EP1190359A2

EP1190359A2 - System and method for providing for the purchase of goods or services

Info

Publication number: EP1190359A2
Application number: EP01933802A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Tomas Bylund; Bo Wanghammar; Mats Jansson; Jesper Ullerstam; Johan Sellstrom; Mikael Steenberg; Magnus Westling; Pontus Axelsson; Scott Rutherford; Jan-Erik Gustavsson; John Palmer
Original assignee: Letsbuyitcom Deutschland GmbH
Current assignee: Letsbuyitcom Deutschland GmbH
Priority date: 2000-04-06
Filing date: 2001-04-06
Publication date: 2002-03-27
Also published as: WO2001077916A2; WO2001077916A8; AU6018601A

Abstract

A system (100) and method has been developed which provides information, for display on a computer device (105) operatively connected to a network (110), relating to a plurality of countries. In response to a selected country, information is then provided for display relating to goods and services offered for purchase. This information, however, is provided for display in a language associated with the selected country. Thereafter, a request to purchase the selected good or service can easily be received by a user after viewing a display in the language associated with a selected country. More preferably, pricing information is also provided for display in a currency associated with the selected country. Thus, a consumer can easily understand what goods or services are being offered for purchase, and the cost of these goods or services, since the currency is that associated with a selected country of the consumer. Accordingly, multi-country purchasing is made easier for the consumer.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING FOR THE
PURCHASE OF GOODS OR SERVICES
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of Invention
The present application is directed to the field of offering goods or services for purchase over a network, and is more preferably directed to offering goods or services for purchase over the internet.

Description of Related Art
With the advent of the internet, a global network has been created serving all areas of the world. Thus, when offering goods or services for purchase, one was no longer constrained to offer goods and services only within a region in which a store was located. However, offering goods or services for purchase in a plurality of countries created several problems. For example, different languages were used in different countries, different currencies were used in different countries, and different rules and regulations governed the purchase of goods and services in various countries. Thus, a need exists for accommodating the offering of goods and services for purchase over a global network, such as the internet for example.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A system and method has been developed which provides information, for display on a computer device operatively connected to a network, relating to a plurality of countries. In response to a selected country, information is then provided for display relating to goods and services offered for purchase. This information, however, is provided for display in a language associated with the selected country. Thereafter, a request to purchase the selected good or service can easily be received by a user after viewing a display in the language associated with a selected country. As such, goods and services can be offered for purchase in multiple countries.

In a further preferred embodiment, not only is the information provided for display in a language associated with the selected country, but also pricing information is provided for display in a currency associated with the selected country. Thus, a consumer can easily understand what goods or services are being offered for purchase, and the cost of these goods or services, since the currency is that associated with a selected country of the consumer.

Accordingly, multi-country purchasing is made easier for the consumer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present application will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawing which given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein like referenced numerals represent like elements and wherein;
Fig. 1 illustrates a system for implementing an embodiment of the present application;
Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process by which purchase of goods or services are recognized in one preferred embodiment of the present application;
Fig. 2a is a further refinement of the flowchart of
Fig. 2;
Fig. 2b is another further refinement of the flowchart of Fig. 2;
Fig. 2c is yet another further refinement of the flowchart of Fig. 2;
Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary display screen including information relating to purchasable goods or services;

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to one embodiment of displayed purchasing options;
Fig. 5 illustrates yet another exemplary display screen relating to yet another embodiment of displayed purchasing options;
Fig. 6 illustrates yet another exemplary display screen relating to a preferred embodiment for displaying categories of purchasable goods or services;
Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to the display of selectable country information;
Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for purchasing goods or services using the country information of Fig. 7;
Fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process of another preferred embodiment of the present application for recognizing a purchase based upon acceptable payment information;

and
Fig. 10 illustrates an exemplary display screen relating to another preferred embodiment of the present application for notifying another regarding a purchasable good or service.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In effort to enable purchases of goods or services in a plurality of countries, a consumer is first provided with information relating to a plurality of selectable countries in a form of a display on a computer device operatively connected to a network, such as the internet. The consumer can then select his corresponding country. By doing so, the consumer is then provided with information relating to goods or services being offered for purchase, wherein the information is provided in the language associated with the selected country. This enables the consumer to easily select the good or service for purchase.

In addition, the user is preferably also provided with pricing information for display on the computer device in response to receiving a request to purchase the selected good or service. In order to make a decision as to whether or not to purchase a selected good or service as easily as possible, the pricing information is preferably provided for display in a currency associated with the selected country. As such, information, including pricing information can be provided to a consumer in a manner which is easily understandable so that the consumer can make an informed purchase based upon information being displayed in the language of his country as well as in the currency of his country. As such, multi-country purchasing is easily enabled.

145 146 Still further, in an effort to ensure that a consumer 147 purchases goods for services at a low price, the consumer 148 is even more preferably provided with. selectable 149 information regarding purchasable goods or services, in a 150 language of the country selected, in a number of different 151 ways. Upon selecting a country and selecting a good or 152 service for purchase, a consumer is provided with a prompt 153 to purchase the good or service at either the current price 154 or a best price, each displayed in the currency of the 155 selected country.

If the consumer chooses to purchase the 156 good or service at the current price, the consumer enters 157 an arrangement wherein the good or service will be 158 purchased at a price equal to or less than the current 159 price existing in the time the consumer requested the 160 purchase. If the number of additional consumers also 161 decide to purchase the same good or service, the price that 162 the consumer actually pays will be less than the current 163 price at which the purchase was original requested.

164 165 In addition, the user is not only prompted with the 166 option to purchase a selected good or service at the 167 current price, but the user is also prompted with the 168 option to conditionally purchase the good or service at a 169 conditional price. With this conditional purchase, the 170 user will purchase the good or service at a price 171 relatively less than the current price, but only upon a 172 designated number of other purchases for the same good or 173 service being requested at either the current price or the 174 conditional price. If no such designated number of 175 requests are received, then a purchase at the conditional 176 price is not recognized and the consumer does not purchase 177 the good or service.

Accordingly, the user not only has 178 option to immediately purchase a selected good or service 179 at the current price, which may be a price less than 180 original anticipated if a number of others decide to make the same purchase; but the user can also conditionally purchase a good or service at only a certain price relatively lower than the current price, with the purchase being conditioned upon a designated number of requests to purchase the same good or service at either the current or conditional price.

Fig. 1 illustrates a computer device 105, such as that of a consumer, operatively connected to a system 100 of the present application through a network 110. The network 110 is preferably the internet, but can also be any other network such as an intranet, for example. The computer device 105 includes any computer device which can access a network 110, via direct or indirect connection such as that utilizing a modem for example, including but not limited to a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless phone, etc.

The system 100 of the present application is for providing selectable information, relating to purchasable goods or services, for display on the computer device connected to the network. The system is further for prompting, via the computer device, a purchase of a selected good at a current price or a conditional purchase of a conditional purchase of a selected good or a conditional price relatively lower than the current price.

The system 100 counts and recognizes a purchase at a price most equal to the current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received. Further, the system 100, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received, counts a purchase of the selected good or service but only recognizes a purchase upon a designated number of requests to purchase the good or service at either the current price or conditional price being received.

217 Most specifically, the system 100 includes a processor 218 120, such as a central processing unit (CPU); a 219 communication port 125 for operatively connecting the 220 system 100 to the network 110; and memory units such as a 221 random access memory (RAM) 130, an electrically 222 programmable read only memory (EPROM) 135, and data storage 223 device 140. The data storage device 140 preferably 224 includes a product and pricing database portion 140a, a 225 country database portion 140b, and an accounting and 226 payment database portion 140c. The CPU 120 is operatively 227 connected to each of the communication port 125, RAM 130, 228 EPROM 135, data storage device 140.

The CPU 120 is also 229 preferably connected to an e-mail processor 145, which in 230 turn is preferably connected to an e-mail storage device 231 150. The e-mail processor 145 is used in conjunction with 232 all e-mail operations in a known fashion. The e-mail 233 storage device 150 is preferably a separate storage device 234 for storing all e-mail operations, as well as received e 235 mail responses for future processing.

236 237 The product and price database portion 140a of the 238 data storage device 140 is the main database. In this 239 database, information relating to offered goods and 240 services are stored in association with a good or service.

241 This can include, but is not limited to, deal 242 identification numbers (deal IDs), each identifying a good 243 or service offered for purchase; start and end dates; 244 images ; descriptions; pricing information including initial 245 current price, optional incremental prices and a 246 conditional price; a designated number of requests needed 247 for a conditional purchase, and a maximum designated number 248 of requests (although the two may be equal); categories and 249 subcategories of goods and/or services; optional designated 250 numbers of requests needed for incremental price reduction; 251 savings ; etc.

The country database portion 140b includes 252 information relating to selectable countries, enabling 253 processor 120 to provide for a display of selectable 254 countries such as that of Fig. 7. The country database 255 140b further stores information necessary to enable 256 processor 120 to provide for a display of good or service 257 information in a language associated with a selected 258 country and to enable processor 120 to restrict a display 259 based upon laws of a selected country and provide for 260 display of pricing information in a currency of the 261 selected country.

And finally, accounting and payment 262 database portion 140c includes information relating to 263 payment information, enabling processor 120 to generate 264 codes in response to received payment information, obtain 265 verification of payment information, and recognize and 266 confirm purchases. Operation of the processor 120, in 267 conjunction with the information stored in data storage 268 device 140 will be discussed hereafter.

269 270 Fig. 2 illustrates an exemplary process by which a 271 processor 120 provides selectable information stored in 272 data storage device 140 to computer device 105, and 273 eventually recognizes a purchase of a good or service.

