer information associated with a first customer of the plurality of customers;

the promotion management service using the first customer information to select one of the first item and the second item; and

a promotion email service that constructs an email offering a promotion for the selected one of the first item and second item, and delivers the email for receipt by the first customer.

2. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein the promotion management service comprises a promotional server that hosts promotion offer postings from a plurality of sellers including the first seller and the second seller.

3. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein the first promotion and the second promotion each have an associated geographical region.

4. The promotion system of claim 3, wherein the first customer information comprises a geographical region that corresponds to geographical region of the selected one of the first item and the second item.

5. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein first promotion comprises a first plurality of parameters and the second promotion comprises a second plurality of parameters.

6. The promotion system of claim 5, wherein each of the first and second pluralities of parameters comprises two or more of:

an amount or value of a respective promotion, a quantity of a respective promotion, one or more goods and/or services associated with a respective promotion, one or more geographical regions to which a respective promotion applies and a time limit or expiration date of a respective promotion.

7. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein the first promotion comprises a first coupon and the second promotion comprises a second coupon.

8. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein the first item comprises a first good and/or service and the second item comprises a second good and/or service.

9. The promotion system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of customer information comprises a plurality of customer profiles.

10. A promotion system supporting a plurality of buyer computers and a plurality of seller computers, the plurality of buyer computers used by a corresponding plurality of potential buyers, the plurality of seller computers used by a corresponding plurality of sellers, the promotion system comprising:

a promotion management service that stores information regarding each of the plurality of potential buyers;

the promotion management service receives from the plurality of sellers via the plurality of seller computers, a plurality of promotion data related to a plurality of respective offerings of the plurality of sellers;

the promotion management service presents the plurality of promotion data via at least a subset of the plurality of buyer computers; and

a promotion email service that, based on the stored information, sends to a subset of the plurality of potential buyers an email including at least some of the plurality of promotion data.

11. The promotion system of claim 10, wherein the promotion management service comprises a promotional server that hosts promotion data postings from the plurality of sellers.

12. The promotion system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of respective offerings has an associated geographical region.

13. The promotion system of claim 12, wherein the stored information comprises a geographical region that corresponds to those of the plurality of respective offerings having the at least some of the plurality of promotion data.

14. The promotion system of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of respective offerings comprises a good and/or a service.

15. The promotion system of claim 10, wherein the information regarding each of the plurality of potential buyers comprises a respective plurality of customer profiles.

16. A promotion system supporting a plurality of buyer computers and a plurality of seller computers, the plurality of buyer computers used by a corresponding plurality of potential buyers, the plurality of seller computers used by a corresponding plurality of sellers, the promotion system comprising:

a promotion management service that stores information regarding each of the plurality of potential buyers;

the promotion management service receives from a first seller of the plurality of sellers via the first seller'"'"'s computer, promotion data related to an item being offered for sale by the first seller;

the promotion management service presents promotion data via at least a subset of the plurality of buyer computers; and

a promotion email service that, based on the stored information, sends to a subset of the plurality of potential buyers an email including the promotion data related to the item being offered for sale.

17. The promotion system of claim 16, wherein the promotion management service comprises a promotional server that hosts promotion data postings from the plurality of sellers.

18. The promotion system of claim 16, wherein one or both of the first seller and the item being offered for sale by the first seller have an associated geographical region.

19. The promotion system of claim 18, wherein the stored information comprises a geographical region that corresponds to the geographic region associated with the one or both of the first seller and the item being offered for sale by the first seller.

20. The promotion system of claim 16, wherein the item being offered for sale comprises a good and/or a service.

21. A promotion system that supports promotion services between a plurality of potential buyers and a plurality of sellers in a communication network, the promotion system comprising:

a promotion management service comprising a web-based interface, the promotion management service enables receipt of information from both a first seller and a second seller to respectively register a first promotion for a first item and a second promotion for a second item;

the promotion management service receives from a first seller, first information regarding one or both of the first seller and the first item;

the promotion management service receives from the second seller, second information regarding one or both of the second seller and the second item;

the promotion management service receives a plurality of potential buyer information associated respectively with each of the plurality of potential buyers, the plurality of potential buyer information comprising first potential buyer information associated with a first potential buyer of the plurality of potential buyers and second potential buyer information associated with a second potential buyer of the plurality of potential buyers;

a promotion email service that, based on the first potential buyer information, sends a first email presenting the first promotion relating to the first item, to the first potential buyer'"'"'s computer; and

the promotion email service, based on the second potential buyer information, sends a second email presenting the second promotion relating to the second item, to the second potential buyer'"'"'s computer.

22. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein the promotion management service comprises a promotional server that hosts promotion offer postings from the plurality of sellers including the first seller and the second seller.

23. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein the first promotion and the second promotion each have an associated geographical region.

24. The promotion system of claim 23, wherein the first potential buyer information comprises a geographical region that corresponds to geographical region associated with the first promotion, and wherein the second potential buyer information comprises a geographical region that corresponds to the geographical region associated with the second promotion.

25. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein first promotion comprises a first plurality of parameters and the second promotion comprises a second plurality of parameters.

26. The promotion system of claim 25, wherein each of the first and second pluralities of parameters comprises two or more of:

an amount or value of a respective promotion, a quantity of a respective promotion, one or more goods and/or services associated with a respective promotion, one or more geographical regions to which a respective promotion applies and a time limit or expiration date of a respective promotion.

27. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein the first promotion comprises a first coupon and the second promotion comprises a second coupon.

28. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein the first item comprises a first good and/or service and the second item comprises a second good and/or service.

29. The promotion system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of plurality of potential buyer information comprises a plurality of potential buyer profiles.

30. A promotion management system supporting via a communication network, a buyer'"'"'s computer, a first seller'"'"'s computer, and a second seller'"'"'s computer, the promotion management system comprising:

a buyer'"'"'s interface delivered via the communication network to the buyer'"'"'s computer;

the buyer'"'"'s interface assisting in receipt from the buyer'"'"'s computer via the communication network, of location data corresponding to the buyer;

a seller'"'"'s interface delivered via the communication network to the first seller'"'"'s computer and the second seller'"'"'s computer;

the seller'"'"'s interface assisting in receipt from the first seller'"'"'s computer via the communication network a first promotion item description, and a first geographical identification;

the seller'"'"'s interface also assisting in receipt from the second seller'"'"'s computer via the communication network, a second promotion item description and, and a second geographical identification; and

a promotion email service that, based on a comparison of the location data corresponding to the buyer with both the first geographical identification and the second geographical identification, sends an email to the buyer'"'"'s computer identifying the first promotion item description but not the second promotion item description.

31. The promotion management system of claim 30, wherein the promotion management system comprises a promotional server that hosts promotion item postings from a plurality of sellers including the first seller and the second seller, and presents the buyer'"'"'s interface the and seller'"'"'s interface.

32. The promotion management system of claim 30, wherein first promotion item description comprises a first plurality of parameters and the second promotion item description comprises a second plurality of parameters.

33. The promotion management system of claim 32, wherein each of the first and second pluralities of parameters comprises two or more of:

an amount or value of a respective promotion, a quantity of a respective promotion, one or more goods and/or services associated with a respective promotion, and a time limit or expiration date of a respective promotion.

34. The promotion management system of claim 30, wherein a first promotion corresponding to the first promotion item description comprises a first coupon, and wherein a second promotion corresponding to the second promotion item description comprises a second coupon.