Bilateral bidding platform for use in bulk sale of items in an electronic marketplace

Abstract

Utilities (e.g., systems, methods, etc.) for facilitating a bilateral bidding process between buyers and sellers of items (services, products, bundles, etc.) to allow buyers to obtain lower prices on the items through crowd bidding while simultaneously allowing sellers to essentially offset such lower prices on the items through increased sales volume of the items. Specifically, the disclosed utilities may make use of a network-based ecommerce system or platform that provides sellers of items access to real-time buyer demand and the optimum price that a plurality of buyers (e.g., customers) are willing to pay that yields increased profits. The disclosed platform also benefits buyers in cases when multiple sellers compete for the then current plurality of buyer demand resulting in a reduced price for the item based on the then real-time demand.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for facilitating the bulk sale of a product and/or service from a seller to a plurality of buyers in an electronic marketplace, comprising:
 receiving, into a staging register of a bidding pool of a computerized bidding system, a plurality of bid objects for a particular product and/or service from a respective plurality of potential buyers, wherein each bid object includes a price object defining a price at or below which the respective buyer is willing to pay for the particular product and/or service;   organizing, by a bidding engine of the computerized bidding system, the bid objects in the staging register starting with the bid object having a price object with a highest price and continuing to the bid object having a price object with the lowest price, wherein the bid objects in the staging register after being organized comprise organized bid objects;   moving, by the bidding engine at the beginning of a bid session, the organized bid objects into an active register of the bidding pool;   receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session, an indication of a particular one of the bid objects in the active register from a potential seller of the particular product and/or service, wherein the particular one of the bid objects and the bid objects above the particular bid object up to the bid object having the price object with the highest price comprises a bid block; and   generating, by the bidding engine at a conclusion of the bid session, an indication of the bid block.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 removing, from the active register by the bidding engine at the end of the bid session, the bid objects of the bid block, wherein the bid objects in the active register remaining after the removing comprise remaining bid objects;   receiving, by the bidding engine during a subsequent bid session, an indication of a particular one of the remaining bid objects in the active register, wherein the particular one of the remaining bid objects and the remaining bid objects above the particular remaining bid object up to the remaining bid object having the price object with the highest price comprise a subsequent bid block; and   generating, by the bidding engine, an indication of the subsequent bid block.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the bid session occurs for a first predetermined period of time, wherein the subsequent bid session occurs for a second predetermined period of time, and wherein the bid session and subsequent bid session are non-overlapping. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the end of the bid session is adjacent a beginning of the subsequent bid session. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the first predetermined period of time is equal to the second predetermined period of time. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein each bid object further includes a bid duration object defining a period of time that the bid object is valid in the bidding pool, wherein the method further includes:
 identifying any bid objects in the active register at the end of the bid session that have expired bid period objects and that are not in the bid block, wherein the removing includes removing the identified bid blocks having expired bid period objects.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 2 , further including:
 receiving, into the staging register during the bid session of the active register, a plurality of additional bid objects for the particular product and/or service;   moving, by the bidding engine at the beginning of the subsequent bid session, the additional bid objects into the active register, wherein the moved additional bid objects and the bid objects in the active register remaining after the removing comprise the remaining bid objects, and wherein the remaining bid objects are organized with the remaining bid object having a price object with a highest price and continuing to the remaining bid object having a price object with the lowest price.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving includes receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session, a plurality of indications of a respective plurality of different ones of the bid objects in the active register from a respective plurality of potential sellers of the particular product and/or service, wherein each different bid object and the bid objects above the different bid object up to the bid object having the price object with the highest price comprises a different respective bid block resulting in a plurality of different bid blocks, and wherein the method further includes:
 identifying, at a conclusion of the bid session, the one of the plurality of different bid blocks having a bid object with a price object having the lowest price, wherein the generating includes generating, by the bidding engine, an indication of the identified one of the plurality of different bid objects.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , further including:
 removing, from the active register by the bidding engine at the end of the bid session, the bid objects of the identified bid block, wherein the bid objects in the active register remaining after the removing comprise remaining bid objects;   receiving, by the bidding engine during a subsequent bid session, a plurality of indications of a respective plurality of different ones of the remaining bid objects in the active register, wherein each different remaining bid object and the remaining bid objects above the different remaining bid object up to the remaining bid object having the price object with the highest price comprises a different respective bid block resulting in a plurality of different bid blocks of the subsequent bid session;   identifying, at a conclusion of the subsequent bid session, the one of the plurality of different bid blocks having a remaining bid object with a price object having the lowest price,   generating, by the bidding engine, an indication of the identified bid block of the subsequent bid session.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein each bid object further includes a bid duration object defining a period of time that the bid object is valid in the bidding pool, wherein the method further includes:
 identifying any bid objects in the active register at the end of the bid session that have expired bid period objects and that are not in the bid block, wherein the removing includes removing the identified bid blocks having expired bid period objects.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further including:
 receiving, into the staging register during the bid session of the active register, a plurality of additional bid objects for the particular product and/or service;   moving, by the bidding engine at the beginning of the subsequent bid session, the additional bid objects into the active register, wherein the moved additional bid objects and the bid objects in the active register remaining after the removing comprise the remaining bid objects, and wherein the remaining bid objects are organized with the remaining bid object having a price object with a highest price and continuing to the remaining bid object having a price object with the lowest price.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the receiving the plurality of indications includes:
 first receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session from a first potential seller of the particular product and/or service, a first indication of a particular bid object;   second receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session and after the first receiving from a second potential seller of the particular product and/or service, a second indication of the particular bid object; and wherein the method further includes:
 generating, by the bidding engine during the bid session after the second receiving, a message to the second seller intimating that the second indication has been rejected and requesting another indication of a different one of the bid objects. 
   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the receiving the plurality of indications includes:
 first receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session from a first potential seller of the particular product and/or service, a first indication of a first particular bid object, wherein the price object of the first particular bid object defines a first price, and wherein first particular bid object and the bid objects above the first particular bid object up to the bid object having the price object with the highest price comprises a first particular bid block;   second receiving, by the bidding engine during the bid session and after the first receiving from a second potential seller of the particular product and/or service, a second indication of a second particular bid object, wherein the price object of the second particular bid object defines a second price less than the first price, and wherein second particular bid object and the bid objects above the second particular bid object up to the bid object having the price object with the highest price comprises a second particular bid block;   automatically adjusting, by the bidding engine during the bid session and after the second receiving, the first particular bid block to be defined by a third particular bid object having a price object defining a third price less than the second price and including bid objects above the third particular bid object up to the bid object having the price object with the highest price.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further including:
 accessing, by the bidding engine, a preference object associated with the first seller, wherein the preference object includes a rule defining how the first particular bid block is to be adjusted in the event of a subsequent bid block being created during the bid session and having a particular bid object with a price object defining a price below the first price, wherein the automatically adjusting step is based on the accessing step.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 disallowing receipt of bid objects from the staging register into the active register during the bid session.