274 More specifically, in step S2, the processor 120 provides 275 information relating to purchasable goods or services in 276 accordance with the information stored in the product and 277 pricing database portion 140a of data storage device 140.

278 This information is provided over network 110 such as the 279 internet for example, to a computer device 105 which may, 280 as previously described, be any device which can access the 281 network such as a personal computer, PDA, wireless phone, 282 etc. The type of computer device 105 used to access the 283 network 110 is not limitative of the present application.

284 285 Thereafter, a user of the computer device 105, such as 286 a consumer, for example, then initiates a selection by 287 selecting a good or service desired for purchase. This can 288 be done in a known manner via a mouse, touch screen, 289 keyboard, button, switch, light pen or any known input or 290 selection device associated with the computer device 105.

291 The indication of a selected good or service for purchase 292 is then received by the processor 120 in step S4.

293 294 Thereafter, in step S6, based upon the information 295 stored in the product and pricing database 140a 296 corresponding to the selected good or service, the 297 processor 120 outputs information to the computer device 298 105, through the network 110, prompting a purchase of the 299 selected good or service at a current price, and prompting 300 conditional purchase of the selected good or service at a 301 conditional price. Although this will be explained in more 302 detail regarding Figs. 4 and 5, the current price is 303 essentially a price at which a product is currently offered 304 and a conditional price is essentially a price relatively 305 less than the current price.

In one preferred embodiment, 306 the conditional price is a best price, namely the best 307 possible price at which the product can be offered. This 308 prompting in step S6 preferably occurs on the computer 309 device 105 in the form of a display, including selection 310 buttons for example, requesting selection at a current 311 price and a conditional price as well as an indication of 312 the current and conditional price for the selected good or 313 service.

314 315 Thereafter, in step S8, the processor 120 awaits a 316 response from the computer device 105 and determines 317 whether or not a request to purchase at the current price 318 has been received. Accordingly, in response to the prompt, 319 a consumer can select to purchase of a selected good or 320 service at the current price or can select to conditionally 321 purchase the good or service at the conditional price.

322 323 Assuming that the consumer decides to purchase a good 324 or service at the current price, this is received by the 325 processor 120 and the process proceeds to step S10 wherein 326 the request is counted by processor 120 in association with 327 the deal ID corresponding to the selected good or service.

328 The processor 120 stores this count in some type of 329 temporary memory such as RAM 130 for example, and updates 330 this count as other requests to purchase the same good or 331 service (requests to be part of the same"deal") are 332 received, to determine if a designated number of requests 333 to purchase the selected good or service have been 334 received. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S12 335 wherein the purchase is recognized. At this time, the 336 process effectively ends for that consumer and the consumer 337 will eventually be able to purchase the good or service at 338 a price at most equal to the current price.

As will be 339 discussed hereinafter, a purchase at the current price may 340 result in the consumer actually purchasing the good or 341 service at a final current price which is considerably less 342 than the current price.

343 344 If a request to purchase at the current price was not 345 received in step S8, the process moves to step S14 wherein 346 it is determined whether or not a request to conditionally 347 purchase the good or service at the conditional price has 348 been received by processor 120. If no such conditional 349 purchase request is received, the system essentially 350 reverts back to step S6 where the prompting occurs, and 351 awaits a request to purchase at the current price or to 352 conditionally purchase and the conditional price.

353 354 If a request to conditionally purchase the good or 355 service at a conditional price has been received, the 356 system proceeds to step S16 where the request is counted by 357 processor 120 in association with the deal ID. This count 358 is stored in a manner similar to that described previously 359 regarding step S10. Thereafter, in step S18, the processor 360 120 determines whether or not a designated number of requests to purchase the selectable good or service at the current or conditional price have been received. This occurs as follows.

Associated with the deal ID identifying each particular good or service stored in the product and pricing database 140a of data storage device 140, pricing information is stored as well as conditional pricing information. Essentially, associated with each deal ID of a particular good or service, a current price is stored which will be sent to the consumer upon selection of the good or service for purchase, as well as a conditional price. In addition, along with the conditional price, a designated number is also stored. This designated number corresponds to a number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price which must be received in order to trigger the purchase at the conditional price.

This number is determined, for example, such that if a large number of requests to purchase a good or service are received, a relatively lower price can be offered.

As an example, assuming that the designated number stored in a association with a deal ID of a selected good or service is 8, before a conditional purchase is recognized in step S20, at least 8 requests to purchase a good or service must be received and counted. These 8 requests can be either requests to purchase the selected good or service at the current price (counted in step S10) or requests to purchase the selected good or service at the conditional price (counted in step S16). If the processor 120, based upon the overall count stored for a selected good or service, determines that designated number of requests have been counted and received, then all requests to conditionally purchase a selected good or service are recognized in step S20 ;

and if the designated number of 397 requests have not been received, then the process 398 essentially ends. It must be noted, however, that 399 processor 120 awaits further requests to purchase at the 400 current or conditional price. If such requests to be part 401 of the same deal are eventually received and counted, then 402 all requests to conditionally purchase the good or service 403 are recognized, including those previously received and 404 counted.

405 406 As previously stated, if the designated number of 407 requests have not been received, then the processor 120 408 essentially awaits further requests to purchase a selected 409 good or service at the current or conditional price and if 410 the designated number of requests are eventually received, 411 then all the requests to conditionally purchase the good or 412 service are recognized, including those previously received 413 and counted. In another preferred embodiment of the 414 present application as will be described with regard to 415 Fig. 2a, for example, a time limit or buying cycle may be 416 imposed on the offer of a selected good or service for 417 purchase.

In other words, in the product and pricing 418 database 140a of data storage device 140, a time period or 419 buying cycle during which a good or service is offered for 420 purchase, can be designated and stored in association with 421 the good or service being offered for purchase. Such a 422 designated time period can optionally include a designated 423 start date and time at which the selected good or service 424 is offered for purchase, and a designated end date and time 425 at which the selected product or service is no longer 426 offered for purchase. Accordingly, assuming that such a 427 designated time period is implemented, during which a good 428 or service is offered for purchase, the additional steps as 429 shown in Fig. 2a take place.

This will be explained as 430 follows.

431 432 Assuming that the process of Fig. 2 proceeds to step 433 S6 wherein a purchase of a selected good or service is 434 prompted at a current price and a conditional purchase of a 435 selected good or service is prompted at a conditional 436 price, the process then proceeds, in this preferred 437 embodiment, to step S7a of Fig. 2a. In step S7a, it is 438 determined whether or not a designated time period or 439 buying cycle, stored in association with a selected good or 440 service has, expired. If not, the process proceeds to step 441 S8 of Fig. 2 as previously described.

However, if this 442 designated time period has expired, then the final price 443 existing at the end of the designated time period is 444 determined in step S7d, and all recognized purchases are 445 confirmed at the determined price (the final current price) 446 in step S7e. Accordingly, at this end of the buying cycle, 447 the price which the consumer will actually pay for the 448 selected good or service is determined in step S7d, wherein 449 such a price may be less than the current price at the time 450 that the request to purchase was received.

Such a price 451 may be less, for example, if a counted number of requests 452 to purchase a good or service is at least equal to the 453 designated number stored in association with the selected 454 good or service. If this is the case, then the final price 455 determined in step S7d will be equal to the conditional 456 price stored in association with the selected good or 457 service.

458 459 As previously stated, at the end of this buying cycle, 460 when the designated time period has expired, recognized 461 purchases at the determined price will be confirmed in step 462 S7e. Therefore, at this time, with regard to any requests 463 to purchase this selected good or service that have been 464 received but not yet recognized, such as requests to 465 purchase at a conditional price without a designated number 466 of requests being received prior to the expiration of the 467 designated time period or buying cycle, these requests are 468 not confirmed and thus will never be confirmed.

469 Accordingly, these requests can be removed from storage by 470 the processor 120. To the contrary, if at least the 471 designated number of requests to purchase the selected good 472 or service at the current or conditional price have been 473 received prior to the designated time period expiring in 474 step S7a, all such stored requests will be recognized and 475 eventually confirmed at the end of expiration of the 476 designated time period in step S7e.

477 478 Fig. 2b illustrates another preferred embodiment of 479 the present application wherein, instead of storing a 480 buying cycle including a designated time period during 481 which a selected good or service is offered for purchase, 482 the product and pricing database 140a stores a designated 483 maximum number of requests to purchase the selected good or 484 service. Such a designated maximum number is stored in 485 association with the good or service being offered for 486 purchase, and corresponds to a maximum number of the 487 selected good or service which are offered for purchase.

488 If this designated maximum number is reached, this will 489 serve to close out the buying cycle of the good or service 490 and no more requests to purchase the good or service will 491 be counted or recognized.

492 493 In this preferred embodiment, the process of Fig. 2 494 proceeds from step S6 to step S7b of Fig. 2b where it is 495 determined whether or not the designated maximum number of 496 requests to purchase a selected good or service have been 497 received. As previously stated, this designated maximum 498 number is stored in association with the selected good or 499 service, and may be equal to a greater than the designated 500 number stored in association with the selected good or 501 service which is necessary to trigger a conditional 502 purchase at the conditional price. If the designated 503 maximum number of requests to purchase a selected good or 504 service have been received, then all recognized purchases 505 are confirmed in step S7d.

Since the designated maximum 506 number of requests must be greater than or equal to the 507 designated number necessary to trigger a purchase at the 508 conditional price, if the designated maximum number of 509 requests has been reached, then the designated number of 510 requests necessary to trigger a conditional price has also 511 been reached. Accordingly, in step S7d, not only are 512 recognized purchases confirmed, but all recognized 513 purchases will be confirmed at the conditional price since 514 the designated number of requests necessary to trigger a 515 conditional purchase must be reached by the time that the 516 designated maximum number of requests is reached.

