Patent Publication Number: US-2006004645-A1

Title: Reversed auction

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
      The present invention pertains to a system, a home page and a method in an open network for at least one of data- or telecommunication. It provides an electronic market place comprising a reversed auction application, through which a customer auctions out a product or a service to be purchased by the customer herself, whereby vendors or merchants participating in the auction offer there unique price for selling the product or services.  
     BACKGROUND ART  
      Currently small hardware stores, small electronic equipment retailers and other vendors or merchants have a big disadvantage in doing business. There market is often limited to faithful and/or professional craftsmen&#39;s as customers.  
      The average customer is likely to visit a mall, supermarket or other like places to purchase for instance electronic equipment such as power tools or any other product. This pattern of customer behavior makes it very difficult for the small business to compete as the supermarket stocks for instance hundreds of power drills, and the small business stocks five pieces as an example. This means that the small business has a higher purchase price for its articles, and of course a higher of the shell price. Perhaps even worse, people are very aware of this condition, so they do not even bother to visit small retailing stores, although they may get a much quicker and better service at these retailers.  
      Furthermore, the Internet trading is very conventional. Customers surf from one Internet portal or page to find the product that suits them the best, much like going from shop to shop in order to by an item, but much faster by using data- and/or telecommunication equipment and networks.  
      The present invention aims to solve some of the problems involved with the disadvantage of competition between small retailers and big enterprises such as supermarkets, malls and the like. Moreover, a big advantage with the present invention is for the consumer/customer who will get a fair price for a product or services without having to actively search by herself on for instance the Internet.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      An aim of the present invention is to reverse the procedure of auctioning items for purchase. Hence, the present invention relates to a system in an open network for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place comprising a reversed auction application, through which a customer auctions out a product or a service to be purchased by the customer herself, and where participating vendors or merchants of the auction offer there unique most favorable bid for selling the product. The invention further comprises:  
      a central server auction facility connected to the network, providing a registration regarding a service or product reversed auctioned by the customer;  
      a code computing means delivering a unique auction product code to the customer after registering;  
      a means providing a serial No. for the auction;  
      a timer for counting the time of closing the auction;  
      a means in the application informing vendors and merchants providing the auctioned product or services of the auction;  
      a bidding means where vendors or merchant bid on the auctioned services or product, whereby the most favorable bid is registered;  
      the timer closing the auction when reaching the closing time, whereby the customer is informed of the most preferable bid;  
      a means for accepting or rejecting the bid by the customer, if accepted a payment is accomplished to a neutral account and the purchasing customer is informed about the vendor or merchant and the merchant or vendor is informed about the payment and the unique customer code; and  
      the sale being completed and the vendor or merchant being provided payment from the neutral account, whereby the introduction of the code to the customer and the serial No. to the merchant or vendors, thus the purchaser and merchant being unaware of there identity until receiving the product code from the application in order to close a fair deal.  
      In one embodiment of the present invention the application is scanning the network for the best possible offer made for the product or services auctioned, making up the starting bid for merchants or vendors.  
      Another embodiment comprises that the registered bid is displayed on an application portal or homepage in the www or the like.  
      Furthermore, the present invention sets forth a home page in an open network for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place illustrating a reversed auction application, through which a customer auctions out a product or a service to be purchased by the customer, and where participating vendors or merchants of the auction offer there unique most favorable bid for selling the product. The home page thus comprises:  
      providing a registration regarding a service or product reversed auctioned by the customer;  
      a code computing means displaying a unique auction product code to the customer after registering;  
      a means providing a serial No. for the auction;  
      a timer for counting the time of closing the auction;  
      a bidding means where vendors or merchant bid on the auctioned services or product, whereby the most favorable bid is registered;  
      the timer closing the auction when reaching the closing time, whereby the customer is informed of the most preferable bid; and  
      a means for accepting or rejecting the bid by the customer.  
      In one embodiment of the home page the application is scanning the network for the best possible offer made for the product or services auctioned, making up the starting bid on the home page for merchants or vendors.  
      Another embodiment comprises that the registered bid is displayed through the www by the homepage.  
      Moreover, the present invention sets forth a method in an open network for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place comprising a reversed auction application, through which a customer auctions out a product or a service to be purchased by the customer, and where participating vendors or merchants of the auction offer there unique most favorable bid for selling the product. The method comprises the steps of:  
      providing a registration regarding a service or product reversed auctioned by the customer at a central server auction facility connected to the network;  
      delivering a unique auction product code to the customer after registering;  
      providing a serial No. for the auction;  
      counting the time of closing the auction through a timer;  
      informing vendors and merchants providing the auctioned product or services of the auction;  
      vendors or merchants bidding on the auctioned services or product, whereby the most favorable bid is registered;  
      closing the auction when reaching the closing time through the timer, whereby the customer is informed of the most preferable bid;  
      the customer accepting or rejecting the bid, if accepted a payment is accomplished to a neutral account and the purchasing customer is informed about the vendor or merchant and the merchant or vendor is informed about the payment and the unique customer code; and  
      completing the sale, and the vendor or merchant being provided payment from the neutral account, whereby the introduction of the code to the customer and the serial No. to the merchant or vendors, thus the purchaser and merchant being unaware of there identity until receiving the product code from the application in order to close a fair deal.  
