TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention generally relates to a method, system, computer readable medium of instructions and/or computer program product for determining the lowest price for a product or service specification from a plurality of sellers for presentation to one or more buyers. BACKGROUND ART

In traditional auctions buyers compete with each other to obtain goods and/or services and the price of the goods and/or services increases until the auction ends at which time the winner of the auction is determined. There exist a number of "reverse auction" models which by definition should drive the price down over the specified time period. Currently, the only true reverse auction model is that used by e- procurement sites, such as "Tradelnterchange" in which the sellers compete to obtain business from buyers and in which the price typically decreases over a time period. The buyer, or consumer, is required to provide a set of qualitative criteria and sets the balance between price and criteria (ie 70% price, 30% qualitative) and at the end of the auction period the scores are combined to select the winning seller. This style of service is aimed at businesses. Another model used on sites which claim to be "reverse auctions" require the buyer to place a bid or number of bids. Each bid uses up credits which have to be pre-purchased by the buyer. There is only one winner of the auction and the most common model is that it is the lowest unique bid that wins. Examples include X5.com.au, bidmadness.com.au, and Limbo. There is no guarantee of purchase and the eventual winner may not necessarily end up paying the best price available. Some sites are "wanted" sites, such as ioffer.com, where the buyer posts a free wanted advertisement of the item and price range and then they receive emails from the sellers. Finally, there are sites where the buyer can propose the price they would like to pay for a particular item or service and see if there are any takers. This is the model employed by Priceline.com.

In all the current models, the buyer is required to have input into the process by either bidding for or specifying what they seek. The main problem with the Internet market place is that it is difficult for a user, or consumer, to find the best price for particular goods or services. The amount of information to sort through is growing exponentially. It is also difficult to compare like products with like products. For example, one product may be similar to another product but be a different brand or, in the case of electronics, have a different capacity or have some other characteristic which does not allow like for like comparison of prices.

Therefore, there exists the need for a method, system, computer readable medium of instructions and/or a computer program product which can alleviate or at least ameliorate one or more of the above problems and ensure that a user is getting the best deal on a product and ensuring that like products are compared with like products.

Reference in this specification to any prior publication (or information derived from it), or to any matter which is known, is not, and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or admission or any form of suggestion that the prior publication (or information derived from it) or known matter forms part of the common general knowledge in the field of endeavour to which the specification relates.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers, for presentation to one or more buyers, the method including the steps of: providing a listing of one or more products to enable sellers to enter a sale price which constitutes their bid on one or more advertising slots associated with the product; providing a predetermined auction time-period to receive bids on the product advertising slot; receiving bids from a plurality of sellers on the products within the predetermined auction time period; for each product advertising slot, storing the bid in a bidding pool associated with the product; determining if the bid is the lowest bid in the bidding pool for the product; flagging the lowest bid in the bidding pool associated with the product; and providing the flagged lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, the buyer is guaranteed the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers. It will be appreciated that a reference to product is not limited to a physical product and may include a service.

Preferably, the received bids from the plurality of sellers on the products within the predetermined auction time period are not visible to the plurality of sellers with the exception of the lowest bid at any given time during the predetermined auction time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of: determining the second lowest bid in the bidding pool; flagging the second lowest bid in the bidding pool; and providing the flagged lowest bid and flagged second lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of: determining the third lowest bid in the bidding pool, flagging the third lowest bid in the bidding pool; and providing the flagged lowest bid, flagged second lowest bid and flagged third lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, if the seller associated with the lowest bid is not conveniently located, or limited stock is available, the buyer can proceed with the second or third lowest bid. It will be appreciated that n lowest bids may be offered, but preferably n= 3 so that the buyer is not overwhelmed with choices.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of: providing a predetermined live time-period to receive bids on the products; receiving bids from a plurality of sellers on the product advertising slot within the predetermined live time period; for each product, storing the bid in a bidding pool associated with the product; determining if the bid is the lowest bid in the bidding pool for the product; flagging the lowest bid in the bidding pool associated with the product; and providing the flagged lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, this provides sellers with the opportunity to place a lower bid in order to be listed on the live website during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of: determining the second lowest bid in the bidding pool; flagging the second lowest bid in the bidding pool; and providing the flagged lowest bid and flagged second lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers. Advantageously, this provides sellers who cannot beat the lowest bid, with the opportunity to place a second lowest bid in order to be listed on the live website during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the steps of: determining the third lowest bid in the bidding pool, flagging the third lowest bid in the bidding pool; and providing the flagged lowest bid, flagged second lowest bid and flagged third lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, this provides sellers who cannot beat the lowest or second lowest bid, with the opportunity to place a third lowest bid in order to be listed on the live website during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the received bids from the plurality of sellers on the products within the predetermined live time period are visible to the plurality of sellers.

