JP2001236448A - Consignment sales system using internet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a consignment sales system, using the Internet, which can be used securely by anybody by increasing the trust and reliability of dealings. SOLUTION: The consignment sales system using the Internet includes a server 11, which is present on the Internet and performs consignment sales of article, a seller client 21 which provides article information Ia for the server 11 and sells the articles, and a buyer client 31 who browses the article information Ia provided on the server 11 to purchase an article and is equipped with an actual store 40, whose articles can also be dealt with by using the Internet 'IN'. The actual store 40 is equipped with a camera 42 for storing photography, and its video can be displayed on the seller client 21. At a dealing stage, the money from the buyer is temporarily kept by the consignment sales system 1.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a consignment sales system using the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic commerce and shopping using the Internet have attracted attention, and the transaction amount has been dramatically increasing year by year. As e-commerce using the Internet, there is a price line patent relating to a reverse auction (US Pat. No. 5,794,207). In Japan, various patent applications have been filed for electronic commerce and shopping systems. In this e-commerce and shopping using the Internet, BtoB between companies
(Business to Business), BtoC (Business to Consumer) for consumers,
There is a form called CtoC (Consumer to Consumer) between consumers.

[0003] The BtoB, BtoC, and Ct
One form of business in oC is consignment sales using the Internet. The consignment sale using the Internet is performed by a consignment seller who sells a product entrusted by a seller by setting up a bulletin board, a virtual store, and the like on a homepage (world wide web information screen) on the Internet. For example, a consignment distributor receives a consignment from a seller such as a company, an organization, or an individual who wants to sell a product, and displays information on the product owned by the seller in a virtual store or the like on the Internet.
In other words, the consignment dealer can widely browse the product information via the Internet. At the same time, the consignment distributor receives an order from a buyer such as a company, an organization, or an individual who wants to purchase the product, and sells the product. Usually, payment is made through a consignment dealer, who entrusts the price from the buyer and deducts the commission required for consignment sales from this price and pays the seller. In consignment sales using the Internet, there are cases where a product is sent from a buyer to a seller without the intervention of a consignment dealer, and cases where the product is sent to the buyer via a consignment sales agent. In any case, it is considered that electronic commerce such as consignment sales using the Internet in such a form will be widely and generally performed in the future.

[0004] In electronic commerce using the Internet, how to give credit and reliability to transactions is a major problem. For this reason, falsification, eavesdropping, and spoofing of data are prevented by applying personal authentication technology, encryption technology, and the like, and the reliability of the computer system is improved. By doing so, the trust and reliability of the transaction can be improved.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned consignment sales using the Internet, the trust and reliability of the consignment distributor itself become a problem. In other words, it is conceivable that the consigned dealer tricks out the goods collected by the seller or the price collected from the buyer. In particular, the Internet-based consignment business can be operated by anyone with a small amount of money and secretly without anyone's knowledge if it has Internet technology. Also, consignment sellers do not handle their own products,
It is easy to stop the business and hide.
For this reason, the trust and reliability of transactions in the consignment sales system using the Internet should be greatly improved from a different viewpoint, such as prevention of data falsification, tapping and spoofing, and improvement of the reliability of computer systems. Is required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a consignment sales system using the Internet, which enhances the reliability and reliability of transactions and can be used by anyone with peace of mind.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server which exists on the Internet and performs consignment sales of a product, and sells the product by providing product information to the server. An internet-connectable seller client used by a seller who does, and an internet-connectable buyer client used by a buyer who browses the product information provided to the server and purchases the product.
Is a consignment sales system using the Internet. In addition, the consignment sales system includes an actual store that actually displays and sells products brought in by sellers. In addition, the server has a product information storage unit that stores product information from the seller client and product information about a product displayed in the physical store, and holds the stored product information in a viewable manner, And order processing means for processing an order from the buyer. Further, the seller client includes information providing means for providing at least the product information to the server.
The buyer client includes a browsing unit for browsing at least the product information held by the server and an ordering unit for purchasing the product based on the product information.

