Abstract:
Techniques are provided in which the current price of a commodity purchased from a seller by a buyer with a price guarantee policy is monitored. Upon detection of the current price dropping below the purchase price, the buyer and seller are notified, leading to a rebate being provided to the buyer from the seller to be redeemed based on the terms of the price guarantee policy. In some embodiments, buyers are offered incentives, such as a discounted price, in exchange for a reduced time period within which a price guarantee policy is redeemable.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    In the face of the increase in use of the Internet to shop rather than using traditional brick-and-mortar retailers, and the ensuing ease of comparison shopping based on price that the Internet has made available to consumers, more and more brick-and-mortar retailers have begun offering price guarantee to consumers who purchase from them. Typically this price guarantee is made in the form of a guarantee that if the user finds a competitor selling the same item for less money during a specified time window (generally, 30, 60, or 90 days), that the retailer will refund the difference between the actual amount the consumer paid originally and the price he or she could obtain from a competitor. Not only does this give the consumer confidence in making the initial purchase from the brick-and-mortar retailer, but it also helps reduce returns, which can be costly for brick-and-mortar retailers. 
         [0002]    In addition to protecting the consumer in cases where a competitor offers a product for less money within the specified time period, the price guarantee generally also extends to the retailers own prices, in that should the retailer drop the price or offer a sale on the product within the specified time period, the consumer is also able to obtain a refund. 
         [0003]    This type of price guarantee, however, is rarely taken advantage of by the consumer. Most consumers do not have the time or simply forget to track a retailer&#39;s price of a product, and even less time to bring the receipt back to the retailer and obtain a refund within the specified time period. As such, a large number of potential refunds go unredeemed. 
         [0004]    There is a need for better techniques for keeping track of all the product purchase and track how these product price matched with other web sites and retailers 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    Some embodiments of the invention provide techniques that include monitor the current price of a commodity purchased by a buyer with a price guarantee policy. Upon detection of the current price dropping below the purchase price, the buyer and seller are notified, leading to a rebate being provided to the buyer from the seller to be redeemed based on the terms of the price guarantee policy. 
         [0006]    In some embodiments, techniques are provided to offer buyers an incentive, such as a discounted price, in exchange for a reduced time period within which a price guarantee policy is redeemable. In some embodiments, techniques are provided to periodically search for current prices of the purchased commodity in a given time period rather than at a single one point in time. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a distributed computer system according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating a method according to one embodiment of the invention; 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the invention; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
       [0012]    While the invention is described with reference to the above drawings, the drawings are intended to be illustrative, and the invention contemplates other embodiments within the spirit of the invention. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]      FIG. 1  is a distributed computer system  100  according to one embodiment of the invention. The system  100  includes user computers  104 , advertiser computers  106  and server computers  108 , all coupled or able to be coupled to the Internet  102 . Although the Internet  102  is depicted, the invention contemplates other embodiments in which the Internet is not included, as well as embodiments in which other networks are included in addition to the Internet, including one more wireless networks, WANs, LANs, telephone, cell phone, or other data networks, etc. The invention further contemplates embodiments in which user computers or other computers may be or include wireless, portable, or handheld devices such as cell phones, PDAs, etc. 
         [0014]    Each of the one or more computers  104 ,  106 ,  108  may be distributed, and can include various hardware, software, applications, algorithms, programs and tools. Depicted computers may also include a hard drive, monitor, keyboard, pointing or selecting device, etc. The computers may operate using an operating system such as Windows by Microsoft, etc. Each computer may include a central processing unit (CPU), data storage device, and various amounts of memory including RAM and ROM. Depicted computers may also include various programming, applications, algorithms and software to enable searching, search results, and advertising, such as graphical or banner advertising as well as keyword searching and advertising in a sponsored search context. Many types of advertisements are contemplated, including textual advertisements, rich advertisements, video advertisements, etc. 
         [0015]    As depicted, each of the server computers  108  includes one or more CPUs  110  and a data storage device  112 . The data storage device  112  includes a database  116  and a Price Guarantee Program  114 . 
         [0016]    The Program  114  is intended to broadly include all programming, applications, algorithms, software and other and tools necessary to implement or facilitate methods and systems according to embodiments of the invention. The elements of the Program  114  may exist on a single server computer or be distributed among multiple computers or devices. 
