Auction insurance system
A system determines insurance parameters for insuring online auctions. The insurance parameters may be based on predicted auction results. An insurance policy reflecting the insurance parameters may be offered to an online auction buyer, seller, or other market participant. The insurance policy may insure, for example, that an item for sale will obtain at least a price specified by the insurance policy.
1. An auction result insurance data processing system comprising:
a memory comprising:
a predicted auction result for an auction item, the predicted auction result comprising a predicted price, a price range, a price threshold, a result indicator that specifies a predicted selling result for the auction item, a confidence measure that specifies confidence in the predicted auction result, or any combination thereof; and
an insurance parameter determination program comprising:
instructions that receive the predicted auction result;
instructions that obtain an insured auction result; and
instructions that determine an insurance cost for the insured auction result based on the predicted auction result; and
a processor coupled to the memory that obtains the insured auction result and determines the insurance cost when the processor executes the insurance parameter determination program.
2. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the predicted auction result comprises both the predicted price, for the auction item, and the confidence measure, for the predicted price.
3. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the predicted auction result comprises the result indicator.
4. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the predicted price comprises a predicted end-of-auction price for the auction item.
5. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the price range comprises a predicted end-of-auction price range for the auction item.
6. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the price threshold comprises an end-of-auction price threshold.
7. The data processing system of claim 6 , where the predicted auction result comprises both the price threshold and an associated auction result indicator.
8. The data processing system of claim 7 , where the auction result indicator comprises a ‘sell’ indicator, a ‘no-sale’ indicator, or both.
9. The data processing system of claim 1 , where the price threshold comprises a transition end-of-auction price threshold that specifies when the result indicator transitions from a first auction result to a second auction result.
10. The data processing system of claim 9 , where the insured auction result is based on the transition end-of-auction price threshold.
11. The data processing system of claim 9 , where the insurance cost is based on the transition end-of-auction price threshold.
12. A method for insuring an auction result, the method comprising:
obtaining a predicted auction result for an auction item, the predicted auction result comprising a predicted price, a price range, a price threshold, a result indicator that specifies a predicted selling result for the auction item, a confidence measure that specifies confidence in the predicted auction result, or any combination thereof;
providing, by a processor, the predicted auction result to an insurance parameter determination program in a computer memory, the insurance parameter determination program comprising:
instructions that receive the predicted auction result;
instructions that obtain an insured auction result; and
instructions that determine an insurance cost for the insured auction result based on the predicted auction result; and
obtaining the insured auction result and determining the insurance cost by executing, by the processor, the insurance parameter determination program.
13. The method of claim 12 , where obtaining the predicted auction result comprises obtaining both the predicted price for the auction item and the confidence measure.
14. The method of claim 12 , where obtaining the predicted auction result comprises obtaining multiple predicted price thresholds for the auction item and price confidence measures.
15. The method of claim 12 , where obtaining the predicted auction result comprises obtaining multiple auction result indicators.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining a transition end-of-auction price threshold based on the auction result indicators.
17. The method of claim 12 , where the predicted price comprises a predicted end-of-auction price for the auction item.
18. The method of claim 12 , where the price range comprises a predicted end-of-auction price range for the auction item.
19. A computer readable product for auction result insurance, the product comprising:
a machine readable medium;
predicted auction result instructions stored on the medium that obtain a predicted auction result for an auction item, the predicted auction result comprising a predicted price, a price range, a price threshold, a result indicator that specifies a predicted selling result for the auction item, a confidence measure that specifies confidence in the predicted auction result, or any combination thereof;
insurance parameter determination instructions stored on the medium comprising:
instructions that receive the predicted auction result;
instructions that obtain an insured auction result; and
instructions that determine an insurance cost for the insured auction result based on the predicted auction result; and
where the insurance parameter determination program, when executed by a processor, obtains the insured auction result and determines the insurance cost.
20. The product of claim 19 , where the predicted price, price range, price threshold, or any combination thereof, comprises a predicted end-of-auction price, predicted end-of-auction price range, or a predicted end-of-auction price threshold, or any combination thereof.
21. The product of claim 19 , further comprising communication instructions stored on the medium that communicate the insured auction result and the insurance cost to a third party.
22. The product of claim 19 , further comprising price prediction instruction stored on the medium that determine the predicted auction result.
23. The product of claim 21 , where the third party comprises a market participant.
24. The product of claim 21 , where the third party comprises is an insurer.
25. The product of claim 21 , where the third party comprises an online auction system.
26. The data processing system of claim 1 , where:
the memory further comprises auction webpage data for the auction item, the auction webpage data comprising:
auction item submission data for establishing an online auction for the auction item; and
insurance selection data defining an insurance offering for purchasing insurance for the online auction at the insurance cost for the insured auction result.
27. The data processing system of claim 26 , where:
the processor is further operable to receive, from a market participant, an insurance offering selection of the insurance offering and an auction submission instruction for the online auction, and responsively initiate the online auction insured by the insurance offering.
28. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
storing auction webpage data in the computer memory for the auction item, the auction webpage data comprising:
auction item submission data for establishing an online auction for the auction item; and
insurance selection data defining an insurance offering for purchasing insurance for the online auction according to the auction insurance parameters.
29. The method of claim 28 , further comprising:
receiving, from a market participant, an insurance offering selection of the insurance offering and an auction submission instruction for the online auction; and
responsively initiating the online auction insured by the insurance offering after the auction submission instruction is received.
30. The product of claim 19 , further comprising communication instructions operable to:
communicate, to a third party, auction insurance page data for an online auction subject to the predicted auction result, the auction insurance page data comprising a seller-specified auction item characteristic, auction item submission data for establishing an online auction for an auction item, an insurance selector, and an insurance offering comprising the predicted auction result and the insurance cost; and
receive from the third party an insurance offering selection of the insurance offering for the predicted auction result and an auction submission instruction for the online auction for responsively initiating the online auction insured by the insurance offering.