CN1351301A - Price inquiry method for electronic transaction - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for inquiring price of electronic transaction includes such steps as inputting the price inquiry data, providing the first price inquiry data to a supplier, determining if the transaction is to be carried out, knowing the first price inquiry data by the supplier, accepting or not, determining if the first price inquiry data is to be accepted by the buyer, knowing the first price offer data by the buyer, accepting the first price offer data for carrying out the transaction, or not accepting the first price offer data for cancelling the transaction or providing the second price inquiry data, and repeating said steps until the transaction is completed by the supplier and the buyer or one of them cancels the transaction.

Description

Inquiry Method for Electronic Trading

The invention relates to an inquiry method for electronic transactions, in particular to an inquiry method for electronic transactions of plastic materials.

In today's industrial materials, plastic materials have been applied to many purposes, and even with the development of the plastic industry, plastic materials have gradually replaced traditional metal materials such as steel. Plastic materials are also more diversified accordingly, and different types of plastic materials and plastic raw materials are usually substitutable. Therefore, the industry must make the best decision among multiple materials and multiple suppliers to be able to produce the highest quality plastic products at the lowest cost.

As mentioned earlier, different plastic materials and different suppliers are usually substitutable, and different supply methods will also provide different quotations for suppliers. Therefore, for a buyer, it is usually necessary to go through a complicated price comparison procedure before being able to purchase the desired product at the lowest price. Furthermore, for the same product, the same product also needs to provide different quotations depending on the quantity, location, and payment method. Therefore, the quotation procedure for different buyers is also very complicated. In particular, suppliers lose trading opportunities because they cannot provide the best price according to the cost of the product to cope with the competition in the market.

In addition, the quotation of plastic materials changes with time, so the data in the database must be updated at any time. For traditional trading models, this process of updating data would be slow and time-consuming. Therefore, for the transaction of plastic materials, it is also necessary to provide a system in which not only buyers can obtain real-time data, but suppliers can also change quotations and product contents of plastic materials at any time.

In addition, for the traditional purchase process of plastic materials, buyers usually complete the transaction through repeated inquiries and price comparisons. In fact, for plastic materials, usually the plastic products are traded through distributors, that is, the manufacturer and supplier of the plastic materials are not the same. Therefore, the buyer can usually conduct inquiries with multiple suppliers in order to obtain the lowest cost of purchasing materials. However, the traditional inquiry and price comparison process is quite complicated and time-consuming.

The Internet has developed into a very convenient e-commerce medium, enabling consumers to purchase goods or services on the Internet. However, currently used electronic trading systems do not provide a proper interaction mechanism between buyers and sellers. Generally speaking, in a common electronic trading system, the buyer can only accept or reject the quotation data provided by the seller unidirectionally, but cannot make an inquiry request to the seller according to his own needs. However, in the traditional transaction process, the buyer and the seller usually complete the transaction through this inquiry process.

Therefore, for buyers and suppliers of plastic materials, it is necessary to provide a more convenient transaction method so that buyers and suppliers can obtain the best interaction.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide an electronic transaction inquiry method for commodity trading, wherein the buyer can make multiple inquiries to the supplier to facilitate the completion of the transaction.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronic transaction inquiry method, which is applied in the electronic transaction system and connected to the Internet, so that buyers and suppliers can conduct transactions conveniently.

According to the electronic transaction inquiry method of the present invention, it is applied in an electronic transaction system to facilitate transactions between buyers and suppliers, and the electronic transaction system has a product database including specification data and transaction data of products to be traded, The credit transaction method of the electronic transaction includes:

input inquiry data, the buyer submits a first inquiry data to a supplier for a specific product;

The supplier decides whether to trade, the supplier can learn the first inquiry data through the electronic trading system, and decide to accept the first inquiry data to conduct the transaction, or not to accept the first inquiry data to cancel trade or submit a first quote data;

The buyer decides whether to trade, the buyer can learn the first quotation data through the electronic trading system, and decide to accept the first quotation data to carry out the transaction, or not to accept the first quotation data to cancel the transaction or propose second inquiry data; and

The foregoing steps are repeated until the supplier and the buyer conclude a transaction, or one of the supplier and the buyer cancels the transaction.

According to another feature of the present invention, the electronic transaction inquiry method further includes a query step for screening products similar to the product to be traded selected in the selection step from the transaction database.

The electronic transaction inquiry method according to another feature of the present invention, wherein the electronic transaction system is connected to the Internet (Internet), and the buyer can interoperate with the electronic transaction system through the Internet .