         [0017]    Various monetization techniques or models may be used in connection with advertising, such as sponsored search advertising, including advertising associated with user search queries, and non-sponsored search advertising, including graphical or display advertising. In an auction-based online advertising marketplace, advertisers may bid in connection with placement of advertisements, although many other factors may also be included in determining advertisement selection or ranking Bids may be associated with amounts the advertisers pay for certain specified occurrences, such as for placed or clicked-on advertisements, for example. 
         [0018]    Advertiser payment for online advertising may be divided between parties including one or more publishers or publisher networks, and one or more marketplace facilitators or providers, potentially among other parties. Some models include guaranteed delivery advertising, in which advertisers may pay based on an agreement guaranteeing or providing some measure of assurance that the advertiser will receive a certain agreed upon amount of suitable advertising, and non-guaranteed delivery advertising, which may be individual serving opportunity-based or spot market-based. In various models, advertisers may pay based on any of various metrics associated with advertisement delivery or performance, or associated with measurement or approximation of a particular advertiser goal. For example, models can include, among other things, payment based on cost per impression or number of impressions, cost per click or number of clicks, cost per action for some specified action, cost per conversion or purchase, or cost based on some combination of metrics, which can include online or offline metrics. In some embodiments of the invention, payment may be based on assessed favorable branding or brand engagement value, for example. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram illustrating a method  200  according to one embodiment of the invention. At step  202 , using one or more computers, one or more price guarantee policies are retrieved from one or more sellers, wherein the price guarantee policies include one or more price guarantee limits for one or more time periods as to when one or more price guarantee rebates can be obtained. At step  204 , using one or more computers, pricing information is received for one or more commodities from the sellers. 
         [0020]    At step  206 , using one or more computers, based on at least the price guarantee policies from the sellers and the pricing information, offer for sale information for the commodities is generated and sent to one or more buyers, wherein the offer for sale information includes the price guarantee policies associated with each of the commodities, and wherein generating and sending offer for sale information comprises displaying the offer for sale information to the buyers in response to a search query. At step  208 , using one or more computers, purchase information regarding one or more purchases of the commodities made by the buyers is received, wherein purchase information includes at least a purchase identification, purchase date, purchase price, and any offer for sale information for the commodities. 
         [0021]    At step  210 , using one or more computers, a current price for the commodities associated with the purchase identification is monitored and stored periodically. At step  212 , using one or more computers, if the current price for the commodities associated with the purchase identification falls below the price guarantee limits of the price guarantee policies associated with each of the commodities within the time periods measured from the purchase date, the purchase information is sent to the sellers with a request for the price guarantee rebate for the buyers. At step  214 , using one or more computers, an indication that the price guarantee rebate has been granted for the buyers to receive a refund amount is received. At step  216 , using one or more computers, the refund amount is sent as a credit to one or more accounts of the buyers. 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating a method  300  according to one embodiment of the invention. At step  302 , using one or more computers, one or more price guarantee policies are retrieved from one or more sellers, wherein the price guarantee policies include one or more price guarantee limits for one or more time periods as to when one or more price guarantee rebates can be obtained, where the price guarantee rebates include an offer for a gift card redeemable with the sellers. At step  304 , using one or more computers, pricing information is received for one or more commodities from the sellers. 
         [0023]    At step  306 , using one or more computers, based on at least the price guarantee policies from the sellers and the pricing information, offer for sale information for the commodities is generated and sent to one or more buyers, wherein the offer for sale information includes the price guarantee policies associated with each of the commodities, and wherein the offer for sale information includes one or more prices for the commodities with different price guarantee limits for different time periods such that the price guarantee limits increase in proportion to the span of the time periods. At step  308 , using one or more computers, purchase information regarding one or more purchases of the commodities made by the buyers is received, wherein purchase information includes at least a purchase identification, purchase date, purchase price, and any offer for sale information for the commodities. 
