WO2002011011A1

WO2002011011A1 - System and method for allocating referral commission

Info

Publication number: WO2002011011A1
Application number: PCT/NO2001/000292
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lasse HØYDAL; Carl August Svensen
Original assignee: Startshopper Cashback As
Priority date: 2000-07-11
Filing date: 2001-07-06
Publication date: 2002-02-07
Also published as: AU2001294411A1; NO20003563D0

Abstract

A system and a method are provided for redirecting referral commission to a purchaser (2) who after referral by an intermediate agent (3) makes a purchase in an e-commerce outlet (4). Payment to the retail outlet (4) is made via a payment agent (6). A first register (5) connected to the agent (3) registers the referral, and a second register (7) connected to the payment agent (6) registers payment agent transactions. A linker (8) collates information from the registers (5, 7) and relays information about a referral and an associated payment agent transaction to a decision-maker (9). On the basis of pre-determined criteria and the information received from the linker (8), the decision-maker (9) can transmit a commission allocation order to a commission allocator (11), whereby the commission allocator (11) can allocate to the purchaser commission associated with the referral.

Description

System and method for allocating referral commission

The invention relates to a system for redirecting referral commission to the original purchaser, and in particular a system and method of this kind that permits the redirection of referral commission to the original purchaser without technical integration with the specific retail outlet where the transaction was conducted.

Agents will often have commission agreements with one or more retail outlets. At certain intervals, these agents will be paid any referral commission earned. This commission will be paid as a total sum for all the referrals the agent has made to the individual outlet or outlets or groups of outlets. Today, if the agent wishes to pass on commission received to the person or persons who generated the basis for the commission, he has no way of doing so. This is because the agent does not have sufficient detailed information about which of his many referrals have in fact generated a basis for the payment of commission. If the agent comes to an agreement with a retail outlet which entails that the outlet, in addition to a commission, will also provide a detailed list of the customers who have generated the agent's commission, the agent would have sufficient information to redirect the whole of or parts of his commission to the person who actually made the purchase in the retail outlet.

It has been found to be very difficult to obtain sufficient information from the retail outlet to be able to allocate the commission so that it is in proportion with the commission that the retail outlet customer has in fact generated for the agent. It has also been found to be extremely time-consuming and technically complex to correlate detailed information between outlet and agent so that the agent can redirect his commission. This results in the agent only being able to function as agent for a very limited number of outlets in those cases where the agent wishes to redirect his commission to the purchaser.

The Internet operator "Spree.com" can be used as an example of operators who act as agents, and of their principle for redirecting commission. "Spree.com" operates via the Internet (World Wide Web) and lists a limited selection of retail outlets where a shopper can conduct a transaction in order thereafter to obtain a bonus with "Spree.com". "Spree.com" has made a technical integration, and established agreements with a selection of retail outlets that they have listed. These listed outlets have agreed to send information to "Spree.com" in such manner and in such detail that "Spree.com" has sufficient information to redirect its commission to the person who conducted the transaction, and consequently is the basis for the commission. Agents of this type are dependent upon technical integration and continuous pooling of information with each individual outlet. This is so complicated and time-consuming that it is difficult to act as agent for more than a limited number of outlets.

Another example of an operator is "Cashbackdepot", which is also an agent operating on the Internet. This agent does not receive detailed information direct from the outlet, but hands its commission to the original purchaser if the purchaser can prove that "Cashbackdepot" has earned commission from a particular outlet on the basis of his purchases. In practice, this is done by the purchaser first notifying "Cashbackdepot" that he wishes to make a purchase from a particular outlet. When, subsequent to the transaction, the purchaser is able to present documentation showing that he actually made the purchase, "Cashbackdepot" will pay the purchaser a bonus on this basis. This system has also been impossible to standardise to enable it to handle large volumes.

A third example of the redirection of commission or gifts from a retail outlet via an agent to a customer is described in WO 00/21005. The solution in this document is based on close collaboration with a selection of outlets, where on the basis of various criteria customers are referred to collaborating outlets. However, the agent described in WO 00/21005 is very closely integrated with each individual outlet through an interchange of information with each one of these outlets. The information includes selection of goods, limited promotional offers, available capacity etc.