The received bids from the plurality of sellers on the products within the predetermined live time period may be visible to the plurality of sellers and buyers.

The predetermined auction time-period may be between one day and one month. This provides the sellers with time to determine what their lowest bid is going to be.

Preferably, the predetermined live time-period is between one day and one month. This provides the sellers with time to determine what their lowest bid is going to be and to counter bid if another seller has bid a lower price.

Preferably, the one or more products include a unique identifier. The unique identifier may be any one of ISBN, model number, catalogue number or part number of a product.

Preferably, the unique identifier is a combination of brand, model, colour and size of a product.

Advantageously, this ensures that sellers bid on the same products (i.e. not an equivalent) so that like products are compared with like products and the buyer can genuinely get the lowest price for that specific product.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, the seller need only pay if they have been successful in achieving the lowest bid and are awarded the advertising slot. Alternatively, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged second lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

In a further alternative, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged third lowest bid in the bidding pool at the end of the predetermined auction time period to the one or more buyers.

Advantageously, providing a bid display for the second or third lowest bid allows the buyer to have a choice and also provides the buyer with more certainty that the lowest price is actually the lowest price.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged second lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account upon display of the flagged third lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers during the predetermined live time period.

Advantageously, the seller is only paying for a bid that was live and visible to the buyers.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the sellers account based on web analytics associated with the display of a flagged lowest bid in the bidding pool to the one or more buyers during the predetermined live time period.

Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the seller's account based on web analytics associated with the display of a flagged second lowest bid in the bidding pool to one or more buyers during the predetermined live period. Preferably, the method further includes the step of providing an account associated with the seller and debiting the seller's account based on web analytics associated with the display of a flagged third lowest bid in the bidding pool to one or more buyers during the predetermined live pool.

Advantageously, the sellers are only charged based on web analytics such as, but not limited to, web site hits, page views, ad impressions, click throughs, voucher or bar code downloads.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the particularity of the drawings does not supersede the generality of the preceding description of the invention.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram showing a system for determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers for presentation to one or more buyers;

Figure 2 illustrates a flow diagram of an example of a method of determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of seller for presentation to one or more buyers according to a first embodiment;

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram showing the procedure for a seller selecting a product to place a bid on according to the invention; and

Figure 4 illustrates operation of the method of determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers for presentation to one or more buyers from the buyers' point of view.

Detailed Description

The following description describes the system in the context of a number of terminals connected to the Internet and operating via website and server. It should be appreciated that the system could operate on a 3G or more advanced mobile telephone network or the like.

Throughout the specification, reference to a product is taken to mean a product or a service supplied by a seller to a buyer.

Referring to Figure 1 there is shown an example system for determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers for presentation to one or more buyers. The system 100 includes a number of seller terminals 105, 1 1 0, 1 15 each having a graphical user interface 1 20, one or more buyer terminals 135, 140, 145 and a database 130 in communication with a server 125 and the seller terminals 105, 1 10, 1 15 and the buyer terminals 135, 140 and 145.

In operation, the seller terminals 105, 1 10, 1 15 log on or connect to the server 125 via a network 150 such as the Internet and enter their price on one or more products, constituting their bid for the product(s) advertising slot, over a predetermined auction time period. This entry may be achieved via manual input or alternatively via any form of automated input, such as an XML feed. Once the predetermined auction time period ends, the lowest bid for that particular product advertising slot from the one or more seller terminals 105, 1 10, 1 15 is selected and presented on the website associated with the server 125. Alternatively, the lowest bid may be placed on the website immediately and replaced with a further lower bid each time there is a bid placed that is determined to be lower. All of the biding information may be stored on database 130. The buyer terminals 135, 140, 145 log on to the website via network 150 such as the Internet and have the ability to select from one or more products and be confident that the price for the one or more products is the lowest price available for the product.

Referring to Figure 2, there is shown an example of a method 200 of determining the lowest price for a product from a plurality of sellers, for presentation to one or more buyers. The entry format in this example is manual. An automated entry would not require the seller to log on apart from the first time in order to create an account. The remainder of the process would be unchanged (i.e. if the seller already has an account, the seller proceeds to step 230). At step 205, the one or more sellers such as those associated with seller terminals 105, 1 10, 1 15 log on to a website via a network 150. The website is preferably hosted on a server 125 associated with a database 130 which is connected to the network 150, which may include the Internet. Control then moves to step 210 where the seller creates an account with the website if they have not already done so. An outline of the "bidding" process, Terms and Conditions of Use, Privacy Policy, pricing for successful advertising based on whatever the chosen method is, and Help Line contact details are provided. The account information entered by the seller would include their name, a contact person for a seller, art work, website links, details of proposed method of payment, maximum spend per month and an agreement to abide by the Terms and Conditions of Use. Product information and images are not required, being already provided by the data base 130 on the server 125.