If the 517 designated maximum number of requests have not been reached 518 in step S7d, then this system proceeds to step S8 of Fig.

519 2.

520 521 Fig. 2c illustrates another preferred embodiment of 522 the present application utilizing a buy cycle restricted by 523 both a designated time period stored in association with 524 the good or service being offered, and a designated maximum 525 number of request stored in association with the good or 526 service being offered. If either the designated time 527 period has expired or the designated maximum number 528 requests have been received, the buy cycle for a selected 529 good or service will close and all recognized purchases 530 will be confirmed at that time.

It should be noted that 531 although Fig. 2c indicates a determination of expiration of 532 the designated time period before a determination of the 533 designated maximum number of requests, the order of these 534 processes should not be considered limitative of the 535 present invention. The present invention encompasses both 536 the order shown in Fig. 2c, and the reverse order wherein 537 the designated maximum number of requests is determined 538 prior to expiration of the designated time period.

539
Specifically, as shown in Fig. 2c, the process proceeds from step S6 of Fig. 2 to step S7a of Fig. 2c where it is determined whether or not the designated time period has expired. If the designated time period corresponding to a selected good or service has expired, then the price at the end of the designated time period is determined in step S7d, and recognized purchases are confirmed at the determined price in step S7e. If the designated time period has not been reached in step S7a, then it is determined whether or not the designated number of requests to purchase a selected good or service have been received in step S7b. If not, the process proceeds back to step S8 of Fig. 2, and if so, all recognized purchases are confirmed at the conditional price in step S7c.

Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary display provided by processor 120, through network 110, for display on a computer device 105. The display 300 provides selectable information, relating to purchasable goods or services, for display on the computer device 105 connected to the network 110. In one exemplary aspect, the display includes both categories of purchasable goods or services 310, and individual goods or services for display as shown by elements 340a, 340b and 340c. The information provided for display on the display 300 further preferably includes a flag symbol 320 which will be explained further with regard to Figs. 7 and 8, for return to the flag page shown in Fig.

7; a box 330 to enable one to suggest a product, good or service to be offered for purchase; a few popular goods or services offered for purchase as shown by the three boxes 340a, 340b and 340c; and preferably further includes a list of new products being offered for purchase at a future date, as shown in box 370. Again, the display screen 300 shown in Fig. 3 should not be considered limitative of any aspects of the present application in that selectable 576 information, relating to purchasable goods or services, 577 need be provided in some fashion for display by the 578 processor 120, and this can include individual products as 579 shown by boxes 340a, 340b and 340c; and/or categories of 580 products as shown in box 310, without the additional 581 information shown in display 300.

582 583 As previously stated, the categories shown in box 310 584 may include, for example, categories of goods or services 585 for purchase such as"home electronics","sports and 586 leisure", etc. If a particular category such as"home 587 electronics"is selected, the next page 600 will preferably 588 be displayed as shown in Fig. 6 which preferably includes a 589 title indicating the selected category, such as"home 590 electronics", as shown in box 620, as well as individual 591 products or services being offered for purchase and/or 592 further subcategories within the categories, along with 593 products or services being offered for purchase. This will 594 be explained further with regard to Fig. 6.

595 596 In addition to categories 310, the processor 120 may 597 provide selectable information in the form of boxes 340a, 598 340b and 340c. The goods or services being offered can 599 include particularly popular goods or services, thus 600 enabling a user to immediately select these products for 601 purchase, without the need to access the specific category.

602 In an exemplary aspect, product 1 shown in box 340a 603 includes an image of the product as shown in box 350a; the 604 name of the product is shown in box 352a; an"end-date"at 605 which the product will no longer be offered as shown in box 606 354a ; a maximum savings (the difference between a retail 607 price and a conditional or best price) as shown in box 608 356a ; a current price at which the product is offered is 609 shown in box 358a; and a conditional or best price is shown 610 in box 360a. The information provided in box 340a should 611 not be considered limiting of the present invention since less information could be provided or more information could be provided.

Further explanation regarding the end date, maximum savings, current price and best price (which is one example of a conditional price)-, will be explained hereafter.

Finally, Fig. 3 also indicates another optional display box 370, which lists new products (or goods or services) which will soon be offered for purchase at some future start date. This includes a list of new products as shown in box 372; and for each of these new products includes a listing of a best price 374, a retail price 376, a savings 378, and a start date 380 at which time the product will be offered for purchase. The savings is essentially a difference between the retail price and the best price, and preferably each of the best price, retail price, and savings are displayed in the currency of a country selected by the user in which a product will be purchased. This aspect of selecting a country, and displaying the information in the language and currency of the selected country will be discussed further with regard to Figs. 7 and 8.

Fig. 4 illustrates one preferred embodiment of the present application indicating one way that a purchase of a selected good or service is prompted at a current price and a conditional price. As shown in Fig. 4, information is provided for display on display 400 of the computer device 105. This information is preferably provided in response to receiving an indication of a good or service selected for purchase. The display 400 can optionally include a display of an image of the product (good or service). It can also optionally include a description of the good or service in box 420, and an option to tip a friend, mainly tell a friend about a particular product being offered for 647 purchase, in box 430. This aspect will be described 648 further with regard to Fig. 10 of the present application.

649 650 As shown on display 400 of Fig. 4, the prompted 651 options to buy at a current price and buy at a conditional 652 price, such as a best price, are shown in respective boxes 653 440 and 450. These are prompts provided by processor 120.

654 The amount of the current price associated with the 655 selected good or service and displayed in box 440b, and the 656 amount of the conditional price associated with the 657 selected good or service is displayed in box 450b, are 658 retrieved by processor 120 from the product and pricing 659 database 140a in response to receiving the selected good or 660 service for purchase. This pricing information is 661 preferably stored in the product and pricing database 140a, 662 in association with each of the purchasable goods and 663 services. In addition, a selectable button 440a may be 664 displayed in association with the optional prompt to buy at 665 a current price, and the button 450a may be displayed in 666 association with the optional prompt to buy at the 667 conditional or best price.

The use of such buttons is 668 merely exemplary and it should be understood by one of 669 ordinary skill in the art that any method of indicating a 670 selection between two options, namely a current price 671 option and a conditional price option, can be used in place 672 of the buttons for 440a and 440b as shown in Fig. 4. A 673 request to purchase a selected good or service is thus made 674 by selecting one of the current price option or conditional 675 price option, or by entering one of a current price and 676 conditional price corresponding to a selected good or 677 service.

678 679 The display 400 further preferably includes some type 680 of information feedback for the user, provided by processor 681 120 after requests or replies to purchase a particular good 682 or service are received. One type of display preferably 683 provided is that shown by element 460, wherein the number 684 of requests to purchase, either at the current price or the 685 conditional price, are displayed. These are noted as 686"buyers"as shown by element 470, and-correspond to the 687 number of requests"counted"by processor 120 in the 688 process of Fig. 2.

In the example shown in Fig. 4, the 689 graph is halfway filled in as shown by element 460a, 690 indicating that requests of five of ten possible buyers 691 have been received for a particular good or service. The 692 display also preferably includes the designated number of 693 requests which are necessary in order to recognize a 694 purchase at the conditional price. This number is 695 indicated by element 460b, and is indicated as"8"in the 696 example shown in Fig. 4.

Thus, in the example shown in 697 Fig. 4, if one selects the option to buy at the current 698 price, purchase will be counted and recognized ; and if one 699 selects a conditional purchase at the conditional price or 700 best price as shown by element 450b, this purchase will be 701 counted and displayed at element 460, but only be 702 recognized if a total of 8 requests to purchase the 703 selected good or service at either the current or 704 conditional price are received and counted by processor 705 120.

706 707 In addition, Fig. 4 illustrates further optional 708 displays which may be provided by processor 120. One such 709 optional display includes a designated maximum number of 710 buyers or purchasers. This designated maximum number, 711 represented by element 460c, represents the maximum number 712 of purchasers which can obtain the product at either the 713 current or conditional price. Once this number is reached, 714 the good or service will not longer be offered for purchase 715 and a buying cycle for this good or service will be closed.

716 In this particular example, eight requests to purchase the 717 good or service are necessary to arrive at the best price 718 (8 is the designated number stored in association with the 719 selected good or service), but only a maximum number of ten 720 requests to purchase the good or service can be received 721 before the buying cycle will be closed (10 is the 722 designated maximum number stored in association with the 723 selected good or service). Once this maximum number is 724 reached, no other request to purchase the good or service 725 at either the current or conditional price will be 726 recognized. It should be noted, of course, that the 727 designated maximum number may be equal to the designated 728 number (or greater than).

Thus, only a single designated 729 number can serve as both the designated number and 730 designated maximum number (10 could be both numbers and 731 thus"8"need not be displayed in element 460).

732 733 Another exemplary aspect of limiting the buying cycle 734 in which a selected good or service is offered for purchase 735 includes a display of the timebar 480 as shown in Fig. 4.

736 The timebar preferably includes a start date of element 737 480a, indicating the starting date of an offer for 738 purchase ; an end date as element 480b, indicating an ending 739 date of the offer for purchase; and an indication of the 740 time expired thusfar is shown by the shading element 480c.

741 The time itself is designated by element 490. Of course, 742 it should be noted that such a display 400 should not be 743 considered limitative of the present invention as any way 744 to convey a designated number, designated maximum number, 745 or time remaining in a buying cycle is included within the 746 scope of the present invention.

