Patent ID: 6631356
Filing Date: 2003-10-07
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
A system for aggregating demand through an on-line buying group, which comprises:(a) an e-commerce server data processing system, said e-commerce server data processing system including e-commerce server software executable on said e-commerce server data processing system and configured to define a buying co-op for a featured product by specifying the featured product for the co-op, a time interval during which the co-op is available, any minimum or maximum quantities of the featured product available through the co-op, and one or more price curves for the featured product available through the co-op, said e-commerce server software further being configured to receive offers from buyers and to take orders for the featured product upon seller acceptance of received buyer offers and said e-commerce server software also configured to notify a buyer who has made an unsuccessful offer and urge the buyer to make a new irrevocable offer at a higher price, prior to closing the buyer's co-op, which the seller may find acceptable; and (b) a buyer client data processing system coupled to said e-commerce server data processing system, said buyer client data processing system including first client software executable on said buyer client data processing system and configured to receive data from said e-commerce data processing system describing the buying co-op for the featured product, to display the data describing the buyer's co-op for the featured product on the buyer client data processing system, and to receive buyer order inputs that include the buyer's offer for the featured product and to transmit the buyer order inputs for the featured product to said e-commerce server data processing system.