Once the sellers account has been created or accessed (in the case of a preexisting account) control then moves to step 215 where the seller finds one or more products that they wish to place a bid on with a view to having the lowest bid over a predetermined auction time period and thus have their bid and their company as the lowest price for potential buyers to purchase the product. In the event the seller uses an automated system, the product advertising slots being bid on are predetermined (i.e. control moves to step 230).

The predetermined auction time period is determined by the system administrator and may be, for example two weeks. In this case, the sellers have two weeks to provide a low bid for a particular product.

The selection of the products is critical since this allows the seller to compete with other sellers for sale of the same product and in turn allows the buyer to be able to compare like with like and ensure they are getting the best deal for a specific product. Sellers can search for products and select products, or remove products at step 215. The operation of the selection of products will be further described with reference to Figure 3.

If at step 215 the seller already had a product selected (such as, for example in a previous session), control can move directly to step 220 at which time the seller places a bid for each product they wish to bid on. For each product selected at step 215, the seller provides (a) their minimum bid (i.e. the lowest price they are willing to sell the product); and (b) the expiry date of the bid. If the seller uses an automated form of input, the "new" bid will be uploaded when the price on the seller's own website or database is changed.

It will be appreciated that the seller can select any number of products and apply any number of bids across these products.

If the seller wishes to add a new product, they can do so at step 215. For example, the seller may normally sell televisions and may wish to place a bid to sell another type of television or may wish to place a bid to sell some other type of electronic goods (such as an iron, etc).

Once the seller is confirmed to have a valid account, the system accepts the one or more bids at step 230. The bids for each product from multiple sellers are placed in a bidding pool which is associated with the particular product upon which the bid has been placed. It will be appreciated that there will be multiple bidding pools for each product which is available for sale/available to be bid on by sellers. The bid which is the lowest bid is flagged so that it can be identified at step 235 when the predetermined auction time period ends. The lowest bid will remain flagged until the end of the predetermined auction time period for placing bids. The predetermined auction time period will generally be governed by the administrator of the system. For example, it may be that for a particular product, such as a television, each of the sellers has two weeks in which to place their bids before the lowest bid will be selected and be provided on the website for the one or more buyers associated with buyer terminals 135, 140 and 145 to purchase the product. Any number of bids may be placed by the one or more sellers on any particular product but sellers can only see the 3 lowest active prices at any time but not which seller has placed the bid.

At the end of the predetermined auction time period, step 235 determines if the seller is the winning bidder (i.e. having the lowest price for a particular product and awarding the advertising slot). Step 235 also preferably determines the second and third lowest bids for a particular product. Control moves to step 240 where the lowest bid for each product is displayed and is visible to buyers on a webpage. The page is live and viewable to the users for a predetermined live time period. The predetermined live time period may be determined by system administrators and may be based on rate of turnover of any particular product, typically being from 24 hours to 1 week; however this period may be longer or shorter. Preferably, the second and third lowest bid in the bidding pool is also presented to the one or more buyers on the live webpage during the predetermined live time period. It will be appreciated that n lowest bids may be offered, but preferably n= 3 so that the buyer is not overwhelmed with choices.

Importantly, during the predetermined live time period, the one or more sellers can now see which seller(s) had the lowest bid(s) at the end of the predetermined auction time period (at step 235). During the predetermined live time period, the one or more sellers have the opportunity to place a lower bid in order to be listed on the live website. For example, it may be that the seller associated with seller terminal 1 10 put in a higher bid on the same product than the seller associated with seller terminal 105 during the predetermined auction period. Since seller terminal 1 10 did not have the lowest bid, the bid may not appear on the live webpage during the predetermined live time period. The seller terminal 1 10 now has the opportunity to lower his bid below the seller 105 bid and appear on the website. Any other seller then has an opportunity to start the bidding process again and place another bid at another time provided the predetermined live time period for placing the bid has not expired.

For the duration of the predetermined live time period, the winning bids are placed on the website and are available for the buyers associated with buyer terminals 135, 140 and 145 to purchase the product. The buyers may purchase the product directly through the website or may be redirected to the seller's website or, alternatively, the buyer may print coupon or download a bar code which can be taken into the store of the winning seller.

Advantageously, providing the second or third lowest bid to a buyer allows the buyer to weigh up their options for purchasing the item. For example, it may be that the winning bid is a seller located at an inconvenient location relative to the buyer, or limited stock is available. The buyer then has the option of proceeding with the second or third lowest price. In a further advantage, it provides sellers who cannot match the lowest price to at least provide a second or third lowest price which may go live on the website and attract some business.