747 748 In one preferred embodiment, the selected good or 749 service is offered for purchase for a designated time 750 period such as for fifteen days as shown in Fig. 4. If the 751 selected good or service is requested at the current price, 752 the confirmed final price of purchase will be that existing 753 at the end of the designated time period (the end of the 754 buying cycle), in response to a request to purchase the good or service at the current price being received by the processor 120 within the designated time period.

However, a purchase of the selected good or service is only confirmed, in response to a request to. purchase at the conditional price being received by the processor 120, upon the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price being received before the end of the designated time period. Thus, before the fifteen day interval as shown in
Fig. 4, for example, eight requests to purchase the selected good or service must be received by the processor 120. Accordingly, in an example shown in Fig. 4, if eight requests to purchase the selected good or service, at either the current price or conditional price, are not received by midnight of March 15 in for example, then only requests at the current price will be recognized and confirmed.

Fig. 5 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application, wherein a current price may be varied in response to a number of requests to purchase the selected good or service being received, and wherein a conditional price may be equal to a best price. As shown in Fig. 5, in response to receiving a selection to purchase a selected good or service, the processor 120 prompts the purchase of the selected good or service at a current price and conditionally prompts a purchase of the selected good or service at a conditional price relatively lower than the current price. The information provided for display on display 500 of computer device 105 can (but need not) include a display of the product image 510, description of the product 520, and an option to tip a friend as shown in box 530, regarding a particular product, somewhat similar to that shown in Fig. 4.

However, in this preferred embodiment, instead of merely purchasing a product at a set current price or at the conditional price, a user may purchase a product at a varying current price. As previously stated, a purchase of the selected good or service is recognized at a price at most equal to the current price in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received. However, the actual price confirmed and paid by the user may be considerably less than the current price at the time of submission of a request to purchase the selected good or service.

Display box 540 illustrates how a current price may vary in response to the number of requests to purchase a selected good or service being received. The display area 540 includes three separate portions, first portion 542 illustrating incremental reduction steps in the current price; a second portion 544 indicating a corresponding number of requests or buyers that must have been counted to receive a good or service at each incremental price; and a third portion 546 indicating the current amount of cobuyers or requestors to purchase a selected good or service which have been counted, along with the number of co-buyers or requestors necessary to reach a next lower incremental price level or next incremental price reduction in the current price.

More specifically, as shown in the example of Fig. 5, a retail price of ±176 may or may not be shown in the display (depending on the rules of a selected country as will be described regarding Figs. 7 and 8). As the next block next to the retail price, if the retail price is shown, or as the first block if the retail price is not shown, an initial current price is listed. In the particular example of Fig. 5, the initial current price is that of ±147. This is the price that will be paid if 0-3 people request to purchase the selected good or service.

In the current example shown in Fig. 5, the second block is shaded as shown by element 548, to indicate that 2 people have requested to purchase the particular good or service being offered. This is also preferably indicated in area 546 as well, wherein it states that the current amount of co-buyers or requestors to purchase the selected good or service is 2.

If one additional request to purchase the selected good or service is received by processor 120, the current price will remain at ±147 as shown in the example of Fig.

5. But, if 2 more requests to purchase the selected good or service are received by processor 120, then an incremental reduction in the current price will result.

Namely, the current price will drop to ±128. Thus, each incremental reduction in the current price corresponds to a designated number of requests to purchase a selected good or service (with incremental reductions and corresponding designated numbers of request counts necessary for each incremental price reduction being stored in product and price database portion 140a of a data storage device 140), wherein the current price is reduced to a prestored incrementally reduced price after a corresponding designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current or conditional price are received by processor 120.

Finally, if 7 people decide to purchase the selected good or service shown in the example of Fig. 5, the current price is again reduced, this time to ±117, and this is the current price that will be paid by those who requested to purchase the selected good or service at the current price.

In addition, in this particular example, if 7 people request to purchase the selected good or service, those who requested to conditionally purchase the selected good or service will not only be counted, but will also be recognized since the designated number of requests necessary to trigger a conditional purchase will have been 863 reached. In the example shown in Fig. 5, the last 864 incremental price reduction step equates to the conditional 865 purchase price. Again, for incremental reductions in the 866 current price, or to arrive at the designated number of 867 requests to purchase the selected good or service at the 868 conditional price, requests to purchase the selected good 869 or service at either the current or conditional price are 870 counted.

Accordingly, in the example shown in Fig. 5, a 871 request to buy at the conditional price and a request to 872 buy at the current price would be counted equally in the 873 indication of the number of co-buyers and co-buyers 874 necessary to reach the next price level.

875 876 As shown in Fig. 5, an end date can also be displayed 877 in box 550, indicating the date (and/or time if desired) at 878 which an option to purchase a good or service will expire.

879 Along the same line, a time remaining in a buying cycle, 880 namely the amount of time remaining in a buy cycle during 881 which a purchase can be made, can also be displayed (or 882 alternately be displayed) in box 560. Thus, requests to 883 purchase the selected good or service will only be counted 884 and/or recognized if they are received at processor 120 885 before a designated time on the end date (typically 11: 59 886 p. m. on the last day), or more preferably if they are 887 received before the time remaining expires.

Thus, a 888 purchase of a selected good or service will be confirmed at 889 the final price existing at the end of the designated time 890 period in response to a request to purchase at the current 891 price being received, and a purchase of the selected good 892 or service will only be confirmed, in response to a request 893 to purchase at the conditional price being received, upon 894 the designated number of requests to purchase the selected 895 good or service at either the current price or conditional 896 price being received before the end of the designated time 897 period.

Accordingly, in the example shown in Fig. 5, in 898 order to obtain a conditional purchase of the selected good or service at the conditional price of ±117, at least 7 requests to purchase the selected good or service at either of the current price or conditional price must be received by processor 120 before the end date.-, Again, a designated number of requests corresponding to each incremental price reduction are preferably stored in association with the good or service being offered for purchase in product and pricing database 140a, and are retrieved using processor 120, upon the processor receiving a request to purchase the selected good or service.

As previously mentioned, Fig. 6 is an example of a display which corresponds to a particular category of information being accessed. Initially, selectable information relating to purchasable goods or services are provided for display on the computer device 105 connected to the network 110, from processor 120. This can be in the form of categories of information as indicated by element 310 of Fig. 3, for example. Upon selection of a particular category, the display 600 of Fig. 6 may result. The display may optionally continue to display categories or subcategories of information as shown by element 610, and preferably displays the selected category itself as element 620. Thereafter, particularly popular items of the category may optionally be separately displayed as shown by elements 630 and 640.

These can include an image of the product 632, an end date 634, a savings amount 636 (equivalent to the difference between a retail price and a best price), a current price 638, and a best price or conditional price 639.

More preferably, when accessing a particular category, a first subcategory 650 is displayed, along with goods or services being offered for purchase within the category as shown by element 660. Thereafter, a second subcategory can be displayed as shown by element 670, along with corresponding products or services within the subcategory as shown by element 680. The subcategories can alternately be shown separately, providing selection of particular goods or services upon selection of a-subcategory ; or the subcategories can more preferably be shown in conjunction with each of their corresponding goods or services being offered, wherein subcategories and corresponding goods or services being offered, purchase are preferably shown in a scrolled fashion on a continuous screen.

Accordingly, once a user selects a particular category, the user can then be provided with each of the subcategories within the category, as well as all goods or services being offered for purchase within each of the subcategories to thereby result in an easy selection of a desired good or service for purchase.

For example, if a user desires to select the category "home electronics", the selected category will be displayed in box 620, and two particular items such as a Fuji digital camera and Sony VCR could optionally be displayed in boxes 630 and 640. In box 650, a first subcategory of "televisions"may be displayed, along with a list of all specific televisions being offered for purchase at the current time. A second subcategory of"VCRs"may be displayed in box 670, along with all specific VCRs being offered for purchase in box 680. Boxes 660 and 680 can further preferably include a list of the products 662, best price 664, retail price 666, savings 668, and end date 669.

This provides the user with an opportunity to quickly glance at the products within each subcategory, at the subcategories within a category, and at certain key criteria involving a particular good or service being offered for purchase. If more information is desired, or if a request to purchase a selected good or service is desired, a user can then select a particular good or service and obtain a screen such as that shown in Figs. 4
971 or 5 to enable submission of requests to purchase a
972 particular good or service.

It should be noted that the
973 arrangement of display elements of each of Figs. 3 to 6 is
974 merely preferable and should not be considered limitative
975 of the present invention; and it should also be noted that
976 the various display elements shown in Figs. 3 to 6 are also
977 merely exemplary and should not be considered required or
978 limitative of the present invention.

979
980 Fig. 7 illustrates a"flag"page for display on a
981 display screen 700 of a computer device 105. In a further
982 preferred embodiment of the present application utilizing
983 such a flag page, this page is the first page provided to
984 the user upon accessing a web page of the offeror of the
985 goods or service for purchase in connection with the
986 present invention. For example, assuming that a user
987 desires to purchase goods or services, the user may
988 initially access a website offering such goods or services
989 on the world wide web for example, by typing in the address
990"letsbuyit. com".

In response to accessing the website,
991 processor 120 then provides information, for display on
992 display 700 of the computer device 105 operatively
993 connected to the network 110 (in this case the internet)
994 relating to a plurality of selectable countries. An
995 example of information is shown, in Fig. 7, and will be
996 described in conjunction with the flow chart of Fig. 8 as 997 follows.