Accordingly, there is a need for an improved solution for handling the redirection of commission that overcomes many of the weaknesses of the existing solutions.

The present invention provides a new technical solution that makes it possible to handle the redirection of commission without making a technical integration with each individual outlet. This makes it easy to act as agent and redirect the whole of or parts of the commission for an almost unlimited number of retail outlets. This is accomplished primarily by correlating data capture from the agent's own registers with data from existing payment transfer agents, for example, credit card companies or credit card issuers.

The present invention is characterised by the features that are set forth in the attached patent claims. In what follows, the invention will be explained in general and with the aid of exemplary embodiments and also with reference to the attached drawing wherein:

Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a system according to the invention.

Referring to Figure 1, the diagram shows a system according to the invention which will be explained in more detail below in connection with the reference numerals shown in the figure.

Reference numeral 1 refers to a purchase need that arises. This may be represented by a person or a firm that identifies a purchase need and decides to initiate a purchase.

The reference numeral 2 refers to a member 2. The purchase need identified by 1 is, for example, reported to a purchasing manager if the purchase relates to a firm, or, if the purchase is of a private nature, the person who identifies the purchase need 1 will typically be the same person who initiates the purchase represented by 2. In the description that follows, this person will be referred to as member 2. It is the person represented by member 2 who normally will be the one who earns the bonus that will be redirected by and/or on the basis of information from an agent. Optionally, the person represented by member 2 could designate another person or organisation to whom the bonus should go.

The reference numeral 3 refers to an agent or a representative of an agent. Purchaser/member 2 contacts the agent 3 in order to be referred to outlets where he can earn commission. Member 2 will at this time leave behind, directly or indirectly, information which, inter alia, identifies member 2, and will leave information about where he is going to make a purchase, and when he is going to visit the outlet in question. If the agent 3 does already have detailed information about member 2, member 2 will at this time provide such information to the agent 3. This may, for instance, be information such as name, address and form of payment to be used in outlets to which the purchaser is referred (for example, credit card number if a card is going to be used). There may also be cases where the purchaser can earn a bonus even though the agent has not explicitly listed the outlet in question in his agent network. For instance, the agent 3 may choose to pay a small bonus to member 2 even though there is no direct commission agreement between the agent 3 and the final outlet 4 from which member 2 chooses to make his purchase. However, it may, for example, be a condition that member 2 has notified the agent 3 of the transaction he is going to conduct, thereby ensuring that the agent has information about the transaction beforehand. This is because the agent is able to obtain commission from parties other than outlet 4. For example, the agent may earn commission from a payment transfer agent 6 on account of his contribution to an increase in use of the payment transfer agent's 6 services. Information identifying member 2 and his movements and intentions are logged by the agent, and are stored in a register 5.

The reference numeral 4 represents the retail outlet 4 or other unit to which member 2 is referred by the agent 3. After being referred by the agent 3, member 2 will behave like any other customer in the outlet 4. However, the outlet 4 will be informed, directly or indirectly, that the individual customer has arrived at the outlet as a result of referral from the agent represented by 3.

The block marked by the reference numeral 5 represents a register 5. Detailed information about member's 2 interaction with the agent 3 is logged in 5. This may, for example, be the member profile of member 2 (member 2 can be described as a member of the agent's referral program), time of referrals, who the member has been referred to, the credit card number the member will use when making purchases in the outlet to which he has been referred, and so forth. These are details which typically will be stored in a database for subsequent further processing and information retrieval.

Payment transfer agent 6 represents a payment transfer agent and/or creditor. When making a purchase at the outlet 4, member 2 will leave payment information that outlet 4 transmits to block 6. For example, the member 2 may leave his credit card number at the outlet 4. This credit card number may be the same number that member 2 has registered in his profile with block 3. Outlet 4 will transmit payment information to block 6, which in this case will be a credit card issuer.

The block marked by reference numeral 7 represents a register 7 containing an extract of information that the payment transfer agent 6 has about one or more payment transactions. This information may, for example, consist of the credit card number charged, the time of authorisation, the charge time, the amount charged, the outlet where the charge was made etc. This is information that typically will be stored in a database for subsequent further processing and information retrieval.

