U.S. patent application number 12/984604 was filed with the patent office on 2011-05-05 for system and method for dynamic online auctions.
Invention is credited to Raz Gordon.
Application Number | 20110106644 12/984604 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 37680239 |
Filed Date | 2011-05-05 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110106644 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Gordon; Raz |
May 5, 2011 |
System and method for dynamic online auctions
Abstract
A commerce system and methods thereof, comprising a remote
server accessible via a network by client computers utilizing
client software such as browsers for interfacing with the remote
server. The server provides a commerce system that enables a seller
to list an item in an auction process implemented in the server.
The server receives proxy bids for the item from respective bidders
and generates automatically on behalf of at least one bidder an
offer for the item during the pendency of the auction process.
Inventors: |
Gordon; Raz; (Hadera,
IL) |
Family ID: |
37680239 |
Appl. No.: |
12/984604 |
Filed: |
January 5, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11458427 |
Jul 19, 2006 |
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12984604 |
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60595596 |
Jul 19, 2005 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
705/26.3 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 40/04 20130101;
G06Q 30/08 20130101; G06Q 30/0633 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/26.3 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A system comprising a server coupled to a network and configured
to: receive through the network item information from a seller for
listing of an item in an auction process implemented in the server,
the item information including a description of the item; receive
through the network one or more proxy bids for the item from one or
more respective bidders, each proxy bid being submitted to the
auction process, wherein the auction process is associated with an
end time and is configured to set a highest actual bid on behalf of
a highest proxy bid at an increment above a next highest proxy bid;
generate automatically on behalf of at least one bidder associated
with one of the one or more proxy bids an offer for the item during
the pendency of the auction process, wherein the offer indicates a
fixed price the at least one bidder is offering to pay for the
item, wherein the server is configured to receive an indication of
acceptance of the offer by the seller, wherein the offer expires if
not accepted by the seller within a predefined time, wherein the
offer is generated on behalf of the at least one bidder in response
to the occurrence of one or more predefined events.
2. The system of claim 1 further configured to: receive through the
network from the seller an indication of acceptance of the
offer.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more predefined events
comprises at least one of a time period prior to the end time and a
highest actual bid reaching a predefined threshold.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the offer is equal
to the amount of the one of the one or more proxy bids.
5. The system of claim 1 further configured to receive an
indication of rejection of the offer by the seller or determine a
lack of acceptance of the offer by the seller within the predefined
time.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the proxy bid associated with the
at least one bidder is converted to the offer.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the offer is converted back to
the proxy bid associated with the at least one bidder upon receipt
of the rejection of the offer by the seller or the lack of
acceptance of the offer by the seller within the predefined
time.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer is not cancelable by
the at least one bidder.
9. A method comprising: receiving at a server coupled to a network
item information from a seller for listing of an item in an auction
process implemented in the server, the item information including a
description of the item; receiving at the server one or more proxy
bids for the item from one or more respective bidders, each proxy
bid being submitted to the auction process, wherein the auction
process is associated with an end time and is configured to set a
highest actual bid on behalf of a highest proxy bid at an increment
above a next highest proxy bid; generating at the server
automatically on behalf of at least one bidder associated with one
of the one or more proxy bids an offer for the item during the
pendency of the auction process, wherein the offer indicates a
fixed price the at least one bidder is offering to pay for the
item, wherein the server is configured to receive an indication of
acceptance of the offer by the seller, wherein the offer expires if
not accepted by the seller within a predefined time, wherein the
offer is generated on behalf of the at least one bidder in response
to the occurrence of one or more predefined events.
10. The method of claim 9 further comprising: receiving at the
server from the seller an indication of acceptance of the
offer.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more predefined
events comprises at least one of a time period prior to the end
time and a highest actual bid reaching a predefined threshold.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein the amount of the offer is equal
to the amount of the one of the one or more proxy bids.
13. The method of claim 9 further comprising: receiving at the
server an indication of rejection of the offer by the seller or
determine a lack of acceptance of the offer by the seller within
the predefined time.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the proxy bid associated with
the at least one bidder is converted to the offer.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the offer is converted back to
the proxy bid associated with the at least one bidder upon receipt
of the rejection of the offer by the seller or the lack of
acceptance of the offer by the seller within the predefined
time.