998
999 As previously stated, the processor is initially 1000 adapted to provide information relating to a plurality of 1001 selected countries in step S20. This information may be 1002 provided in the form of display 700 as shown in Fig. 7, or 1003 can be provided in any manner which enables selection or 1004 entry of a selectable country. In this display 700, the 1005 offeror of the goods or services for purchase may (but need 1006 not) be displayed in area 710, images of country flags can optionally be displayed in area 720, and a prompt requesting selection of a country is displayed in area 740, with the selected country being shown in area 730.

For example, in connection with this preferred aspect of the present application, goods or services are offered for sale in a plurality of countries, and when a particular country is selected, information is provided for display in a language associated with a country. Such information can further include displaying a currency associated with the selected country, including or excluding certain information such as the display of retail price for example based upon particular laws of a selected country, displaying and following certain rules and regulations corresponding to the selected country etc.

The display shown as element 700 of Fig. 7 may include only images of country flags 720 for selection of a particular country, and/or may include a prompt listing of plurality of countries in area 740, where the selected country is optionally displayed in the separate area 730.

As a further alternative, a selection of a country may merely be prompted and the selected country entered into the system by the user.

After providing country information in step S20, the user enters or selects a desired country at computer device 105. The processor 120 then receives an indication of the country selected in step S22 and provides information regarding goods or services offered for purchase in a language associated with the country selected. In other words, upon receiving a selected country, the processor 120 is adapted to utilize the information in country database 140b to determine a language stored in association with the selected country. Assuming that the selected country is
United Kingdom as shown by element 730 of Fig. 7, the 1043 language stored in association with the selected country in 1044 country database 140b is English and thus, information 1045 provided to the computer device 105 is displayed in 1046 English.

In this manner, the processor 120 works in 1047 conjunction with both the product and pricing database 140a 1048 and the country database 140b to provide information for 1049 display on the computer device 105 relating to goods or 1050 services offered for purchase in a language associated with 1051 the selected country; and thus provides a display such as 1052 that shown in Fig. 3 in the English language.

Accordingly, 1053 in association with the plurality of selectable countries 1054 in which a good or service is offered, the product and 1055 pricing database 140a preferably stores product information 1056 in a plurality of languages, pricing information in a 1057 plurality of currencies, and information for display 1058 including or excluding certain information, such as retail 1059 price for example, based upon laws of countries, etc.

1060 1061 Thereafter, in response to the display such as that of 1062 Fig. 3 of the present application, a user of computer 1063 device 105 then selects a good or service for purchase from 1064 either the display of Fig. 3, for example, or from a 1065 particular category being accessed in a manner previously 1066 described with regard to Fig. 6 for example. This request 1067 of a good or service selected for purchase is then be 1068 received by processor 120 in step S24.

1069 1070 Thereafter, in step S26, the processor 120 in 1071 conjunction with both the country database 140b and the 1072 product and pricing database 140a, then further preferably 1073 provides pricing information in a currency associated with 1074 the selected country, for the selected good or service, to 1075 the computer device 105. Such product and pricing 1076 information is preferably stored in product and pricing 1077 database 140a, in association with the selected good or 1078 service and in association with selectable countries, in a plurality of different languages and/or currencies.

Alternatively, country database 140b could provide a currency conversion amount for processor 120, to perform a conversion of the pricing information-stored in product and pricing database 140a. In either event, the resulting display of Figs. 4 or 5, for example, includes at least a current price and a conditional price in the currency associated with the selected country. As shown in examples of Figs. 4 and 5, the selected country is the United
Kingdom and thus the selected currency associated with the selected country is English pounds. Thus, the display includes at least a current price and a conditional price displayed in English pounds.

Once presented with the displays of Figs. 4 or 5 for example, the user then requests to purchase a selected good or service, and such a request will be received by processor 120 in step S28. Thereafter, the processor 120 determines whether or not to recognize a purchase in step
S30 based upon the process previously described with regard to Fig. 2 (or Figs. 2A, 2B, 2C, etc.) of the present application for example.

It should be noted that product and pricing database 140a and the country database 140b are shown in separate databases in data storage device 140 for the purpose of illustration only. These databases could be separately accessed by processor 120 based upon received information, or could be integrated as a single database. In either event, the pricing information may be stored in various currencies or maybe stored in a single currency, and then converted by processor 120.

In a further alternative embodiment, the processor 120 initially provides country information in step S20 upon a user initially accessing a website for purchase of the product, in the form of display 700 for example. However, once a selected country is received by processor 120, the processor 120 provides information to the computer device 105 in the form of a cookie which is stored in computer device 105. Thereafter, the next time the user attempts to access the website, instead of providing the display 700, the processor 120 recognizes the cookie stored in the computer device 105 and realizes the previously selected country. Thus, the first display screen provided to a user is in the form of Fig. 3, provided in the language and/or currency of the selected country.

Thus, each time a user returns to the website to purchase goods or services, information will be provided for display in the language and/or currency associated with the initially selected country. If a user desires to change a selected country, the display 300 of Fig. 3 can optionally include a flag symbol 320 which, when selected, brings a user back to the flag page 700 as shown in Fig. 7. A user can then select a different country, and a different cookie will be stored in place of the original cookie in computer device 105.

As previously stated, a display provided to the user in response to a selected country may include or exclude certain information in accordance with the selected country. For example, some countries such as Germany do not permit display of a retail price. Thus, the display provided to the user in response to selection of"Germany" as a country would exclude the retail price as is shown in
Fig. 4 or as shown by the dashed line regarding the retail price as shown in Fig. 5. Similarly, information such as savings might be excluded based on the selection of a particular country such as Germany, since this information inherently includes information regarding a retail price.

Therefore, any of the displays shown in Figs. 3 to 6 would be modified based upon the particular rules in accordance with the selected country. All of the information is preferably stored in product and pricing database 140a in association with a country such that when Germany (for example) is selected, and a good or service is selected, the entire display is retrieved by processor 120 and provided to the computer device 105. Thus, the computer device 105 will display in the German language, with the currency being the German mark, and with the display excluding the retail price.

In a further preferred embodiment, goods or services may only be sold within the borders of a particular selected country. Thus, selection of a country might initially be made in response to the information provided in Fig. 7, but further steps may need to take place before the selected country is recognized by processor 120. A user may need to enter a valid mailing address because goods or services can be provided to a mailing address only within the boundaries of the selected country. Thereafter, purchases can be recognized.

Finally, any of the display screens of Figs. 3 to 6 can also include offers to purchase in a plurality of countries. Thus, assuming the data storage device 140 includes goods or services which are offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, and one of the plurality of countries is selected by computer device 105, the processor 120 provides information for display on computer device 105. This information corresponds to goods or services being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries and an indication that goods or services are being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries may optionally be displayed on computer device 105.

For example, the processor 120 optionally provides information for display on the computer device 105 indicating that a particular good or service is offered for purchase in each of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, etc. Thus, the user is provided with information which conveys to the user that he is requesting a purchase (to be part of a"deal") in conjunction with others who select the same good or service in each of a plurality of designated countries. Further, each of a plurality of users is provided with information in a language of his/her selected country and with pricing information in a currency of his/her selected country (this can occur with users receiving information in accordance with different selected countries).

This enables the user to purchase a good or service at a price determined by the number of buyers in a plurality of countries, and not a single country; with each user making an informed decision involving review of information in a language or currency of his/her selected country.

Thus, a good or service can be offered as part of a multi-country deal, wherein the good or service is offered for purchase in a plurality of countries. Each user, operating on a computer device connected to the network, then selects a good or service for purchase based upon information provided in a language and/or currency of a selected country. Subsequently, all offers to purchase or conditionally purchase a selected good or service from users selecting each of the countries in which the good or service are offered, are counted as part of the same deal (in association with a common deal ID) towards lowering a current price and/or triggering a conditional purchase as previously described.

Accordingly, it should be understood that goods or services can be offered for purchase by the system 100 to users in a plurality of countries and thus determination of a particular price level and/or recognition of a purchase in response to receiving a request to conditionally purchase the selected good or service, can be based upon a designated number of combined requests to purchase the selected good or service at the current price and at a conditional price received from users of a plurality of countries.

Accordingly, a good or service may be offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, information may be provided for display on the computer device 105 indicating the good or service being offered for purchase in a plurality of countries, and conditional purchases and current price determination may be based upon receiving, from each of a plurality of countries in which a good or service is offered for purchase, a designated number of combined request to purchase the selected good or service at the current price and the conditional price.

Fig. 9 illustrates another preferred embodiment of the present application, directed to a process for providing selectable information regarding any type of purchasable good or service. The process can also be used in conjunction with the present application for conditional price and current price purchase of goods and services.

Specifically, in step S40, the processor 120 in conjunction with data storage device 140 provides selectable information, relating to at least one of purchasable goods and services for display on a computer device 105 connected to a network 110. Thereafter, the processor 120 receives a request to purchase goods or services from the computer device 105 in step S42. In response to receiving such a request, the processor 120 prompts, via the computer device 105, a request for payment information. For example, the processor 120 prompts the computer device 105 for input of credit card information.

This can be done in response to a general purchase, or in response to receiving a request to purchase at a current 1258 price or a request to purchase at a conditional price as 1259 previously discussed.

1260 1261 Once the requested information is-input from the 1262 computer device 105, it is sent through network 110, to 1263 processor 120. The processor 120, in conjunction with 1264 accounting and payment database 140c of the data storage 1265 device 140, generates a code which will be assigned to the 1266 specific payment information received in step S46. This 1267 code can be generated in any known manner. Although this 1268 generated code will correspond to the payment information 1269 received, it does not in any way indicate the payment 1270 information received.

