Automated Ticket Selling System Having a Maximum Price Setting

Abstract

A buyer may submit a listing containing a description of an item desired to be purchased, such as an airline ticket, to an operator of an automated selling system. The automated selling system may be accessible via a computer network. The listing may contain a maximum price at which the buyer is willing to purchase the item. Sellers designate listings for which they submit bids to the operator. The floor price applicable to a given listing may be determined from the highest floor price submitted by the eligible sellers for that listing. If only one seller submits a bid, and the bid is less than or equal to the price submitted by the buyer, that seller is selected to make the sale and provide the item. If there are multiple eligible sellers, the sale is awarded to a seller after applying predefined system rules.

1 - 5 . (canceled) 
     
     
         6 . A method for selling an item, comprising:
 receiving, from a buyer, a listing of an item to be purchased and a purchase price to be paid for the item;   identifying at least one seller having an item corresponding to the listing;   receiving from each of the identified sellers a first indication of a proposed floor price for the item, and a second indication of a first round price for the item;   establishing a floor price based on the highest proposed floor price indications; and   if one of the second indications is not greater than the floor price, awarding a sale of the item at the floor price to the seller that submitted said one of the second indications.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the item comprises an airline ticket. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the listing comprises at least one of: an origin city, a destination city, a flight number, a date of travel, a scheduled time of travel, a request for non-stop travel, and an identification of a preferred provider an identification of a traveler. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the at least one seller comprises at least one airline transportation provider. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving, from a seller, a fee to bid on the item.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 receiving, from the buyer, a fee for the listing.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein said receiving the listing further comprises:
 receiving a financial account identifier corresponding to a financial account owned by the buyer from which the payment for the item will be paid.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the financial account is a credit card account. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said receiving the fee further comprises:
 receiving the fee upon completion of a sale of the item.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the listing comprises an identification of a seller that will not be acceptable to the buyer. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 6  wherein, if none of the second indications is not greater than the floor price, further comprising:
 determining a lowest first round bidder based on the received second indications. 
 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 awarding a sale of the item to the lowest first round bidder.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 transmitting, to the buyer, a notification of the sale of the item.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 charging the purchase price to the buyer for the sale.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 17  further comprising charging the buyer the lowest first round bid price for the sale. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20  further comprising charging a fee to one or both of the buyer and/or the seller. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the listing is rejected if the purchase price is less than the floor price. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , further comprising:
 receiving from the buyer a fee for the listing; and   retaining the fee if the listing is rejected.   
     
     
         24 - 50 . (canceled) 
     
     
         50 . A computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method for selling an item performed by a computer, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a buyer, a listing of an item to be purchased and a purchase price to be paid for the item;   identifying at least one seller having an item corresponding to the listing;   receiving from each of the sellers a first indication of a floor price for the item, and a second indication of a first round price for the item;   establishing a floor price based on a highest of said first indications; and   if one of the second indications is not greater than the floor price, awarding a sale of the item at the floor price to the seller that submitted said one of the second indications.   
     
     
         51 . (canceled) 
     
     
         52 . An apparatus for selling an item, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory in communication with the processor, the memory storing a plurality of processing instructions directing the processor to:
 receive, from a buyer, a listing of an item to be purchased and a purchase price to be paid for the item; 
 identify at least one seller having an item corresponding to the listing; 
 receive from each of the sellers a first indication of a floor price for the item, and a second indication of a first round price for the item; 
 establish a floor price based on a highest of said first indications; and 
 when one of the second indications is not greater than the floor price, awarding a sale of the item at the floor price to the seller that submitted said one of the second indications. 
   
     
     
         53 - 61 . (canceled)