Patent Application
20150242916
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electronic commerce, and more particularly, to the exchanging of purchased event tickets.
2. Related Art
Computer systems and networks have facilitated the tasks of buying, selling and transferring goods. For example, global computer networks, such as the Internet, have allowed purchasers to relatively quickly and efficiently seek and purchase goods online. Similarly, global computer networks provide an efficient and cost-effective medium for sellers to advertise, offer, provide, and sell their goods. Electronic commerce companies provide buyers and sellers with online services and the infrastructure to accept orders of goods from remote purchasers, to perform the financial transactions necessary to confirm and complete the sale of goods, to ship or distribute the goods to remote purchasers, and to perform other related logistics.
One example of a market for goods within the realm of electronic commerce is the online ticket market. Various online ticket sellers provide websites through which parties buy and sell tickets online. These tickets are commonly obtained by a user to reserve seats and/or admission for a variety of live events, such as sporting events, concerts, theater events, and other entertainment events. Typically, a buyer looks for available tickets on a ticket marketplace website or other online listing and decides which, if any, of the available tickets are of interest to the buyer for possible purchase.
In some circumstances, a purchased ticket increases in value after purchase. For example, a front row ticket for an event may be purchased at a purchase price and, as the event time approaches, others who were unable to purchase front row tickets become willing to pay a premium for the chance to have the front row ticket. The ticketholder can sell the ticket for a profit, but then risks being unable to attend the event. The ticketholder can preemptively purchase another ticket before selling the high-value ticket. However, it may be undesirable or impossible to spend the money on the additional ticket before receiving the money for the high value ticket.
It may therefore be desirable to provide systems and methods for exchanging tickets for various ticketed events.
Various applications of apparatuses and methods according to the present invention are described in this section. These examples are being provided solely to add context and aid in the understanding of the invention. It will thus be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some or all of these specific details. In other instances, well known process steps have not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention. Other applications are possible, such that the following examples should not be taken as limiting.
In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of the description and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specific embodiments of the present invention. Although these embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable one skilled in the art to practice the invention, it is understood that these examples are not limiting, such that other embodiments may be used, and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Devices, systems and methods are provided for performing activities related to the online sale, purchase, resale, and swapping of tickets to ticketed events. In various particular embodiments, the devices, systems or methods may involve one or more devices in communication over a network. Such devices, systems, and methods may facilitate the selection and purchase of tickets to various ticketed events and exchanging activities associated with purchased tickets.
Ticket exchanging activities (sometimes referred to herein as ticket swapping or ticket swapping activities) may, according to some embodiments, include pre-event ticket exchanging activities, event-concurrent ticket exchanging activities, or other ticket exchanging or swapping activities in which a ticketholder exchanges one or more tickets for a ticketed event for one or more other tickets for that event or another event. In various circumstances, a user of a ticket exchange system may swap (exchange) a high-value ticket for a lower value ticket and other compensation, a high-value ticket for multiple lower value tickets, a low value ticket for a high value ticket for an additional cost, multiple low value tickets for a high value ticket, a ticket for another ticket in an even swap, or one or more tickets for one or more other tickets or goods and/or services.
Although many of the examples described herein are discussed in the context of exchanging (sometimes referred to herein as swapping) tickets, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the systems and methods described herein may be applied to exchanging of any goods and/or services. For example, a user of an exchange system may be provided with the ability to exchange a good or service other than a ticket (e.g., a motorcycle, a baseball bat, a guitar, or a hat) for another good or service other than a ticket (e.g., a vacation home rental, a cleaning service, a bicycle, or a meal at a restaurant). The system and/or swap-enabled users of the system may generate exchange offers that may be provided to a user of the system.
While the various examples disclosed herein focus on particular aspects regarding the online sale, purchase and/or (sometimes referred to herein as swapping) of tickets, it will be understood that the various inventive principles and embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to other types of ticketed applications and arrangements as well. For example, a ticket exchange that is performed in person or on a closed or proprietary computing system may utilize one or more of the aspects and features found in the various systems and methods provided whereby the transaction is originated, communicated, messaged, alerted, notified, tracked, recorded, arranged, or otherwise facilitated by the system or method.
Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “various examples,” “one example,” “an example,” or “some examples” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of these are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
According to an embodiment, a computer program product may comprise a non-transitory machine readable medium. The non-transitory machine readable medium may have computer readable and executable code for instructing one or more processors to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.
Beginning with
Computing system 100 may include, among various devices, servers, databases and other elements, a client 102 that may comprise or employ one or more client devices 104, such as a laptop, a mobile computing device, a PC, and/or any other computing device having computing and/or communications capabilities in accordance with the described embodiments. In particular, it is specifically contemplated that client devices 104 may include a cellular telephone or other similar mobile device that a user may carry on or about his or her person and access readily.
