Patent Publication Number: US-2011054989-A1

Title: Methods for Providing Network Marketing and Revenue Sharing to Participants of an Electronic Marketplace System

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     A marketplace provides a forum for buyers and sellers to meet, showcase goods and services, and trade money or other valuable compensation for selected items. Over the last two decades, many marketplaces have been developed to utilize telecommunication networks, such as the Internet to broaden their reach and presence. Accordingly, buyers and sellers typically meet virtually at an electronic marketplace, commonly implemented as an E-commerce website. While some sites are dedicated to a single seller of goods or services, other sites allow for multiple sellers of goods to list their goods and compete for customers. The fantastic proliferation of E-commerce websites, or marketplaces, has resulted in challenges related to marketing the marketplace itself as well as marketing challenges for particular sellers of goods within the marketplace. Moreover, there is tremendous competition for customer given the vast number of E-commerce sites. Similarly, producers of goods and services must choose between the various marketplaces when deciding which marketplace place to use for listing their goods and services. 
     SUMMARY 
     A method of sharing marketplace revenue includes recognizing revenue generated from the sale of an item supplied to the marketplace by a first marketplace participant and apportioning the revenue to at least a second marketplace participant associated with the first marketplace participant. A computer based system for implementing the foregoing method is also described herein. The system may include a marketplace server connected to a telecommunications network and configured to exchange electronic communications over the network with a plurality of participants and a plurality customers. The system may further include a datastore communicatively coupled to the server configured to store listings of goods and services being offered on the marketplace, the marketplace participant associated with each of the goods and services, transaction details of the sale of items from the listing of goods and services, and a recruitment network identifying recruitment associations between the plurality of participants. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The features and advantages of the various exemplary approaches of this disclosure, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary system for an electronic marketplace; 
         FIG. 2  is a graph illustrating a recruitment network of marketplace participants; 
         FIG. 3  is a representation of revenue from an item being shared with marketplace participants according to a revenue sharing scheme; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and decisions relating to the recruitment of a new marketplace participant; and 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a flowchart depicting exemplary steps and decisions relating to sharing marketplace revenue with marketplace participants. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Turning now to  FIG. 1   a  an exemplary electronic marketplace or E-commerce system  100  use a telecommunication system  105 , such as the Internet, to connect buyers/customers  110  with sellers  115 . In general, sellers  115  produce or supply goods and services  120  and buyers  110  purchase items  125  from among the supplied goods and services. The marketplace  100  typically maintains a marketplace server  130  to facilitate such a transaction. Specifically, the marketplace server  130  receives and sends electronic communications over the telecommunications network  105  to buyers  110  and sellers  115  operating on respective buyer&#39;s and sellers terminals  135 ,  140 . Moreover, sellers  115 , using a seller&#39;s terminal  140 , transmits the goods and services  120  that are to be offered, or a representation thereof, to the marketplace server  130 . The marketplace sever  130  aggregates the goods and services  120  with those from other sellers  115  and stores a listing of the goods and services  145  in a marketplace datastore  150 . Further, and in response to an inquiry from a buyer  110  operating a buyer&#39;s terminal  135 , the marketplace server  130  presents the listing of goods and services  140  via the telecommunications network  105  to the buyer  110 . Upon the purchase of an item  125 , the marketplace server  130  will save transaction records  155  related to the transaction, as well as other transactions, in the datastore  150 . 
     As described above, the marketplace  100  acts as an intermediary between buyers  110  and sellers  115 . However, in another exemplary approach, a marketplace administrator  170  may play an active role in producing and providing goods and services  125  to the marketplace  100 . For example, the marketplace administrator  170  may have the resources, tools, equipment, etc., needed to produce goods, such as electronic multimedia content. Moreover, some sellers  115  may collaborate with the marketplace administrator  170  to produce content. For example, some sellers may have skills such as acting, or the like, or may be able to provide professional services or advice via multimedia content, but might lack the necessary expertise, equipment, resources, etc., that are necessary to produce the multimedia content. Accordingly, the seller  115  may contribute their expertise or persona to goods, e.g., multimedia content, produced and supplied by the marketplace administrator  170 . However, participation by the marketplace administrator  170  does not exclude other sellers  115  from producing and supplying content on their own. 
