Systems and methods for searchable time-based offers

Abstract

A multiple criteria buying and selling system and method is provided. A seller initially establishes a deal structure for a product, which provides seller defined selling criteria information relating to the purchasing of the product, such as volume per unit price, quality, delivery time and warranty information. A buyer will be able to review a list of deals if the seller's selling criteria matches a buyer defined buying criteria. The deal structure is preferably set up so as to provide buyers with both price and non-price criteria information that the buyer's would consider important in a purchase of the type of product being offered by the seller. The deal structure is electronically made available to potential buyers of the product. For example, the deal structure may be displayed on an Internet site.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by a processor to:
 receive product data from a merchant associated with selling a good or service, the product data including:
 defined characteristics of the good or service, and 
 an established value of the good or service; 
   construct an index of offers according to a category of the good or service associated with the product data, wherein the index is searchable according to the category or the product data; and   receive a search query including at least one of:
 the product data, 
 a buyer-generated criterion related to a desired good or service, the buyer-generated criterion not provided as a part of the product data, and 
 a quality value associated with the good or service, 
 wherein the at least one of the product data, the buyer-generated criterion, or the quality value received as part of the search query constitute a range; and 
 output search results responsive to the search query. 
   
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by a processor to store data associated with the buyer-generated criterion and wherein the instructions are further executable by a processor to transmit a notification that identifies the buyer-generated criterion to the merchant. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data or the buyer-generated criterion includes information related to a delivery option. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data includes information related to a condition of the good or service. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the buyer-generated criterion is a rating. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by a processor to construct an inference that relates to at least one of: the good or service, a provider of the good or service, an entity providing the search query, or a relationship by and between the entity, the provider, or the good or service. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data includes a feature associated with the good or service. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the index of offers is based upon receipt of the product data from a plurality of merchants. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data are selected from a list of possible product data. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the buyer-generated criterion is selected from a list of possible criteria. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the buyer-generated criterion is a free form input of a user. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data includes a geographic location. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the product data includes selectable options. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the range refers to limits of a series. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further executable by a processor to register a buyer, wherein registering includes:
 receiving buyer registration information, including a physical address, an email address, a password, and credit card information of the buyer,   storing in memory the buyer registration information in a buyer database, and   matching at least one good or service to the buyer based on at least some part of the buyer registration information in the buyer database.   
     
     
         17 . A system that facilitates the sale of a good or service, the system comprising:
 a network communications interface that receives product data from a merchant associated with selling a good or service;   a processor; and   a memory that stores the product data, the product data including:
 defined characteristics of the good or service, and 
 an established value of the good or service, the memory further storing instructions executable by the processor to: 
 construct an index of offers according to a category of the good or service associated with the product data, wherein the index is searchable according to the category or the product data, and 
 output results responsive to a search query, the search query including at least one of:
 the product data, 
 a buyer-generated criterion related to a desired good or service, the buyer-generated criterion not provided as a part of the product registration data, and 
 a quality value associated with the good or service, 
 wherein the at least one of the product data, buyer-generated criterion, or quality value is received as part of the search query constitute a range. 
 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the product data or buyer-generated criterion includes information related to a delivery option. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the buyer-generated criterion is selectable from a set of options.