The reference numeral 8 represents a linking process 8 for linking data gathered in register 5 and register 7. This process can be used to find out whether a member has earned the right to a bonus. It is this linking process 8 that can replace integration between agent and each individual outlet represented by outlet 4. In reality, this means that the only requirement is collaboration with a payment transfer agent represented by payment transfer agent 6, and integration therewith, represented by linking process 8, in order to have sufficient information for bonus distribution at all outlets that accept and represent this payment transfer agent. For instance, in the linking process 8 it will be possible to link credit card number, time and outlet referral from register 5 with credit card number, time of authorisation/charge, amount charged and outlet name from register 7. In this way, it is possible to find out whether referral has resulted in commission-generating activity, and how large a basis/amount for earning commission the individual referral has resulted in. Tolerance limits and or statistical methods can be used to allow certain deviations, so that the collated information is nevertheless defined as a match. For instance, it can be said that transactions having the same credit card number, outlet name/ID, but a difference of five hours between referral time and authorisation transaction for use of the credit card, where information retrieved from register 5 and register 7 respectively, are nevertheless defined as a match. That means to say that the difference between the time of referral and the time of authorisation was defined as being within the tolerance limits. In this case where the data gave a match, this will mean in practice that the transaction was defined as bonus-generating for the individual member. The tolerance limits can be adjusted so that they can be made different for each individual outlet.

The linker 8 collates information in a first register 7 and a second register 5. On the basis of information supplied from the two aforementioned registers, the linker will also comprise a register of previously compared transactions and give the status of each transaction, and also contain information about any charged transaction sum. Moreover, the register for previously compared transactions will comprise status indications, as for instance "out-of-date", "matched" or "annulled", which will prevent the linker 8 from making a match with transactions that comprise one or more of the said status indications. Furthermore, the transaction register in the linker 8 will contain transaction status indications such as "new", "authorisation granted", "complaint", which indicate that transactions with such status indications will be ready for continuous status updates. Moreover, the linker 8 can use status indications to provide a faster matching process (as only transactions with certain status indications are sought to be matched), which may help to prevent double payment of referral commission in connection with a purchase or referral, and also optionally to later allow access to "phased-out" transactions for possible audit tracking. Matching is made on the basis of different criteria that are given in each of the registers 5 and 7, where a typical minimum set of criteria can be the matching of fields comprising information regarding user identity, outlet identity and time of transaction, the last-mentioned point typically being limited to a certain interval.

The block marked by the reference numeral 9 represents a decision-maker 9. The decision-maker 9 decides on the basis of data produced through the linking process 8 whether a bonus has been earned or not, and thus whether bonus issue to the individual member 2 should be allocated or not.

Transactions that have been processed in the linker 8 and that have been found to be coincident on the basis of certain match criteria are assigned the status "matched". The decision-maker 9 will process transactions to which the linker 8 has assigned the status "matched" and, after having made a decision on the basis of the content of the transactions, will update the status of the match result to "approved" or "refused". The matching of transactions that are assigned the status "approved" will be relayed for allocation of commission, whilst the matching of transactions assigned the status "refused" will not be further processed. Among the criteria involved in the decision- maker's 9 processing of matched transactions are also matches of user identity and outlet identity.

The reference numeral 9-a refers to the decision route that does not result in any bonus allocation to member 2.

The reference numeral 9-b refers to the decision route that does result in a bonus allocation to member 2.

The block marked 10 indicates a stop state for the processing of a given transaction that does not result in a bonus allocation, no bonus being passed on to member 2. If, nevertheless, at a later time additional information is received that makes it probable that member 2 should nonetheless have been allocated a bonus, the transaction in question will be reviewed.

The block marked 11 indicates an activity that ensures bonuses are in fact allocated to member 2. A bonus can be sent immediately, or it can be credited to a bonus account that the individual member has with the agent. This bonus account that member 2 has with the agent 4 may be a common account for bonuses earned by the member in many different retail outlets. A total bonus can be allocated to member 2, or the person designated by member 2, at certain intervals.

The reference numeral 11-a refers to the route that leads to bonus allocation to member 2 or to the person member 2 has designated to receive the bonus.

The reference numeral 12 represents an article 12 bought by member 2 from retail outlet 4. The article 12 is sent to member 2 or to the person designated by member 2.

The reference numeral 13 represents an order confirmation 12 or the like that can be sent from outlet 4 to member 2.

The reference numeral 14 represents a payment demand, as for instance an invoice or the like, which can be sent from the payment transfer agent 6 to member 2.

The reference-numeral 15 represents a commission 15 allocated to agent 3 from outlet 4, typically on the basis the referrals of members or others that agent 3 has made to the outlet 4. This commission will, for example, come in the form of a total sum from each individual outlet, or group of outlets, at certain given intervals.

A check will be made to ensure that the total bonus earned by the agent's 3 member portfolio per outlet does not exceed total commission paid by each individual outlet, represented by the block marked 15. Thus, it will be possible to control and uncover any deviations in that the agent will never pass on a larger commission per outlet than the sum the agent himself has received from the outlet in question.

An example of the practical use of the invention will be described below.

The following example is based on an agent who operates via the Internet (World Wide Web or www). A person identifies a need for a purchase and chooses to initiate measures to make the purchase. C purchase need and member 2.

The person elects to make the purchase via the Internet, that is through a so-called "net shop". The person uses a terminal with Internet access and goes to the agent's home page. The person has previously entered his member profile with this agent, so that the agent has information about this person's credit card, which in this example is a MasterCard credit card, his name and so forth. The person logs on to the agent's Internet site, thereby enabling the agent to identify the person's visit. The person finds listed a suitable outlet to which the agent refers. The person elects to make use of this referral by clicking on the listed Internet link. The person now withdraws completely from the agent's Internet site. In addition to his member profile, the person has also left information about which referral he has used, and what time he used the referral. Cf. Fig. 1 and the block marked 3.

The agent stores all the information about the member and his activity in his database, represented by the block marked 5 in Fig. 1.

The person makes his purchase at the outlet, and chooses to pay using a credit card that is identical to the credit card number the person has registered in his member profile with the agent. Cf. outlet 4 in Fig. 1.

Payment information is transferred to the payment transfer agent/ credit card issuer, which in this case is MasterCard. Cf. the block marked 6 in Fig. 1.

MasterCard chooses to store information about the payment transaction, including amount, date, credit card number and outlet where payment was made. This is stored in a database. Cf. register 7 in Fig. 1.

Information collected by the agent is collated with information collected by MasterCard. Procedures written in, for example, SQL or similar programming language are used to make this comparison automatically. It is found that the same credit card number has been used at the corresponding outlet and that there is only one hour's difference between the referral time and the charge time at MasterCard. Cf. the linking process 8 in Fig. 1.

The result of the comparison of data is within defined deviation limits, and this results in bonus entitlement for the person. Cf. the block marked 9 in Fig. 1.

A check is made to ensure that the bonus allocation to the person does not result in more commission being passed on from the outlet in question that the sum the agent himself has received in commission from this outlet within a given time framework. This is done to detect any faults or fraud. The bonus earned is put in the person's bonus account. The person can take out the bonus within intervals that are agreed between the agent and the person, for example, once a month. Cf. the block marked 11 in Fig. 1.

In reality, the invention will enable an agent to redirect commission earned at an unlimited number of outlets without integration with each individual outlet. Necessary information for redirecting bonuses will be gathered through collaboration with one or several payment transfer agents, typically credit card issuers.

The invention will also be useful as a solution for, e.g., credit card issuers, to generate increased use of/increased market share for their products. This is because a purchaser will have a clear incentive to use a credit card with a credit card issuer that is based on this solution. The reason for this is that the purchaser is dependent upon using a credit card issued by credit card issuers that have entered an agreement with regard to the interchange of data with an agent who uses the described technology. Consequently, the agent will also be able to earn commission from the credit card company, in addition to commission from the outlets, as consideration for promoting the products of the individual credit card issuer.

In general, therefore, an agent using this technology will find he receives commission both from the outlets and from the payment transfer agent. This will give the agent a greater total commission which optionally can be redirected to the purchaser.

