Marketplace system in which users generate user-to-user preorder listings via a definitive product catalog

Abstract

An electronic marketplace system provides various features for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product's detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided, and information regarding the resulting preorders may be displayed on the associated product detail pages to entice potential sellers. In one embodiment, the electronic catalog also serves as a retail sales catalog of a merchant.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 142,657, filed May 9, 2002, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 336,409, filed Oct. 31, 2001, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 351,207, filed Jan. 22, 2002. The disclosures of the aforesaid applications are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to electronic marketplaces through which users buy and sell items over a computer network. More specifically, the invention relates to user interfaces and methods through which users may place items for sale, locate items offered by others, and perform related actions within an electronic marketplace. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] As the popularity and accessibility of computer networks continue to increase, it has become common for retail merchants to set up online “stores” for marketing and selling products. Typically, an online s...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009] Various inventive features are disclosed for facilitating user-to-user and other sales in an electronic marketplace, including features for assisting users in efficiently creating and locating marketplace listings. These features may be embodied individually or in an appropriate combination within a particular system.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the marketplace system includes a database of information about products that may be listed by users within an online marketplace. This information typically includes product IDs, and descriptions and product images provided by manufacturers or distributors of the products. The product information in this database is viewable by end users through a browsable electronic catalog in which each product is preferably fully identified within a corresponding product detail page. Each product detail page typically includes a product image and description, and may include customer ratings, customer and professional reviews, sales rank data, lists of related products, and / or other types of supplemental data that may assist consumers in making informed purchase decisions. This supplemental data may be maintained or generated by the operator of the marketplace system as a service to its customers. Users of the system can preferably locate specific product detail pages within the catalog by executing search queries, navigating a browse tree, or using any other navigation method supported by the particular system.

Problems solved by technology

User-to-user sales systems have the potential to attract large numbers of users, thereby potentially generating large and varied product listings of both new and used products.

However, such systems commonly suffer from a number of deficiencies.

The task of creating marketplace listings can therefore be cumbersome—particularly for small sellers.

As a result, buyers seeking certain products often fail to find relevant listings, and sometimes become overwhelmed in less-relevant listings.

Further, small sellers sometimes fail to fully and accurately describe their products, resulting in lost sales and / or erroneous purchases.

Images