In the configuration of claim 1, the server that performs consignment sales corresponds to a so-called virtual shop. Product information from the seller is sent to the server via the Internet, and the server holds the product information in a viewable manner. Further, the consignment sales system includes an actual store.
The merchandise is actually brought into the actual store from the seller. As for the brought-in merchandise, merchandise information is input to the server, and the server holds the browsable merchandise. That is, the server has two types of product information, that is, product information sent from the seller via the Internet and product information on the product brought to the actual store. These can both be viewed on the Internet. The buyer accesses the server via the Internet to obtain product information.
Then, if there is a favorite product, the order is made by the ordering means and the product is purchased. According to this configuration, since the real store is provided in the consignment sales system, the trust and reliability of the consignment dealer are dramatically improved. In addition, information on the goods brought into the actual store is also taken into the server so that it can be browsed and purchased on the Internet, and the actual store and the virtual store are organically connected. Therefore, the seller and the buyer can conduct the transaction with confidence, and the options in the transaction increase. It should be noted that the consigned dealer can inspect the goods brought into the actual store, and the inspection can reduce troubles in the transaction.

[0009] In the consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present invention (claim 2), the actual store is provided with an image pickup means for photographing a store, and a store image photographed by the image pickup means is transmitted through the server. The information can be displayed on the buyer client and / or the seller client.

According to the configuration of claim 2, the buyer and / or the seller can see the image of the actual store, and the trust and reliability of the consignment dealer can be further improved.
The image capturing means may be any device that can capture an image of the inside of the actual store or the outside of the store, and convert it into electronic data.

In the consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present invention (claim 3), when the buyer purchases the product from the seller, the server includes a payment confirmation unit. Then, after confirming from the buyer that the price of the product has been transferred to an account of a predetermined financial institution and managed by the consignment sales system, the buyer is allowed to send the product to the buyer. Alternatively, the merchandise displayed at the physical store is sent to the buyer, and after the buyer receives a notification of the inspection of the merchandise, a predetermined fee is subtracted from the transferred money and the remittance is sent to the seller.

According to this configuration, the price paid by the buyer is temporarily transferred to an account managed by the consignment sales system. After confirming the transfer, the goods are sent to the buyer. The buyer inspects the product and checks for damage. If confirmed, the seller will be paid the fee less the commission. According to this, buyers and sellers can conduct transactions with confidence under the consignment dealer whose credit and reliability have been enhanced as described above.

In the present invention, the product is not particularly limited, and it does not matter whether it is movable or real estate. Unused items also correspond to products. Further, the product in the present invention includes services such as services.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server.

As shown in FIG. 1, the consignment sales system 1 using the Internet according to the present embodiment has a server 11,
The seller client 21, the buyer client 31, and the physical store terminal 41 are connected to the Internet IN.
Incidentally, although only one seller client 21 and one buyer client 31 are shown in FIG. 1, in reality, a huge number of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as “PCs”) connected to the Internet IN Etc. correspond to the seller client 21 and the buyer client 31. In addition, the actual store 40 and the actual store terminal 41 may be plural.

[Hardware Configuration] The server 11 is configured as shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 1
2. RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, external storage device 14, input / output device 15, DSU (Digital Service Un
It) 16 and the like are connected to a bus 17. M
The PU 12 performs various types of arithmetic processing and controls the server 11 as a whole. Various programs are activated in the RAM 13. The external storage device 14 stores various data and various programs. A keyboard / mouse and the like are connected to the input / output device 15 via an I / O device. The DSU 16 is an electronic data transmission / reception device installed on the user side of a digital line such as ISDN.

The server 11 is connected to the Internet IN, and has an HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).
ol) The server program has been started (started in the RAM 13). Here, the HTTP server program is an HTTP server program.
Is the software that forms the communication infrastructure for communicating over the Internet.
Incidentally, HTTP is a protocol for acquiring WWW (Word Wide Web) information, and HTML (Hype
r Text Markup Language)
Between the servers connected to the server or between the server and the client. The server 11 (R
AM13) stores the product information Ia / Ib in the external storage device 1.
4, and an order processing program (order processing means) for processing an order from the buyer 30 and collecting and receiving a price.
Etc. are running.

Product information I stored in the external storage device 14
a.Ib, the product information Ia is stored in the Internet IN
Is transmitted from the seller client 21 to the server 11 via the. The product information Ib is stored in the actual store 40
It is about the product displayed in. The merchandise information Ia and Ib are held so that they can be browsed. Incidentally, the external storage device 14 stores n pieces of product information Ia (n = 1, 2,) and k pieces of product information Ib (k = 1, 2,,). The details of the product information Ia / Ib will be described later. The external storage device 14 also stores customer data such as the buyer 20 and the seller 30 as internal information. Note that the server 11 is placed under the management of the consignment dealer 10.