Client devices 104 generally may provide one or more client programs 106, such as system programs and application programs to perform various computing and/or communications operations. Example system programs may include, without limitation, an operating system (e.g., MICROSOFT® OS, UNIX® OS, LINUX® OS, Symbian OS™, Embedix OS, Binary Run-time Environment for Wireless (BREW) OS, JavaOS, a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) OS, and others), device drivers, programming tools, utility programs, software libraries, application programming interfaces (APIs), and so forth. Example application programs may include, without limitation, a web browser application, messaging applications (e.g., e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, voicemail, VoIP, video messaging), contacts application, calendar application, electronic document application, database application, media application (e.g., music, video, television), location-based services (LBS) application (e.g., GPS, mapping, directions, point-of-interest, locator), and so forth. One or more of client programs 106 may display various graphical user interfaces (GUIs) to present information to and/or receive information from one or more of client devices 104.
As shown, client 102 may be communicatively coupled via one or more networks 108 to a network-based system 110. Network-based system 110 may be structured, arranged, and/or configured to allow client 102 to establish one or more communications sessions with network-based system 110 using various computing devices 104 and/or client programs 106. Accordingly, a communications session between client 102 and network-based system 110 (e.g., a communications session for exchange, sale, and/or purchase of tickets for a ticketed event) may involve the unidirectional and/or bidirectional exchange of information and may occur over one or more types of networks 108 depending on the mode of communication. While the embodiment of
Data and/or voice communications between client 102 and the network-based system 110 may be sent and received over one or more networks 108 such as the Internet, a WAN, a WWAN, a WLAN, a mobile telephone network, a landline telephone network, a VoIP network, as well as other suitable networks. For example, client 102 may communicate with network-based system 110 over the Internet or other suitable WAN by sending and or receiving information via interaction with a web site, e-mail, IM session, and/or video messaging session. Any of a wide variety of suitable communication types between client 102 and system 110 may take place, as will be readily appreciated. In particular, wireless communications of any suitable form may take place between client 102 and system 110, such as that which often occurs in the case of mobile phones or other personal mobile devices.
In various embodiments, computing system 100 may include, among other elements, a third party 112, which may comprise or employ a third-party server 114 hosting a third-party application 116. In various implementations, third-party server 114 and/or third-party application 116 may host a web site associated with or employed by a third party 112. For example, third-party server 114 and/or third-party application 116 may enable network-based system 110 to provide client 102 with additional services and/or information, such as additional ticket inventory. Third-party server 114 and/or third-party application 116 may provide system 110 and/or client 102 with email services and/or information, social networking services and/or information, travel services and/or information, purchase services and/or information, or other online services and/or information.
In one embodiment, third party server 112 may include a social networking server that hosts a user's social network account. In another embodiment, third party server 112 may include an email server that hosts a user's email account. In some embodiments, one or more of client programs 106 may be used to access network-based system 110 via third party 112. For example, client 102 may use a web client to access and/or receive content from network-based system 110 after initially communicating with a third-party web site 112.
Network-based system 110 may comprise one or more communications servers 120 to provide suitable interfaces that enable communication using various modes of communication and/or via one or more networks 108. Communications servers 120 may include a web server 122, an API server 124, and/or a messaging server 126 to provide interfaces to one or more application servers 130. Application servers 130 of network-based system 110 may be structured, arranged, and/or configured to provide various online marketplace and/or ticket fulfillment services to users that access network-based system 110. In various embodiments, client 102 may communicate with applications servers 130 of network-based system 110 via one or more of a web interface provided by web server 122, a programmatic interface provided by API server 124, and/or a messaging interface provided by messaging server 126. It may be appreciated that web server 122, API server 124, and messaging server 126 may be structured, arranged, and/or configured to communicate with various types of client devices 104 and/or client programs 106 and may interoperate with each other in some implementations.
Web server 122 may be arranged to communicate with web clients and/or applications such as a web browser, web browser toolbar, desktop widget, mobile widget, web-based application, web-based interpreter, virtual machine, and so forth. API server 124 may be arranged to communicate with various client programs 106 and/or a third-party application 116 comprising an implementation of API for network-based system 110. Messaging server 126 may be arranged to communicate with various messaging clients and/or applications such as e-mail, IM, SMS, MMS, telephone, VoIP, video messaging, and so forth, and messaging server 126 may provide a messaging interface to enable access by client 102 and/or third party 112 to the various services and functions provided by application servers 130.
When implemented as an online ticket marketplace, application servers 130 of network-based system 110 may provide various online marketplace and ticket fulfillment services including, for example, account services, buying services, selling services, listing catalog services, exchanging services, swapping services, delivery services, payment services, gathering services, and notification services. Application servers 130 may include an account server 132, a selling server 134, a buying server 136, a listing catalog server 138, a dynamic content management server 140, a payment server 142, a notification server 144, and/or a delivery server 146 structured and arranged to provide such online marketplace and ticket fulfillment and/or exchange services.
Application servers 130, in turn, may be coupled to and capable of accessing one or more databases 150 including a subscriber database 152, an active events database 154, and/or a transaction database 156. Databases 150 generally may store and maintain various types of information for use by application servers 130 and may comprise or be implemented by various types of computer storage devices (e.g., servers, memory) and/or database structures (e.g., relational, object-oriented, hierarchical, dimensional, network) in accordance with the described embodiments.