According to another feature of the present invention, the electronic transaction inquiry method, wherein the product database of the electronic transaction system includes the sales price, quantity, supplier, manufacturer, etc. of each product.

The electronic transaction inquiry method according to another feature of the present invention, wherein the transaction data of the electronic transaction system includes product specification, supplier, delivery method, delivery location, payment method, quantity/unit price, and price currency etc.

According to the electronic transaction inquiry method of the present invention, the buyer can negotiate the transaction data with the supplier multiple times, thus assisting the buyer and the supplier to complete the transaction, and the transaction mode is also different from the typical commonly used The transaction model is similar, which further helps to make the traditional supplier and buyer complete the transaction.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of an electronic transaction method according to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a schematic flowchart of the inquiry part of the electronic transaction method according to the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of the payment inquiry part of the electronic transaction method according to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of confirming the buyer's payment method according to the electronic transaction method of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of the inquiry part of another embodiment of the electronic transaction method according to the present invention.

6-11 are exemplary forms or web pages output by the electronic transaction method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In order to make the above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention more obvious, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with accompanying drawings.

The embodiment of the present invention is the inquiry part 50 in the method 10 of an electronic transaction, the method 10 of this electronic transaction is shown in Fig. 1, the method of this electronic transaction is to be applied to the transaction of a product, will cite below Plastic material is taken as an example to illustrate the present invention, but the electronic transaction method of the present invention is not limited to this plastic material. Those skilled in the art will be able to easily understand electronic transaction systems, such as US Patent Nos. 5,970,475, 5,557,518, and 5,319,542, which have disclosed different electronic transaction systems, which can conduct electronic transactions through the Internet (Internet). The aforementioned patents are incorporated herein by reference.

The electronic trading method 10 of the present invention is applied in an electronic trading system for trading plastic materials, wherein the electronic trading system includes buyers, suppliers, and trading centers, and is interconnected by the Internet (Internet), And the electronic transaction system has a product database, which includes physical property data and transaction data of plastic products. Furthermore, the electronic trading system is built in a computer system for electronic trading, or it may only provide users with the function of inquiring about products.

With reference to Fig. 1, wherein shows the flow chart according to the method for electronic transaction of the present invention, when the buyer desires to buy plastic material, this buyer can enter the home page of the trading center of the electronic transaction system of the present invention by the Internet 110 (Home page). The home page of the transaction center provides a selection function, and the buyer (user) can determine the type of product to be traded in steps, such as plastics, processing equipment, and colorants/additives. In the electronic transaction method 10 according to the present invention, the transaction center home page 110 will be divided into a plurality of similar steps to meet the needs of users. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the transaction center provides three types of plastic-related transaction items, which are respectively plastics, processing equipment, and colorants/additives. The form of the home page is shown in FIG. 6 as an example.

The buyer can enter individual functions by clicking individual keys in FIG. 6 . Furthermore, the trading center also provides the functions of buying and selling contract inquiry 130 and account inquiry 140 . The buyer can query the transaction center's transaction contract by entering the transaction contract query 130 .

As mentioned earlier, the homepage of the trading center provides three types of plastic-related trading items, namely plastics, processing equipment, and pigments/additives. Hereinafter, the electronic transaction method 10 of the present invention will be described by taking plastic transaction as an example. When the buyer wants to conduct plastic transactions, the buyer can select the plastic transaction area 120 on the homepage 110 of the transaction center to conduct plastic transactions.

After entering the plastic trading area 120, enter step 122, wherein the buyer must log in member data to enter step 126 for transaction, if the buyer is not a member, then enter step 124. In step 124 , the buyer can decide whether to become a member, and if so, return to the plastic trading area 120 , otherwise return to the home page 110 .

In addition, the account inquiry 140 is used to inquire about the transaction records of the buyer in the transaction center, and the step 140 also includes a member login step similar to the step 122, so as to confirm the membership, and return to Home 110.

In step 126, the transaction center will output Figure 7, so as to facilitate the buyer to conduct plastic transactions. As shown in Figure 7, it is roughly divided into two parts, including the input table in the upper part and the output table in the middle part. In the upper input form, the buyer can input query conditions, such as plastic type, shipping location, shipping time, and input query keywords and other query conditions, where the symbol "" represents that the trading center provides a drop-down Function table, to facilitate the buyer to input query data (hereinafter the symbol "" also has the same function, this manual will not repeat them). After the buyer enters the query conditions, he can click the "GO" button, and the transaction center will output the result in the table in the middle part. The table in the middle part will display the products in the product database that match the input query conditions, and display the product's material, manufacturer, product name, specification, color, supplier, delivery location, delivery time, And related transaction data such as minimum order quantity.