Next, the seller client 21 is, for example, a personal computer owned by the seller 20 at home. Although not shown, the seller client 21 includes an MPU, a RAM, an external storage device, an input / output device,
SU and the like are connected to the bus. In addition,
The seller 20 has a digital still camera or a digital video camera, and can create digital image data of a product intended for sale. Then, the image data can be taken into the seller client 21 from the input / output device.

Further, the seller client 21 is connected to the Internet IN, and a WWW browser is running.
Here, WWW browsers are various servers (HTTP servers and WWW servers) existing on the Internet IN.
Is software for browsing various types of information held in a browsable manner. In addition, various information can be transmitted to various servers by using a WWW browser. Therefore, the seller client 21 can browse various data held by the server 11 managed by the consignment dealer 10 via the Internet IN so as to be able to browse. Further, the seller client 21 can transmit various information including the product information Ia to the server 11 via the Internet IN.

On the other hand, the buyer client 31 is, for example, a personal computer owned by the seller 30 at home, and has the same configuration as the seller client 21.

The buyer client 31 is connected to the Internet IN like the seller client 21.
A WWW browser as a browsing means has been activated. Therefore, the buyer client 31 can browse various data such as the product information Ia and Ib held by the server 11 in a viewable manner via the Internet IN in the same manner as the seller client 21. Further, the buyer client 31 can transmit various information including the order data Do and the inspection data Di to the server 11 via the Internet IN.

The actual store terminal 41 is a personal computer installed in the actual store 40. The physical store terminal 41 has a configuration similar to that of the seller client 21, and can input product information Ib on a product brought into the physical store 40 and provide the server information to the server 11 via the Internet IN. A LAN between the server 11 and the actual store terminal 41 is a LAN.
(Local Area Network).

Incidentally, the actual store 40 is installed in a downtown area where many visitors are expected, for example.
, Goods are directly brought in from the seller 20. Image data is created for the brought-in product by a digital still camera or the like. Then, the product information Ib including the image data is created. The product information Ib is stored in the server 1
1 and stored in the server 11 so as to be browsed in the same manner as the product information Ia.

The actual store 40 is provided with a video camera 42 as an image pickup means so that the actual store 40 can be photographed. The captured image is converted into moving image data Dm, transmitted to the server 11 via the actual store terminal 41, for example, and made public on the Internet IN from the server 11.
By doing so, the consignment distributor 10 can use the seller 2
0 and the buyer 30 can be given more confidence. The appearance of the actual store 40 may be the appearance of the actual store 40 or the like. Incidentally, it is preferable for the purpose of the present invention to publish images on the Internet IN in real time (live) instead of recording them.

[Data] Next, various data in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this description, FIG. 2 is appropriately referred to.

The merchandise information Ia is created by the seller 20 based on a data form or the like created by the consignment seller 10. The product information Ia is data identifying the seller 20,
Product name, product type code, desired selling price of product,
It is configured to include comments and the like and image data of products. The product information Ia is transmitted from the seller client 21 to the server 11 via the Internet IN, and is stored in the external storage device 14 in the server 11 so as to be browsed. Then, it is transmitted (browsed) to the buyer client 31 via the Internet IN (the seller client 2).
1 → server 11 → buyer client 31).

The merchandise information Ib is created by the actual store 40.
The product information Ib has the same structure as the product information Ia. The product information Ib is transmitted from the physical store terminal 41 to the server 11 via the Internet IN, and is stored in the external storage device 14 in the server 11 so as to be browsed. Then, it is transmitted (browsed) to the buyer client 31 via the Internet IN (the actual store terminal 41 → the server 11 → the buyer client 31).

The buyer 30 selects a product based on the product information Ia / Ib. The product information Ia / Ib is stored in the server 11 in order to prevent troubles in the transaction.
May be checked and corrected by the consignment seller 10 as necessary. Necessary data may be added to the product information Ia / Ib by the consignment distributor 10.

The order data Do is created in order to place an order for a product when the seller 40 browses and examines the product information Ia / Ib and finds a desired product (see the data form of the consignment seller 10). Created based on The order data Do includes data specifying the buyer 30, data specifying the product, and the like. This order data Do is transmitted from the buyer client 31 to the Internet IN.
Is transmitted to the server 11 via. When the transaction form is an auction or the like, the order data Do
It includes the purchase price of the buyer 30 and the like. By the way,
In the present embodiment, the transaction is performed according to the seller's 20 desired selling price. For this reason, the desired purchase price of the buyer 30 is not included in the order data Do.

