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Thomas Lang Dvd?
hey everyone, does anyone have the Thomas Lang dvd? If so can you tell me if its worth getting? thx!
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
If your into double bass drumming its the DVD you NEED. Thomas lang is awsome
Thomas Lang
My opinion- VERY technical. Way to much
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
i have this dvd, an dit amazing, he covers linear patterns, singles, double, so many combinations.......its stoopid....its ridiculous.....it'll make u wanna giv up drums..lol
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
yeah i have it but it is way above my head. this guy sets the mark for the drummer of the furture. as he says: he does things the way he does it so he compete with programmed drums regardless of their complexity. he has six way independance. but his ideas and exercises are very good. and he is a very likeable teacher. the man is a machine.
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
i love the dvd. tom lang is smokin so yes it is worth getting. the nice thing about it is you can print off all of the exercises.
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
I thought mot of the begining was easy. I dont really have the time to get in the latter section right now.
Re: Thomas Lang
i don't like his sense of groove, but he can improve, he's pretty young still. everything else, i'm jelous of haha.
Re: Thomas Lang
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
Although there are some very advanced excersises, he really does a good job at explaining it so that its easy to understand. He doesn't overcomplicate things and its really simple for me.
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
awesome thx guys!! i just ordered the dvd!! should be here in a couple of days!!! :)
Re: Thomas Lang
he has said it before that he doesnt do solos to show ppl how well he can grove but he throws in little grooves one in a while but doesnt reapeat them so it doesnt sink in.
he is very good though and desereves alot of credit.
Re: Thomas Lang
Re: Thomas Lang
darkcherryfade - where are you from??? I will sell you the dvd - if you really want it, I bought it when I was working in usa, but that wasn/t the best way to invest my money..from 100 exercices, there are max. 10 that are useful . . .the others are, I don't know how to say, but you couldn't use it in regular - mainstream music... the best exercise IMHO is this one :
R - accented righ hand
r - right hand, tap
L - accented left hand
l - left hand, tap
I suggest start really slowly...
Rlrlrlrl Rlrlrlrl Rlrlrlrl ( Rlr Lrl Rlr )
Lrlrlrlr Lrlrlrlr Lrlrlrlr ( Lrl Rlr Lrl )
than I upraded it for my self and that goes like this
RlrlrlRl rlrlRlrl rlRlrlrl ( Rlr Lrl Rlr )
LrlrlrLr lrlrLrlr lrLrlrlr ( Lrl Rlr Lrl )
yeah :)
Re: Thomas Lang
I was a bit dissapointed in the DVD. I thought it should be more about groove. He talks about that it's important to groove, but his playing doesn't get in my pocket. It's too much double bass/advanced feet work all the time. Even he starts out some electronica song pretty cool, he starts doing those double bass licks which certainly don't belong in such a style.
BUT I agree. He should have credits for his amazing technique. He and Marco Minnemann has really set a new standard for feet work and coordination.
Re: Thomas Lang
I love the DVD. Thomas Lang can groove plenty not to say his chops are incredible, thats why he there and were here.
I have been playing plenty long to know whats good or bad and in my opinion Thomas Lang is one of the best drummers alive.
Re: Thomas Lang
Thomas Lang has a great groove. His DVD is mostly about technique. He's got that to spare, but also, keep in mind he's one of London's first call pop session drummers. If you look at his profile here, there's some pretty big names on there. I don't think they'd hire him in the studios if he didn't have taste and groove.
Re: Thomas Lang
I don't get a good feel for him.
It was said that legandary instructor and creator of the most popular drum book, jim chapin, admired jazz drummers such as buddy rich and gene krupa for there sense of groove.
My point is that no matter how technical you are, the sound you achive outweighs it.
And the person with the best sound is of course john bonham :)
Re: Thomas Lang
Re: Thomas Lang
i've seen tl live and i was so amazed by his doublebass playing that i started working with his dvd and those exercises helped me a lot..in my opinion he's one of the best drummers..
Re: Thomas Lang
I'm from Miami, FL. I actually just got a bootlegged copy of the DVD anyway, although I could've lived without it. When I first saw it, I was impressed by some of the exercises but never saw the whole thing. It's not like I was ever dead set on getting it, and having seen it all, now I know I wouldn't have paid for it. He's not the only guy to teach limb independence, and I honestly have no masturbatory need too play fast bass drum and/or hihat patterns with my feet over EVERY SINGLE BEAT! And I watched his solo once and hated it with all my life.
Re: Thomas Lang
If you look at the artists he has played with, they are mainly artists who use beats/drum machines. He's very creative at simulating samples (different hi-hat sounds etc.), but I still doesn't think he's one of the great groovinators, he doesn't make me wanna dance, but hey...that's only one person's opinion.
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
I love that dvd, but it is pretty difficult
Re: Thomas Lang Dvd?
Good evening to everybody,
i really think that this year we assisted to what in the future will be called "The Renassaince" of drumming.
Anybody of you as the Dvd of Bob Breithaupt "Snare Drum Basics" (1998) ??
Well i think that comparing (even with all my respect for mister Breithaupt) both,you really understand what it means evolution.
