Negotiation Platform for Unsold Listings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Online publication systems often result in unsold listings due to high reserve prices, leading to inactive listings that could be sold if negotiation options were available to potential buyers and sellers.
Innovation Solution
A negotiation platform is implemented within the online environment to identify interested buyers and initiate a 'best offer' flow between sellers and potential buyers, allowing for price negotiations and other terms, thereby facilitating the sale of unsold listings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a high reserve price is set for listings, then the seller can potentially obtain a higher price for the offering, but the listing becomes less likely to be sold and remains inactive
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the listing state based on buyer interest. When sufficient interest is detected (through wish lists, shopping carts, or repeated views), the listing transitions from a fixed high-price state to a negotiation-enabled state, allowing the price to become flexible. This resolves the contradiction by making the price structure adaptive rather than static.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the price parameter from a fixed reserve price to a negotiable range. By detecting buyer interest metrics and automatically enabling negotiation functionality, the price parameter transforms from a rigid constraint to a flexible variable, allowing the transaction to complete while still protecting the seller's price interests through the negotiation process.
2Ease of operation
If a fixed price listing is used, then the transaction process is simple and quick, but the price may not reflect the fair market value and interested buyers cannot negotiate
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces a negotiation intermediary layer between the fixed price listing and the final transaction. When buyer interest is detected, the negotiation module acts as a mediator that facilitates price discovery while maintaining the initial simplicity of the fixed-price interface. This allows the system to achieve fair market pricing through controlled negotiation without completely abandoning the simplicity of fixed-price listings.
Solution Approach 2:
The listing evolves from a static fixed-price model to a dynamic negotiation model based on detected buyer interest. The system maintains ease of operation for the initial listing creation and viewing, but dynamically introduces negotiation capabilities when appropriate, balancing simplicity with fair market price determination.
3Reliability
If unsold listings are removed from the platform, then the platform maintains high-quality active listings, but sellers must create repeat listings which increases platform activity and traffic
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection of buyer interest before the listing expires or is removed. By identifying potential buyers through wish lists, shopping carts, and view tracking during the active listing period, the system enables negotiation that can prevent listing removal in the first place, thereby maintaining listing quality while preserving transaction opportunities.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from buyer behaviors (views, wish lists, shopping cart additions) to trigger negotiation opportunities. This feedback mechanism allows the system to identify when a listing has sufficient interest to warrant negotiation, preventing unnecessary removal and repeat listings, thus maintaining quality while supporting continued platform activity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a system for providing a negotiation platform in the event that a listing fails by becoming inactive without the offering being sold are provided. For example, a negotiation eligibility detector may detect a failed listing of an offering. The listing may be associated with a first user and a first offer. A potential buyer detector may identify at least one potential buyer based on a user action associated with the failed listing. A negotiation manager may be in communication with the negotiation eligibility detector and the potential buyer detector. In response to the detecting of the failed listing and the identifying of the potential buyers, the negotiation manager may transmit a request to the at least one potential buyer for a second offer associated with the failed listing.