The remittance request command Ir is sent to the server 11 (consignment sales system 1) when the order of the buyer 30 is accepted.
And transmitted to the buyer client 31. The remittance request command Ir includes the amount to be remitted and the account number of the financial institution to be remitted. This account is managed by the consignment dealer 10.

After confirming the remittance from the buyer 30, the dispatch request command Is is sent to the server 11 (consignment sales system 1).
Is created and transmitted to the seller client 21. The shipping request data Ds includes data for specifying the shipping destination of the product. When the product is in the physical store 40, the shipping request command Is is transmitted to the physical store terminal 41. This dispatch request command Is is transmitted as an electronic mail.

The inspection data Di describes the result of inspection by the buyer 30 of the product received by the buyer 30 (created based on the data form of the consignment dealer 10). The inspection data Di is transmitted from the buyer client 31 to the server 11. There are two types of inspection data Di, one is positive data indicating that the inspection result is satisfactory, and the other is negative data indicating that the inspection result is unsatisfactory. Inspection data Di of the latter
Is intended to return the product.

The moving image data Dm is digital moving image data of the actual store 40 taken by the video camera 42. The seller 20 and the buyer 30 can view the moving image data Dm as a moving image using, for example, Real Video. The moving image data Dm is transmitted from the actual store terminal 41 to the seller 20 and the buyer 30 via the server 11.

[Example of Transaction] Next, an example of a transaction in consignment sales by the consignment sales system having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. In this description,
Reference is made to FIGS. 1 and 2 as appropriate.

(Provision of Merchandise Information) First, with reference to FIG. 3, a process at the time of providing merchandise information in the consignment sales system will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, a seller 20 who intends to sell a product by the consignment sales system 1 connects a seller client 21 to the server 11 via the Internet IN (S1). Then, the product information Ia created based on the data form is transmitted to the server 11 (S
2). The server 11 stores it in a viewable state (in a database) in the external storage device 14 in a viewable manner (S3). When the seller 20 directly brings the merchandise to the real store 40, the merchandise information Ib is created in the real store 40, and the merchandise information Ib is transmitted from the real store terminal 41 to the Internet IN.
To the server 11. The server 11 stores the product information Ib in the external storage device 14 in a viewable manner in the same manner as the product information Ia. Thereby, the buyer 30 can freely browse the product information Ia / Ib by the buyer client 31.

(Order Processing) Next, the order processing in the consignment sales system will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, a buyer 30 who intends to purchase a product by the consignment sales system 1 connects a buyer client 31 to the server 11 via the Internet IN (S1).
1). Then, the user browses the product information Ia / Ib (S1
2). The buyer 30 determines whether or not to order a product by referring to the image data of the product information Ia / Ib and the desired selling price. At this time, the buyer 30 is
You can see images (movies).

In step S13, the product information Ia
When there is a product desired to be purchased from Ib, the buyer 30 creates the order data Do based on the data form and transmits this to the server 11. If there is no product to be purchased, the connection with the server 11 is disconnected. In the present embodiment, the merchandise is sold at the selling price desired by the seller 20. Therefore, the server 11 processes the order data Do on a first-come, first-served basis. Incidentally, when the transaction form is an auction, the ordering method and the processing in the server 11 and the like are different from those in the present embodiment.

Subsequently, when the order is accepted, a remittance request command Ir is transmitted from the server 11 to the buyer 30. The buyer 30 remits the price to the account designated by the consignment distributor based on the remittance request command Ir (S1).
4). The price is the desired selling price plus a commission. In other words, the consigned dealer 10 once deposits the price of the product including the commission.

In step S15, the server 11
It is determined whether the merchandise is in the seller 20 or the physical store 40.

When the merchandise is in the physical store 40, the server 11 sends the merchandise dispatch request command I to the physical store terminal 41.
s is transmitted by e-mail (S16). In response to the dispatch request command Is, the actual store 40 purchases the product 30
Then, it is dispatched using, for example, a courier service (S17).

On the other hand, when the merchandise is located at the seller 20, the server 11 sends a merchandise dispatch request command Is to the seller client 21 by e-mail (S18). In response to the dispatch request command Is, the seller 2
0 ships the product to the buyer 30 using, for example, a courier service (S19).

