Digital Refund System Automating Price Adjustments
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Customers face inefficiencies when trying to obtain price matching or refunds for items purchased from one merchant after finding a lower price offered by another merchant, requiring significant effort and often resulting in waste.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for digital refunds that involves receiving transaction data, determining return eligibility, retrieving current prices from merchants or third-party aggregators, and initiating refunds when the current price is lower than the purchase price, using APIs and distributed ledgers to automate the process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the customer returns the item to the first merchant for a refund, then the customer can purchase the item from the second merchant at the lower price, but this requires considerable effort by the customer and results in waste and inefficiencies
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables self-service by automatically monitoring prices and initiating refunds without customer intervention. The financial institution's system continuously tracks price changes and automatically processes refunds when conditions are met, eliminating the need for customers to manually request refunds or return items.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing monitoring mechanisms that track price changes before the customer needs to act. The system proactively identifies price drops and prepares refund processes in advance, so when a price difference is detected, the refund can be initiated immediately without customer effort.
2Ease of operation
If the customer requests that the first merchant match the lower price, then the customer can keep the item at the lower price, but this requires considerable effort by the customer
Solution Approach 1:
The system automates the entire price matching process without requiring customer initiation or follow-up. The financial institution's system independently monitors prices, compares them against purchase prices, and automatically executes refunds when price differences are found, converting a manual customer task into an automated self-service process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements continuous feedback loops by constantly monitoring current prices and comparing them with historical purchase data. This automated feedback mechanism eliminates the need for customers to repeatedly check prices or submit price matching requests, as the system autonomously responds to price changes.
3Extent of automation
If the system continuously monitors price changes to identify refund opportunities, then refunds can be automatically initiated, but this requires complex price tracking mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a financial institution as an intermediary that simplifies the complexity of price monitoring. Instead of merchants directly implementing complex tracking systems, the financial institution's system acts as a mediator that monitors prices across multiple merchants and automatically processes refunds, centralizing the complexity in one entity rather than requiring distributed complexity across many merchants.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for digital refunds are disclosed. According to one embodiment, in an information processing apparatus comprising at least one computer processor, a method for digital refunds may include: (1) receiving, from an issuing financial institution, electronic transaction data for a transaction involving a product purchased by a customer from a merchant, the product having a purchase price; (2) determining a return period in which the product may be eligible for a return to the merchant; and (3) during the return period: (a) retrieving a current price for the product from the merchant or a third-party merchant; (b) determining that the current price for the product may be less than the purchase price; and (c) initiating a refund to the customer from the merchant for a difference between the current price and the purchase price.