Federated and multi-tenant e-commerce platform

Abstract

A multi-tenancy e-commerce platform to allow sellers to publish listings describing items for sale in one or more marketplaces is described. The platform comprises a distribution scheduler comprising a schedule receiver to receive a distribution schedule from a seller. The distribution scheduler further comprises an execution module, to determine that a delivery time of the listing has arrived, to access the listing from the listing inventory of the seller, and to deliver the listing to the marketplace. The marketplaces respectively comprise a decision system having a policy module to determine if the delivered listing is in compliance with one or more marketplace policies, and if the delivered listing is in compliance, to allow the listing to be published in the marketplace, but if the delivered listing is not in compliance, to not allow the listing to be listed in the marketplace.

1 . A system comprising:
 a schedule receiver to receive a distribution schedule from a seller, the distribution schedule including an indication of a listing inventory of the seller, a listing within the listing inventory to be delivered, an item inventory of the seller, at least one item within the item inventory that is described by the listing, and a marketplace where the listing is to be delivered; and   an execution module, implemented by one or more processors, to determine that a delivery time indicated in the distribution schedule for the listing has arrived, to access the listing from the listing inventory of the seller, and to deliver the listing to the marketplace.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one item is a product representing a plurality of instances of the item for sale. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the execution module is further to evaluate one or more conditional statements indicated by the distribution schedule before delivering the listing. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the marketplace comprises a decision system, the decision system comprising:
 a policy module to determine if the delivered listing is in compliance with one or more marketplace policies, to allow the listing to be published in the marketplace based on the delivered listing being in compliance, and to not allow the listing to be listed in the marketplace based on the delivered listing not being in compliance.   
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the decision system further comprises a presentation module, the presentation module to transform the listing based on the one or more marketplace policies. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the transformation comprises changing a listing characteristic or an item characteristic. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the decision system further comprises a store module, the store module to add the listing to a virtual store of the seller in the marketplace. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the decision system further comprises a forwarding module to forward the delivered listing to one or more additional marketplaces. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the forwarding module is to verify that the seller has granted permission to forward the listing. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the policy module is further to determine a number of items available for sale based on the item inventory of the seller. 
     
     
         11 . A method comprising:
 receiving a distribution schedule from a seller, the distribution schedule including an indication of a listing inventory of the seller, a listing within the listing inventory to be delivered, an item inventory of the seller, at least one item within the item inventory that is described by the listing, and a marketplace where the listing is to be delivered; and   determining, using one or more processors, that a delivery time indicated in the distribution schedule for the listing has arrived, to access the listing from the listing inventory of the seller, and to deliver the listing to the marketplace.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the at least one item is a product representing a plurality of instances of the item for sale. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising evaluating one or more conditional statements indicated by the distribution schedule before delivering the listing. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising, at the marketplace, determining if the delivered listing is in compliance with one or more marketplace policies, to allow the listing to be published in the marketplace based on the delivered listing being in compliance, and to not allow the listing to be listed in the marketplace based on the delivered listing not being in compliance. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising, at the marketplace, transforming the listing based on the one or more marketplace policies. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the transformation comprises changing a listing characteristic or an item characteristic. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising adding the listing to a virtual store of the seller in the marketplace. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising forwarding the delivered listing to one or more additional marketplaces. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising determining a number of items available for sale based on the item inventory of the seller. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
 receiving a distribution schedule from a seller, the distribution schedule including an indication of a listing inventory of the seller, a listing within the listing inventory to be delivered, an item inventory of the seller, at least one item within the item inventory that is described by the listing, and a marketplace where the listing is to be delivered; and   determining, using one or more processors, that a delivery time indicated in the distribution schedule for the listing has arrived, to access the listing from the listing inventory of the seller, and to deliver the listing to the marketplace.