Continuing with
Additionally, as more and more devices and articles become communication-capable, such as sensors using wireless communication to report, track, message information and so forth, these devices may be part of such transactions. For example, a user has a jacket with a sensor or communication device embedded in the jacket, and the jacket may communicate with other devices to identify potential exchanges or transactions based on the proximity of the wearers or owners. In one example, a first user's jacket may have information as to ticket holdings of the first user and may detect ticket holding information of another user, the second user. Detecting this information may prompt the first user to initiate a trade or an offer for a trade with the second user.
Computer system 200 may include a bus 202 or other communication mechanism for communicating information data, signals, and information between various components of computer system 200. Components include an input/output (I/O) component 204 that processes a user action, such as selecting keys from a keypad/keyboard, selecting one or more buttons or links, etc., and sends a corresponding signal to bus 202. I/O component 204 may also include an output component, such as a display 211 and a cursor control 213 (such as a keyboard, keypad, mouse, etc.). An optional audio input/output component 205 may also be included to allow a user to use voice for inputting information by converting audio signals. Audio I/O component 205 may allow the user to hear audio. A transceiver or network interface 206 transmits and receives signals between computer system 200 and other devices, such as another user device, a merchant server, a venue server, an email server, a social networking server, other third-party servers, and/or a payment provider server via a network. In various embodiments, such as for many cellular telephone and other mobile device embodiments, this transmission may be wireless, although other transmission mediums and methods may also be suitable. A processor 212, which may be a micro-controller, digital signal processor (DSP), or other processing component, processes these various signals, such as for display on computer system 200 or transmission to other devices over a network 260 via a communication link 218. Again, communication link 218 may simply be a wireless communication form in some embodiments. Processor 212 may also control transmission of information, such as cookies or IP addresses, to other devices.
Components of computer system 200 also include a system memory component 214 (e.g., RAM), a static storage component 216 (e.g., ROM), and/or a disk drive 217. Computer system 200 performs specific operations by processor 212 and other components by executing one or more sequences of instructions contained in system memory component 214. Logic may be encoded in a computer readable medium, which may refer to any medium that participates in providing instructions to processor 212 for execution. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. In various implementations, non-volatile media includes optical or magnetic disks, volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as system memory component 214, and transmission media includes coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including wires that comprise bus 202. In one embodiment, the logic is encoded in non-transitory machine-readable medium. In one example, transmission media may take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave, optical, and infrared data communications.
Some common forms of computer readable media includes, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer is adapted to read.
In various embodiments of the present disclosure, execution of instruction sequences to practice the present disclosure may be performed by computer system 200. In various other embodiments of the present disclosure, a plurality of computer systems 200 coupled by communication link 218 to the network (e.g., such as a LAN, WLAN, PTSN, and/or various other wired or wireless networks, including telecommunications, mobile, and cellular phone networks) may perform instruction sequences to practice the present disclosure in coordination with one another. Modules described herein may be embodied in one or more computer readable media or be in communication with one or more processors to execute or process the steps described herein.
A computer system may transmit and receive messages, data, information and instructions, including one or more programs (i.e., application code) through a communication link and a communication interface. Received program code may be executed by a processor as received and/or stored in a disk drive component or some other non-volatile storage component for execution.
Where applicable, various embodiments provided by the present disclosure may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations of hardware and software. Also, where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be combined into composite components comprising software, hardware, and/or both without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. Where applicable, the various hardware components and/or software components set forth herein may be separated into sub-components comprising software, hardware, or both without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, where applicable, it is contemplated that software components may be implemented as hardware components and vice-versa.
Software, in accordance with the present disclosure, such as program code and/or data, may be stored on one or more computer readable mediums. It is also contemplated that software identified herein may be implemented using one or more general purpose or specific purpose computers and/or computer systems, networked and/or otherwise. Such software may be stored and/or used at one or more locations along or throughout the system, at client 102, network-based system 110, or both. Where applicable, the ordering of various steps described herein may be changed, combined into composite steps, and/or separated into sub-steps to provide features described herein.
The foregoing networks, systems, devices, and numerous variations thereof may be used to implement an exchange or a swapping operation for goods and/or services such as tickets.
In some embodiments, a venue device such as venue device 310 may be present at each of a plurality of different event venues (e.g., stadiums, theaters, arenas, amphitheaters, or other venues at which ticketed events are held). Venue device 310 may provide information regarding events scheduled to occur at a particular venue and regarding seating at that venue. In some embodiments, venue device 310 may provide the information to ticker server 330. Ticket server 330 may obtain information regarding events scheduled to occur at various venues and information regarding seating at the various venues from one or more venue devices 310, from other sources, or ticket server 330 may have a database of event information and venue information independent of any interaction with a venue device. Ticket server 330 may, for example, be an implementation of system 110 of
Venue device 310 may be a computer, a server, a computing tablet, or a mobile device, as examples. Venue device 310 may have processing circuitry such as a processor 312 and storage such as a memory 311. Processor 312 may execute a software program stored in memory 311 for providing information regarding events scheduled to be at the venue and regarding seating at the venue for each scheduled event. Venue device 310 may provide the information to the ticket server and/or to a user device such as user device 320.
Venue device 310 may be disposed at the venue. However, this is merely illustrative. If desired, venue device 310 may be disposed at a location other than the venue. Each venue may have a dedicated venue device 310 or a plurality of different venues may share a common venue device 310. For example, co-owned venues may share a common venue device 310.
In some embodiments, venue device 310 may be omitted if ticket server 330 has the information needed for buying, selling, and exchanging of tickets. For example, ticket server 330 may have a database of available tickets and information about the tickets and venues that enables ticket server 330 to provide the necessary information to a user for purchasing and/or exchanging tickets for events at venues.
Third party servers such server 350 may include, for example, a social media server that hosts one or more social networking accounts (e.g., a social networking account for a user of user device 320), an email server that hosts email services (e.g., an email account for the user), and/or another server. A user may use user device 320 to access ticket server 330 to select and purchase tickets for ticketed events from ticket server 330, to sell tickets for ticketed events, to purchase tickets for events at a venue and/or exchange (swap) tickets or other goods and/or services (as examples).
Third party server 350 may be a computer, a server, a computing tablet, or a mobile device, as examples. Server 350 may have processing circuitry such as a processor 354 and storage such as a memory 352.
In one embodiment, server(s) 350 may be omitted if ticket server 330 has the information needed for exchanging tickets. For example, ticket server 330 may have a database of purchases and/or user device information gathered from user device 320 that indicates tickets the user has purchased, interests of the user, calendar information of the user, travel information of the user, purchase history information of the user, or other user or ticket, event, venue, artist, team or other information associated with the context in which the tickets are bought and sold.
A user (e.g., a potential ticket swapper) may use a device such as user device 320 to shop online for available tickets and/or exchange purchased tickets for one or more events. User device 320 may be a mobile device such as a cellular telephone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or another portable computing device. User device 320 may be a non-mobile device such as a home (land line) telephone, a desktop computer, an interactive set top box, or the like. User device 320 may be any device or combination of devices that facilitate online ticket purchasing and/or exchanging. User device 320 may, for example, be an implementation of client device 104 of
User device 320 may have a processor 321, a memory 322, a global positioning system component (GPS) 323 and/or other suitable device components. Processor 321 may execute an application such as an app 325 that facilitates the ticket selection, purchase, and/or exchange methods disclosed herein. App 325 may be stored in a memory 322. App 325 may provide a graphical user interface (GUI) for the user when the user is selecting, purchasing, and/or exchanging tickets or other goods and/or services online. If desired, app 325 may be a dedicated ticket purchasing app. However, this is merely illustrative. In some configurations, app 325 may be part of another app, such as a Paypal, Inc. payment provider app.
User device 320 may communicate with venue device 310, third-party server 350, and/or ticket server 330 via a network, such as the Internet 340. User device 320 may communicate with the Internet via either a wired connection or a wireless connection. App 325 may be configured to transmit to ticket server 330 location information of user device 320. For example, ticket server 330 may have access to location information for a user based on location data from GPS 323.
Ticket server 330 may be operated by an online ticket seller such as StubHub, Inc. Ticket server 330 may facilitate online ticket sales and/or online ticket exchanges (sometimes referred to herein as ticket swaps). Ticket server 330 may include processing circuitry such as a processor 331 in communication with storage such as a memory 332. Processor 331 may include one or more processors. Processor 331 may access accounts such as a user account 333 and/or a venue account 334 that are stored in memory 332. User account 333 may include information regarding the user (e.g., identification information, preferences, account numbers, purchase history, social network contacts, email contacts, email account permissions, social media account permissions, purchased-ticket event information, attended event information, etc.). Venue account 334 may include information regarding the venue (e.g., information regarding events, seating, venue location, and other venue features). Memory 332 may be separate from the ticket server and may be used to store any number of user accounts 333 and venue accounts 334. Memory 332 may be distributed, e.g., have portions thereof disposed at a plurality of different locations. Other accounts may also be accessible by processor 331, such as accounts of users selling or exchanging tickets that include ticket details, such as price, quantity, location, and event information, and financial information that enable funds to be deposited into or drawn from seller accounts when their tickets are sold or exchanged.
Ticket server 330 may include one or more servers located at one or more locations. Thus, the ticket server 330 may be geographically and operationally distributed if desired. Ticket server 330 may be part of another system, such as a payment provider system. Venue device 310 and/or third-party server 350 may communicate with ticket server 330 over a wired or wireless connection such as via a network, such as Internet 340. Venue device 310 and/or third-party server 350 may communicate with a plurality of different ticket servers 330. Ticket server 330 may communicate with a plurality of different venue devices 310 and/or third-party servers 350. A plurality of different ticket servers 330 may communicate among themselves and may be considered herein as being the same as a single ticket server 330. The user may operate user device 320 to interact with ticket server 330 so that the user may select, purchase, sell and/or swap tickets online.