      One embodiment of the method of the present invention comprises that the application is scanning the network for the best possible offer made for the product or services auctioned, making up the starting bid for merchants or vendors.  
      Another embodiment comprises that the registered bid is displayed on an application portal or homepage in the www. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING  
      Henceforth, the present invention is described with reference to its single drawing for a better understanding of its advantages through its given examples and embodiments, whereby the single  FIG. 1  schematically illustrates a system for auctioning products and/or services in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION  
      The web based market place in accordance with the present invention reverses the current purchase pattern between customer manufacturer/merchant/vendors. Hence the customer/buyer is so to speak “auctioned” out to interested merchants/vendors attached to Internet. As should be understood, the product that a customer would like to buy is auctioned out. This selling procedure is accomplished through a specific application for that purpose. The reversed auction accomplishes that the bidder&#39;s merchants and vendors most probably are lowering their bids, contrary to conventional auctions where customers bid, and raise their bids to purchase an item or a services.  
      In order to let customers without computer equipment be able to utilize the present invention, conventional techniques such as telephony, fax, SMS and the like are possible to utilize for the purpose of upholding a communication with a central server auction facility/site, where a customers auctioned products or services can be manually input in the portal or home page application that handles the auction of the present invention.  
      Now, with reference to the single  FIG. 1 , a costumer  10  that would like to buy an article/product or services visits a central server site/node  15  for instance by the Internet  12  through a connection  14 , wire or wireless. At the node  15  at least one server  18  is situated, having at least one computer display  20  for serving the server application and to set up auctions in which merchants/vendors/manufactures of products/articles or service companies  22 ,  26  such as, for example, power tool retailers or services like travel agencies, booking agencies, or leasing business are able to bid on the product or services a customer  10  would like to purchase or order. The form on the display  20  is distributed through a home page one the Internet  12  that could be accessed by any person.  
      In the embodiment or example given in the present invention, the customer  10  would like to buy a digital camera  22  of a specific brand on his/hers terms possibly to an acceptable price, and perhaps with other favorable offers related to the purchase. Hence the reverse auctioning is taken place, by the vendors/merchants  24 ,  26  bidding as low and favorable price or bidding as possible for the customer  10  in accordance with their margins in relation to the purchase price. The favorable bidding could for instance include other offers such as future discounts and/or gifts.  
      As can be seen in  FIG. 1 , the customer puts in his/hers preferences in the homepage belonging to the application of the present invention for the camera  22  via line  14  to node  15  and  16  connecting the central auctioning server  18  in accordance with the present invention. Firstly the customer  10  enters the type of camera  22  to be purchased in the form presented on the display  20  name, address, telephone number, shipping data, e-mail, time for the auction to be open or when to close, and other preferences.  
      The application provides a product code to the customer for that single auction. This code is only provided the customer  10 , and thus not distributed to other persons visiting the home page. Moreover, the application sets a timing function through, for example, a timer/counter/clock  23 , which determines how long the customer  10  accepts a bargaining or auction bidding for the camera  22  in this example, i.e., time for the auction to be open. Thus, the timer increments or decrements the auction open time, for example, remaining auction time 24 hours, 59 minutes and 06 seconds, in a known manner for the person skilled in the art of timers. Furthermore, the auction is assigned a serial No. to be utilized by the possible merchants, customer and others to be able to see how the auction progresses.  
      Now, the application for auctioning searches the www or the like network with a search motor for the best price or price with offers, when such a price is found it is entered in the homepage on display  20  as for instance lowest price  32  on Internet  12 . This lowest price acts as a starting bid in one embodiment of the present invention for the merchants/vendors which are obliged (trusted) to bid according to this specific auction. In another embodiment the auction could be started without the presentation of a lowest Internet price or price from another like network.  
      The application now contacts merchants/vendors providing the specific product, in this case cameras, via e-mail, SMS (Short Message Service), MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or the like that and auction is taking place. Thereafter, interested merchants visit via lines  28 ,  30  and  16  to the application portal and/or homepage to fill in the form shown on the display  20  containing their biddings. The most preferable bidding will be displayed on the homepage for the product with the specific serial No. regarding the camera  22 .  
      As an example, an interested merchant/vendor could in order to be trusted fill out a form on the home page like the following: 
      Company:     Address:     Contact:     Telephone No.:     Would you like reminders of future business:     e-mail:     SMS     Other means:    

      A probable course of action now taking place in the biding phase of the present invention, would be that merchants/vendors offer lower or similar prices/bids  34  compared to the starting or outgoing bid  32  found by the application engine.  