     It is to be understood throughout this disclosure, that the goods and services  120  may be physical goods, electronic goods or media, or personal or professional services to be provided by the seller  115 . Moreover, rather than actually submitting the goods and services  120  to the marketplace  100 , the seller  115  may simply provide a description or reference to the goods and services. However, in the case of electronic goods, such as multimedia content, the seller  115  may provide the content to the marketplace server  130 , such that it may be distributed to buyers  110  by the marketplace server rather than by the seller. Similarly, physical goods, as well as services, may be distributed directly from the seller  115  to the buyer  110  upon the settling of the purchase by the marketplace server  130 . 
     As will be discussed in considerable detail below, the marketplace server  130  includes a revenue sharing module  160 , which includes instructions regarding how the marketplace server  130  should distribute or share the revenue generated from the sale of the item  125 . For example, the revenue sharing module  160  may direct the marketplace server  130  to share the revenue with not only the seller  115  of the purchased item  125 , but also with other marketplace participants. Moreover, the marketplace server  130  may also include a recruitment network module  165 , which includes instructions for developing a recruitment network  200  for the marketplace participants. In consultation with the recruitment network  200 , the revenue sharing module  160  may direct the marketplace server  130  to share revenue generated from the sale of the purchased item  125  with one or more marketplace participants that directly or indirectly recruited the seller  115  to the marketplace  100 . 
     The marketplace server  130 , customer terminal  135 , and seller terminal  140  are interconnected via the telecommunications network  105 , which is typically provided by one or more network service providers. The telecommunications network  105  may include both a packet network and a traditional public switch telecommunication network (not shown). Interconnections between packet network, PSTN, and network devices (not shown) may be provided by circuits such as local area networks, digital subscriber lines (DSL), T1 circuits, optical fibers, etc. The telecommunications network  105  may be a local-area network (LAN) or a wide-area network (WAN), and may further be a packet switched communication network such as an Internet Protocol (IP) network. The telecommunications network  105  generally interconnects various computing devices and the like, such as the marketplace server  130 , customer terminal  135 , and seller terminal  140 . Interconnections to telecommunications network  105  may be made by various media including wires, radio frequency transmissions, optical cables, etc. Other devices connecting to telecommunications network  105 , e.g. switches, routers, etc., are omitted for simplicity of illustration in  FIG. 1 . 
     Marketplace server  130  may be a server based computer system, such as a web application server, configured to provide implement the marketplace system  100 . However, any computing device having a computer readable medium including instructions for communicating with the telecommunications network  104  and marketplace datastore  150  may act as marketplace server  130 . Marketplace server  130  may be a networked computer system configured with server software for accepting connections via telecommunications network  105 . Marketplace server  130  may provide a graphical user interface, such as a web-based interface, for use by buyers  110  and sellers  115 . Additionally, marketplace server  130  may provide a remote interface such that buyers  110  and sellers  115  may interact with the server remotely via the telecommunications network  105 . 
     Marketplace datastore  150  may be a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many such systems, including SQL Server, Oracle, and MySQL, among others, are generally available. Marketplace datastore is configured to record listings of goods and services  145  as well as transaction records  155  for recording the details of the sales of items  125 . Additionally, marketplace datastore  150  includes seller records that define a recruitment network  200 . The recruitment network  200 , which will be described in more detail below with respect to  FIG. 2 , records associations between the sellers, such as which sellers recruited other sellers to the marketplace  100 . Marketplace datastore  150  generally stores data in row and column table format, and may include multiple tables. A row, or record, includes one or more columns, or fields, holding data values for specifically defined fields. Rows may be uniquely identified by the values of one or more columns. Indexes of one or more columns can be included to aide in searching for particular rows of the table. 
     The revenue sharing module  160  may provide computer instructions for sharing and distributing revenue from the sale of an item  125  to the seller  115  and other marketplace participants. Moreover, the instructions may present user interfaces allowing buyers  110  and sellers  115  to interact with the marketplace server  115 . For example, interfaces may be provided to allow sellers to describe the goods and services being offered  120 , to allow customers to view listings of the goods and services  145 , and to complete the transaction details related to the sale of an item  125 . Similarly, the revenue sharing module  160  includes instructions for creating database records such as the listing of goods and services  145  and the transaction records  155 . While, the instructions of the revenue sharing module  160  may be executed by a user via controls or other interface elements, other instructions may be executed automatically based on a triggering event, or periodically on a set schedule. 