Ticket server 330 may communicate with venue device 310 to obtain information about the venue. For example, ticket server 330 may communicate with venue device 310 to obtain information regarding the scheduling of events at the venue and regarding features of the venue. The features of the venue may be dependent upon the events of the venue, e.g., the features of the venue may vary from event to event. Generally, venue device 310, mobile device 320, third-party server 350, and ticket server 330 may perform functions discussed herein. That is, at least to some extent, a function that is discussed herein as being performed via a particular one of these devices may be performed by a different one of these devices, by a combination of these devices, and/or by other devices.
Venue device 310, user device 320, third-party server 350, other mobile devices, and server 330 may communicate with one another via a network, such as the Internet 340, or with one another via one or more networks, such as local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), cellular telephone networks, and the like. Venue device 310, mobile devices such as user device 320, third-party server 350, server 330, and other devices may communicate with one another, at least partially, via one or more near field communications (NFC) methods or other short range communications methods, such as infrared (IR), Bluetooth, WiFi, and WiMax.
When a user wishes to shop for tickets online, resell tickets online, check in to an event venue online, access electronic tickets online, or exchange tickets online (as examples), the user may open an online ticket seller's website or may access the ticket seller using an application such as app 325. The user may open the ticket seller's website using user device 320, for example. The ticket seller's website may be hosted on ticket server 330, venue device 310, or on any other server or device.
In another example, two people may have tickets for a pair of seats 414 and may desire to sit with friends that have tickets for a pair of seats in a group of seats 412. The seat 414 ticketholders may notify a ticket seller system of their desire to exchange their seats 414 for seats near their friends. The owners of the other two seats in group 412 may be notified by the ticket seller system that someone wishes to exchange tickets. The seat 414 ticketholders may offer additional compensation to the holders of the other two tickets in group 412 such as additional funds, additional tickets for that event or another event, or other compensation. In one embodiment, the holders of the other two tickets in group 412 may be provided with a one-click swap offer that, when accepted, exchanges the tickets and transfers funds from an account associated with the seat 414 ticketholders to an account associated with the holders of the other two tickets in group 412.
Venue 400 may include other types of seats such as season ticket seats 408 and/or luxury boxes 410. A ticket seller system may provide season ticket holders, luxury box ticketholders and/or others with the ability to buy, sell, and/or exchange some or all of a season ticket package or a luxury box package. For example, the owner of tickets for one or more season ticket seats 408 may exchange tickets for one of the events in the season for tickets to another event, another type of event, another type of seat, or any other type of goods or services. In another example, the owner of ticketed access to a luxury box for an event may exchange some or all of the ticketed access to the luxury box for tickets for another event, another type of event, another type of seat, or any other type of goods or services.
As shown in
Each ticket may have one or more attributes such as a price, a date (e.g., an event date), a seat, a section, an event name, an event type, an artist, a team, or other attribute. Each attribute of a ticket may have an associated value. For example, the value of a price attribute may be a dollar value of the ticket. As another example, the value of a seat attribute may be the location within the venue of the seat. As another example, the value of a date attribute may be the time of year, day of the week, portion of a season, or other date information that may be of value to one or more users. The value of an attribute may be determined for an average user, a group of users, or for a particular user. For example, a ticket exchange system may determine (e.g., via communication from the user or by system learning based on user habits or purchases) that one particular user is more interested in a low price than a preferred seat location, that another particular user is more interested in events on weekends than a low price, and yet another particular user is more interested in a preferred seat location than a low price or a preferred date.
A ticket exchange offer (e.g., a swap offer) may be generated and/or provided to a user based on any combination of one or more attributes and/or one or more values of those attributes. For example, ticket exchange system may identify a first item of a user, the first item having a first value of a first attribute, identify a second item to the user, the second item having a second value of a second attribute, and facilitate exchange for the user of the first item for the second item. In situations in which the first attribute is the same as the second attribute, then the system may determine a difference in the first and second values and calculate a debit or a credit to be made to an account of the user based on the difference in the first and second values. In situations in which the first attribute is different from the second attribute, then the system may determine a difference in the first and second attributes and calculate a debit or a credit to be made to an account of the user based on the difference in the first and second attributes.
In one example, the first item may be a first event ticket, the first attribute may be a price of the first event ticket, the second item may be a second event ticket and the second attribute may be a price of the second event ticket. In this example, the monetary value of the price of the first event ticket may be greater than the monetary value of the price of the second ticket. The system may calculate a difference in the prices, offer an exchange of the second item (e.g., the second event ticket) for the first item (e.g., the first event ticket) to the user, the offer identifying the difference in value, receive a request to initiate the exchange, facilitate the exchange of the second item for the first item to the user, and processes a credit to the user as a function of the difference in value.
