Marketplace system in which users generate user-to-user preorder listings via a definitive product catalog

Abstract

An electronic marketplace system provides various features for assisting users in listing products for sale, locating the listings for a product, and performing related actions. A user wishing to sell a product can browse to an existing description of the product in an electronic catalog and then select an option to create a corresponding listing. The pending listings for a product are preferably displayed or summarized on the product's detail page in the catalog. When no such listings exist, an option to preorder the product from an unspecified seller may be provided, and information regarding the resulting preorders may be displayed on the associated product detail pages to entice potential sellers. In one embodiment, the electronic catalog also serves as a retail sales catalog of a merchant.

1 . An electronic marketplace system that supports user-to-user sales of products, the system comprising: 
 a server system that provides user access to a browsable electronic catalog, said browsable electronic catalog including descriptions of products that can be listed by users for sale to other users; and    a preordering component that provides functionality for a buyer to preorder a product from an unspecified seller by browsing the electronic catalog to a description of the product to be preordered and selecting a preordering option to initiate creation of a preorder listing, whereby buyers can create preorder listings for selected products;    wherein the server system in configured to incorporate viewable information regarding the preorder listings into pages of the electronic catalog in conjunction with catalog descriptions of corresponding products, whereby potential sellers are notified via the electronic catalog of marketplace demand levels for specific products.    
     
     
         2 . The system as in  claim 1 , wherein the server system is configured to generate a product detail page containing viewable information reflective of a quantity of preorder listings currently pending for a particular product, such that a potential seller of the product can assess a demand level for the product by viewing the product detail page.  
     
     
         3 . The system as in  claim 2 , wherein the product detail page additionally includes an option for a seller of the product to initiate creation of a listing for selling a unit of the product.  
     
     
         4 . The system as in  claim 3 , wherein the product detail page additionally includes said preordering option.  
     
     
         5 . The system as in  claim 1 , wherein the electronic catalog further provides an option for users to purchase products described therein from a retail merchant associated with the electronic catalog, whereby the electronic catalog supports both user-to-user sales and retail sales.  
     
     
         6 . The system as in  claim 1 , further comprising a marketplace listing creation component that enables sellers to create marketplace product listings for selling products, wherein at least some of the marketplace product listings are displayed in the electronic catalog in conjunction with the catalog descriptions of the corresponding products.  
     
     
         7 . The system as in  claim 6 , further comprising a matching component that automatically matches preorder listings with marketplace product listings for fulfillment.  
     
     
         8 . The system as in  claim 1 , wherein the preordering component prompts a creator of a preorder listing to specify a maximum purchase price and a minimum product condition.  
     
     
         9 . The system as in  claim 1 , wherein the server system is responsive to a browser request for a product detail page of the electronic catalog by determining whether a corresponding product is currently available from a marketplace seller, and when the product is not available from any marketplace seller, incorporating said preordering option into the product detail page.  
     
     
         10 . The system as in  claim 9 , wherein the server system is configured to omit said preordering option from the product detail page when the product is available from a marketplace seller.