1271 1272 Thereafter, the processor 120 stores only the 1273 generated code (not the payment or credit card information) 1274 along with an indicator regarding the good or service 1275 requested to be purchased (a deal identification or deal 1276 ID), and transmits the generated code and payment 1277 information (including credit card number and optionally 1278 including other payment details such as currency and name 1279 of requested purchaser, and the deal ID) to a remote 1280 location (such as a credit card verifier) to determine if 1281 it is acceptable in step S48. For example, both the 1282 generated code and the requested payment information are 1283 transmitted to a remote location for verification of the 1284 payment information as acceptable or not.

This includes 1285 verifying that a credit card number corresponds to a valid 1286 credit card, for example, (and can alternately include 1287 verification of a credit limit equal to a current price, 1288 assuming that the current price were sent with the 1289 generated code and deal ID). Assuming that the payment 1290 information is a credit card number, both the generated 1291 code and credit card number (and optionally the other 1292 payment details) are transmitted to a remote location for 1293 verification of a valid credit card number for example.

1294 Although the generated code is stored with the deal ID by 1295 processor 120 in memory 130 for example, the received 1296 payment information is not stored in the system 100.

1297 Instead, it is transmitted, along with the generated code, 1298 to the remote location for verification of the payment 1299 information as acceptable.

1300 1301 Shortly thereafter, the processor 120 then receives an 1302 indication as to whether or not the payment information is 1303 acceptable from the remote location. This can occur by 1304 receiving a verification code, for example. If it is 1305 acceptable, mainly if the credit card is valid, then a 1306 verification code is preferably received and a purchase is 1307 counted in step S50, and potentially recognized in step S18 1308 or recognized in step S12 of Fig. 2. The verification code 1309 is preferably then stored with the generated code and deal 1310 ID. Accordingly, a purchase is only recognized in response 1311 to receipt of verification of payment information as 1312 acceptable.

1313 1314 Once payment information is acceptable, a purchase is 1315 recognized. It is then counted as a request to purchase at 1316 a current price or at a conditional price for the purposes 1317 of lowering a price to a next incremental price as 1318 previously described as with regard to Fig. 5 and/or 1319 counted to recognize a buy at a conditional price as 1320 previously described with regard to Figs. 4 and 5.

1321 Accordingly, although the process described in Fig. 9 maybe 1322 applied to other sales of goods or services, it essentially 1323 adds steps after steps S8 and S14 of Fig. 2, which must 1324 occur before a purchase is counted.

1325 1326 As previously discussed, a request for a purchase may 1327 be counted by processor 120 for the purposes of calculating 1328 a new incremental current price reduction and/or 1329 calculating a designated number of purchasers required for conditional purchase, and a purchase transaction need not be confirmed at that time. For example, although a purchase at a current price may be counted and recognized once a request and acceptable payment-information has been received, the final current price eventually charged to a consumer when the purchase is confirmed may be equal to or less than the current price at the time a purchase is recognized.

With regard to a conditional purchase, although it may be counted for the purposes of lowering an incremental current price or adding to the number of purchases necessary to trigger a conditional purchase, a purchase is still not confirmed at this time. Instead, a purchase need not be confirmed until there is no more time remaining to purchase a product (namely, the buying cycle is closed because the end date and time has arrived), or if there are no more products being offered for service (namely, a buying cycle is closed because a designated maximum number of products being offered for purchase has been reached). This will be explained with regard to the examples shown in Figs. 4 and 5.

At such a time when requests to purchase a selected product or service will no longer be recognized, such as when a buying cycle is closed because there is no more time remaining to purchase the selected good or service and/or when a buying cycle is closed because there are no more of the selected good or service offered for purchase, the generated code corresponding to each recognized request to purchase a selected good or service is retransmitted (preferably along with the verification code and/or deal
ID) to the remote location for confirmation of the purchase using the payment information. At this time a final current price for purchase has been determined, and this price is also transmitted such that the final price will be debited to a user's credit card, for example.

In other words, the credit card information received from the computer device 105 is not permanently stored by processor 120, and only a corresponding generated code is stored with the deal ID (and preferably a verification code is eventually stored as well). At the end of a buying cycle, the stored codes corresponding to recognized requests to purchase the selected good or service (along with the final current price) are then retransmitted (without payment or credit card information) to the remote location for confirmation and completion of the purchase.

This payment or credit card information need not be stored and transmitted again since, upon receiving the generated code (and preferably the verification code), the credit card verifier at the remote location matches the generated code with the generated code previously transmitted by processor 120 along with the credit card information. Once the two generated codes are matched (and preferably the verification code is recognized), the previously transmitted credit card information corresponding to a recognized request to purchase the selected good or service is easily determined. The credit card or payment information is then debited in the amount corresponding to the transmitted final current price at the end of the buy cycle (which could be equal to the conditional price) and the transaction is completed.

Thereafter, a response in the form of an e-mail for example, can optionally be sent to the purchaser to confirm the purchase.

It should be noted that although request to conditionally purchase a good or service may be determined as acceptable or not prior to being counted towards conditional purchases or incremental price reductions, and codes may be generated corresponding to payment information received when making such a request for a conditional purchase, they are not truly recognized until a designated number of request to purchase a selectable good or service at a current price or conditional price has been received as previously discussed in step S18 of Fig. 2.

Thus, only upon a determination of acceptable payment information and a determination of a designated number of requests being received, will a request to conditionally purchase a selected good or service be recognized and only thereafter, will a transaction to conditionally purchase a selected good or service at a conditional price be confirmed and completed.

Fig. 10 illustrates a further preferred embodiment of the present application directed to a user essentially prompting a friend or some other user to purchase a selected good or product. Essentially, when the user selects a particular good or service for purchase and receives a display screen such as that shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the processor 120 not only provides product and pricing information relating to the selected good or service as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, but also provides a prompt, prompting the user to advise or prompt another person to purchase the selected good or service. These are the"tip a friend"boxes are shown as elements 430 in Fig. 4 and 530 in Fig. 5. Once this"tip a friend"box is selected, the processor 120 provides the display 900 of Fig. 10 for display on the computer device 105.

The display screen 900 may include various ones of the elements shown in Fig. 10. For example, the"tip a friend" title may be shown in box 905 to indicate to the user that the"tip a friend"option has been selected. Thereafter, the display screen 900 may display the product image 910, description of the product image 915, the end date 920a, the best or conditional price 920b, the retain price 920c, and the start price 920d. This information is, of course optional, since the user already knows most of that information and since such information can be automatically inserted into an email as will explained hereinafter.

1438 1439 The"tip a friend"option provides some type of prompt 1440 to the user for entering the name of the persons which 1441 should be tipped in box 925, as well as box 930 for 1442 entering the name. name. also preferably preferably includes an e-mail 1443 prompt 935 and a box 940 to enter the e-mail address of the 1444 friend to be tipped.

1445 1446 In addition, the display preferably includes a message 1447 prompt 945, as well as a box 950 to enter a text message.

1448 This message could include the information relating to the 1449 product, and date, best price, retail price and start 1450 price, but need only include a friendly greeting if all the 1451 aforementioned information is automatically generated.

1452 Preferably, this information relating to the product end 1453 date, best price, retail price and start price are already 1454 entered into the existing text. This"added text"can be 1455 displayed to the user in box 980.

1456 1457 As a further option, the display screen can include a 1458 prompt 955 indicating the"tippers"name, and the box 960 1459 to enter the name; as well as an e-mail prompt 965, and a 1460 box 970 in which to enter the e-mail address.

1461 1462 Once the information is completed, a completed message 1463 involving the text entered in the box 950 and the added 1464 text from the box 980 is generated and optionally displayed 1465 to the"tipper". This information is then sent to the e 1466 mail address entered in the box 940, so that another user 1467 is made aware of the product and will hopefully request to 1468 purchase the selected good or service so as to potentially 1469 incrementally lower the current price or arrive at the 1470 designated number of buyers necessary to trigger a purchase 1471 at the conditional price.

As an incentive to tell others 1472 about a selected good or service, the processor 120 could 1473 store a credit for the"tipper"based upon the e-mail address entered in box 970. Upon receiving a designated number of credits, a user could then be entitled to a discount or coupon for a subsequent purchase of a good or service.

As shown in Figure 1, according to the invention, the system for providing for the purchase of goods and services over a network, a computer device (105) being operatively connected to said network, comprises a processor (120), a communication port (125) for operatively connecting the system (100) to said network (110) and memory units (130, 135,140) at least comprising a storage device (140) for storing information related to said goods and services, wherein said processor (120) is adapted perform at least some of the steps described above. The system may further comprise an e-mail processor (145) preferably connected to an e-mail storage device (150).

In order to perform at least some of the steps described above, the processor (120) may be provided with one or more code sections which are preferably stored in one of said memory units and which comprise instructions for performing the steps, which instructions are executable by the processor (120). Said code sections may also be stored on any other storage device or computer readable medium, especially any portable storage device like a floppy disc, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW or a DVD.

The invention being best described, it should be apparent that the same may be varied in many ways. For example, the present application has been essentially described in terms of goods and services offered for purchase, thus the invention is equally applicable to not just tangible goods, but also services or intangible products such as airline, hotel, cruise and rental car reservations ; along with other types of reservations for example. Further, the present application can also apply to other services being offered such as financial services, options, insurance, mortgages, etc. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from-the spirit and scope of the invention and all such modifications as would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method for offering at least one of goods and services for purchase over a network (110), comprising the steps of: providing information, for display on a computer device (105) operatively connected to the network (110), relating to a plurality of selectable countries; providing information for display on the computer device (105), in response to receiving a selected country, relating to the goods or services offered for purchase, the information being provided for display in a language associated with the selected country; and receiving a request to purchase a selected good or service.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of: providing pricing information for display on the computer device in response to receiving a request to purchase a selected good or service, the pricing information being provided for display in a currency associated with a selected country.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of providing the pricing information includes the step of prompting a purchase of the selected good or service at a current price and prompting a conditional purchase of the selected good or service at a 1552 conditional price, relatively less than the current 1553 price.