Upgrade swap offer 504 may include text prompting the user to determine whether they wish to swap a ticket A for a relatively higher value ticket AA for an additional cost (e.g., $75). The additional cost may be determined based on the relative prices of ticket A and ticket AA and/or the relative values of one or more other attributes of the ticket A and ticket AA. Tickets A and AA may be tickets for the same event or for different events. In one example scenario, ticket A may be a 10th row ticket for a concert and ticket AA may be a front row ticket for that concert. In another example scenario, ticket A may be a front row ticket for a basketball game and ticket AA may be a front row ticket for another basketball game or a fifth row ticket for a ballet.
In order to assist the user in determining whether or not to swap tickets, window 502 may include a VALUE MY TICKET virtual button 514. In response to the user selecting virtual button 514, the user may be presented with an estimated current monetary value of their ticket based on (as examples) an average of current seat sales or offers for similar seats.
Downgrade swap offers 508 and 510 may include text prompting the user to determine whether to exchange a ticket A for a relatively lower value ticket and additional compensation. Swap offer 508 includes an offer to exchange ticket A for a relatively lower value ticket B and a payment of $100 (as an example). The payment of $100 may be transferred to the user from another user account, from a ticket seller account or may be provided to another account of the user's choosing such as a charity or political fund. Ticket B may be another ticket for the same event or a ticket for another event. The payment amount of $100 may be determined based on the relative values of tickets A and B to the user and other ticket context information.
Swap offer 510 includes an offer to exchange ticket A for multiple relatively lower value tickets C and D. In some situations, tickets C and D may be tickets that are further away from the attraction area or tickets for another event at a less desirable time or on a less desirable date in general or for the user. In other situations, tickets C and D may be monetarily higher value tickets that are relatively less valuable to the user based on non-monetary considerations. For example, the user may be unable to attend the event for which tickets C and D are provided and may be able to trade two relatively higher monetary value tickets for one relatively lower monetary value ticket and the ability to still attend an event.
Even swap offer 512 may include text prompting the user to determine whether to exchange ticket A for another ticket E of equal value. As discussed herein, the relative values of the tickets may be determined based solely on monetary valuation or may be determined based on one or more other ticket context considerations (e.g., values of ticket attributes or other context information) that are particular to the tickets and/or to the user.
The ticket swap offers of
As shown in
Swap offer window 502 may also include a VALUE MY TICKET virtual button 514 that, when clicked, presents the user with the value of their ticket at that time during the event. It should be appreciated that the swap offers shown in
A system for the purchase, sale, and/or exchange of tickets or other goods and services may track or monitor various aspects of a ticket context associated with a particular ticket, event, venue, and/or user. The monitored ticket context may be used to determine the value of a ticket and/or the value of one or more attributes of the ticket, to determine the value of one or more tickets, ticket attributes, or other goods or services to a particular user, and/or to determine which offers to send to a ticket holder. For example, the system may track the monetary value of tickets for various events (e.g., based on a current or trending resale value of similar tickets), track the personal calendar of a user (e.g., a calendar on the user's phone or other mobile device), track the travel of a user (e.g., based on the user's emails, social network postings, personal webpage content and/or purchase history), or track other aspects of the context of the tickets. A swap offer may be generated for a user based on the monitored ticket context. In one example, an alumni of a university is prompted to exchange a current ticket holding for an up-coming event of the university, wherein the ticket exchange system acts as one form of notification for events and status of university activities.
Although the swap offers of
Illustrative steps that may be used in generating and/or providing a swap offer to a user are shown in
At step 800, a system of the type shown in, for example,
At step 802, the system may identify one or more other-valued tickets such as one or more unsold tickets, one or more available resale tickets, or one or more tickets of a swap-enabled user. The other-valued ticket or tickets may have a relatively higher value, a relatively lower value than the valued ticket identified at step 800 or may have the same or similar value. A swap-enabled user may be another user of the system that has enabled swap alerts and/or that has notified the system that they desire to exchange their tickets for other tickets.
At step 804, the system may provide one or more swap offers to the user. The swap offers may include an offer to the user to exchange the valued ticket for the other-valued ticket and, in some circumstances, additional compensation or at an additional cost as described herein in connection with, for example,
At step 806, the system may receive a swap acceptance (e.g., a request to initiate an exchange) from the user (e.g., a one-click swap acceptance when the user clicks or otherwise selects on a one-click swap acceptance button).
At step 808, the other-valued ticket may be provided to the user in exchange for the valued ticket. The other-valued ticket may be provided electronically, a physical ticket may be delivered to the user, or a ticket may be provided at a pick-up center.
In some circumstances the other-valued ticket may be owned by an entity associated with the system (e.g., a ticket seller) or by the venue. In other circumstances, the other-valued ticket may be owned by another user of the system such as a swap-enabled user. In circumstances in which the other-valued ticket is owned by another user, the system may proceed to step 810. In circumstances in which the other-valued ticket is owned by the entity associated with the system or by the venue, the system may proceed to step 816.
At step 810, the system may facilitate the exchange of the other-valued ticket for the valued ticket at least in part by providing the valued ticket to the other user (e.g., the swap-enabled user), thereby swapping the valued ticket for the other-valued ticket. In circumstances in which the valued ticket has a relatively lower value (e.g., based on the relative values of one or more attributes) than the other-valued ticket (e.g., in an upgrade ticket swap for the user), the system may proceed to step 812. In circumstances in which the valued ticket has a relatively higher value than the other-valued ticket (e.g., in a downgrade ticket swap for the user), the system may proceed to step 814. In other circumstance, the system may complete an even ticket swap at step 810 and take no further action.
At step 812, the system may transfer funds and/or additional tickets from the user to the swap-enabled user (e.g., by debiting an account of the user and crediting an account of the swap-enabled user based on the based on the relative values of one or more attributes), thereby compensating the swap-enabled user for the relatively higher valued ticket in the ticket swap. In this way, the system may be considered an exchange market, where ticket values float and are recognizable by users through the market.
At step 814, the system may transfer funds and/or additional tickets from the swap-enabled user to the user (e.g., by crediting an account of the user and debiting an account of the swap-enabled user based on the based on the relative values of one or more attributes), thereby compensating the user for the relatively higher valued ticket in the ticket swap.
At step 816, the system may offer the valued ticket for resale. In this way, the user may exchange the valued ticket for a ticket that has not yet been purchased or that is owned by an entity associated with the system or the venue.
At step 822, the system may re-sell the valued ticket (e.g., at a higher price than was originally paid). Before or after re-selling the valued ticket, the system may transfer funds or additional tickets from the user to the system (e.g., to the venue) at step 818 or provide compensation (e.g., a rebate, additional lower value tickets, concession vouchers, etc.) to the user at step 820. However, steps 818 and 820 are merely illustrative. In circumstances in which the valued ticket and the other-valued ticket have a similar or same value, the system may proceed to step 822 without receiving or providing any additional compensation to or from the user.
A system of the type shown in, for example,
At step 900, a purchase of a first item such as good and/or a service by a user may be identified.
At step 902, a second item such as one or more other items of interest for the user may be identified. Other items of interest may include other products, other goods, other services, tickets for other events, etc.
At step 904, a swap offer may be provided to the user. The swap offer may include text prompting the user to determine whether they would like to exchange the purchased good and/or service for one or more of the identified items of interest. Prior to providing the swap offer, the system may calculate a difference between the values of one or more attributes of the first and second items and generate the swap offer based the calculation.
At step 906, a swap acceptance (e.g., a request to initiate the exchange) may be received from the user. The swap acceptance may be, for example, a one-click swap acceptance provided with the user clicks a virtual one-click swap acceptance button as described herein.
At step 908, the one or more other items of interest may be provided to the user.
At step 910, the purchased item may be provided to an entity associated with the system or a swapping user. Steps 910 and 912 may serve to facilitate the exchange of the second item for the first image to the user.
At step 912, additional compensation may optionally be provided to the user, the entity associated with the system, and/or the swapping user to complete the exchange.
In some circumstances, a user may wish to initiate an exchange such as a ticket swap rather than waiting for a swap offer from the system. For example, a user may have one or more tickets for an event that the user's friends are also attending. However, the user's seats associated with the tickets may be located in a different area of the event venue from the seats of the user's friends. The user may therefore wish to initiate an exchange so that the user can sit near the user's friends during the event. Illustrative steps that may be involved in providing a user with the ability to initiate a ticket swap are shown in
At step 1000, the system may receive a ticket swap interest indication from one or more ticketholders. For example, the user may provide an indication to the system that they wish to exchange two tickets in section Q for two tickets in section R. The ticket swap interest indication may also include information indicating that the user is willing to provide additional compensation with the two tickets in section Q or that the user wishes to receive additional compensation with the two tickets in section R.
At step 1002, the system may notify other ticketholders of swap options based on the ticket swap interest indication. For example, the system may identify ticketholders with tickets in section R and provide a swap offer for the tickets in section Q to those identified ticketholders.
At step 1004, the system may receive a swap acceptance offer from one or more of the notified ticketholders (e.g., a one-click swap acceptance).
At step 1006, the system may provide swapped electronic tickets to the one or more ticketholders and the notified ticketholders that accepted the swap offer (e.g., the swap acceptor(s)). For example, the system may provide an electronic version of the tickets in section Q to the swap acceptor(s) and provide an electronic version of the tickets in section R to the one or more ticketholders.
At step 1008, the system may provide compensation to the one or more ticketholders and/or the swap acceptors (e.g., by transferring funds between an account of the one or more ticketholders and an account of the swap acceptor(s)).
In various embodiments, a swap offer that is provided to a user may be triggered by a monitored context of the ticket. Illustrative steps that may be involved in providing a ticket swap offer based on a monitored ticket context are shown in
At step 1100, a ticket purchase by a user may be identified.
At step 1102, the ticket context (e.g., one or more ticket attributes, the value of one or more ticket attributes, the ticket value, the event popularity, artist news associated with the event artist, team performance of a team associated with the event, etc.) may be monitored. Monitoring the ticket context may include monitoring ticket sales, monitoring online or other publications for news about the event, venue, artist, or team, monitoring the user's calendar, monitoring user emails or social media accounts or monitoring other information associated with the ticket, the user, the event, or the venue (as examples).
