Methods and systems for multi-merchant couponing

Abstract

Methods and systems for enabling multi-merchant coupon campaigns within an online publication system are described. In an example, a method can include generating an item listing, receiving information specifying a set of coupon criteria, detecting an event within a multi-merchant publication system, and present a coupon in response to detecting the event. The generating an item listing can be based on information received from a merchant-computer. If the set of coupon criteria is detected it can result in presenting a coupon for the item listing. The event can satisfy a particular coupon criteria from the set of coupon criteria.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A method for automatically publishing a coupon associated with a transaction of items, the method comprising:
 generating, at a multi-merchant publication system, an item listing associated with interactive input from a user with a merchant-computer for searching one or more items, wherein the item listing includes a first item;   retrieving, from a coupon database associated with the merchant-computer, a set of coupon criteria, wherein the set of coupon criteria includes one or more coupon criteria associated with the coupon, and wherein the coupon is associated with a bundled offer including at least the first item and a second item;   receiving an event, wherein the event includes information matching a coupon criterion associated with the coupon from the set of coupon criteria;   in response to receiving the event, determining the coupon associated with at least the first item in the item listing as the bundled offer addressed to the user; and   automatically publishing, prior to starting a transaction of the first item, the coupon, wherein the automatically publishing the coupon includes displaying the coupon associated with the bundled offer in the item listing.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the set of coupon criteria includes at least one of: user status, user search history, a user demographic attribute, and user profile data. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the set of coupon criteria relates to the performance of one or more actions corresponding to at least one of: entering a search request, purchasing an item associated with an up-selling campaign, winning an auction, and buying an item associated with featured accessories. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 determining a user action based at least on one of:
 monitoring real-time on the multi-merchant publication system, or deriving from historical data; and 
   detecting, based on the user action, the event.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the user action triggers a contextual display of one or more coupons issued to the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the historical data comprises at least one of: previous browsing history, previous purchasing history, previous coupon usage, and payment history. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 2 , the method further comprising:
 receiving an instruction to redeem the coupon; and   based on the instruction, redeeming the coupon using at least one of: user login credentials, a user email address, and a payment method.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the set of coupon criteria is received by a rules authoring tool of the multi-merchant publication system, the rules authoring tool providing an interface for merchants to create rules targeting users with one or more coupons. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the bundled offer is provided at a discount over selling items of the bundled offer individually. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the determining the coupon comprises identifying a set of users eligible to receive the coupon, and identifying one or more items associated with the coupon. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the publishing the coupon comprises displaying the potential savings associated with the coupon when the coupon is applied to the item listing. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 2 , the method further comprising:
 receiving, from the merchant-computer, a selection of the coupon; and   in response to the selection, automatically applying the coupon to at least one of the item listing and the bundled offer.   
     
     
         14 . A system for automatically publishing a coupon associated with a transaction of items, the system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, performs a method comprising:
 generating, at a multi-merchant publication system, an item listing associated with interactive input from a user with a merchant-computer for searching one or more items, wherein the item listing includes a first item; 
 retrieving, from a coupon database associated with the merchant-computer, a set of coupon criteria, wherein the set of coupon criteria includes one or more coupon criteria associated with a first coupon, and wherein the first coupon is associated with a bundled offer including at least the first item and a second item; 
 receiving an event, wherein the event includes information matching first coupon criteria associated with the first coupon from the set of coupon criteria; 
 in response to receiving the event, determining the first coupon associated with at least the first item in the item listing as the bundled offer addressed to the user; and 
 automatically publishing, prior to starting a transaction of the first item, the coupon, wherein the automatically publishing the first coupon includes displaying the first coupon associated with the bundled offer in the item listing. 
   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the first coupon criteria are based on at least one of: a user being a new customer, the user being a repeat customer, and a selected search result being a promotional item. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the first coupon criteria relates to the performance of one or more actions in the multi-merchant publication system, the one or more actions including at least one of: entering a search request, indicating an intent to purchase one or more items, winning an auction, and purchasing an item associated with one or more accessories of the item. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the presenting the first coupon comprises displaying the first coupon in a manner that is contextually relevant to the user of the merchant-computer. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein presenting the first coupon comprises displaying the first coupon in a manner that is contextually relevant to the user of the merchant-computer. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the contextual relevance corresponds to at least one of: a portion of the multi-merchant publication system being interacted with by the user, a current user location, and an operating environment. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the bundled offer satisfies a second coupon criteria; and wherein a second coupon is presented based on the satisfaction of the second coupon criteria. 
     
     
         21 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium encoding computer executable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, performs a method comprising:
 generating, at a multi-merchant publication system, an item listing associated with interactive input from a user with a merchant-computer for searching one or more items, wherein the item listing includes a first item;   retrieving, from a coupon database associated with the merchant-computer, a set of coupon criteria, wherein the set of coupon criteria includes one or more coupon criteria associated with a coupon, and wherein the coupon is associated with a bundled offer including at least the first item and a second item;   receiving an event, wherein the event includes information matching a coupon criterion associated with the coupon from the set of coupon criteria;   in response to receiving the event, determining the coupon associated with at least the first item in the item listing as the bundled offer addressed to the user; and   automatically publishing, prior to starting a transaction of the first item, the coupon, wherein the automatically publishing the coupon includes displaying the coupon associated with the bundled offer in the item listing.