Patent ID: 8407154

Claim:
A method for determining a shipment origin location for a product shipped by a merchant, the method comprising: for each of a plurality of purchase transactions for the product between the merchant and customers: receiving transaction information including identification of the product, the merchant, and the customer; determining a location of the customer; receiving shipping information associated with the product, the shipping information including a shipment origin location; storing an historical record indicating, for the customer's location, the merchant and the product, the shipment origin location; receiving a request for a predicted shipment origin location, the request including identification of the merchant and the product, and a location of a prospective customer; identifying, by a computer, based on the prospective customer's location and at least one historical record indicating a previous shipment of the product from the merchant to the prospective customer's location, a predicted shipment origin location; and providing, by the computer, in response to the received request, the predicted shipment origin location.