16. The method of claim 9, wherein the offer is not cancelable by
the at least one bidder.
17. A system comprising a server coupled to a network and
configured to: receive through the network item information from a
seller for listing of an item in an auction process implemented in
the server, the item information including a description of the
item; receive through the network one or more proxy bids for the
item from one or more respective bidders, each proxy bid being
submitted to the auction process, wherein the auction process is
associated with an end time and is configured to set a highest
actual bid on behalf of a highest proxy bid at an increment above a
next highest proxy bid; convert automatically one of the one or
more proxy bids into a buyer-proposed offer for the item during the
pendency of the auction process, wherein the buyer-proposed offer
indicates a fixed price a bidder is offering to pay for the item,
wherein the server is configured to receive an indication of
acceptance of the buyer-proposed offer by the seller, wherein the
buyer-proposed offer is converted back to a proxy bid if not
accepted by the seller within a predefined time, wherein the one of
the one or more proxy bids is converted into the buyer-proposed
offer in response to the occurrence of one or more predefined
events.
18. The system of claim 1 further configured to: receive through
the network from the seller an indication of acceptance of the
buyer-proposed offer.
19. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more predefined
events comprises at least one of a time period prior to the end
time and a highest actual bid reaching a predefined threshold.
20. The system of claim 1, wherein the amount of the buyer-proposed
offer is equal to the amount of the one of the one or more proxy
bids.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 11/458,427, filed Jul. 19, 2006, entitled
"System and Method for Facilitating Network Based Commerce", which
claims the benefit under 35 USC .sctn.119(e)(1), to the filing date
of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/595,596,
entitled "System and Method for Facilitating Network Based
Commerce", filed on Jul. 19, 2005. Each of the aforementioned
patent applications is hereby incorporated herein by reference in
its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to network based commerce
systems. Network based commerce systems enable sellers to submit
information about their products and wares to a central server,
thereby making it widely accessible to potential buyers
communicating with the server. The information submitted by the
sellers is organized, stored and presented to buyers as a database
of listings, which may then be easily browsed and searched by the
buyers. Network based commerce systems employ multiple price
setting mechanisms for pricing items listed in the database. One
price setting mechanism is the seller-fixed price. The seller-fixed
price is published along with the item listing information, and a
transaction may be automatically executed by a buyer agreeing to
purchase the item for that price.
[0003] An auction price-setting mechanism is also commonly used for
establishing a market price for a listed item. A listed item being
sold under the auction model, would be published as such, and would
include specific auction details, such as minimum bid price,
auction end date, etc. Bidders browsing auction items may submit
bids, and compete against other bidders that are bidding for the
same item. Typically, at the auction end date, the highest bidder
wins the item.
[0004] A third pricing-setting mechanism is the buyer-proposed
price. A potential buyer interested in a particular listed item
would submit an offer consisting of an amount he's willing to pay
for the item. The offer is then communicated to the seller, which
either accepts or rejects the offer. The seller generally has the
option of immediately executing on the buyer proposed-offer,
thereby immediately effectuating a transaction between the buyer
proposing the offer and the seller.
[0005] A particular challenging aspect in existing network-based
commerce systems is the ability to employ two or more pricing
mechanisms for a single item. Different pricing methods appeal to
different buyers and it would be desirable to have them
simultaneously available for the same items.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] Described herein is a commerce system and methods thereof,
which comprises a remote server accessible via a network by client
computers utilizing client software such as browsers for
interfacing with the remote server. The server provides a commerce
system that enables sellers to post information of items for sale,
and for buyers to view the seller-provided information and to
transmit purchase requests or bids for listed items. In the
preferred embodiments the mechanism for negotiating a final selling
price for items listed at the commerce system is facilitated
through a number of pricing methods, including, seller-fixed price
process, auction price-setting process, and buyer-proposed pricing.