1554 1555 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the 1556 steps of: 1557 1558 receiving a request to purchase the selected good 1559 or service at one of the current price and conditional 1560 price; and 1561 1562 recognizing a purchase of the selected good or 1563 service at a price at most equal to the current price 1564 in response to receiving a request to purchase the 1565 selected good or service at the current price, and 1566 only recognizing a purchase of the selected good or 1567 service, in response to receiving a request to 1568 conditionally purchase the selected good or service at 1569 the conditional price, upon receiving a designated 1570 number of combined requests to purchase the selected 1571 good or service at the current price and at the 1572 conditional price.

1573 1574 5. A method of offering at least one of goods and 1575 services for purchase over a network, in a plurality 1576 of countries, comprising the steps of: 1577 1578 providing information, for display on a computer 1579 device (105) operatively connected to the network 1580 (110), relating to at least one of goods and services 1581 being offered for purchase in a plurality of 1582 countries, the information including a prompt to 1583 purchase goods or services at a current price and a 1584 prompt to conditionally purchase goods or services at 1585 a conditional price, relatively lower than the current 1586 price;

1587 1588 receiving a request, from the computer device 1589 (105), to purchase a selected good or service within 1590 one of the plurality of countries in which the 1591 selected good or service is offered for purchase, at a 1592 current price or a conditional price; and 1593 1594 recognizing a request to purchase a selected good 1595 or service, in response to receiving a request to 1596 purchase at a current price, at a price at most equal 1597 to the current price and only recognizing a request to 1598 purchase a selected good or service, in response to 1599 receiving a request to conditionally purchase at the 1600 conditional price,

upon receiving a designated number 1601 of combined requests to purchase the selected good or 1602 service within each of the plurality of countries in 1603 which the selected good or service is offered for 1604 purchase, at the current price and the conditional 1605 price.

1606 1607 6. The method of claim 5, further comprising, in 1608 response to receiving a country selection, the step of 1609 providing for display the information in a language 1610 associated with the selected country.

1611 1612 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the information 1613 provided for display includes pricing information 1614 displayed in a currency associated with the selected 1615 country.

1616 1617 8. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 7, 1618 further comprising the steps of providing for display 1619 information on a plurality of computer devices (105) 1620 operatively connected to the network (110), and 1621 providing for display, in response to receiving a 1622 country selection at each of the plurality of 1623 computers, the information at each respective computer 1624 device (105) in a language associated with each 1625 respective selected country.

1626 1627 9. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 8, 1628 further comprising the step of: 1629 1630 sending information indicating the selected 1631 country to the computer device (105) connected to the 1632 network (110), in response to receiving a selected 1633 country.

1634 1635 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information is 1636 sent in the form of a cookie for storage in the 1637 computer device.

1638 1639 11. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 10, 1640 wherein each time a user returns to purchase goods or 1641 services, information will be provided for display in 1642 the language associated with the initially selected 1643 country.

1644 1645 12. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 11, 1646 wherein the network includes the internet and/or an 1647 intranet.

1648 1649 13. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 12, 1650 wherein the pricing information includes or excludes 1651 information in accordance with a selected country.

1652 1653 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the pricing 1654 information includes a retail price when certain 1655 countries are selected and excludes the retail price 1656 when other countries are selected.

1657 1658 15. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 14, 1659 comprising the step of: 1660 1661 providing information for display on the computer 1662 device (105) indicating that a good or service is 1663 offered for purchase in a plurality of countries.

1664 1665 16. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 15, 1666 wherein the current price and conditional price are 1667 those associated with the selected good or service.

1668 1669 17. The method according to anyone of claim 1 to 16, 1670 wherein the conditional price is a relatively lowest 1671 at which a good or service can be purchased and the 1672 current price is a price at which a good or service is 1673 currently offered for purchase.

1674 1675 18. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 17, 1676 further comprising the step of varying the current 1677 price in response to the number of requests to 1678 purchase the selected good or service being received.

1679 1680 19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the 1681 step of reducing the current price to a relatively 1682 lower price, each time a designated number of requests 1683 to purchase the good or service at either the current 1684 price or conditional price is received.

1685 1686 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of 1687 reducing the current price is performed such that each 1688 incremental reduction in the current price corresponds 1689 to a designated number of requests to purchase a 1690 selected good or service, the current price being 1691 reduced by an incremental reduction after the 1692 corresponding designated number of requests to 1693 purchase of the good or service at either the current 1694 or conditional price are received.

1695 1696 21. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 19, 1697 further comprising the steps of: 1698 1699 offering a selected good or service for purchase 1700 for a designated time period, a purchase of the 1701 selected good or service is confirmed at the price 1702 existing at an end of the designated time period in 1703 response to a request to purchase at the current price 1704 being received within the designated time period, and 1705 1706 confirming a purchase of the selected good or service 1707 only, in response to a request to purchase at the 1708 conditional price being received, upon the designated 1709 number of requests to purchase the selected good or 1710 service at either the current price or conditional 1711 price being received before the end of the designated 1712 time period.

1713 1714 22. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 21, 1715 further comprising the step of: 1716 1717 providing for display a prompt to purchase a selected 1718 good or service at a current price and a prompt to 1719 conditionally purchase a selected good or service at a 1720 conditional price.

1721 1722 23. The method according to claim 21, further 1723 comprising the step of providing for display a prompt 1724 to purchase a selected good or service at a current 1725 price, a prompt to conditionally purchase a selected 1726 good or service at a conditional price and a time 1727 remaining until the end of the designated time period.

1728 1729 1730 24. The method according to anyone of claims 18 to 1731 23, further comprising the step of providing for 1732 display the designated incremental variations in the 1733 current price and corresponding designated numbers of 1734 requests necessary to reach each incremental variation 1735 in the current price.

1736 1737 25. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 24, 1738 further comprising the steps of: 1739 1740 prompting, via the computer device (105), a 1741 request for payment information subsequent to receipt 1742 of a request to purchase or conditionally purchase a 1743 good or service; 1744 1745 generating a code corresponding to receipt of the 1746 requested payment information; 1747 1748 transmitting the generated code and the requested 1749 payment information to a remote location for 1750 verification of the payment information as acceptable; 1751 and 1752 1753 recognizing a purchase only in response to 1754 receipt of verification of the payment information as 1755 acceptable.

1756 1757 26. The method according to claim 25, further 1758 comprising the steps of: 1759 1760 storing only the generated code and not storing 1761 the received payment information; and 1762 1763 retransmitting the code to the remote location 1764 for completion of the purchase using the payment 1765 information.

1766 1767 27. The method according to claim 25 or 26, wherein 1768 the payment information includes credit card 1769 information.

1770 1771 28. The method of claim 27, wherein the payment 1772 information includes credit card information, and 1773 wherein the credit card information is not stored.

1774 1775 29. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 28, 1776 wherein a response is sent to the purchaser, 1777 subsequent to recognition of a purchase, to confirm 1778 the purchase.

1779 1780 30. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 1781 29, further comprising the step of recognizing a 1782 conditional purchase upon receiving a designated 1783 number of combined requests, from users selecting each 1784 of the plurality of countries in which a good or 1785 service is offered for purchase, to purchase the 1786 selected good or service at the current price and at 1787 the conditional price.

1788 1789 31. The method according to anyone of claims 1 to 30, 1790 comprising the steps of: 1791 1792 offering only a designated maximum number of a 1793 selected good or service for purchase, and 1794 1795 confirming, upon the designated maximum number of 1796 requests to purchase the selected good or service 1797 being received, a purchase of a selected good or 1798 service at the conditional price for previously 1799 recognized requests to purchase at both the 1800 conditional price and the current price.

1801 32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of providing for display a designated maximum number of a selected good or service offered for purchase.

33. The method according to claim 31 or 32, wherein the designated number and designated maximum number are equal.

34. A system for offering at least one of goods and services for purchase over a network (110), comprising: a memory (140), adapted to store information in association with goods or services purchasable over the network (110) ; and a processor (120), operatively connected to the memory (140), adapted to provide information for display on a computer device (105) operatively connected to the network (110) relating to a plurality of countries, and adapted to provide information for display on the computer device, in response to receiving a selected country, stored in association with the goods or services offered for purchase, wherein the information is provided for display in the language associated with the selected country.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the processor (120) is further adapted, in response to receiving a request to purchase a selected good or service, to provide pricing information stored in association with the selected good or service, the pricing information being provided for display in a currency associated with a selected country.

1838 36. The system according to claim 34 or 35, wherein 1839 the processor (120) is further adapted prompt a 1840 purchase of the selected good or service at a current 1841 price and prompting a conditional-purchase of the 1842 selected good or service at a conditional price, 1843 relatively less than the current price.

1844 1845 37. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1846 36, wherein the processor (120) is further adapted to: 1847 1848 receive a request to purchase the selected good 1849 or service at one of the current price and conditional 1850 price; and 1851 1852 recognize a purchase of the selected good or 1853 service at a price at most equal to the current price 1854 in response to receiving a request to purchase the 1855 selected good or service at the current price, and 1856 only recognize a purchase of the selected good or 1857 service, in response to receiving a request to 1858 conditionally purchase the selected good or service at 1859 the conditional price, upon receiving a designated 1860 number of combined requests to purchase the selected 1861 good or service at the current price and at the 1862 conditional price.

