Providing Market Feedback Associated with Electronic Commerce Transactions to Sellers

Abstract

An electronic commerce system providing market feedback to sellers includes a server. The server records query information associated with a search query for a buyer of one or more databases containing product data and also records presentation information associated with presentation of multiple search results to the buyer, each search result including data for a product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the search results including one or more search results reflecting product data for a particular seller. The server also records selection information associated with selection by the buyer of a particular search result from among the multiple search results and also provides at least some of the recorded query information, presentation information, or selection information to the particular seller to allow the particular seller to assess one or more aspects of its product data relative to product data of other sellers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodied with software, the software when executed using one or more computers is configured to:
 record query information based on a search query of one or more seller databases coupled with one or more seller computer systems and comprising product data, the search query performed by buyer computer systems;   record presentation information based on the manner in which two or more search results are presented to the buyer computer systems, each search result comprising data for a product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the search results comprising one or more search results reflecting product data for a particular seller computer system, the presentation information reflects a position of a search result for the particular seller computer system within an ordered display of the search results;   record selection information based on selection by the buyer computer systems of a particular search result from among the two or more search results, the particular search result comprising data for a particular product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the selection information reflects a position of the selected search result within the ordered display of the search results and wherein the particular product is a product of a seller computer system other than the particular seller computer system; and   provide the recorded query information and at least one of the presentation information and the selection information to the particular seller computer system, such that the particular seller computer system has access to one or more aspects of its product data relative to product data of other seller computer systems.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , further comprising a shared product data repository comprising product data for two or more products available from two or more seller computer systems. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the software is further configured to provide information to the particular seller computer system by communicating the information to the particular seller computer system substantially immediately following the selection of the particular search result by the buyer computer systems. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the software is further configured to record contract information reflecting one or more terms of a contract between the buyer computer systems and a second seller computer system following the selection of the particular search result by the buyer computer systems, the particular search result reflecting product data of the second seller computer system. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the query information reflects one or more product attribute values and one or more seller attribute values specified in the search query. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the presentation information reflects one or more buyer-specified sort criteria used to sort the search results, each sort criterion selected from the group consisting of a product attribute, a product attribute value, a seller attribute, and a seller attribute value. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 the number of search results considered by the buyer computer systems; and   whether the buyer computer systems considered one or more search results for the particular seller computer system.   
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 7 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 one or more product attribute values or seller attribute values for one or more search results for the particular seller computer system considered but not selected by the buyer computer systems; and   one or more product attribute values or seller attribute values for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems.   
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the selection information excludes product attribute values and seller attribute values for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems that are to be kept in confidence from seller computer systems other than the seller computer system based on the selected search result. 
     
     
         10 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 a position of the selected search result within the two or more search results presented to the buyer computer systems; and   one or more reasons for the position, relative to the search result selected by the buyer computer systems, of a search result for the particular seller computer system.   
     
     
         11 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 recording query information based on a search query of one or more seller databases coupled with seller computer systems comprising product data, the search query performed by buyer computer systems;   recording presentation information based on the manner in which two or more search results are presented to the buyer computer systems, each search result comprising data for a product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the search results comprising one or more search results reflecting product data for a particular seller computer system, the presentation information reflects a position of a search result for the particular seller computer system within an ordered display of the search results;   recording selection information based on selection by the buyer computer systems of a particular search result from among the two or more search results, the particular search result comprising data for a particular product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the selection information reflects a position of the selected search result within the ordered display of the search results and wherein the particular product is a product of a seller computer system other than the particular seller computer system; and   providing the recorded query information and at least one of the presentation information and the selection information to the particular seller computer system, such that the particular seller computer system has assess to one or more aspects of its product data relative to product data of other seller computer systems.   
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising a shared product data repository comprising product data for two or more products available from two or more seller computer systems. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein providing information to the particular seller computer system comprises communicating the information to the particular seller computer system substantially immediately following the selection of the particular search result by the buyer computer systems. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , further comprising recording contract information reflecting one or more terms of a contract between the buyer computer systems and a second seller computer system following the selection of the particular search result by the buyer computer systems, the particular search result reflecting product data of the second seller computer system. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the query information reflects one or more product attribute values and one or more seller attribute values specified in the search query. 
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the presentation information reflects one or more buyer-specified sort criteria used to sort the search results, each sort criterion selected from the group consisting of a product attribute, a product attribute value, a seller attribute, and a seller attribute value. 
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 the number of search results considered by the buyer computer systems; and   whether the buyer computer systems considered one or more search results for the particular seller computer system.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 17 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 one or more product attribute values or seller attribute values for one or more search results for the particular seller computer system considered but not selected by the buyer computer systems; and   one or more product attribute values or seller attribute values for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems.   
     
     
         19 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 18 , wherein the selection information excludes product attribute values and seller attribute values for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems that are to be kept in confidence from seller computer systems other than the seller computer system based on the selected search result. 
     
     
         20 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:
 a position of the selected search result within the two or more search results presented to the buyer computer systems; and   one or more reasons for the position, relative to the search result selected by the buyer computer systems, of a search result for the particular seller computer system.