Multiple novel features and aspects for facilitating pricing of
items are described herein with respect to the preferred
embodiments. Additional novel features and aspects will be readily
understood to one skilled in the relevant art based on the
following disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0007] The present invention enhances existing network based
commerce systems. In the preferred embodiment of the present
invention, the commerce system comprises a remote server accessible
via a network (e.g. LAN, WAN, Internet and Intranet) by client
computers utilizing client software such as browsers for
interfacing with the remote server. The commerce system maintained
at the remote server enables sellers to post listing information
about items for sale and for buyers to browse and search the listed
items and to transmit purchase requests or bids for desired
items.
[0008] Reference is made to U.S. patent application Ser. No.
10/749,614, entitled "Method and system to publish a seller fixed
price offer", filed Dec. 30, 2003. Said application is hereby
incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The novel
features and enhancements described herein preferably augment,
supplement and/or enhance the commerce systems comprehensively
described in the aforementioned application.
[0009] In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the
mechanism for negotiating a final sale price for items listed in
the commerce system is facilitated through a number of pricing
methods, including, a seller-fixed price method, an auction
price-setting method, and a buyer-proposed price method, all of
which are herein described in detail. In addition, described herein
are also mechanisms for simultaneously enabling two alternative
price-setting methods for a single item.
Seller-Fixed Pricing Method
[0010] With the seller-fixed pricing method the seller indicates a
desired amount at which he's willing to sell the listed item. A
seller interfaces with the commerce system via a client computer
and submits a listing request to the commerce system. The seller
then transmits complete item information, such as a description of
the item, a picture, shipping costs, insurance costs and seller
contact information all of which are collected and stored in the
commerce system. The commerce system generates instructions
offering the seller the option to sell the item using an auction
price-setting process and/or a fixed price-setting process. The
seller transmits an indication that he wishes to sell the item
under the fixed-price setting process and indicates a fixed price
at which the item can be purchased. Preferably, the listing is only
valid for a specified time period (e.g. 7 days or 30 days), after
which the listing expires and is no longer available for view by
prospective buyers. Preferably, the system may enable the seller to
modify the fixed-price for a pending listed item. The seller may
choose to either increase or decrease the price for the listed
item. Typically, a seller may choose to decrease the price for the
item when he realizes that the current fixed price will not
generate a sale within the valid time period for the listing.
[0011] A buyer locates the network-based commerce system by
entering the commerce system identifier (e.g., a URL) into the
client program running on the buyer's client computer, which
transmits the commerce system identifier through the network. The
buyer may then interact with the commerce system through a
user-friendly interface provided at the buyer's client computer.
The buyer navigates the listings of available items stored at the
commerce system by utilizing browsing tools and search tools well
known in the art. The buyer may view detailed information for each
listed item provided by the seller for that item. The buyer may
also contact the seller via a special form interface and may submit
questions to the seller. If a buyer decides to purchase the item at
the indicated seller-fixed price, he may submit a purchase request
to the commerce server indicating his willingness to purchase the
item at the fixed price. The purchase request is legally binding on
both the buyer and the seller, and the commerce system facilitates
the completion of a transaction between the buyer and seller for
the sale of the listed item at the fixed price.
Auction Price-Setting Method
[0012] A seller may also choose to sell an item through a
network-based auction. A seller interfaces with the commerce system
via a client computer and submits a listing request to the commerce
system and selects the option to sell the item through an auction
process. The seller also transmits all the relevant listing
information, such as a item description, picture, and seller
contact information. The seller may also optionally set a minimum
bid amount and reserve amount for the item. The minimum bid amount
is the minimum bid amount allowed in bidding for the item. The
reserve amount indicates that the seller is not bound to sell the
item to the winning bidder in the event the auction process ends
with the winning bid being equal or lower than the reserve amount.
Each auction has a set end-time, which is the date and time
(preferably in exact hours and minutes) the auction ends and a
winning bid is determined from among the bids received prior to the
ending of the auction. The auction end-time is preferably set by
the seller that chooses from among several auction times periods
(e.g. 2 days, 3 days or 7 days auctions). If no bid is received
prior to the end time, the listing expires and the seller may then
choose to relist the item and conduct a new auction.