     The recruitment network module  165  may provide computer instructions for building and maintaining a recruitment network  200 . Moreover, the instructions may present user interfaces allowing sellers  115  to interact with the marketplace server  115 . For example, interfaces may be provided to allow sellers  115  to apply to the marketplace  100 . Moreover, the recruitment network module  165  may analyze the application of a seller  115  to determine if an existing seller should be identified as the recruiter of the new seller. Similarly, the recruitment network module  165  includes instructions from creating database records such as the records of the recruitment network  200 . While, the instructions of recruitment network module  165  may be executed by a user via controls or other interface elements, other instructions may be executed automatically based on a triggering event, or periodically on a set schedule. 
     Customer and seller terminals  135 ,  140  may be any general purpose computing device, such as a PC or specialized device, connected to the telecommunications network  105 . The terminals  135 ,  140  may have software, such as an operating system with a network protocol stack, for connecting to the marketplace server  130  over the telecommunications network  105 . The terminals  135 , 140  may have additional software for accessing the user interface provided by the marketplace server  130 . For example, the terminals  135 ,  140  may have web browsing software to access a web based user interface of the marketplace server  130 . 
     Computing devices such as the marketplace server  130  and terminals  135 ,  140 , etc., may employ any of a number of computer operating systems, including, but by no means limited to, known versions and/or varieties of the Microsoft Windows, the Unix operating system (e.g., the Solaris operating system distributed by Sun Microsystems of Menlo Park, Calif.), the AIX UNIX operating system distributed by International Business Machines of Armonk, N.Y., and the Linux operating system. Computing devices may include any one of a number of computing devices known to those skilled in the art, including, without limitation, a computer workstation, a desktop, a notebook, a laptop, a handheld computer, a cell phone, or some other computing device capable of communicating and interacting with the marketplace server  130 . 
     Computing devices such as the marketplace server  130  and terminals  135 ,  140 , etc., may each include instructions executable by one or more computing devices such as those listed above. Computer-executable instructions may be compiled or interpreted from computer programs created using a variety of programming languages and/or technologies known to those skilled in the art, including, without limitation, and either alone or in combination, Java™, C, C++, Visual Basic, Java Script, Perl, etc. In general, a processor (e.g., a microprocessor) receives instructions, e.g., from a memory, a computer-readable medium, etc., and executes these instructions, thereby performing one or more processes, including one or more of the processes described herein. Such instructions and other data may be stored and transmitted using a variety of known computer-readable media. 
     A computer-readable medium includes any medium that participates in providing data (e.g., instructions), which may be read by a computer. Such a medium may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistent memory. Volatile media include dynamic random access memory (DRAM), which typically constitutes a main memory. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, DVD, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read. 
     The marketplace datastore  150  may include a query processor that employs Structured Query Language (SQL) in addition to a language for creating, storing, editing, and executing stored procedures, such as the Procedural Language/Structured Query Language (PL/SQL) utilized by Oracle, as mentioned above. The marketplace datastore  150  may be a type of database other than an RD BMS such as a hierarchical database, a set of files, an application database in a proprietary format, etc. The marketplace datastore  150  generally includes a computing device employing a computer operating system such as one of those mentioned above, and is accessed via a network in any one or more of a variety of manners, as is well known. Exemplary systems are possible in which at least a portion of the marketplace datastore  150  is provided by a database system used for purposes unrelated to the marketplace  100 . 
     As noted above, the marketplace  100  competes with other marketplaces (not shown) to develop networks of customers  110  and sellers  115 . So called network-effects play an important factor in attracting both customers  110  and sellers  115 . With more sellers  115  offering a diverse set of goods and services, the marketplace  100  will be able to attract more customers  110 . Similarly, with more customers  110 , the marketplace  100  will be able to attract more sellers  115 , higher quality sellers, or perhaps sellers that are willing to pay higher fees to the marketplace. Accordingly, the value of marketplace  100  increases exponentially with respect to both the number of sellers  115  and the number of customers  110 . Once a network of buyers  110  and sellers  115  is established, there are great challenges to new entrants that wish to create a new marketplace. Both sellers  115  and customers  110  have little incentive to branch out to a new marketplace unless it has an established network of customers and sellers. 