Afterwards, the buyer can click a specific column on the form in the middle part (that is, click a specific number in the "number" column in Figure 7) to determine the product of a specific specification to be traded , and its specific provider. Then enter the next step 160 . In this step 160, the transaction center of the present invention outputs the data of the product of the specific specification and its supplier in FIG. 8 .

As shown in Figure 8, it is roughly divided into two parts, the upper part is the basic data part of the product, and the lower part is the transaction data part of the product of this specification. In the upper part of the data part, you can click the button of "similar physical property product search" or "physical property table" to enter step 170, respectively for intelligent material selection, or query the physical property data of the product, and then return to the home page 110 . The method for intelligent material selection is disclosed in another patent application No. 89119419 "Intelligent Product Selection Method" filed by the inventor on September 20, 2000.

The step 160 further has four follow-up steps shown in the lower part, and the buyer can determine the follow-up steps according to the query result shown in FIG. 8 . If the buyer decides to re-inquire about the plastic, the buyer can click the "re-inquiry" button to enter step 126 to re-inquire about the plastic. If the buyer needs to inquire about the transaction records, he clicks on the "Account Inquiry" button to enter step 140 . In the step 140, the buyer can query his own transaction records in the transaction center.

If the buyer accepts the supplier's transaction data of the product of the specification, the buyer can click the "Order" button to enter step 162 . If the buyer is dissatisfied with the supplier's transaction data of the product of the specification, the buyer can click the "enquiry" button to enter step 50 .

In the step 162 , the buyer reconfirms whether to conduct the transaction and if the buyer decides to conduct the transaction, he needs to decide the payment method of the transaction, and then enters the step 60 . In step 60, the payment inquiry part 60 of the electronic transaction method 10 is used to inquire whether the buyer has sufficient payment ability to complete the transaction, and this step will be described below. If the buyer passes the confirmation of the payment inquiry part 60, then enter the order system of step 300 to complete the transaction, otherwise return to the homepage 110.

In step 50, the inquiry part 50 of the electronic transaction method 10 is used to provide a further inquiry function between the buyer and the supplier. If an agreement is reached between the buyer and the supplier, then enter the step 180, and the inquiry part 50 will be explained below. In step 180 , the buyer can further confirm the order, and if it is decided to conduct a transaction, then go to step 60 , otherwise go back to step 126 . As previously mentioned, this step 60 is to inquire whether the buyer has sufficient payment ability to complete the transaction, if the buyer passes the confirmation of the payment inquiry part 60, then enter the order system of the step 300 to complete the transaction, Otherwise, go back to the home page 110 .

Referring now to FIG. 3 , which shows a flow chart of the payment query part 60 according to the present invention, please note that those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the payment query part 60 is a decision step to determine the purchase Whether the buyer has enough payment capacity to complete the transaction, if the buyer passes the payment inquiry part 60, then continue to carry out the transaction, otherwise cancel the transaction and return to the transaction center homepage 110. After entering step 60, first enter step 602 to confirm which payment method the buyer uses, if credit line is selected, then enter step 606, if other payment methods are selected, then enter step 604. In the step 604, the buyer can further decide on the payment method, such as (T/T, L/C), and then enters the step 620, which will be described below.

If the buyer chooses credit line payment, then enter step 606, and then enter step 610. In step 610, the transaction center is connected with a bank to confirm whether the buyer's credit line is sufficient for the transaction. If it is sufficient, proceed to step 626 for credit inquiry, otherwise proceed to step 612. In step 612, the transaction center confirms whether the buyer's credit limit in the transaction center is sufficient to carry out the transaction. Please note that this credit limit is provided by the transaction center. If it is sufficient, proceed to step 626; otherwise, proceed to step 614 . In step 614, the buyer may choose to increase the credit limit or apply for another payment method in order to proceed with the transaction. If the buyer cannot increase the amount, then enter step 624, leave the payment inquiry part, and fail the payment inquiry. If the buyer chooses to increase the credit limit, then enter step 616 . In step 616, the transaction center is connected to a bank, and the buyer puts forward a request for increasing the credit limit, and then enters step 618. In step 618, if the bank agrees, go to step 626, otherwise go to step 620. If the buyer chooses to apply for other payment methods, then go to step 620 . In this step 620, the buyer can apply for other payment methods, such as (T/T, L/C), and fill out the form for other payment methods. Enter step 622 afterwards. In the step 622, the transaction center will confirm the other payment method, that is, receive the necessary reply within a limited time, or receive the money, if the confirmation is passed, go to step 626, otherwise go to step 624.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which shows a flowchart of the inquiry part 50 according to the present invention. After entering the step 50 , first enter the step 500 . In step 500, the transaction center imports the product of the specific specification and the specific supplier data selected in the transaction process into the inquiry part 50, and the output form is shown in FIG. 9 .