[0013] A prospective buyer navigating the listings available at the
commerce system may view a listed item being sold through a pending
auction. The buyer utilizing his client program may view all
relevant auction information, including the minimum bid amount
and/or the current bid amount for the listed item. If a reserve
price is specified for the item, the commerce system may be
configured to either disclose or not to disclose the reserve price
to the prospective buyer. The disclosure of the reserve price may
also be dependent on seller preference. The commerce system can
accept bids from bidders by providing an electronic form associated
with the listed item. The commerce system may preferably be
configured to accept a bid only if it surpasses the current bid for
the item. A bid submitted by a bidder is preferably not cancelable,
except in special situations, such as when the bidder mistakenly
enters an unreasonably high bid price, or when the seller
subsequently changes the item information.
[0014] All bids submitted by bidders are preferably proxy bids.
With a proxy bid the bidder indicates the highest price he is
willing to pay for the item. The commerce system then acts as a
proxy and bids on behalf of the proxy bidder a bid amount that is
an increment over the current bid. A first received proxy bid in an
auction, would cause the new current bid price to be set at an
increment above the minimum bid indicated by the seller. If no
minimum bid is indicated then the new current bid is set at an
increment above 0. The increment may either be a dollar amount
(e.g. $0.50), or may be a percentage increase over the previous
current bid or minimum bid amount. A subsequent bidder enters a
proxy bid, and the system sets the new current bid on behalf of the
second bidder at an increment above the previous current bid. The
system then automatically conducts competitive bidding among the
first and second bidder, and finally sets the current bid on behalf
of the bidder with the higher proxy bid, at an increment above the
lower proxy bid. In similar fashion multiple proxy bids for an item
may be received, with the current bid always being set on behalf of
the highest proxy bidder at an increment above the second highest
proxy bid. The proxy bid amount of each bidder may or may not be
disclosed to the seller and/or other bidders.
[0015] At the auction end-date, the highest current bid wins the
item. The system determines the winning bidder and sends electronic
notification to the seller and the highest bidder, and facilitates
buyer/seller communication in order to complete the transaction.
Both the seller and the highest bidder are legally bound to
complete the transaction.
Hybrid Pricing Method Listings
[0016] The commerce system may also allow sellers to list items
under both of the above pricing methods, that is, the auction
price-setting method and the seller-fixed pricing method. The
seller indicates to the commerce system his desire to sell the item
through both a seller fixed price and an auction price-setting
process. The item is auctioned in the same fashion as described
above. However, prior to the auction end-date a buyer may select to
terminate the auction process early and send a purchase request to
the commerce system to purchase the item at the seller fixed-price.
The commerce system may be configured to allow the availability for
purchasing the item at the fixed price even when one or more bids
have already been received for the auction process, so long as the
auction is still pending. Alternatively under a different
embodiment of the hybrid method, the system may automatically
remove the fixed-price purchase option once a first bid is received
in the auction.
Buyer-Proposed Offer Pricing Method
[0017] The commerce system may also provide a third pricing method
for a listed item. The buyer-proposed price method is initiated by
a buyer (i.e. a prospective buyer), which may communicate with the
commerce system and indicate the amount he's willing to pay for a
listed item. The buyer-proposed price method may be available for
all the items listed at the commerce system, including items that
are associated with a seller-fixed price and items that are being
auctioned through an auction price-setting process. Preferably, a
seller may also list an item that neither includes a seller-fixed
price and nor is it being sold through an auction, but is being
listed, simply to allow prospective buyers to submit proposed
offers. According to this method, a buyer indicates a desire to
purchase a listed item at a proposed price, thereby negotiating
with the seller to buy the item.
[0018] The commerce system receives the buyer-proposed offer, and
notifies the seller about the offer (e.g., via email, instant
messaging, and/or an update of listing information that is
available to the seller when he views his listed items).
[0019] When the seller receives the notification of the
buyer-proposed offer price, the seller may either accept or reject
offer. If the seller accepts the proposed price, the seller
transmits an indication of acceptance of the offer to the commerce
system. If the seller rejects the offer, no action on his part is
required, however he may optionally transmit an indication that he
rejects the offer, thereby causing the buyer to possibly reconsider
his/her proposed price, which may lead to a higher buyer-proposed
offer price.