     In a market for certain types of goods and services  120 , the sellers  115  might only produce or supply goods and services for a limited amount of time. For example, if the seller  115  is offering personal services for sale, the seller might only be qualified to produce the goods and services for a limited amount of time. As another example, buyers  110  may continuously demand new goods and services  120  offerings from a seller  115 . However, if the seller  115  is not in a position to continuously update the goods and services  120  that are offered, buyers may move to other sellers. As such, the buyers  110  may enforce an artificial lifespan to the seller&#39;s  115  ability to sell items  125  on the marketplace  110 . 
     When sellers  115  have a limited amount of time, for any reason, in which they can successfully sell items  125  to buyers  110 , the challenges to the marketplace  110  in maintaining a valuable network of sellers are compounded. For example, for every new seller  115 , buyers may be losing interest in an existing seller, which effectively reduces the size of the network. Accordingly, in order to grow the size of the seller network, the marketplace must be able to add new sellers faster than buyers lose interest in the existing sellers. 
     The marketplace  100  includes a revenue sharing module  160  configured to share revenue generated from the sale of an item  125  with not only the seller  115  of the item, but also with other marketplace participants. By sharing revenue from the sale of an item  125  with sellers  115  that didn&#39;t actually produce the item, sellers have an incentive to conduct marketing for the marketplace. Moreover, if the revenue sharing is based on associations with other sellers  115 , a particular seller has an incentive to become associated with other sellers. For example, sellers  115  may be given an incentive to recruit new sellers to the marketplace  100 . 
     In one exemplary approach, the revenue sharing module  160  consults a recruitment network  200  to determine how revenue should be shared. With reference to  FIG. 2 , the recruitment network  200  identifies each of the sellers as marketplace participants  210  based on their respective roles within the network, and further identifies associations between the marketplace participants. It is to be understood, that  FIG. 2  presents a graphic illustration of the recruitment network, but that marketplace datastore typically stores the network as database records, e.g., tables and rows. 
     In this exemplary approach, each marketplace participant  210  may include an association with one other participant. Moreover, the association between the participants may be a recruitment association  250  that identifies which marketplace participant recruited a particular participant to the network  200 . Accordingly, the recruitment network  200  may be represented as a graph, or inverted tree as shown in  FIG. 2 . The marketplace may be considered to be the root of the tree. For example, any participant  210  that has joined the network  200  independently without being recruited by another participant could have the marketplace  100  itself specified as the recruiter. Setting the marketplace  100  as the root of the tree is not technically required, as the revenue sharing module  160  could programmatically determine how to handle a seller&#39;s database record that lacks an identified recruiter. 
     Marketplace participants  210  may be classified into at least four different categories. For example, a seller that merely produces and sells goods and services  120 , may be referred to as a content producer  220 . Moreover, a seller  115  that has not recruited any other participants  210  to the recruitment network  200  is considered solely a content producer  220 . The content producers  220  represent the leaf nodes of the recruitment network  200  due to the fact that no nodes are linked or associated thereto at a higher level. Sellers  115  that have recruited other participants  210 , are identified as recruiter content producers  230 . From a database standpoint, there may be nothing to distinguish between a seller record of a content producer  220  and the seller record of a recruiter content producer  230 . 
     In one exemplary approach, the recruitment network  200  may be limited to only content producers  220  and recruiter content producers  230 . However, in another exemplary approach, the recruitment network  200  may also include aggregators  240 . For example, an aggregator  240  may be an entity that doesn&#39;t actually produce or offer any goods and services  120  for sale, but merely works with the marketplace  100  to attract and recruit new sellers  115 . In one exemplary approach, an aggregator  240  may be a real world entity such as a club, organization, guild, union, etc. in which all recruited participants  210  belong. Moreover, the participants  210  recruited by the aggregator  240  may be contractually bound thereby to identify the aggregator as their recruiter. Even though aggregators  240  do not offer goods and services on the marketplace  100 , they may be entitled to receive a share of the revenue sold by the participants  210  that the aggregator recruited to the network  200 . Accordingly, aggregators  240  have an incentive to increase the size of the network  200  despite the fact that they are not actually selling goods and services  120  on the marketplace  100 . Like the marketplace administrator, the aggregators  240  may participate or facilitate the production of content by the participants  210  that they recruit. Similarly to aggregators, recruiters  235  may be individuals or entities that do not actually produce content or supply goods and services  125  to the marketplace  100 . The sole activity of a recruiter  235  may be to recruit new sellers  115  to become marketplace participants  210 . However, unlike aggregators  240 , recruiters  235  typically do not have any organizationally or contractual relationships with the sellers that they recruit and typically do not assist in the production of content or goods and services  125 . 
