Method and System for Extending Participation in an Online Auction to a Winning Bidder

摘要

The invention is a secondary exchange system attached to an online auction system which provides winners with the ability to extend their play. The online auction system facilitates the sale of goods and services through an auction which offers bidders the potential for purchasing goods and services at huge discounts from retail pricing. The invention enables winning bidders to optionally exchange their purchase for alternative items or credits towards future auctions. This provides the participant a validation for the purchase of the initial item, the option of exchanging for an item of greater perceived personal value, or the means to extend their play and enjoy the excitement of the experience without additional cost.

主权项

1. In online auction apparatus which encourages bidders to bid on items, the technological improvement consisting of adding a secondary exchange system to a primary exchange system for augmenting the online auction system by extending online bidding play for a winning bidder so as to encourage a winning bidder to continue play and thus derive the additional enjoyment of continued play by offering an alternative purchase option to a successful bidder in an auction, comprising:
a primary exchange system including a product database, a consumer database, an exchange database, and an exchange logic module coupled to said consumer database and said product database for designating from said product database a purchased item selected by a successful bidder; a secondary exchange system added to said primary exchange system and having a secondary product database and a consumer database coupled to said exchange logic module, said secondary exchange system offering an alternative purchase option for the successful bidder in said online auction by interfacing to an existing auction system; calculating a value of the purchased item selected by a successful bidder; relating the value of the purchased item to a plurality of items located in said secondary product database of said secondary exchange system of at least perceived comparable value to said purchased item; transmitting to the successful bidder an offer containing at least one alternative optional undisclosed mystery item which may be substituted for the selected purchased item, the successful bidder before the closing of the auction being forced to choose between the purchased item and one of the alternative undisclosed mystery items of at least comparable value to the purchased item; detecting when a successful bidder accepts the offer; without closing the auction, substituting the chosen alternative undisclosed mystery item for said purchased item; and, transmission of the substituted item to the successful bidder, the on-line bidding auction continuing without closing the auction, creating a new auction or requiring the expending of an additional amount of money from the winning bidder, thereby extending the enjoyment of said on-line auction for a winning bidder to elect to exchange an item for an item won without additional cost or the necessity of entering into a new auction.