[0020] The buyer-proposed offer is preferably cancelable at any
time by the buyer prior to acceptance of the offer by the seller.
Preferably, each buyer-proposed offer is associated with an
expiration date, which is the date and time the offer automatically
expires without any action required by the buyer submitting the
offer. The expiration date may be available for view by the seller,
or alternatively the expiration date is hidden from the seller. If
known to the seller, the system may proactively notify the seller
about buyer-proposed offers that were not read and are about to
expire.
[0021] Multiple buyer-proposed offers may be received by the
commerce system for a listed item all of which are sent or
displayed to the seller. When a seller accepts a proposed offer
price of a buyer it legally binds both the seller and the buyer to
consummate a sale of the item at the buyer-proposed price.
[0022] The commerce system may be configured to provide a buyer
with an option to submit multiple proposed offer prices to multiple
similar listings and create a conditional offer group. The buyer
may submit a single proposed price to all items in the group or may
indicate different prices for each item in the group. Each proposed
offer is a conditional offer, which is conditioned on the
non-execution of another offer in the group. When a seller for one
of the items in the group accepts the offer for that item, then all
other offers in the group are automatically cancelled. This ensures
the buyer that even if he submits multiple offers for multiple
items in the group only one offer in the group is executable by a
seller. The commerce system facilitates the grouping of buyer
offers through a user-friendly interface. When a buyer submits a
proposed offer price for an item, he is first prompted with the
option of creating a new group with which the offer may be
associated with, or he may associate the offer for the item with a
previously created group. Under an alternative embodiment the buyer
is prompted with a list of previously submitted and still valid
offers, and he may then select (e.g. by checking a box near a
listing of the list of previous offers) all the previous offers he
wishes to be contingent with the currently submitted offer, thus
the execution of one offer will cause the automatic cancellation of
the other offers.
[0023] As indicated above a buyer may submit a proposed offer for
an item that is associated with a pending auction. The option for
submitting a buyer-proposed offer is preferably available as long
as the auction is pending, regardless of whether or not one or more
bids have been received for the item. In this embodiment, when a
seller executes the buyer's offer, the auction is automatically
terminated and the buyer having submitted the offer is the legally
bound buyer for the item at the specified offer price. Preferably,
the seller may choose which buyer to select as the winning buyer
for the item. The seller may thus possibly select a lower offer by
another buyer, if he so desires.
[0024] In another embodiment when the seller accepts a
buyer-proposed offer price it will not necessarily guarantee that
buyer as the winner of the item. Rather the system may first mesh
the accepted buyer-proposed offer with the pending auction
price-setting process. The system will first determine whether or
not the highest proxy bid submitted in the auction process is
higher than the seller accepted buyer-proposed offer. If the
highest proxy bid in the auction process is lower then the accepted
buyer-proposed offer, then the highest buyer-proposed offer is the
winning buyer. However, if the highest proxy bid is higher then the
accepted buyer-proposed offer, then the system will automatically
set the winning bid for the highest proxy bidder at an increment
above the accepted buyer-proposed offer, and the highest proxy
bidder will be selected as the winning bidder and will be bound to
purchase the item at the newly set winning bid.
[0025] For example, if a highest proxy bidder in the auction
process has submitted a proxy bid of $100 for a particular item,
and the current bid has been determined by the commerce system at
$50, which is an increment above a $45 bid of the second highest
proxy bid. Thereafter, for the same item the system also receives a
buyer-proposed offer of $80, and sends the offer information to the
seller. The seller accepts the offer and sends an indication of
acceptance to the commerce system. The system then considers the
$80 buyer-proposed offer against the $100 highest proxy bid. The
system then chooses the highest proxy bidder as the winning bidder
and sets the winning bid price at $85.
[0026] Preferably, a proxy bidder may select at the time he submits
his bid (or at any time thereafter as long as the bid is valid and
the listing is still pending), the option of having his proxy bid
considered against a buyer proposed offer in the event the seller
accepts the buyer proposed offer. Alternatively, all proxy bids are
configured by the commerce system to be considered against a
buyer-proposed offer if the seller executes such offer.
[0027] In a further alternative embodiment, when a buyer-proposed
offer is submitted by a buyer for an item that is being sold via an
auction price-setting process, the system will not automatically
execute on the offer upon acceptance of the offer by the seller.
According to this approach, whenever a seller accepts a
buyer-proposed offer for a particular item, an indication of the
seller's acceptance is not immediately communicated to the bidder.
Instead, the offer is compared to each of the proxy bids received
for the item in the auction process. Each bidder that submitted a
proxy bid that is higher than the accepted buyer-proposed offer is
contacted and receives an option of submitting a buyer-proposed
offer of his own within a limited timeframe. At the end of this
limited timeframe, the buyer-proposed offers submitted by these
bidders and the offer the seller had already accepted, are ranked
and the highest offer wins the item (alternatively, the seller may
choose which, if any, of the newly submitted offers to accept, but
will necessarily be required to accept one offer from among the
newly submitted offers and the previously accepted offer). The
winning buyer (or selected buyer) is then contacted and a complete
transaction is facilitated.
[0028] According to this embodiment, the first buyer-proposed offer
(that was accepted by the seller and thereby triggered the process
of notifying the proxy bidders in the auction process), will
preferably not be cancelable by the buyer submitting that offer,
although he might not end up winning the item in the event his
offer is surpassed by other offers submitted within the limited
timeframe. The proxy-bidders that subsequently submit offers within
the limited timeframe in order to compete with the first
buyer-proposed offer may preferably be allowed to cancel their
offers within the limited timeframe period.
[0029] A buyer-proposed offer may be explicitly accepted or
rejected by the seller, or alternatively the seller may simply
ignore the offer. As noted above, the buyer may manually cancel the
offer at any time, or may set an expiration date for the offer to
expire automatically. In one embodiment, an offer which has been
not been accepted by the seller, and has not been cancelled by the
buyer, may preferably be automatically converted into a proxy bid
and may be considered in the simultaneously pending auction
process. Under such configuration a buyer-proposed offer that is
still pending at the auction end-time, will automatically be
converted to a proxy bid and will be considered against the other
proxy bids in the auction process. The buyer may preferably select
or deselect the option of configuring the offer as being
convertible into a proxy bid.
[0030] The commerce system may provide the seller with an
auto-response feature, for automatically responding to
buyer-proposed offers. The seller's auto-response may include the
following sub-features. (a) The seller may indicate a minimum
buyer-proposed offer that it will consider. Offers that are below
this minimum will automatically be rejected by the system on behalf
of the seller. (b) The seller may indicate a price at which the
commerce will automatically accept the offer on behalf of the
seller. This feature may include a "wait period", prior to the
system's acknowledgment of an acceptance of the offer. The
"wait-period" may be optional, and its duration may be set by the
seller. If subsequent buyer-proposed offers are received during the
wait period, the system may be configured to automatically restart
the wait period, starting from the receipt of the latest
buyer-proposed offer.
Sniping Prevention Methods
[0031] Network based auction systems often suffer from a phenomenon
commonly referred to as "sniping bids". Sniping bids are
last-minute bids that are intended to outbid offline users who
cannot raise their proxy bid and therefore lose the win they could
otherwise have. The following methods fight sniping by creating an
incentive for buyers to bid early on. Each of these methods may be
used alone or together with other methods.
[0032] Method 1: Convertible Proxy Bid. According to this method, a
bidder that has submitted a proxy bid to the auction process for a
particular item may be provided a feature for attaching "conversion
conditions" to his proxy bid. When these conditions are met the
proxy bid will automatically be converted into a buyer-proposed
offer and would be handled by the commerce system much in the same
way as the system handles other buyer-proposed offers as described
above.
[0033] The conditions attached by the bidder may include the
following: (1) a certain time period before the auction ends; (2)
the highest bid has reached a certain threshold (i.e. the highest
current bid in the auction process has surpassed a threshold bid
set by the bidder). When any (or all) of these conditions are met
the commerce system will automatically convert the proxy bid to a
buyer-proposed offer equal to the proxy bid price. The commerce
will then proceed with one of the methods previously described for
communicating and processing such buyer proposed offers. If the
offer is rejected or a response is not received within a given time
period, the offer may be converted back to a proxy bid, and will
proceed under the auction process. Preferably, a bidder using this
conversion feature may not cancel the offer, even when it is under
the buyer-proposed offer status.