When the delivered goods arrive, the buyer 30
Inspects the product (S20). As a result of the inspection, if the product is satisfactory without any damage, the inspection data Di as positive data is created based on the data form and transmitted to the server 11 (S21, product receipt notification). Upon receiving the inspection data Di as the positive data, the server 11 (consignment sales system 1) remits the price of the product to the seller 20 through the financial institution. As a result, the seller 20 obtains the price of the product, the buyer 30 obtains the product, the consignment seller 10 obtains the commission, and the transaction by the consignment sales system 1 is completed.

On the other hand, if the product is unsatisfactory due to scratches or the like, the buyer 30 creates inspection data Di as negative data based on the data form and transmits it to the server 11 (S23, return notification). Upon receiving the inspection data Di as the negative data, the server 1
1 (consignment sales system 1) notifies seller 20 that there is a return by e-mail (S24, return notification). Then, with the consent of the seller 20, the product is returned to the seller 20 or the actual store 40 (S25). After confirming the return, the server 11 (consignment sales system 1) repayes the buyer 30 through the financial institution by subtracting the commission (S26). This returns the merchandise to the seller 20,
The price is returned to the buyer 30, and the commission remains for the consignment dealer 10.

By providing an actual store in this way, sellers and buyers can conduct transactions by consignment sales with confidence. In addition, a buyer can go to a physical store and purchase a product from the physical store (the physical store also performs face-to-face sales).

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be widely modified. The transaction form is
It may be in the form of an auction. In addition, all clients (such as client owners) connected to the Internet are potential sellers and buyers.

[0047]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
Since the consignment sales system includes a physical store, the trust and credibility of the consignment distributor are ensured. Therefore, the seller and the buyer can conduct transactions by the consignment sales system with confidence. In addition, merchandise in real stores can be traded using the Internet. For this reason,
More options for dealing and more user-friendly. In addition, it is possible to inspect products at an actual store, and it is possible to reduce troubles in dealings. Further, the buyer can browse and order the product information without being conscious of whether the product is at the seller's hand or at the physical store.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the buyer and / or the seller can know the state of the actual store, so that the transaction by the consignment sales system can be performed with more reliability.

According to the third aspect of the present invention,
Sellers and buyers can conduct transactions through the consignment sales system with further assurance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of holding product information at a low level in the consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating order processing in the consignment sales system using the Internet according to the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Consignment sales system 10 ... Consignment distributor 11 ... Server 12 ... MPU 13 ... RAM 14 ... External storage device 15 ... Input / output device 16 ... DSU 17 ... Bus 20 ... Seller 21 ... Seller client 30 ... Buyer 31 ... Buyer client 40 … Real store 41… Real store terminal 42… Video camera (imaging means) IN… Internet Ia… Product information Ib… Product information (product information of products displayed in the real store) Do… Order data Di… Inspection data Dm… Video Data Ir ... Remittance request command Is ... Sending request command

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A server which is provided on the Internet and performs consignment sales of goods, a seller client which can be used by a seller who supplies goods information to the server and sells goods, and which is provided to the server. A consignment sales system using the Internet, comprising a buyer client capable of accessing the Internet and used by a buyer who browses the merchandise information and purchases the merchandise, wherein the consignment sales system includes a merchandise brought in by the seller. The server includes an actual store that is actually displayed and sold, and the server includes a product information storage unit that stores product information from the seller client and product information about a product that is displayed in the physical store, and the server stores the product information. Order processing means for holding product information in a viewable manner and further processing an order from the buyer The seller client includes an information providing unit for providing at least the product information to the server, and the buyer client is based on at least a browsing unit that browses the product information held by the server and the product information. A consignment sales system using the Internet, characterized in that the consignment sales system comprises order means for purchasing the product. 2. The actual store is provided with an image pickup means for photographing the store, and a store image photographed by the image pickup means can be displayed on the buyer client and / or the seller client via the server. Claim 1
Consignment sales system using the Internet described in. 3. In the case where the buyer purchases the product from the seller, the consignment sales system manages the consignment sales system in which the price of the product from the buyer is an account of a predetermined financial institution. After confirming that it was transferred to
The seller sent the product to the buyer, or the product displayed at the physical store was sent to the buyer, and the transfer was made after the buyer contacted the inspection of the product. 3. The consignment sales system using the Internet according to claim 1, wherein a predetermined fee is subtracted from the price and the remittance is sent to the seller.