     Sharing revenue with marketplace participants also addresses the issue of sellers  115  that have a limited amount of time to sell goods and services on the marketplace. For example, even if buyers  110  lose interest the goods being offered by the seller  115 , the seller still has a motivation to stay involved with the marketplace  100  by recruiting new sellers/content producers  220 . Moreover, if the seller  115  can receive revenue from the sale of items produced by a content producer  220  that seller recruited, they will have an incentive to recruit as many new sellers as possible. Further, a seller will have an increased incentive to join the marketplace in the first place knowing that even after they are no longer able to sell goods and services they will be able to earn revenue from the sale of items produced by others. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a representation  300  of how the marketplace shares revenue  305  from the sale of an item  125  with marketplace participants  210 . In one exemplary approach, the marketplace  100  divides revenue  305  from the sale of an item  125  between the producer  200 , a direct recruiter  310  of the producer, and indirect recruiters  315   a -of the producer. It should be appreciated that this is merely an example and that revenue may be shared with additional recruiters, such as the recruiter of the indirect recruiters  315   a - b.  Moreover, the marketplace may consult with the recruitment network  200  to determine the recruitment associations  250  of the producer. Typically, the direct recruiter  310  recruited the producer  220  to the marketplace  100 , the indirect recruiter  315   a  recruited the direct recruiter to the marketplace, and the indirect recruiter  315   b  recruited the indirect recruiter  315   a  to the marketplace. Accordingly, the indirect recruiter  315  may be a direct recruiter of the direct recruiter  310  of the producer  220 . Once identified, the marketplace  100  shares revenue portions  320   a - b  with the producer and at least one other marketplace participant  210 , e.g., the direct recruiter  310 , indirect recruiters  315   a - b.    
     While the particular fractional portions  320   a - d  of the item revenue  305  may be varied based on the conditions and needs of the marketplace  100 , the portions will need to be set to properly incentivize the marketplace participants  210 . If the producers portion  320   a  is too low, the seller/producer  220  will have little interest in joining the marketplace  100 . Similarly, if the recruiter portions  320   b - d  are too low, there will be little incentive for existing producers  220  to recruit new sellers  115  to become producers  220 . Accordingly, the recruiter portions  320   b - d  need to be set high enough to encourage and reward recruitment, but not so high as to eliminate a new seller&#39;s interest in joining the marketplace  100 . Merely as an example, the revenue portion  320   b  received by the direct recruiter  310  could be 7%, while the revenue portion  320   c  received by the indirect recruiters  315   a -could respectively be 5% and  3 %. It is to be understood that the producer/seller  220  receives the same amount of revenue regardless of whether the seller is associated with a direct recruiter  310 . Accordingly, there is no benefit to not listing a recruiter because the seller/producer  220  always receives the same compensation. Moreover, from the seller&#39;s/producer&#39;s perspective, it makes no difference where the seller/producer falls within the recruitment network  200 . 
     The particular fractional amounts of the revenue portions  320   a - d  may be set in a revenue sharing scheme  325 . Moreover, the revenue sharing scheme  325  may establish which marketplace participants receive a share of the revenue  305  in addition to the portion  320   a - d  thereof. While there may be just a single revenue sharing scheme  325  for all goods and services and producers  220 , other approaches may include multiple or variable revenue sharing schemes based on any number of factors, e.g., the identity of the producer  220 , the type of item  125 , etc. Moreover, goods and services  120  may be logically grouped into a goods and services classification  330 . In such an approach, the revenue sharing scheme  325  may be specific to the classification  330  to which the purchased item  125  belongs. 
