Facilitating electronic commerce through two-tiered electronic markets and auctions
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented two-tiered electronic auction system comprising:
- a data repository storing information corresponding to an inventory of one or more available items;
a first-tier providing a first participant access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository, the inventory being offered to the first participant under a first pricing scheme; and
a second-tier providing a second participant, different from the first participant, access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository, the inventory being offered to the second participant under a second pricing scheme different from the first pricing scheme.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A computer-implemented two-tiered electronic market system includes a data repository storing information corresponding to an inventory of one or more available items and a first-tier electronic market (e.g., a retail tier) that provides a first participant (e.g., a retail consumer) access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository. The inventory is offered to the first participant under a first (e.g., retail) pricing scheme. The two-tiered electronic market system also includes a second-tier electronic market (e.g., a wholesale tier) that provides a second participant (e.g., a wholesale dealer), different from the first participant, access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository. The inventory is offered to the second participant under a second (e.g., wholesale) pricing scheme different from the first pricing scheme. Electronic commerce is facilitated using an electronic auction system having at least a wholesale tier and a retail tier by presenting for auction an item description stored in a database operationally coupled to the electronic auction system. The presentation of the item includes a current retail bid amount. A wholesale bid is received from at least one wholesale-tier participant and the current retail bid amount is selectively displaced if the received wholesale bid increased by a predetermined amount is greater than the current retail bid.
537 Citations
50 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented two-tiered electronic auction system comprising:
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a data repository storing information corresponding to an inventory of one or more available items;
a first-tier providing a first participant access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository, the inventory being offered to the first participant under a first pricing scheme; and
a second-tier providing a second participant, different from the first participant, access to the inventory of one or more items in the data repository, the inventory being offered to the second participant under a second pricing scheme different from the first pricing scheme. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A computer-implemented method of facilitating commercial transactions by providing a two-tiered electronic auction, the method comprising:
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maintaining a first-tier electronic auction at a computer system, the first electronic auction comprising items offered to consumer participants under a retail pricing scheme;
maintaining a second-tier electronic auction at the computer system, the second electronic auction comprising items offered to dealer participants under a wholesale pricing scheme; and
linking the first-tier and second-tier electronic auctions through a data repository having data records that represent items concurrently available in both of the first-tier and second-tier electronic auctions. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
receiving payment information from at least one participant in the first or second electronic auction, the received payment information being associated with a transaction at the first or second electronic auction.
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35. A method for facilitating electronic commerce using an electronic auction system having at least a wholesale tier and a retail tier, the method comprising:
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presenting for auction an item description stored in a database operationally coupled to the electronic auction system, the presentation of the item including a current retail bid amount;
receiving a wholesale bid from at least one wholesale-tier participant; and
selectively displacing the current retail bid amount if the received wholesale bid increased by a predetermined amount is greater than the current retail bid. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A system for facilitating electronic commerce transactions among participants in an electronic auction using a data packet network, the system comprising:
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a first data storage location for storing information relating to an item for auction, the stored information indicating at least one of a retail price term for a retail-tier participant and a wholesale price term for a wholesale-tier participant;
a second data storage location for storing a user identification identifying a participant as either a retail-tier participant or a wholesale-tier participant; and
a display process for selectively displaying, depending on the user identification stored in the second data storage location, at least one of the retail price term to retail-tier participants and the wholesale price term to wholesale-tier participants.
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46. A two-tiered auction system comprising:
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a retail tier in which a bid on an item from a retail auction participant is evaluated based on an amount of the bid received from the retail auction participant;
a wholesale tier in which a bid on the item from a wholesale auction participant is evaluated based on an amount of the bid received from the wholesale auction participant increased by a predetermined amount; and
a process for differentiating retail auction participants from wholesale auction participants.
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- 47. A method of conducting two-tiered auctions comprising treating received bids differently depending on whether the participant from whom a bid is received is a retail participant or a wholesale participant.
Specification