The invention also makes it possible to find out how many of those who use the solution of a collaborating payment transfer agent have originally been referred by the agent to the outlet, whereafter the purchaser has used the services of this payment transfer agent.

Thus, it can be said that the agent has assisted in promoting the use of this payment transfer agent, and thus might receive commission from the payment transfer agent because of such a service. Typically, a credit card issuer will be willing to give the agent commission on account of increased use of its credit card. A credit card issuer obtains greater income in the form of increased commission and increased "sales" of credit loans. The agent will thus be rewarded for this.

Claims

P a t e n t c l a i m s

1.

A system for redirecting referral commission to a purchaser (2) who makes purchases, which system includes an agent (3) who refers the purchaser to an e-commerce outlet (4) and a payment agent (6) who in connection with a payment transaction electronically effects payment to the e-commerce outlet (4) for the purchaser's (2) purchase in the e-commerce outlet (4), characterised in that it further includes a first register (5) connected to the agent (3), a second register (7) connected to the payment agent (6), a linker (8) connected to the registers (5) and (7) respectively, a decision-maker (9) connected to the linker (8), and a commission allocator (11), wherein the first register (5) is arranged to store information about the purchaser and the referral, the second register (7) is arranged to store information about the payment transaction, the linker (8) is arranged to compare stored information about the purchaser and the referral and the associated payment transaction, and the decision-maker (9) is arranged to send, in the event of coincidence between predetermined data and the compared information received from the linker (8), a commission allocation order to the commission allocator (11), whereby the commission allocator (11) can allocate referral commission according to the referral to the purchaser (2).

2.

A system as disclosed in claim 1, characterised in that the information stored in the first register (5) includes at least one of a credit card number, a purchaser identity, a referral reference, a referral time and an agent identity.

3.

A system as disclosed in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the information stored in the second register (7) includes at least one of a credit card number, a credit card reference in connection with credit card charge, an authorisation time, a payment amount, a credit card charge time and an outlet identity.

4.

A system as disclosed in one of the preceding claims, characterised in that predetermined criteria are adjustable and comprise at least a period of time between a referral time and an authorisation time.

5.

A system as disclosed in one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the linker (8) includes a register of previously compared transactions containing the status of each individual compared transaction.

6.

A system as disclosed in claim 5, characterised in that indicated status is "out-of-date", "matched" or "annulled" for compared transactions that are not be to further processed and that indicated status is "new", "authorisation given" or "complaint" for compared transactions that are to be further processed.

7.

A method for redirecting referral commission to a purchaser (2) who makes a purchase via an agent (3), which agent (3) refers the purchaser (2) to an e-commerce outlet (4), payment to the e-commerce outlet (4) for the purchaser's (2) purchase being made via payment transaction effected by a payment agent (6), characterised by storing in a first register (5) connected to the agent (3) information about the referral; storing in a second register (7) connected to the payment agent (6) information about the payment transaction; comparing in a linker (8) connected to the first register (5) and the second register (7) the information about the referral and the accompanying payment transaction; checking in a decision-maker (9) connected to the linker (8) to see whether the compared information satisfies predetermined criteria; and ordering, if the compared information satisfies the predetermined criteria, a commission allocator (11) to allocate to the purchaser (2) the referral commission in accordance with the referral.

8.

A method as disclosed in claim 7, characterised in that the information stored in the first register (5) includes at least one of a credit card number, a purchaser identity, a referral reference, a referral time and an agent identity.

9.

A method as disclosed in claim 7 or 8, characterised in that the information stored in the second register (7) includes at least one of a credit card number, a credit card reference in connection with credit card charge, an authorisation time, a payment amount, a credit card charge time and an outlet identity.

10. A method as disclosed in one of preceding claims 7-9, characterised in that predetermined criteria are adjustable and comprise at least a period of time between a referral time and an authorisation time.

11. A method as disclosed in one of preceding claims 7-10, characterised in that the linker (8) includes a register of previously compared transactions containing the status of each individual compared transaction.

12. A method as disclosed in claim 11 , characterised in that indicated status is "out-of- date", "matched" or "annulled" for compared transactions that are not be to further processed and that indicated status is "new", "authorisation given" or "complaint" for compared transactions that are to be further processed.