     Throughout this disclosure, revenue sharing has been discussed from the perspective of the sale of an item  125 . However, it is to be understood that the revenue shared with marketplace participants may be based on the aggregate sales of a number of items. The marketplace  100  may periodically (e.g., monthly) calculate all the total revenue generated by a producer and determine the revenue portions  320   b - d  based on this total. In yet another exemplary approach, the portions  320   a - d  may not be directly taken from the item revenue  305  and may be paid by the marketplace from other funding sources, e.g., from a marketing budget. Moreover, the sum of revenue portions  320   a - d  does not necessarily need to equal the item revenue  305  and may in fact exceed the item revenue. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process  400  for building a recruitment network  200 . The marketplace server  130  may include a computer-readable medium having stored instructions for carrying out certain operations described herein, including some or all of the operations described with respect to process  400 . For example, some or all of such instructions may be included in the recruitment network module  165 . Process  400  is described as an interactive user process. However, it is to be understood that automated or other types of batch processing techniques may implement the following steps. 
     Process  400  begins in step  405  in which the marketplace  100  receives an application from an applicant desiring to become a new seller/producer  220 . For example, the marketplace server  130  may provide a user interface, such as a web interface, for receiving an application from the applicant. The application may request information about the applicant and may further request that the applicant list an existing marketplace participant  210  as the recruiter  310  of the applicant by supplying the name, or other identifier, thereof. 
     Next, in step  410 , a new content producer  220  record is created in the recruitment network  200  of the marketplace datastore  150 . The new record is populated with data taken from the application. 
     Next, in step  415 , it is determined whether the applicant identified an existing marketplace participant  210  as a recruiter. For example, the application may have a question that asks the applicant to provide the name, or other identifier of an existing participant  210 . Each database record for participants  210  typically includes a unique identifier. In one exemplary approach, the applicant may provide this identifier directly on the application. However, in another exemplary approach, the identifier of the listed recruiter may need to be found in the datastore by searching for the provided identifying information, e.g., the recruiter&#39;s name. 
     If the applicant listed a recruiter, the process proceeds to step  420  in which, the new participant record for the applicant is updated with the identifier of the listed recruiter. By updating the record with the identifier of the recruiter, the datastore  150  establishes a linked recruitment association  250  between the new producer  220  and the recruiter  230  (i.e., direct recruiter  310 ) thereof. 
     However, if it is determined in step  415  that the applicant did not list a recruiter, the process proceeds to step  425 . In step  425 , it is determined whether the applicant is obligated to list a recruiter. For example, the applicant may be a member of a club, guild, union or similar type of organization that contractually obligates the applicant to list a recruiter. The recruiter, such as an aggregator  240 , may develop a relationship with the marketplace  100  to enforce these contractual obligations. In one exemplary approach, the marketplace  100  may receive names or other identifying information from a recruiter (e.g., aggregator  240 ) of any sellers  115  that are contractually obligated to list the aggregator as the recruiter. Accordingly, in step  415 , the marketplace may search records, e.g., held within the datastore  150 , for an indication that the applicant is obligated to list a recruiter. These records may further provide the identifier of the recruiter to whom the applicant is obligated to list. 
     If it is determined that the new applicant is obligated to list a recruiter in step  425 , the identifier of the recruiter to whom the new applicant is obligated to list as a recruiter may be associated with the participant record of the new applicant. Accordingly, the marketplace  100  may enforce contractual obligations between the producer  220  and the recruiter  230 /aggregator  240 . 
     Following each of steps  420 ,  425 , and  430 , the newly created producer record for the new applicant is saved to the datastore  150 . Moreover, if in step  425  it is determined that the new applicant is not obligated to list a recruiter, the new record will be stored without any identifier for a recruiter. In effect, the new record will be positioned at the lowest level of the recruitment network, immediately above the marketplace  100  itself. 
     After saving the new record, process  400  ends. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process  500  for sharing revenue from the sale of an item  125  with marketplace participants  205 . The marketplace server  130  may include a computer-readable medium having stored instructions for carrying out certain operations described herein, including some or all of the operations described with respect to process  500 . For example, some or all of such instructions may be included in the revenue sharing module  160 . Process  500  is described as an interactive user process. However, it is to be understood that automated or other types of batch processing techniques may implement the following steps. 
     Process  500  begins in step  505  when revenue  305  from the sale of an item  125  is recognized or recorded. For example, the revenue  305  may be recognized at the time of the sale, or some time later such as after the marketplace receives the revenue from the buyer  110  or an intermediary financial institution. Moreover, the marketplace server  130  may be configured to periodically (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.) reconcile recent transactions such that revenue is not actually recognized until the reconciliation occurs. Regardless, revenue  305  will be attributed to the producer  220  of the purchased item  125  for which the revenue was received. 