Referring now to Fig. 9, the part of the data brought out is to output the transaction data of the product of the specific specification selected by the buyer and its supplier by the transaction center, and the buyer can relate other transaction data to the The supplier makes an inquiry, and the data required therein, including the specification of the product, the supplier, and other transaction data, are hereinafter referred to as inquiry data. The items that the buyer can inquire about with the supplier include delivery method, delivery location, payment method, quantity/unit price, price currency and so on. Through this mechanism, the buyer and the supplier can obtain better interaction and complete the best transaction. After the buyer decides on the inquiry content, he can click on the "send inquiry" button to enter the part 80 for confirming the buyer's payment method to confirm the payment method used by the buyer when conducting the transaction. If it is passed, enter This step 550, otherwise go to step 502 to cancel the inquiry process. If the buyer wants to cancel the inquiry, he clicks on the "Cancel Inquiry" button, exits the inquiry part, and returns to step 126. The Confirm Buyer Payment Method section 80 will be described below.

Step 500 further includes a plurality of determination steps to further confirm the inquiry data. The determination steps are described as follows. After the inquiry data is input in step 500, the trading center will display the inquiry data again, as shown in FIG. 10 .

After the buyer confirms the inquiry data, he can click the three click buttons located at the bottom of Figure 10 to enter the subsequent steps. If the buyer clicks the "cancel inquiry" button, then enter step 126 to continue to inquire about the plastics to be traded.

If the buyer clicks the "Confirm Temporary Storage" button, the transaction center will store the inquiry data into an inquiry list, and the buyer can view the inquiry list in this step. If the buyer clicks the "view inquiry list" button, it will enter a step of displaying the list.

In the step of displaying the list, the transaction center outputs the inquiry list. Please note that the transaction center of the present invention can allow the buyer to make three inquiries for the product of the same specification. The transaction center outputs the inquiry list in FIG. 11 . As shown in FIG. 11 , when the buyer clicks the "modify" button or the "delete" button, the trading center will allow the buyer to modify the inquiry data and delete the inquiry data respectively.

In step 550, the transaction center notifies the supplier of the buyer's inquiry data, and asks the supplier whether to accept the buyer's inquiry data, and if the supplier accepts the inquiry data, then enters step 560, Otherwise, go to step 570 . In an embodiment according to the present invention, the transaction center outputs the inquiry data to the supplier's data area in the transaction center, so that the supplier can query relevant inquiry data at any time.

In step 560, the supplier enters acceptance of the RFQ and proceeds to step 562. In step 562, the transaction center will notify the buyer to confirm the order. If the buyer allows to confirm the order, then enter step 520, otherwise enter step 564 to cancel the order and exit the inquiry part 50. In step 520, it means that the inquiry data is confirmed, and the buyer and the supplier can perform subsequent transaction steps with respect to the inquiry data.

In step 570 , the supplier can decide whether to offer another quotation, if not, go to step 576 to cancel the inquiry process, otherwise go to step 572 . In step 572, the supplier re-enters the quotation data, and then proceeds to step 574. In step 574, the transaction center will further inquire whether the buyer accepts the new offer from the supplier, and if yes, proceed to step 562, otherwise proceed to step 578. In step 578, the buyer can decide whether to make an inquiry again, if he wants to make an inquiry again, go to step 580, otherwise go to step 576. In step 580, the buyer re-enters the inquiry data, and then proceeds to step 550. During this inquiry process, the buyer and the supplier can conduct multiple mutual inquiries and quotations, so that the final transaction can meet the needs of both parties.

Please refer now to FIG. 4 , which shows a flow chart of the part 80 for confirming the buyer's payment method according to the present invention. After entering the step 80 , first enter the step 810 . In step 810 , the buyer can select the payment method used in the inquiry part 50 , and if it is selected to conduct the transaction by credit line, it will go to step 816 , otherwise it will go to step 812 . In step 812, the buyer chooses to pay in other ways, and then enters step 814, the transaction center will notify the buyer of the payment data that needs to be prepared, and then returns to step 550 of the inquiry part 50.