         [0024]    At step  310 , using one or more computers, a current price for the commodities associated with the purchase identification is monitored and stored periodically, wherein monitoring and storing periodically comprises monitoring the current price as displayed by online sellers. At step  312 , using one or more computers, if the current price for the commodities associated with the purchase identification falls below the price guarantee limits of the price guarantee policies associated with each of the commodities within the time periods measured from the purchase date, the purchase information is sent to the sellers with a request for the price guarantee rebate for the buyers. At step  314 , using one or more computers, an indication that the price guarantee rebate has been granted for the buyers to receive a refund amount is received. At step  316 , using one or more computers, the refund amount is sent as a credit to one or more accounts of the buyers. 
         [0025]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the invention. Various types of information are stored by a seller  402  in one or more information folders, represented by Block  404 . In the present embodiment, the seller  402  has stored in information folders  404 , among other things, a list of cleaning services offered; pricing information for the cleaning services; price guarantee policies for the cleaning services; and purchase history of different consumers. This information is sent to a database  406  for use in generating offer for sale information for the cleaning services offered by the seller  402  with a price guarantee and, subsequently displaying them to a potential consumer  410 , as represented by Block  408 . In some embodiments, displaying the offer for sale information includes, but is not limited to, displaying on a website for the seller, a third-party website visited by the consumer  410 , e-mail, social network message, mobile device display, and short message service (SMS). 
         [0026]    As shown in Block  412 , based on the consumer  410  making a purchase based on the offer for sale information  408 , current prices are monitored such that if the current price for the purchase made by the consumer  410  falls below the price guarantee, the seller  402  and the consumer  410  are both alerted. In the present embodiment, if the price for the cleaning services purchased by the consumer  410  falls below the price guarantee, the seller  402  and consumer  410  are both alerted. Based on this event, a refund is sent to the consumer  410  by the seller  402  based on the current price of the purchased cleaning service falling below the price guarantee, as shown in Block  414 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of the invention. Various sellers and online retailers  502  have price guarantee policies and pricing information, represented by Block  504 , related to commodities they are selling available for the online community to obtain. For example, in the present embodiment, sellers and online retailers  502  of laptop computers have created price guarantee policies related to their inventory of laptop computers  504 . By the same token, buyers are, at any given time, searching for particular items they are interested in purchasing. In the present example, a buyer  506  is entering a search query into an online search engine to search for a laptop computer he/she is interested in purchasing, represented by Block  508 . In the present embodiment, both the price guarantee policies and pricing information of the laptop sellers and online retailers (Block  504 ) and the online search query of a potential laptop buyer (Block  508 ) are sent to and gathered by a common database  510 . 
         [0028]    Based on the information received by the database  510 , a set of offers is generated for the seller&#39;s products and/or services and presented to the potential buyer with different incentives. For example, as represented by Block  512 , three different offers for the buyer  506  to purchase the laptop searched for (Block  508 ) are presented based on the price guarantee policies and pricing information (Block  504 ) given by the seller  502 . The buyer  506  can either: (a) purchase the laptop at $700 with a 30 day price guarantee; (b) purchase the laptop at $650 with a 20 day price guarantee; or (c) purchase the laptop at $650 with a $20 gift card and 10 day price guarantee, as represented by Block  512 . In effect, the buyer  504  is presented with a lower price for foregoing a lengthier time period within which to potentially redeem a price guarantee policy by the sellers and online retailers  502 . 
         [0029]    Based on the option among the set of offers (Block  512 ) purchased by the buyer  502 , the current price for the purchased item is monitored based on the prices presented by sellers and online retailers  502  and, if the current price falls below the price guarantee associated with the purchase within the specified time period, the seller  502  will refund the difference in price directly to the buyer  506 . In the present embodiment, the buyer  506  chooses to purchase the laptop at $650 with a 20 day price guarantee among the set of options shown by Block  512 . Accordingly, the current price for the purchased laptop is monitored amongst various sellers and online retailers  502 , as represented by Block  516 . If the current price for the laptop were to fall below the price guarantee within the 20 day price guarantee time period, the seller  502  would directly refund the buyer  506  an amount equal to the difference in the current price and purchase price, as represented by Block  518 . 
         [0030]    While the invention is described with reference to the above drawings, the drawings are intended to be illustrative, and the invention contemplates other embodiments within the spirit of the invention.