For the duration of the predetermined live time period, the lowest three bids at any time on a particular product will be displayed, until (a) the predetermined live time period expires: (b) the product is removed by the seller (e.g. they are out of stock) or (c) system administration removes the bid (due to breach of Terms and Conditions).

In the event that any of the top three bids are removed for the above reasons, they are replaced with the next lowest bid.

Control then moves to step 245 where funds are debited from the sellers account at a prescribed time which may be on a daily, weekly or monthly basis as determined by the system administrator and agreed to by the seller. Funds are debited based on the agreed payment model which may be success and place of bid, and/or web analytics such as pay per click, page impressions, ad impressions, voucher or bar code downloads for each buyer visible bid. In the event that the price period (set at step 220) is still valid, the bid will be automatically re-entered in the following auction unless the bid has been removed under condition (b) or (c) as described above or is either changed or removed by the seller prior to the end of the next auction period.

Figures 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the product selection by the sellers at step 215 and 225 of Figure 2. Screen shot 300 shows a web page with a number of categories 305: In particular: Electronics 305A, Vehicles 305B, Office Supplies 305C, Sports and Fitness 305D and Fragrances 305E. It will be appreciated this is just an example and many other products may be provided. In particular they need not be products, they could be services such as holiday accommodation or cleaning services etc. Within each category 305 is a first sub-category 31 0. For electronics 305A this includes sub-categories 31 OA (TV Screens), 31 0B (Laptops), 31 0C (USB drives), 31 0D (MP3 Players), 31 OE (Digital Cameras), 31 OF (Video Cameras), 31 OG (Scanners), 31 OH (Monitors), 3101 (DVD Players), 31 OJ (Projectors), 31 OK (Speakers), 31 OL (Alarms & Security). It will be appreciated that the first sub- categories 31 0 simply an example of possible sub-categories and any number of subcategories could be provided. Within each first sub-category is a second subcategory 31 5 which further defines the first sub-category. In the example of the first sub-category 31 OD (MP3 Players), the second sub-category is the brand of MP3 players. In this case: 315A (iPod™) 31 5B (Archos™ Media), 31 5C (Cowon™), 31 5D (Creative Zen™), 315E (Iriver™ PI), 31 5F (Microsoft Zune™) and 31 5G (Sony PSP™). It will be appreciated that any number of further MP3 players could be included. The third sub-category for the iPod™ includes the model type: 320A (iPod™ shuffle), 320B (iPod™ Nano), 320C (iPod™ classic), 320D (iPod™ touch). A fourth sub-category may also be provided 325, which in this case relates to the capacity of the iPod™ Nano and may be selected from either of an 8GB (325A) or 16GB (325B). In operation the seller will select from category 305, then from category 31 0, 31 5, 320 and 325 to then arrive at a bid 330 which corresponds to step 230 of Figure 2 where the seller places to lowest price they are willing to offer a potential buyer for this particular product. The detail of the narrowing down of the categories will depend on the product type as all products have different specifications and ways of narrowing down the specification.

The above selection provides a unique identifier for each product. In an alternative, the unique identifier may be based on an ISBN, model number, catalogue number or part number of a product. In an automated entry system the unique identifier is used as the central piece of data to create the accurate link.

The operator of the system has the ability to create the products and the specifications for the products. Further, the operator of the system has the ability to create services and the specifications for the services (having certain requirements so that like for like services can be provided to a buyer). The end users such as the sellers or the buyers do not have the ability to add or edit the categories and/or the products and sections. However, the buyer and/or seller may have the option of providing a suggestion to improve the category, but only the administrators of the system may edit the product categories.

Figure 4 illustrates the method of using the system from the buyer's point of view. At step 400 the buyer associated with any one of buyer terminals 1 35, 140 or 145 logs on to the website via network 150 such as the Internet and searches for products that they wish to purchase. The user may simply browse for products they wish to purchase, may enter in a keyword search or may perform an advanced search for the particular product. Browsing for products may be along the same lines as that of the product range sub-categories described in Figure 3. Control then moves to step 415 where the user finds their product and will see the lowest price available for that particular product. The user can then print out a voucher or download a bar code that entitles them to purchase at a discounted price at step 420, buy online by linking through the sellers shopping cart 425 or add the product to a watch list and wait for the product to further drop in price at step 430. In addition, the watch list may be in the form of an email subscription whereby the user is notified of their product of interest has a change in price or if the predetermined auction time-period is about to expire.

Optional embodiments of the present invention may also be said to broadly consist in the paths, elements and features referred to or indicated herein, individually or collectively, in any or all combinations of two or more of the paths, elements or features and wherein specific integers are mentioned herein which have known equivalents in the art to which the invention relates, such known equivalents are deemed to be incorporated herein as if individually set forth.

Although a preferred embodiment has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention.