US2012246015A1PendingUtilityA1

System for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption

72
Individually held — no corporate assignee on recordPriority: Apr 19, 1999Filed: Jun 8, 2012Published: Sep 27, 2012
Est. expiryApr 19, 2019(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:James D. BennettChristopher C. Winslade
G06Q 40/03G06Q 20/20G06Q 40/04G06Q 30/0251G06Q 30/0222G06Q 30/02G06Q 30/0253G06Q 30/0611G06Q 40/08G06Q 30/0625G06Q 30/0605G06Q 30/0235G06Q 30/0224G06Q 30/0239G06Q 30/0269G06Q 30/0613G06Q 30/0207G06Q 30/0244G06Q 30/0601G06Q 30/0257G06Q 30/0261G06Q 30/0641G06Q 30/0255
72
PatentIndex Score
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Claims

Abstract

A system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption provides customers making online purchases to automatically retrieve and redeem all applicable rebates and coupons during an online purchase. Purchase orders from customers are selectively fulfilled and products are shipped to the customers either by the system for online sales with automatic rebate and coupon redemption or by other merchant or manufacturer environments. The system makes purchases from merchants or manufacturers using all applicable coupons and rebates and then sells the products to the customers, passing the savings to them. The system automatically retrieves coupons and rebates for items in a shopping cart during the activity of an online purchase at an electronic mall or an online merchant site and to retrieve manufacturer's and merchant's coupons prior to an online purchasing activity for subsequent submission to an online merchant during a subsequent purchasing activity.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
1 . A method performed by a promotion system that supports a plurality of independent sellers and a buyer's computer of a buyer, the method comprising:
 retrieving, in response to interaction with the buyer's computer, a first group of promotion data from a plurality of groups of promotion data, the first group of promotion data corresponding to a first sales item, the first group of promotion data including a first web page link and a second web page link; and   delivering the first group of promotion data to the buyer's computer, at least a portion of the first group of promotion data to be used in a visual presentation on the buyer's computer as a single combined visual promotion unit, wherein the single combined visual promotion unit supports vectoring of the buyer's computer via the first web page link and the second web page link.   
     
     
         2 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the first web page link vectors to a first web page of a first seller of the first product and the second web page link vectors to a second web page of a second seller of the first product. 
     
     
         3 . The promotion system of  claim 2 , wherein the first web page and the second web page each contain further product information relating to the first product. 
     
     
         4 . The promotion system of  claim 3 , wherein the first web page and the second web page each support sales of the first product. 
     
     
         5 . The promotion system of  claim 4 , wherein the sales include application of a promotion value. 
     
     
         6 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the promotion system comprises a sales site managed by a reseller, wherein the sales site supports sales of the first product and a plurality of other products. 
     
     
         7 . The promotion system of  claim 6 , wherein the promotion system comprises a search engine that enables the buyer to utilize search terms to locate one or more promotion offers from a plurality of hosted promotion offers. 
     
     
         8 . The promotion system of  claim 6 , wherein the promotion system hosts promotion offer postings from the plurality of independent sellers. 
     
     
         9 . The promotion system of  claim 8 , wherein the promotion system organizes the hosted promotion offer postings into categories based on one or more of goods, services, and/or sellers. 
     
     
         10 . The promotion system of  claim 8 , wherein the promotion system presents the categories to the buyer's computer. 
     
     
         11 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the promotion system comprises a search engine that enables the buyer to utilize search terms to locate one or more promotion offers from a plurality of hosted promotion offers. 
     
     
         12 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the promotion system comprises a promotion site managed by a promotion entity, wherein the promotion site supports sales of the first product and the plurality of other products. 
     
     
         13 . The promotion system of  claim 12 , wherein the promotion system comprises a search engine that enables the buyer to utilize search terms to locate one or more promotion offers from a plurality of hosted promotion offers. 
     
     
         14 . The promotion system of  claim 12 , wherein the promotion system hosts promotion offer postings from the plurality of independent sellers. 
     
     
         15 . The promotion system of  claim 14 , wherein the promotion system organizes the hosted promotion offer postings into categories based on one or more of goods, services and/or sellers. 
     
     
         16 . The sales promotion system of  claim 15 , wherein the promotion system presents the categories to the buyer's computer. 
     
     
         17 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the promotion system comprises a search engine that enables the buyer to utilize search terms to locate one or more promotion offers from a plurality of hosted promotion offers. 
     
     
         18 . The promotion system of  claim 17 , wherein the promotion system hosts promotion offer postings from the plurality of independent sellers. 
     
     
         19 . The promotion system of  claim 18 , wherein the promotion system organizes the hosted promotion offer postings into categories based on one or more of goods, services and/or sellers. 
     
     
         20 . The promotion system of  claim 19 , wherein the promotion system presents the categories to the buyer's computer. 
     
     
         21 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the single combined visual promotion unit comprises an advertisement. 
     
     
         22 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the first product comprises a particular type of product. 
     
     
         23 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the first product comprises a particular category of product. 
     
     
         24 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the first web page link vectors to a first web page of a first seller of the first product and the second web page link vectors to a second web page of a second seller of the first product, and wherein the first product comprises a particular type of product. 
     
     
         25 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the first web page link vectors to a first web page of a first seller of the first product and the second web page link vectors to a second web page of a second seller of the first product, and wherein the first product comprises a particular category of product. 
     
     
         26 . The promotion system of  claim 1 , wherein the promotion system comprises a search engine that enables the buyer to utilize search terms to locate one or more products and one or more groups of promotion data of the plurality of groups of promotion data associated with the one or more products.

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