[0034] Method 2: Late Bidder Charge. The idea behind this method is
to make late bidding/winning more expensive and thereby degrade the
competitiveness of the late bidder. This encourages the bidder to
bid early on, and penalizes "snipers".
[0035] Proxy bids that are submitted within a specified time period
prior to the end of the auction will be subject to a special
charge. This charge will generally not be considered for comparison
with the other proxy bids but is rather treated as an additionally
applied fee.
[0036] The amount charged may be determined by the following
methods: (1) fixed Fee: a "late bidding fee", which applies to all
bids submitted within a predefined time period prior to the auction
end time; (2) sliding Fee: a "late bidding fee", which increases as
the submittal time of the bid is closer to the auction end
time.
[0037] The Late Bidder Charge may be collected for submitting a
late bid (regardless of whether the bid will win or not), or may be
charged only if the bids ultimately wins the auction.
[0038] The amount accrued from Late Bidder Charges may be used in
any of the following ways: (1) Used to improve the highest early
bid: the charges collected are added to the proxy bid of the bidder
that had the highest early bid (an early bid is such which was
submitted early enough and is not subject to Late Bidder Charges).
This is practical only when Late Bidder Charges are collected for
submitting a late bid, even if the Late Bidder does not actually
win the auction. When sniping is heavily used (i.e. many late bids
are submitted), the highest early bidder gets a big advantage over
the late bidder. (2) It may be transferred to the highest early
bidder as "sniping compensation"--he/she lost the auction, but at
least earned some money. (3) Collected by the auction system. (4)
Transferred to the seller.
[0039] Method 3: Random Auction End Time. This method makes sniping
difficult because the end time of the auction is non-deterministic.
The auction system randomizes the end-time within a predefined
window, which is wide enough to defeat the sniping effect.
[0040] Method 4: Late Bidder Random Delay of Bid Submittal. This
method is similar to the Random Auction End Time, but presents the
non-deterministic challenge only to the late bidders (early bidders
see a deterministic situation). Each late bid (such which is
submitted within a predefined time period prior to the auction end
time) is assigned a random delay in submitting the bid to the
commerce system. The auction system randomizes this delay, and the
delay may or may not be presented to the bidder and/or the other
participants of the auction. The delay may be longer than the time
left for the auction. Therefore, the sniper risks a situation in
which his bid will not be considered at all.
[0041] Method 5: Idle Auction Early Termination. This method
encourages bidders to bid early on in order not to lose the chance
to bid. The idea is that if the auction is "idle" for a long period
of time (i.e. no new bids are submitted for a long time, or the
highest bid was not significantly raised for a long time), the
auction system terminates the auction. There may be two kinds of
termination: (1) Abort: the auction is withdrawn and no winner is
announced. (2) Accept: the highest bidder at the time the auction
is terminated is announced the winner.
[0042] Method 6: Limited Proxy Bidding. With this method every bid
received within a certain time period prior to the end-date of the
auction will not be considered as a proxy bid, but will be
considered as an actual bid and will be set as the current bid
price. For example, the system may be configured such that at 12
hours prior to the end date of the auction proxy bidding will be
disabled and all newly entered bids received will be considered as
actual bids. This method encourages early bidding because, in order
to win, late bidders will have to spend a considerable amount of
time in order to follow the developments in the auction and upgrade
their bids manually.
Disclaimers
[0043] The present invention has been described in its preferred
embodiments and the various novelty aspects of the present
invention may be readily appreciated. Various modifications to the
preferred embodiments are envisioned, which may include one or more
of the novelty aspects described herein, without departing from the
spirit and scope of the invention.
[0044] Appended to this specification are one or more claims, which
include both independent claims and dependent claims. Each
dependent claim refers to a previous claim, and should be construed
to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the previous
claim to which it refers. Further, each dependent claim of the
present application should be construed and attributed meaning as
having at least one additional limitation or element not present in
the claim to which it refers. In other words, the claim to which
each dependent claim refers is to be construed and attributed
meaning as being broader than such dependent claim.
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