System and Method For Providing Incentives to Purchasers

Abstract

An online system presents remote users with static incentives, dynamic incentives and the ability to create and submit customizable incentives related to goods or services of interest to the user. By using the incentive delivery system, the user can research goods or services of interest and in an interactive fashion create an incentive package most desirable to the user and submit same to a central location. The systems performs decisioning routines on submitted incentive requests and makes such requests available for review. Ultimately, the submitted requests may be accepted or rejected or a counter-incentive may be issued to the user for consideration.

1 - 28 . (canceled) 
     
     
         29 . An online system configured to present a user with a user interface to access incentives over a distributed network, the user being a potential purchaser of goods or services associated with the incentives, the system comprising:
 one or more processors configured to generate a graphical user interface for presentation to a user on an electronic display, the graphical user interface being adapted to present incentive offers to the user, to facilitate user payment for incentives by the user, and to enable the user to redeem user selected incentives, the graphical user interface comprising:
 an incentive display field that displays an incentive offer and an associated user fee to the user; 
 a payment acceptance field that requests and is configured to receive payment information from the user for payment of the associated fee in exchange for the incentive associated with the incentive offer; and 
 an incentive distribution field that presents, responsive to reception of the payment information, incentive information to the user to enable the user to redeem the incentive. 
   
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the incentive is a predetermined value redeemable at the purchase of a predetermined good or service. 
     
     
         31 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the incentive information enabling redemption of the incentives comprises a printable certificate. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 29 , wherein the graphical user interface further comprises a user information field that receives user profile information from the user. 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 32 , wherein the offeror of the goods or services associated with the incentive reimburses the user the amount of the user fee or conveys like value. 
     
     
         34 . A system configured to present incentives to users over a network, the system comprising:
 one or more servers that communicate with remote user terminals over a network, the one or more servers comprising:
 non-transient electronic storage that stores incentive information pertaining to incentive offers available from a plurality of offerors, product information pertaining to goods or services associated with the incentives, and user profile information pertaining to users of the system, wherein the incentive information includes user fees for individual incentives, and wherein the user profile information includes demographic information; and 
 one or more processors that execute computer modules, the computer modules comprising:
 an incentive data output module that determines which if any of the incentives should be offered to the individual users based on the incentive information and the demographic information in the user profile information; 
 an incentive data input module that receives user acceptances of individual incentives that have been received by the users from the remote user terminals, wherein a given user acceptance includes payment information for a user fee associated with the accepted incentive; and 
 an incentive dispersal module that determines whether to disperse accepted incentives based on amounts of received user acceptances for the individual incentives, and, responsive to determinations that the accepted incentives should be dispersed, to disperse transmit incentive information to the remote user terminals to enable the users to redeem the dispersed incentives. 
 
   
     
     
         35 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the incentive data output module also transmits to the remote user terminals indications of the numbers of users that have accepted the individual incentives. 
     
     
         36 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the demographic information included in the user profile information includes geographic location, and wherein the incentive data output module is to base determinations of which if any of the incentives should be offered to the individual users on geographic location. 
     
     
         37 . The system of  claim 36 , wherein the incentive information further comprises geographic regions in which the individual incentives should be offered, and wherein the geographic regions are set by the offerors. 
     
     
         38 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the computer modules retain at least a portion of payment received from the users for the operator of the system. 
     
     
         39 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the computer modules receive user profile information from a graphical user interface presented to the users via the remote user terminals. 
     
     
         40 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the offeror of the goods or services associated with a redeemed incentive reimburses the user the amount of the user fee or conveys like value. 
     
     
         41 . The system of  claim 34 , wherein the incentive information enabling redemption of the incentives comprises a certificate that is printable at the remote user terminals. 
     
     
         42 . A method of discount retailing in which an offer does not become valid until a minimum number of offers are purchased, comprising a network server, a microprocessor, a memory and computer software, said computer software being located in said memory and run by said microprocessor, said computer software comprising a discount retailing algorithm, wherein said discount retailing algorithm comprises the steps of:
 (a) obtaining consent from a merchant to market and advertise an item normally provided by said merchant at a standard offer price;   (b) determining a discount offer price for said item, said discount offer price being a reduction in amount from the standard offer price of that item;   (c) deciding on a tipping point at which time the discount offer price becomes valid;   (d) generating an advertisement to present said discount offer price and said tipping point to potential consumers;   (e) displaying said advertisement over a network through said network server for a predetermined period of time for potential consumers to review;   (f) receiving acceptances of the discount offer price for the item over the network for the predetermined period of time;   (g) determining if the tipping point has been attained; and   (h) informing each consumer that accepted the discount offer whether or not the tipping point has been attained.   
     
     
         43 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said item is a product distributed by said merchant. 
     
     
         44 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said item is a service provided by said merchant. 
     
     
         45 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said discount offer price is reduced from said standard offer price by an absolute amount. 
     
     
         46 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said discount offer price varies depending on the number of consumers accepting the discount offer price. 
     
     
         47 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 46 , wherein said discount offer price increases after a certain number of consumers accept the discount offer price. 
     
     
         48 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said tipping point comprises the number of items for which an offer must be accepted by a consumer in order for the discount offer price to become valid. 
     
     
         49 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said advertisement includes the description of the item being offered at said discount offer price. 
     
     
         50 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said advertisement includes an indication of the amount saved based on the discount offer price. 
     
     
         51 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said displaying said advertisement over a network through said network server comprises presenting the advertisement to said potential consumers through the display on the potential consumer's computer. 
     
     
         52 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said displaying said advertisement over a network through said network server comprises presenting the advertisement to said potential consumers through the display on the potential consumer's mobile device. 
     
     
         53 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 52 , wherein said mobile device comprises a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, or laptop computer. 
     
     
         54 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said receiving acceptances of the discount offer price for the item over the network comprises obtaining a response from a potential consumer that the consumer accepts the offer for the item. 
     
     
         55 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 54 , wherein said obtaining a response from a potential consumer that the consumer accepts the offer for the item comprises obtaining a method of payment from said consumer for the item. 
     
     
         56 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said determining if the tipping point has been attained comprises determining if the number of acceptances to the discount offer price exceeds the tipping point for that offer. 
     
     
         57 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said informing each consumer that accepted the discount offer whether or not the tipping point has been attained comprises providing each consumer with a certificate to be redeemed at said merchant if said tipping point was attained. 
     
     
         58 . The method of discount retailing of  claim 42 , wherein said informing each consumer that accepted the discount offer whether or not the tipping point has been attained comprises providing each consumer with a indication that the tipping point was not attained if said tipping point was not attained.