Systems and methods for facilitating a transaction by matching seller information and buyer information

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to facilitate a transaction between a seller and a buyer. According to one embodiment, seller offer information is received at a controller. The seller offer information is associated with an item, such as a secondary market item, being offered for sale by a seller. Buyer offer information, associated with a buyer offering to make a purchase, is also received. An evaluation rule is determined, and the seller offer information and the buyer offer information are matched based on the evaluation rule. It is then arranged for the seller to sell the item to the buyer.

1 . A method for facilitating a transaction, comprising:
 receiving seller offer information transmitted from a seller device, the seller offer information associated with an item being offered for sale by a seller;   receiving buyer offer information transmitted from a buyer device, the buyer offer information associated with a buyer offering to make a purchase of an item;   determining an evaluation rule;   matching the seller offer information and the buyer offer information based on the evaluation rule; and   arranging for the seller to sell the item to the buyer.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the seller device comprises at least one of a computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a wireless telephone, a pager, a kiosk, an automated teller machine, a smart card, or a magnetic stripe card. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the buyer device comprises at least one of a computer, a personal digital assistant, a telephone, a wireless telephone, a pager, a kiosk, an automated teller machine, a smart card, or a magnetic stripe card. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , in which matching comprises:
 generating a buyer offer code that is associated with a set of possible items that is based on the buyer offer information;   determining a seller offer code based on the seller offer information; and   matching the buyer offer code with the seller offer code, which includes determining that the seller offer code is associated with at least one item that includes at least one of the possible items associated with the buyer offer code.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , in which matching comprises:
 determining an item quality class associated with the item based on the seller offer information; and   matching buyer offer information with the item quality class.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , in which determining the item quality class comprises basing the item quality class on at least one of an item category, at least one item feature, an item price, an age associated with the item, an item manufacturer, an item description, an item image, an item condition, or an accessory associated with the item. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , further comprising transmitting, based on the item quality class, a suggested item price range to at least one of the buyer or the seller. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the seller offer information and the buyer offer information comprises at least one of an item category, an item quality class, at least one item feature, an age associated with the item, an item manufacturer, an item description, an item image, an item condition, an accessory associated with the item, an offer period, delivery information, payment information, or a preference. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , in which matching is based at least partially on a seller address and a buyer address. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the evaluation rule comprises the seller address being within a predetermined distance of the buyer address. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the evaluation rule comprises the seller address and the buyer address being within a predetermined distance of a third party address. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the evaluation rule comprises generating the evaluation rule based on revenue management information associated with a controller. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the revenue management information comprises at least one of an amount of profit associated with the controller, and a number of transactions associated with the controller. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the evaluation rule comprises at least one of a controller operator manually generating the evaluation rule, retrieving a predetermined evaluation rule from a database, or selecting an evaluation rule from a plurality of evaluation rules. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , in which determining the evaluation rule comprises:
 measuring a current performance of a controller; and   generating the evaluation rule based at least in part on the current measure of the performance of the controller.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the performance of the controller is indicative of at least one of an amount of profit associated with the transaction for the controller, a current overall level of profit associated with the controller, information associated with another controller, a total number of buyer offers pending in the controller for similar items, a total number of seller offers pending in the controller for similar items, or an increase in the total number of transactions. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the evaluation rule is based on information associated with the seller. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the information associated with the seller comprises at least one of a seller location, a seller transaction history, a seller reputation, a seller payment identifier, demographic information associated with the seller, psychographic information associated with the seller, a credit rating associated with the seller, other offers to sell associated with the seller, other offers to buy associated with the seller, and an amount of profit associated with the transaction for the seller. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the evaluation rule is based on information associated with the buyer. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the information associated with the buyer comprises at least one of a buyer location, a buyer transaction history, a buyer reputation, a buyer payment identifier, demographic information associated with the buyer, a credit rating associated with the buyer, psychographic information associated with the buyer, other offers to sell associated with the buyer, other offers to buy associated with the buyer, or an amount of profit associated with the transaction for the buyer. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the evaluation rule is based on information associated with the item. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the information associated with the item comprises at least one of a past popularity of the item, a current popularity of the item, or a predicted future popularity of the item. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , in which matching comprises:
 matching the seller offer information with a plurality of buyer offers; and   selecting one of the plurality of buyer offers based on priority rankings associated with the buyer offers.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the priority rankings are based on at least one of priority payments, other seller offers for similar items, other buyer offers for similar items, transaction histories, the seller offer information, or the buyer offer information. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , in which matching comprises:
 matching the buyer offer information with a plurality of seller offers; and   selecting one of the plurality of seller offers based on priority rankings associated with the seller offers.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25 , wherein the priority rankings are based on at least one of priority payments, other seller offers for similar items, other buyer offers for similar items, or transaction histories. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, subsequent to the matching, obligating at least one of the seller or the buyer to complete the transaction. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising imposing a penalty amount against at least one of the seller or the buyer if the transaction is not completed. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining a subsidy, the subsidy being associated with a benefit from a subsidy provider to be applied to the transaction. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , in which arranging for the seller to sell the item to the buyer comprises arranging for the seller to provide the item to the buyer in accordance with the subsidy. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the benefit comprises a subsidy amount, and in which matching is performed by at least one of adding the subsidy amount to a buyer price, or by subtracting the subsidy amount from a seller price.