At step 1104, a swap offer may be provided to the user based on the monitored ticket context. For example, when the monetary value of the price of the purchased ticket rises, the system may detect the rise and provide a swap offer that generates a profit for the user while still allowing the user to attend the event or another event in response to the detected rise. In another example, an important player on a sports team may be placed on an injured list for a game for which the user holds one or more tickets, the system may detect the change to the injury list, identify another event that the user may desire to attend, and provide a swap offer to the user for a ticket from the other identified event. In this way, the monitored ticket context may be used to trigger one or more swap offers to various users. The system may quantify the difference between one or more different attributes of a ticket and calculate a corresponding debit or credit to a user account associated with an exchange of the ticket.
In some circumstances, a group of people may cooperate to purchase a package of tickets such as a season ticket package. The group of people may agree to share the tickets in the manner of a time share so that each member of the group has priority access to associated portions of the time-share season ticket package. However, as is often the case with time share real estate property, the member of the group with access to a particular ticket for a particular event in the season may not be able to attend that event. A system of the type shown in, for example,
At step 1200, the system may register a time-share season ticket package owned by a plurality of time-share ticketholders. The time-share season ticket package may be registered by the system in response to one or more of the plurality of time-share ticketholders completing a registration process with the system. The system may store information associated with the time-share season ticket package and the time-share ticketholders.
At step 1202, the system may facilitate the exchange (e.g., a one click ticket swap) of tickets in the time-share season ticket package between the time share ticketholders and/or between the time-share ticketholders and other users. For example, the system may receive information indicating that one of the plurality of time-share ticketholders wishes to exchange tickets for one event for tickets for another event in the season ticket package. The system may then notify the other members of the plurality of time-share ticketholders that an exchange is desired. The system may receive a swap acceptance offer and transfer electronically the tickets to be swapped along with any additional compensation associated with the exchange. If none of the other time-share ticketholders accepts the exchange, a swap offer may be provided to other ticketholders for other events. In this way, the time-share ticketholders may be provided with the ability to use the value of unused season tickets to obtain access to other events and the event venue owner may be provided with a higher capacity crowd by avoiding unused season tickets.
The system may also facilitate the purchase of a time-share ticket package by a plurality of users (e.g., users that collaborate to purchase the time-share season ticket package or users that do not know each other). In this way, users may be provided with the ability to purchase a portion of a season ticket package that is conventionally only available to single purchasers or groups of acquainted purchasers that have coordinated to purchase the season ticket package in advance. The time-share season ticket package may be purchased from the event venue or the event organizer or may be purchased from a user who has previously purchased the season ticket package.
Illustrative steps that may be performed by a system for facilitating the purchase of time-share season ticket package are shown in
At step 1300, the system may facilitate offering of a season ticket package for sale (e.g., by an entity associated with the system or by a user of the system). Facilitating the offering for sale may include providing a website or application offering the season ticket package along with details of the offered tickets to the public.
At step 1302, the system may provide partial bid options to additional users for bidding on a portion of the season ticket package.
At step 1304, the system may receive one or more partial bid offers (e.g., from other users).
At step 1306, the system may accumulate the partial bid offers offering a payment amount for a portion of the season ticket package.
At step 1308, the system may determine the winning partial bidders (e.g., based on an auction end time, the highest total value for the seller, the bid entry time, or other conditions). For example, the system may receive and accumulate five $300 partial bids for a fifth of the package and eight $200 partial bids for an eighth of the package and, because the total of eight $200 bids ($1600) is higher than the total of five $300 bids ($1500), the eight $200 bidders may win the time-share season ticket package. In another example, if the system receives and stores ten $300 partial bids for a fifth of the package, the first five $300 bidders may be the winners of the package.
The system may also facilitate a group payment for the time-share season ticket package so that the funds corresponding to each partial bid may be transferred directly from the bidder accounts to the seller account without requiring coordination by the bidders or the seller. Illustrative steps that may be performed for facilitating group payment for winning bidders for a time-share season ticket package are shown in
At step 1400, the system may store account information (e.g., payment account or other financial account information) regarding the winning partial bidders and the user.
At step 1402, the system may send the winning partial bidders an option for sharing payment. For example, the system may send a notification to each of the winning bidders that they have won a portion of the time-share season ticket package and provide the winning bidders with a confirmation virtual button for completing transfer of funds from that bidder's account to the seller's account.
At step 1404, the system may facilitate the transfer of funds to an account of the user from the accounts of the winning partial bidders. In this way, the seller may be provided with a complete payment for the season ticket package without requiring coordination by the winning bidders.
One or more of the processes and steps described in connection with
Although the foregoing invention has been described in detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity and understanding, it will be recognized that the above described invention may be embodied in numerous other specific variations and embodiments without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics of the invention. Various changes and modifications may be practiced, and it is understood that the invention is not to be limited by the foregoing details, but rather is to be defined by the scope of the claims.
