Patent Publication Number: US-2009240584-A1

Title: Method and system for conducting online cash deposit auctions for transacting assets and other goods and services

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This patent application is related to and claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61/069,771 filed Mar. 18, 2008 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONDUCTING ONLINE CASH DEPOSIT AUCTIONS FOR TRANSACTING ASSETS AND OTHER CONSUMER GOODS AND SERVICES and U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/781,303 filed Jul. 23, 2007 entitled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE AT AN OPTIMAL PRICE ON THE INTERNET which application is incorporated herein by this reference thereto. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to a method and system for transacting assets and other consumer goods and services using online cash deposit auctions. More specifically, the present invention involves an internet-based method and software, which allows potential purchasers to buy goods or services they desire after successfully bidding for a specified sum of money on an online auction. In this manner, buyers will be able to subsidize their purchases. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     In conventional market items such as real estate assets, luxury cars and other consumer goods and services are often advertised online in order to attract purchasers. However, purchasers can only buy such items provided they can afford to pay for them or if they are able to arrange finances for the purchase. Affordability has always been a major problem. Buyers&#39; desires are unlimited but the means to meet them are limited. 
     In this context, reverse auction (U.S. Pat. No. 7,024,376) may be useful as it allows purchases to be made at discounted prices. However, reverse bids are usually available only to large businesses or to those who are buying in bulk. In such an approach, buyers state the price at which they are willing to buy and vendors try to match the price. Hence, the vendors have to compete against each other to sell the goods and services at a lowest possible price in order to match the price at which the buyers are willing to buy. Furthermore, the sellers or suppliers are not always able to provide ASSETS OR OTHER goods and services for sale at discounted prices. 
     Another popular online buying and selling option is the unique lowest bidding, whereby a bidder who has bid for the lowest unique price is the one who is able to obtain the goods and services. There are various sites such as www.unique-bid.com, www.bidclever.com and www.auctionair.com offering buyers the opportunity to bid for goods and services at lowest possible prices. The disadvantage of this method is that the sellers wishing to sell through such websites have to offer discounts to attract potential purchasers. Hence, such approach will not have a wide appeal amongst the sellers as they do not want to accept low prices for their products or services. Furthermore, the bidders will only be able to bid for goods and services, which are offered on the website. 
     Most importantly, when it comes to selling high-value assets such as real estate assets, the owners are rarely willing to sell their properties at a discount unless there is a pressing need to do so. On the other hand, buyers, especially first time buyers are forced out of the market due to the ever-increasing property prices or lack of mortgages. 
     What is therefore needed is a method and system which allows the buyers to buy the goods and services they desire at a significant discount or possibly free and the seller to supply those goods and services at their full price without offering any discount. The present invention offers this opportunity. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of auctions now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new means by which cash deposit auctions may occur wherein the sellers of goods and services can realize full value while bidders can purchase such items using the cash won in the auction. 
     The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a cash deposit auction system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, taught, or even implied by any of the prior art auctions or auction methods, either alone or in any combination thereof. 
     In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of auction systems now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a coordinated system by which a person may sell his assets or other consumer goods and services for full value while allowing buyers to purchase these utilizing the fund created from the fees paid by the potential sellers. 
     The general purpose of the present invention, which is described in greater detail below, is to provide an integrated cash deposit auction sales method by which sellers can market their assets or goods and services to potential buyers at lower costs than using a conventional marketing channel. Assets or other goods and services can then be purchased using the fund that is generated from the fees paid by the potential sellers and which is offered for auction making it easier for buyers to obtain the items without having to pay for their full value. 
     The system allows the potential sellers to advertise their business details and/or the full details of the assets or other goods and services they want to sell using the system upon a payment of a fee. The fund thus created will then be auctioned off. Depending on the size of the cash to be auctioned off and the duration of the auction period, bidding can be free or pay-per-bid. The auctions can also be either a forward or a reverse auction. In case of the former, the person submitting the highest bid will win the specified amount of cash. In the latter case, the successful bidder will be the one who has the lowest unique bid, which has not been offered by any other bidder. 
