Message audit trail feature for facilitating electronic transactions

Abstract

An electronic commerce system provides various features for assisting customers in locating items and generating orders from a merchant's electronic catalog, and for assisting customers and merchants in communicating about such orders, A user-definable categories feature allows customers and / or merchants to define search queries for searching the electronic catalog, and to store these search queries under user-defined category names for subsequent use. An “active quote” feature allows the customer to view and modify quantities of items selected for prospective purchase throughout various catalog browsing or viewing modes. A message audit trail feature allows a customer and a merchant to send messages to one another that are linked to a particular order, and to view an order-specific log of such messages.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 831,202, entitled MESSAGE AUDIT TRAIL FEATURE FOR FACILITATING ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS filed Jul. 6, 2010, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 380,628, entitled SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING AND DISPLAYING MESSAGES ASSOCIATED WITH NEGOTIATED ORDERS, filed Apr. 27, 2006, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,752,079, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 607,841, entitled SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR BROWING A DATABASE OF ITEMS AND CONDUCTING ASSOCIATED TRANSACTIONS, filed Jun. 30, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,070, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 142,287, entitled SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR FACILITATING BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS, filed Jul. 2, 1999, the entirety of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In the field of Internet commerce, there are two major classifications ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This patent describes an electronic commerce system that helps customers find items and place orders with a merchants. Customers and merchants can create search queries and store them for later use. The system also allows customers to view and modify the quantities of items they are purchasing. Additionally, the system keeps a record of messages sent between customers and merchants, making it easier to communicate about orders. Overall, the system improves the customer experience and makes it easier for merchants to manage their sales.

Problems solved by technology

In addition, each such order typically encompasses many different items, and relatively large quantities of such items.