Patent ID: 8463665

Claim:
A method, comprising: associating in one or more records, using one or more computer systems, a plurality of units of a same inventory item with a particular disposition channel; while the plurality of units of the same inventory item is being held in current inventory for the particular disposition channel, performing a unit-level evaluation of one or more of the plurality of units of the same inventory item, where said performing the unit-level evaluation comprises: detecting, using one or more computer systems, a disposition event corresponding to one or more of the plurality of units of the same inventory item; and in response to the disposition event: accessing the one or more records for the one or more of the plurality of units, wherein the one or more records comprises information for the one or more of the plurality of units; determining, using one or more computer systems, a plurality of valid alternate disposition channels according to a disposition policy and the information for the one or more of the plurality of units, wherein the disposition policy identifies valid disposition channels for the same inventory item, and wherein said determining includes: notifying one of the plurality of valid alternate disposition channels of availability of the one or more of the plurality of units and receiving a response to said notification from said notified disposition channel; and ranking the plurality of valid alternate disposition channels by an amount of recoverable value through each channel, wherein said amount of recoverable value through the one of the plurality of valid alternate disposition channels is dynamically determined, at least in part, by evaluating said received response; selecting, based on said dynamic determination and said ranking, one of the plurality of valid alternate disposition channels for the one or more of the plurality of units; and redirecting, using one or more computer systems, the one or more of the plurality of units of the same inventory item from the particular disposition channel to the selected valid alternate disposition channel, wherein said redirecting comprises updating the one or more records for the one or more of the plurality of units.