Software System for Decentralizing eCommerce with Single Page Buy

Abstract

A software system with a “single page buy” capability—both product information and purchase information on a single webpage. The software does the backend work needed to display both, in order to simplify the user experience. In one embodiment, commerce is “atomized” by pushing out the capability to purchase throughout the Internet—to ads on 3rd party sites, references in blogs, articles, etc. In one embodiment, a gliding product display is provided. The ad has a banner-type ad dimension, with product icons scrolling or gliding across it.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 storing product information in a database for a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of different sellers, the computer database being associated with a multi-seller server, the product information including, for each product, a product description providing a description of the product;   storing seller information regarding the sellers, the seller information including, for each product and for each seller offering the product for sale, a sale price associated with the seller, the sale price indicating a price at which the seller offers the product for sale;   receiving, at the multi-seller server, a request for product information for one of the products, the request being received from a third party web server separate from the multi-seller server in response to a user interacting with a web page hosted by the third party web server; and   in response to receiving the request for product information from the third party web server:
 determining, from the database, the product description for the product corresponding to the requested product information; 
 determining, from the database, price information for the product corresponding to the requested product information; and 
 communicating the product description and the price information to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 the request for product information includes a request to purchase one of the products; 
 determining price information includes identifying the user from a plurality of users, determining an ideal seller of the product from the plurality of sellers, and determining the sale price associated with the ideal seller for the product; and 
 communicating the price information to the user includes communicating the sale price associated with the ideal seller to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein identifying the user includes determining an address for the user, and determining an ideal seller includes determining a seller that offers the lowest combined sale price for the product and shipping cost for shipping the product from the ideal seller to the user. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising, in response to receiving the request for product information from the third party web server:
 establishing an information pipeline between the multi-seller server and a web browser associated with the user and used to display the web page to the user, the information pipeline enabling real-time interaction between the web browser and the multi-seller server, 
 wherein the product description and the price information are communicated to the user via the information pipeline. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising, after communicating the product description and the price information to the user:
 receiving a change in the product description and/or price information from one of the sellers; and 
 communicating, in real-time, the change in the product description and/or price information to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein communicating the product description and the price information to the user includes causing the product description and the price information to be displayed via a widget hosted by the third party web server, said widget comprising at least one display element that is customizable by an operator associated with the third-party server. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the at least one display element that is customizable includes a category of the products offered for sale by the plurality of different sellers. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the at least one display element that is customizable includes a genre of the products offered for sale by the plurality of different sellers. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the at least one display element that is customizable includes a list of at least some of the products offered for sale by the plurality of different sellers. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 6  wherein the widget further comprises a widget preview that displays the at least one display element as the display element changes as a result of the customization by the operator. 
     
     
         11 . A system comprising:
 a database configured to store:
 product information for a plurality of products offered for sale by a plurality of different sellers, the product information including, for each product, a product description providing a description of the product; and 
 seller information regarding the sellers, the seller information including, for each product and for each seller offering the product for sale, a sale price associated with the seller, the sale price indicating a price at which the seller offers the product for sale; 
   a multi-seller server coupled to the database; and   a communication interface coupled to the multi-seller server and configured to enable communication between the multi-seller server and a third-party web server separate from the multi-seller server and/or between the multi-seller server and a web browser associated with a user, the web browser being operable to browse a web page hosted by the third-party web server;   wherein the multi-seller server is configured to perform operations including:
 receiving a request for product information for one of the products, the request being received from the third party web server in response to the user interacting with the web page hosted by the third party web server; and 
 in response to receiving the request for product information from the third party web server:
 determining, from the database, the product description for the product corresponding to the requested product information; 
 determining, from the database, price information for the product corresponding to the requested product information; and 
 communicating the product description and the price information to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server. 
 
   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the multi-seller server is configured to perform further operations including, after communicating the product description and the price information to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server:
 receiving, from the user via the third party web server, an indication of a buy decision with respect to the product associated with the request for product information; and 
 in response to receiving the indication of a buy decision:
 selecting an actual seller from the sellers offering the product associated with the request for product information; and 
 facilitating a purchase transaction for the user to purchase the product associated with the request for product information from the actual seller. 
 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the multi-seller server is configured to perform further operations including:
 prior to receiving a request for product information, causing at least some of the product information in the database to be displayed in a banner ad of the web browser; 
 wherein:
 receiving a request for product information includes receiving a user selection of a product advertised via the banner ad; 
 determining the product description includes determining the product description corresponding to the selected product; 
 determining price information includes determining price information corresponding to the selected product; and 
 communicating the product description and price information includes causing the product description and the price information corresponding to the selected product to be displayed in a pop-up window of the web browser other than the banner ad. 
 
 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the multi-seller server is configured to perform further operations including:
 prior to receiving a request for product information, causing at least some of the product information in the database to be displayed in a banner ad of the web browser; 
 wherein:
 receiving a request for product information includes receiving a user selection of a product advertised via the banner ad; 
 determining the product description includes determining the product description corresponding to the selected product; 
 determining price information includes identifying a location of the user, and identifying a seller from the plurality of sellers that offers the lowest combined sale price for the selected product and shipping cost for shipping the selected product from the seller to the user; and 
 communicating the product description and price information includes causing the product description corresponding to the selected product, the lowest combined sale price and shipping cost for the selected product, and a buy option providing the user with an option to purchase the selected product, to be simultaneously displayed in a pop-up window of the web browser other than the banner ad. 
 
 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein identifying a location of the user includes:
 identifying the user from a cookie stored on a computing device associated with the user and on which the web browser operates; 
 receiving address information from the user; and/or 
 receiving login information from the user. 
 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the user interaction with the web page is selected from the group consisting of:
 the user selecting an ad displayed on the web page; 
 the user selecting hyperlinked text displayed on the web page; 
 the user selecting an image displayed on the web page; and 
 the user selecting a product displayed via a gliding product display. 
 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 11  wherein:
 determining price information for the product corresponding to the requested product information includes determining a sale price for different conditions of the requested product being offered for sale by different sellers; and 
 communicating the price information to the user includes causing the sale price for the different conditions of the requested product to be simultaneously displayed to the user. 
 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17  wherein:
 determining a sale price for different conditions of the requested product includes:
 identifying a location of the user; 
 identifying, for each condition of the requested product, a seller from the plurality of sellers that offers the lowest combined sale price for the requested product and shipping cost for shipping the requested product from the seller to the user; and 
 communicating the price information to the user includes causing the lowest combined sale price and shipping cost for the different conditions of the requested product to be simultaneously displayed to the user. 
 
 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11  wherein:
 communicating the product description and the price information to the user includes causing the product description and the price information to be displayed to the user via a widget executing on a computing device associated with the user and that is used to operate the web browser. 
 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the multi-seller server is configured to perform additional operations including:
 before receiving a request for product information:
 identifying a location of the user; 
 identifying, for each product of a subset of the products, a seller from the plurality of sellers that offers the lowest combined sale price for the product and shipping cost for shipping the product from the seller to the user; and 
 communicating the lowest combined sale price for each of the subset of products to the third party web server, wherein communicating the lowest combined sale price for each of the subset of products includes causing the lowest combined sale price for each of the subset of products to be displayed to the user via the web page hosted by the third party web server.