     Next, in step  510 , the goods and services classification  330  associated with the item  125 may be determined. For example, the datastore  150  may include item records for each of the goods and services  120  listed therein. These item records may include an identifier or reference to a particular goods and services classification  330 . If necessary, the classification may be looked up from other classification records in the datastore  150 . 
     Next, in step  515 , the revenue sharing scheme associated with the classification  330  may be determined. For example, the datastore  150  may include a table or records holding various revenue sharing schemes  325 , each uniquely identified. Each classification  330  may include a reference or identifier of the revenue sharing scheme  325 . 
     Next, in step  520 , the direct recruiter  310  of the producer  220  of the item  125  may be determined. For example, the item  125  record typically will be associated or linked to the producer  220  record in the recruitment network  200 . As explained above, each producer record  220  may include an identifier, link, association, etc. to the direct recruiter  310  thereof. 
     Next, in step  525 , the indirect recruiters  315   a -of the direct recruiter  310  may be determined. As in step  520 , the recruitment network  200  records may be searched based on the identifier of the recruiter in the record of the direct recruiter  310 . This step may be omitted or repeated any number of times based on the number of marketplace participants  210  that will be sharing the revenue  305  of the item  125 . Moreover, the number of times, if any, to conduct step  525  may be based on the revenue sharing scheme  325 . For example, the revenue sharing scheme  325  may specify that the revenue  305  should be shared with the direct recruiter  310 , as well as with the indirect recruiter  315   a  and indirect recruiter  315   b.    
     Next, in step  530 , the revenue  305  is shared with the marketplace participants  210  according to the revenue sharing scheme  325 . For example, the revenue sharing scheme  325  may direct the marketplace  100  to apportion the revenue  305  to the direct recruiter  310 , the indirect recruiter  315   a,  and the indirect recruiter  315   b  according to specific portion or percentage amounts. In step  530 , money or funds are not necessarily transferred or provided to the participants  210 . For example, step  530  may simply adjust account balances of each of the participants with new amounts corresponding to the shared revenue. The proceeds of the participant accounts may be distributed, e.g., by check, electronic transfer, etc., to the participants at a later time. 
     After distributing the revenue, process  500  ends. 
     Accordingly, the marketplace system  100  provides a virtual forum for buyers  110  and sellers  115  (acting as marketplace participants  210 ) to meet and exchange goods and services  120 . For example, the buyer  110  may purchase an item  125  in exchange for compensation that is recognized as revenue  305  by the marketplace  100 . The marketplace  100  maintains a recruitment network  200  identifying recruitment associations  250  between the marketplace participants  210 . Under consultation of the recruitment network  200 , the revenue  305  may be shared with the direct recruiter  310  of the producer  220  of the item  125 , as well as with indirect recruiters  315   a -thereof. The revenue may be apportioned according to amounts or percentages specified in a revenue sharing scheme  325 , which may be specific to the goods and services classification of the item  125 . 
     With regard to the processes, systems, methods, heuristics, etc. described herein, it should be understood that, although the steps of such processes, etc. have been described as occurring according to a certain ordered sequence, such processes could be practiced with the described steps performed in an order other than the order described herein. It further should be understood that certain steps could be performed simultaneously, that other steps could be added, or that certain steps described herein could be omitted. In other words, the descriptions of processes herein are provided for the purpose of illustrating certain systems, and should in no way be construed so as to limit the claimed invention. 
     Accordingly, it is to be understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many systems and applications other than the examples provided would be apparent upon reading the above description. The scope of the invention should be determined, not with reference to the above description, but should instead be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is anticipated and intended that future developments will occur in the arts discussed herein, and that the disclosed systems and methods will be incorporated into such future systems. In sum, it should be understood that the invention is capable of modification and variation and is limited only by the following claims. 
     All terms used in the claims are intended to be given their broadest reasonable constructions and their ordinary meanings as understood by those skilled in the art unless an explicit indication to the contrary is made herein. In particular, use of the singular articles such as “a,” “the,” “said,” etc. should be read to recite one or more of the indicated elements unless a claim recites explicitly to the contrary.