Patent Document ID: 8676631
Application ID: 12364657
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for automated pricing of an item, comprising the steps of: obtaining historical data of one or more previous purchases for the item, wherein obtaining historical data is carried out by a module executing on a hardware processor; performing a regression with non-zero utilities on the historical data to obtain a buying probability curve for a third party that shows the probability of successfully purchasing the item as a function of value of the item and to obtain a selling probability curve for the third party that shows the probability (P) of the item being sold as a function of price of the item, wherein performing the regression comprises taking into account refurbishment costs of the third party via P ⁡ ( C = 1 | V , x ) = 1 1 + exp ⁡ ( - m ⁡ ( v ⁡ ( z ) + k - V ) ) , wherein C denotes a random variable in {0,1} indicating failure or success of selling the item, V is a price of the item (x) offered to the third party, and v(z)+k represents the value of the refurbished item, and wherein performing a regression on the historical data is carried out by a module executing on a hardware processor; and using the regression to obtain a buying price and a selling price for the item that optimizes revenue for the third party by deriving an operating region using the buying probability curve and the selling probability curve, wherein the third party is buying the item from a first party and selling the item to a second party, and wherein using the regression to obtain a buying price and a selling price is carried out by a module executing on a hardware processor.