     Once the winner is identified, the successful bidder will proceed with the purchase of the assets or goods and services listed on the web-site or any other goods and services direct from the sellers who advertise their services or businesses on the web-site. Once the successful bidder selects the goods and services, the seller is paid using the cash that was won by the successful bidder in the online cash deposit auction. If the value of the goods and services selected is greater than the cash deposit won, then the winner is asked to pay the difference. Once the winner makes such payment or if there is no difference to be paid, a payment equal to the cash deposit won is made to the relevant sellers on behalf of the winner. Then the bidder takes possession of the property. 
     As a result, the cash deposit auction process produces opportunity for the buyers to obtain goods and services for free or at a discount and at the same time allowing the sellers to sell those items (whether or not these items are listed on the web-site) at their full price, which otherwise would not have been possible had they chosen a conventional method of buying and selling such goods and services. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     The present invention provides a method and system for transacting assets and other consumer goods and services using online cash deposit auctions. The method and system consists of four phases, wherein phase one generates details of assets or goods and services offered for sale through the system or simply the details of the sellers who want to sell any items using the system, phase two alerts and allows potential buyers to bid for the cash deposits, phase three identifies and alerts the successful bidder and phase four allows the winner to select any items whether or not listed on the website from those sellers who advertise their businesses on the site and allows the successful bidder to pay for the item using the auctioned cash. 
     In the following details description, like reference numerals are used to refer to various elements of the invention shown in the figure thereof. Referring now to  FIG. 1 , the advertising, auctioning and auction funding of the invention comprising a four-phase process is shown. 
     Phase one: In phase one ( 101 ), the system allows the potential seller to upload their own logo, business descriptions or the description of the assets or goods and services they want to sell through the system. The sellers then pay for the listing in a specified manner. The listing fee is then utilised to create a fund to run daily, weekly or monthly auctions ( 103 ). Depending on the size of the available fund, the administrator sets the auction closing date and invites potential purchasers to bid for the cash deposits offered for auction ( 105 ). 
     The seller utilizes an input device such as a PC to access the advertising and auctioning website associated with the cash deposit auction method ( 101 ). The cash deposit auction website includes a server and any combination of hardware and software necessary to carry out the functions described herein. 
     Phase two: Once the details have been posted, the system then alerts the potential bidders whose details exist in the system&#39;s database, about the assets or goods and services, sellers&#39; businesses and the cash auctions by sending to their computers and/or text messages to their mobile phones ( 107 ). The purchasers can then view one or more web pages associated with the advertising-auctioning process. From one of the web pages, the purchasers provide payment details and enter their bid ( 109 ). The server associated with the advertising-auctioning site receives the data pertaining to the bid. The bidders can regularly monitor their bid position by logging on to their account on the website. 
     Phase three: Once the auction closes, the system identifies the winning bid and the successful bidder is informed by email/text messages ( 111 ). The successful bidder is then given instruction to select any of the assets, consumer goods and services they want to purchase listed on the website or other unlisted items from the sellers whose detail appear on the site ( 112 ). 
     Phase four: Once the successful bidder confirms that the assets or goods and services equal to or greater than the value of the cash deposit auction have been selected, the winner will be able to purchase the items selected using the cash deposit won at the auction. In cases where the value of the item chosen is greater than the cash deposit won, the successful bidder will be asked to pay any difference between the total value of the items thus selected and the cash deposit won in the auction ( 114 ). Once such payment is made to the seller or if the value of the goods and services selected is equal to the cash deposit won, the cash deposit is released to the seller after which the purchaser can collect the goods and services to close the deal ( 116 ). 
     The present invention has the following benefits listed below: 
     1. The present invention is an innovative cash deposit auction system based on bidders competing to win the cash deposit at the lowest or highest possible cost at the end of the auction but which still satisfies not only the bid-winner, but the seller and auction system manager as well. 
     2. This system allows for the buyers to secure additional purchasing power by bidding for the cash auction which if won can be used to buy the goods and services from the seller who has advertised on the website. 
     3. Using this system sellers can not only advertise their businesses and assets goods or services for sale on the website but also utilize alternative mechanism for funding the purchases of their customers who want to buy these assets, goods or services from them.