      One possible scenario for the reverse auction in accordance with the present invention would be that the market evolves to a local market in a geographical sense of view, i.e., a customer would get bids from merchants or vendors in a range not so far from where he/she lives. In this manner for instance a country/state would soon be covered of island like areas with local reversed auction markets in accordance with the present invention. This does not mean that no global auctions are possible, as Internet and like networks are global in their structure.  
      When the timer has lapsed its counting, the customer is informed by the application about the most preferable bidding and asked if the bid is accepted or not. If accepted, a payment is transferred to a neutral account at a bank or the like financial institution, when this has appeared, the customer is informed about the merchant, and the merchant is informed that the business or auction is closed and being provided the code for the business of for instance the purchase of a product reverse auctioned, herein as an example of a product, the camera  22 . Hence the merchant receives the payment for the auctioned product minus a possible fee for the bargain.  
      In accordance with the present invention, thus a system in an open network, such as the Internet  12  and the www, for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place is accomplished. The electronic market place comprises a reversed auction application according to the present invention, through which a customer auctions  10  out a product  22  or a service to be purchased by the customer  10 .  
      The vendors or merchants  24 ,  26  participating in the auction offer there unique price for selling the product. A system in accordance with the present invention thus comprises:  
      a central server auction facility  18  connected to the network  12 , providing a registration regarding a service or product  22  reversed auctioned by the customer  10 ;  
      a code computing means delivering a unique auction code to the customer after registering;  
      means providing a serial No. to the auction;  
      a timer  23  for counting the time to the closing of the auction;  
      at least one display screen  20  connected to the network;  
      a means in the application informing vendors and merchants providing the auctioned product or services of the auction;  
      a bidding means where vendors or merchant bid on the auctioned services or product, whereby the most favorable bid is displayed on the display;  
      the timer closing the auction when reaching the closing time and the customer is informed of the bid;  
      a means for accepting or rejecting the bid by the customer, if accepted a payment is accomplished to a, for the customer and the vendor or merchant, neutral account and the purchasing customer is informed about the vendor or merchant and the merchant or vendor is informed about the payment and the unique customer code; and  
      the sale being completed and the vendor or merchant being provided payment from the neutral account.  
      In one embodiment of the present invention the application is scanning the network  12  for the best possible offer made for the product or services auctioned. Also, a display of the best offer  34  on the display screen home page being the starting bid in the auction.  
      By introducing the code to the customer and the serial No. to the merchants, both purchaser and merchant are unaware of there identity for the closing of a fair deal until they accept the deal.  
      Moreover, the present invention sets forth a home page display  20  in an open network  12  for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place illustrating a reversed auction application. A customer  10  auctions out a product  22  or a service to be purchased through the home page. The participating vendors or merchants  24 ,  26  of the auction offer there unique most favorable bid  34  for selling the product. The home page thus comprises:  
      providing a registration regarding a service or product reversed auctioned by the customer;  
      a code computing means displaying a unique auction product code to the customer after registering;  
      a means providing a serial No. for the auction;  
      a timer  23  for counting the time of closing the auction;  
      a bidding means where vendors or merchant bid on the auctioned services or product  22 , whereby the most favorable bid  34  is registered;  
      the timer  23  closing the auction when reaching the closing time, whereby the customer  24 ,  26  is informed of the most preferable bid; and  
      a means for accepting or rejecting the bid by the customer.  
      In one embodiment of the home page the application is scanning the network  12  for the best possible offer made for the product or services auctioned, making up the starting bid  32  on the home page for merchants or vendors.  
      The present invention also sets forth a method in an open network  12  for at least one of data- or telecommunication providing an electronic market place. It thus comprises a reversed auction application, through which a customer  10  auctions out a product  22  or a service to be purchased by the customer  10 . The participating vendors or merchants  24 ,  26  of the auction offer there unique most favorable bid  34  for selling the product  22 . The method comprises the steps of:  
      providing a registration regarding a service or product reversed auctioned by the customer at a central server auction facility  18  connected to the network;  
      delivering a unique auction product code to the customer after registering;  
      providing a serial No. for the auction;  
      counting the time of closing the auction through a timer  23 ;  
      informing vendors and merchants  24 ,  26  providing the auctioned product or services of the auction;  
      vendors or merchants  24 ,  26  bidding on the auctioned services or product, whereby the most favorable bid is registered;  
      closing the auction when reaching the closing time through the timer  23 , whereby the customer is informed of the most preferable bid;  
      the customer  10  accepting or rejecting the bid, if accepted a payment is accomplished to a neutral account and the purchasing customer is informed about the vendor or merchant and the merchant or vendor  24 ,  26  is informed about the payment and the unique customer code;  
      completing the sale, and the vendor or merchant being provided payment from the neutral account, whereby the introduction of the code to the customer and the serial No. to the merchant or vendors, thus the purchaser and merchant being unaware of there identity until receiving the product code from the application in order to close a fair deal.  
      Although, the present invention has been described through examples and preferred embodiments, the attached set of claims is not limited to those, but to what is expected of a person skilled in the art.