1863 1864 38. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1865 37, wherein the processor (120) is further adapted to 1866 send information indicating the selected country to 1867 the computer device (105) connected to the network 1868 (110), in response to receiving a selected country.

1869 1870 39. The system of claim 38, wherein the information 1871 is sent in the form of a cookie for storage in the 1872 computer device (105).

1873 1874 40. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1875 39, wherein each time a user returns to purchase goods 1876 or services, information will be provided for display 1877 in the language associated with the initially selected 1878 country.

1879 1880 41. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1881 40, wherein the network (110) includes the internet 1882 and/or an intranet.

1883 1884 42. The system according to anyone of claims 35 to 1885 41, wherein the pricing information includes or 1886 excludes information in accordance with a selected 1887 country.

1888 1889 43. The system according to anyone of claims 35 to 1890 42, wherein the pricing information includes a retail 1891 price when certain countries are selected and excludes 1892 the retail price when other countries are selected.

1893 1894 44. The system according to anyone of claims 35 to 1895 43, wherein the processor (120) is further adapted to 1896 provide information for display on the computer device 1897 (105) indicating that a good or service is offered for 1898 purchase in a plurality of countries.

1899 1900 45. The system according to anyone of claims 35 to 1901 44, wherein the processor (120) is adapted to provide 1902 for display, on the computer device (105), of 1903 selectable options to purchase a selected good or 1904 service at an associated current price and at 1905 associated conditional price.

1906 1907 46. The system according to anyone of claims 35 to 1908 45, wherein the conditional price is a relatively 1909 lowest at which a good or service can be purchased and 1910 the current price is a price at which a good or 1911 service is currently offered for purchase.

1912 1913 47. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1914 46, wherein the system is further adapted to vary the 1915 current price in response to the number of requests to 1916 purchase the selected good or service being received 1917 by the processor.

1918 1919 48. The system of claim 47, wherein the system is 1920 further adapted to reduce the current price to a 1921 relatively lower price, each time a designated number 1922 of requests to purchase the good or service at either 1923 the current price or conditional price is received by 1924 the processor.

1925 1926 49. The system of claim 48, wherein the system is 1927 adapted to perform the reducing of the current price 1928 such that each incremental reduction in the current 1929 price corresponds to a designated number of requests 1930 to purchase a selected good or service, the current 1931 price being reduced by an incremental reduction after 1932 the corresponding designated number of requests to 1933 purchase of the good or service at either the current 1934 or conditional price are received by the processor.

1935 1936 50. The system according to anyone of claim 47 or 49, 1937 wherein the system is adapted to provide for display 1938 the designated incremental variations in the current 1939 price and corresponding designated number of requests 1940 necessary to reach each incremental variation in the 1941 current by the processor (120).

1942 1943 51. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1944 50, wherein the system is further adapted to provide 1945 for display a prompt to purchase a selected good or service at a current price and a prompt to conditionally purchase a selected good or service at a conditional price by the processor (120).

52. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 51, wherein the system is further adapted to offer a selected good or service for purchase for a designated time period, a purchase of the selected good or service is confirmed at the price existing at an end of the designated time period in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received by the processor within the designated time period, and to confirm a purchase of the selected good or service only, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received by the processor, upon the designated number of requests to purchase the selected good or service at either the current price or conditional price being received by the processor before the end of the designated time period.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the system is further adapted to provide for display a time remaining until the end of the designated time period by the processor (120).

54. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 53, wherein the system is further adapted to offer a selected good or service for purchase for a designated time period, a purchase of the selected good or service is confirmed at the price existing at an end of the designated time period in response to a request to purchase at the current price being received by the processor within the designated time period, and to confirm a purchase of the selected good or service only, in response to a request to purchase at the conditional price being received, upon the designated 1982 number of requests to purchase the selected good or 1983 service at either the current price or conditional 1984 price being received by the processor (120) before the 1985 end of the designated time period.

1986 1987 55. The system according to anyone of claims 34 to 1988 54, wherein the system is further adapted to offer 1989 only a designated maximum number of a selected good or 1990 service for purchase, and to confirm, upon the 1991 designated maximum number of requests to purchase the 1992 selected good or service being received, a purchase of 1993 a selected good or service at the conditional price 1994 for previously recognized requests to purchase at both 1995 the conditional price and the current price.

1996 1997 56. The system of claim 55, wherein the designated 1998 number and designated maximum number are equal.

1999 2000 57. A system for offering at least one of goods and 2001 services for purchase over a network (110), in a 2002 plurality of countries, comprising: 2003 2004 a memory (140), adapted to store information in 2005 association with goods or services purchasable in a 2006 plurality of countries;

and 2007 2008 a processor (120), operatively connected to the 2009 memory (140), adapted to provide information for 2010 display on a computer device (105) operatively 2011 connected to the network (110), relating to at least 2012 one of goods and services being offered for purchase 2013 in a plurality of countries, the information including 2014 a prompt to purchase goods or services at a current 2015 price and a prompt to conditionally purchase goods or 2016 services at a relatively lower conditional price, the 2017 processor being further adapted to recognize,

in 2018 response to receiving a request to purchase a selected 2019 good or service at the current price within one of the 2020 plurality of countries in which a selected good or 2021 service is offered for purchase, a request to purchase 2022 the selected good or service at a price at most equal 2023 to the current price and to only recognize, in 2024 response to receiving a request to conditionally 2025 purchase a selected good or service within one of the 2026 plurality of countries in which the selected good or 2027 service is offered for purchase, a request to 2028 conditionally purchase the selected good or service 2029 upon receiving a designated number of combined 2030 requests to purchase the selected good or service,

2031 within each of the plurality of countries in which the 2032 selected good or service is offered for purchase, at 2033 the current price and the conditional price.

2034 2035 58. The system of claim 57, wherein the processor 2036 (120) is further adapted to, in response to receiving 2037 a country selection, provide the information for 2038 display in a language associated with the selected 2039 country.

2040 2041 59. The system of claim 58, wherein the information 2042 provided for display includes pricing information 2043 displayed in a currency associated with the selected 2044 country.

2045 2046 60. The system according to claim 58 or 59, wherein 2047 the processor (120) is further adapted to send 2048 information indicating the selected country to the 2049 computer device (105) connected to the network (110), 2050 in response to receiving a selected country.

2051 61. The system according to anyone of claims 58 to 60, wherein the information is sent in the form of a cookie for storage in the computer device (105).

62. The system according to anyone of claim 58 to 61, wherein each time a user returns to purchase goods or services, information will be provided for display in the language associated with the initially selected country.

63. The system according to anyone of claim 58 to 62 , wherein the network (110) includes the internet.

64. The system according to anyone of claims 58 to 63, wherein the information is provided for display on a plurality of computer devices (105) operatively connected to the network (110), and wherein in response to receiving a country selection at each of the plurality of computer devices (105), the information is provided for display at each respective computer device (105) in a language associated with each respective selected country.

65. The system according to anyone of claims 58 to 64, wherein the information provided for display includes pricing information displayed in a currency associated with each respective selected country.

66. The system of claim 65, wherein the pricing information includes a retail price when certain countries are selected and excludes the retail price when other countries are selected.

67. The system of claim 66, wherein the current price varies in response to the number of requests to 2087 purchase the selected good or service being received 2088 by the processor.

2089 2090 68. The system of claim 67, wherein the current price 2091 is reduced to a relatively lower price, each time a 2092 designated number of requests to purchase the good or 2093 service at either the current price or conditional 2094 price is received by the processor (120).

2095 2096 69. The system of claim 68, wherein each incremental 2097 reduction in the current price corresponds to a 2098 designated number of requests to purchase a selected 2099 good or service, the current price being reduced by an 2100 incremental reduction after the corresponding 2101 designated number of requests to purchase of the good 2102 or service at either the current or conditional price 2103 are received by the processor.

2104 2105 70. The system according to anyone of claims 58 to 2106 69, wherein a selected good or service is offered for 2107 purchase for a designated time period, a purchase of 2108 the selected good or service is confirmed at the price 2109 existing at an end of the designated time period in 2110 response to a request to purchase at the current price 2111 being received by the processor within the designated 2112 time period, and a purchase of the selected good or 2113 service is only confirmed, in response to a request to 2114 purchase at the conditional price being received by 2115 the processor,

upon the designated number of requests 2116 to purchase the selected good or service at either the 2117 current price or conditional price being received by 2118 the processor before the end of the designated time 2119 period.

2120 2121 71. The system according to anyone of claims 58 to 2122 70, wherein only a designated maximum number of a 2123 selected good or service is offered for purchase, and 2124 upon the designated maximum number of requests to 2125 purchase the selected good or service being received, 2126 a purchase of a selected good or service is confirmed 2127 at the conditional price for previously recognized 2128 requests to purchase at both the conditional price and 2129 the current price.

2130 2131 72. The system of claim 71, wherein the designated 2132 number and designated maximum number are equal.

2133 2134 73. A system for providing for the purchase of goods 2135 and services over a network, a computer device (105) 2136 being operatively connected to said network, said 2137 system (100) comprising: 2138 2139 a processor (120); 2140 2141 a communication port (125) for operatively 2142 connecting the system (100) to said network (110) ; and 2143 2144 memory units (130,135,140) at least comprising 2145 a storage device (140) for storing information related 2146 to said goods and services; 2147 2148 wherein said processor (120) is adapted perform steps 2149 of at least some of the methods as defined in claims 1 2150 to 33.

2151 2152 74. The system according to claim 73, further 2153 comprising a communication port (125) for operatively 2154 connecting the system (100) to said network (110).

2155 2156 75. The system according to claim 73 or 74, further 2157 comprising an e-mail processor (145) preferably 2158 connected to an e-mail storage device (150).