In this step 816, the transaction center will inquire whether the buyer has a credit limit, and then enter step 818. In step 818, the transaction center will inquire whether the buyer has a bank credit limit, and if so, enter step 550, otherwise enter step 820. In step 820, the transaction center will inquire whether the buyer has a credit limit of the transaction center, if yes, enter step 550, otherwise, enter step 822.

In the step 822, the transaction center will ask the buyer whether to apply for a bank credit line. If the buyer does not apply, the transaction will be canceled and the process will proceed to step 110, otherwise, the process will proceed to step 824. In the step 824, the buyer can directly fill in the application data of the credit line, and then enter the step 826. In step 826, the transaction center will connect to the bank and output the application data to the bank, and then enter step 828. In the step 828, the bank examines the application data and decides whether to agree or not, and if yes, enters into the step 550 of the inquiry part 50, otherwise, enters into the step 830. In step 830, the transaction center will further ask the buyer whether to choose other payment methods, if the buyer agrees, then enter step 814, otherwise cancel the transaction and return to step 110.

Referring again to FIG. 5, there is shown an inquiry section 50a according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the steps of the inquiry part 50a are substantially the same as those of the inquiry part 50, the difference is that in the inquiry part 50a, after the confirmation of the buyer's payment method 80, step 510 is entered.

In step 510 , the trading center compares the inquiry data with the range set by the supplier, and if they match, go to step 520 , otherwise go to step 530 . In step 520, it means that the inquiry data is confirmed, and the buyer and the supplier can perform subsequent transaction steps with respect to the inquiry data. In step 530, it is confirmed whether the supplier accepts the inquiry outside the scope, if accepted, go to step 550, otherwise go to step 540. In the step 540, the transaction center rejects the buyer's inquiry data, and returns to step 500, so as to input the inquiry data again.

In addition, as shown in the figure, the electronic trading method 10 of the present invention further includes a processing equipment trading area 120 ′ and a colorant/additive trading area 120 ″. The steps 120 ′ and 120 ″ are similar to the step 120 .

Although the present invention has been disclosed by the foregoing preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Revise. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention shall be determined by the appended claims.

Claims (7)

1. the price inquiry method of an electronic transaction, be applied to conclude the business in order to buyer and supplier in the electronic trading system, and this electronic trading system has one and comprises the specification data of desiring products transactions and the product database of transaction data, and wherein the price inquiry method of this electronic transaction comprises:

Input inquiry data, this buyer proposes one first inquiry data to a supplier at a specific products;

Whether supplier decision concludes the business, and this supplier can see through this electronic trading system learn this first inquiry data, and decision accepts these first inquiry data to conclude the business, and does not perhaps accept this first quote data with cancellation or propose one first quote data;

Whether buyer's decision concludes the business, and this buyer can see through this electronic trading system and learn this first quote data, and determines to accept this first quote data to conclude the business, and does not perhaps accept these first inquiry data to Cancel Transaction or to propose the second inquiry data; And

Repeat abovementioned steps and conclude the transaction up to this supplier and this buyer, perhaps one among this supplier and this buyer Cancels Transaction.

2. the price inquiry method of electronic transaction as claimed in claim 1 further comprises a query steps, in order to by in this transaction data base, screens the product similar to this specific products.

3. as the price inquiry method of the electronic transaction of claim 1 or 2, wherein this electronic trading system is to be connected with internet (Internet), and this buyer can be by this internet and this electronic trading system mutual operation.

4. as the price inquiry method of the electronic transaction of claim 1 or 2, wherein comprise selling price, quantity, supplier, manufacturer of each product or the like in this product database of this electronic trading system.

5. as the price inquiry method of the electronic transaction of claim 1 or 2, wherein this electronic trading system product of concluding the business is a plastic material.

6. the price inquiry method of electronic transaction as claimed in claim 1, these inquiry data and this quote data that wherein this buyer and this supplier proposed are by selecting in the other group that is constituted of delivery, delivery point, Payment Methods, quantity/unit price and price coin.

7. the price inquiry method of electronic transaction as claimed in claim 1 further comprises an inquiry scope step, and wherein this supplier further provides a preset range, and this buyer must propose this first inquiry data in this scope.

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