Multi-system distributed processing of delivery services

Abstract

Various systems and methods that may relate to referral and/or delivery services are described. Some embodiments may include communication using a payment processing device. Various other embodiments are described.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device of a referral service from a remote device of a user, an indication of an order of physical goods from a merchant that does not have a proprietary delivery service;   in response to receiving the indication of the order for the plurality of goods from the merchant that does not have the proprietary delivery service, performing, by the computing device, an auction to determine a delivery service provider from a plurality of delivery service providers to provide a delivery service for the order by:
 providing information about the order to the plurality of delivery service providers, 
 receiving a first bid of a first amount of money from a first delivery service provider of the plurality of service provides and a second bid of a second amount of money from a second delivery service provider of the plurality of delivery service providers, and 
 determining, by the computing device, based on the first bid and second bid, that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service for the order; and 
   in response to determining that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, facilitating, by the computing device, delivery of the order to the user by the first delivery service provider.   
     
     
         2 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device; and   a non-transitory medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the apparatus to:   receive, from a remote device of a user, an indication of an order of physical goods from a merchant that does not have a proprietary delivery service;   in response to receiving the indication of the order for the plurality of goods from the merchant that does not have the proprietary delivery service, perform, by the computing device, an auction to determine a delivery service provider from a plurality of delivery service providers to provide a delivery service for the order by:
 providing information about the order to the plurality of delivery service providers, 
 receiving a first bid of a first amount of money from a first delivery service provider of the plurality of service provides and a second bid of a second amount of money from a second delivery service provider of the plurality of delivery service providers, and 
 determining, by the computing device, based on the first bid and second bid, that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service for the order; and 
   in response to determining that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, facilitate delivery of the order to the user by the first delivery service provider.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to provide the information, the instructions cause the apparatus to provide through at least one of an email, a website, and an electronic message. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to facilitate delivery the instructions cause the apparatus to transmit a request to perform the delivery, in which the request includes order details that are not included in the information. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which each of the first and second bid identifies at least one of a respective time and a respective time frame for delivery. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 5 , in which to determine that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, the instructions cause the apparatus to determine based each of the identified at least one of the respective time and the respective time frame for delivery. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which the provided information includes a location of the merchant and a location of the user. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which the provided information includes an indication of at least one of a time and a time frame for delivery. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to determine that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, the instructions cause the apparatus to determine that the first amount of money is lower than the second amount of money. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to determine that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, the instructions cause the apparatus to determine that the first amount of money is higher than the second amount of money and the first bid includes a first at least one of a time and a time frame that matches the order. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to determine that the first delivery service provider should provide the delivery service, the instructions cause the apparatus to determine based on an algorithm with inputs that include at least one of a time and a time frame associated with the order, the first amount of money, the second amount of money, and respective at least one of a time and a time frame from each of the first bid and the second bid. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which to perform the auction, the instructions cause the apparatus to:
 provide information about each bid to the plurality of delivery service providers; and   receive more than one bid from at least one of the plurality of delivery service providers.   
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which each bid includes a bid to perform delivery for at least one of a plurality of orders and a period of time relative to the order, and in which to determine that the first deliver service provider should provide the delivery service for the order the instructions cause the apparatus to determine that the first delivery service provider should provider delivery services for the at least one of the plurality of orders and the period of time. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , in which the respective bid includes at least one of a time and a time frame for the delivery, in which the at least one of the time and the time frame is based on a location of an employee of the delivery service provider, the location of the merchant, and the location of the user, and in which a price of the respective bid is based on a location of an employee of the delivery service provider, the location of the merchant, the location of the user and a risk of providing the delivery. 
     
     
         15 . An apparatus comprising:
 a computing device; and   a non-transitory medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions that when executed by the computing device cause the apparatus to:   receive, from a remote device of a user, an indication of a delivery order of physical goods from a merchant that does not have a proprietary delivery service;   in response to receiving the information about the order to deliver the plurality of physical goods, determine a first bid from a delivery service provider for providing a delivery service for the order based on a cost to the delivery service provider to provide the delivery service;   in response to determining the first bid, transmitting the first bid to the remote device;   receiving an indication, based on the first bid, from the remote device that the delivery service provider has been selected to deliver the plurality of physical goods from the merchant to the user; and   in response to receiving the indication that the delivery service provider has been selected, facilitating the delivery of the plurality of physical goods from the merchant to the user.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , in which the information about the order includes at least one of a time and a time frame for delivery of the order. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , in which the information includes a location of the user and a location of the merchant. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , in which the first bid includes a price for the delivery. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , in which the price is based on a location of an employee of the delivery service provider, the location of the merchant, and the location of the user. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , in which the price is based on a cost of the plurality of physical goods. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , in which the price is based on a risk of providing the delivery. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , in which the risk includes a risk of being stuck in traffic while making the delivery. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , in which the first bid includes at least one of a time and a time frame for the delivery. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 23 , in which the at least one of the time and the time frame is based on a location of an employee of the delivery service provider, the location of the merchant, and the location of the user. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 24 , in which the price is based on a location of an employee of the delivery service provider, the location of the merchant, and the location of the user and a risk of providing the delivery. 
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , in which to facilitate delivery, the instructions cause the apparatus to notify an employee of the delivery service provider. 
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 16 , in which the instructions cause the apparatus to:
 receive an indication of a second bid made by another delivery service provider;   in response to receiving the indication of the second bid, determine a third bid for providing a delivery service for the order; and   in response to determining the third bid, transmit the third bid to the remote device.