Ok,someone (Simon Philipps,magazine Percussion and drums,May of current year) sad it s impossible to reproduce the things that mister Lang makes not only in the Dvd but also in the clinics (guys,very nice the solo of Gen x tour,right ???) like Kopenaghen or Budapest in this year.
i think mister Lang perfectly combines the tradition (traditional grip,alternating groups of 16 with both hands) with the idea of "Power Drumming" expressed by Virgil Donati for the first time.
Of course i don t forget Marco Minneman and Johnny Rabb but is goes out fo the forum.
So for me (and i hope somebody will pay me :-) ) is good to buy it.
Thomas Lang Roland V-drum vid
Mr.Lang is a beast but the drums sound real sucky :(
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
they sound sucky because in the beginning they sound how theyre supposed to for that m jackson song (which i swore at first that this was the intro to a concert or something cuz it was note perfect!) but he sure can drum ....
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
this here is actually proof of his groove! finally! i mean i knew it before, but this can help show everyone else....
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
i watched about the first 3 minutes of it.
you guys do realize that is the same song off of his dvd right?
Re: homas Lang Roland V-drum vid
Hahaha this is very true .... I said that after I watched like 4 minutes or something. The v drums are great for some things, but for choppy solos and things, nothing beats an acoustic set for sound n feel
Thomas Lang
7th october in Feedback Rotterdam there is a drum clinic by thomas lang
and IIIII gonna be there (just wanted te let yo know lol)
i'll let you boys and grils know how it was
arjen, rockzilla
thomas lang clinic !!!
hey there yester day i was at the thomas lang clinic in Feedack Rotterdam in holland
let my tell ya that guy is just amazing. what hey can do with his hand, he can play it with his feet!!!!. and fast en dynamic realy good and that Xray set sounde great
i was lucky to be there
rock on
Re: thomas lang clinic !!!
Theres one here in South Africa at the end of November.
I'm Really excited to be going. He's awsome
Re: thomas lang clinic !!!
i was there too in Rotterdam, and i can tell you if you have the dvd of him, creative control, then you will see basically the same things as shown on the dvd.... but its still fun to see him live !!!
c u
Re: Thomas Lang
hes a freak! lots of time and dedication put into what he does.
Re: Thomas Lang
Here's some scary news for all you Extreme Drumming Fans. Right when you thought it was safe to enter the WFD look who gets a Drumometer........http://www.drumometer.com/Images/Photos/ThomasLang.jpg
This is pretty dang scary!
Re: Thomas Lang
It's highly rumored along with today creating somewhat a buzz and guessing game about Thomas Lang becoming the Captain for the WFD-UK division. Have any of you guys heard about this? Boo is still on the road, but this photo is the WFD-USA's worse nightmare. If it's true that Thomas has joined the UK's division, they will slaughter!!!!
This is no doubt WFD-USA's worse nightmare. I would love to know what WFD-USA Captain Mike Mangini has to say about his possible UK counterpart ???
This is shaping up to be a one heck of a showdown between the UK and USA. Any bets ???
Re: Thomas Lang
Thomas Lang just isn't from this world. He isn't...he just isn't...I sure wish I could go to a Thomas Lang clinic.
Re: Thomas Lang
I agree, he is one of the most amazing drummers to ever live. My prediction is if 'TEAM WFD-UK' led by Thomas Lang shows up at the next WFD World Finals in Ca. in January, the WFD Championship Belt will be heading back across the 'Big Pond'.
What do you guys think?
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As the Director of Product Management at Novell, Steve is responsible for the health and evolution of the Virtualization and Workload Management product lines. Additionally Steve works on the continued integration with the broader Novell product portfolios to provide our customers with best of class solutions to their most critical IT management business problems. Before joining Novell in 2009, Steve spent close to 20 years in the financial industry managing complex datacenters from operational, implementation, engineering and architectural perspectives.
Virtualization management is the key to successfully moving beyond basic server consolidation to an agile virtual infrastructure to a private cloud. A well managed virtual environment must include performance and capacity management, automation of virtual operations, troubleshooting and root cause analysis through the virtual and physical infrastructure, lifecycle management, and more. Learn how layering the right management capabilities onto your virtual environment will improve your IT operations and build the foundation for a private cloud.

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Christian O'Connell (Ivan Sergei, Charmed) and Adam Lipschitz (Joel David Moore, Bones) are two childhood friends who reunite as adults to help each other land the women of their dreams. Chris wants to marry Allison (Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List), a Jewish girl, so that he'll never have to make another decision for as long as he lives. Adam is on the verge of getting married to Hannah (Jamie-Lynn Sigler, The Sopranos), a woman he is not content with. When Chris enlists Adam's help in pretending to be Jewish so that Allison will date him, cultures collide and chaos ensues! Inspired by the international smash hit play seen by over a million people, JEWTOPIA stars Ivan Sergei, Joel David Moore, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jon Lovitz, Rita Wilson, Tom Arnold, Peter Stormare, Camryn Manheim, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Wendie Malick, Nicollette Sheridan, Phil Rosenthal, Christine Lakin, Hayes MacArthur and Lin Shaye.
Bryan Fogel is an American playwright, author, producer and film director. He was born in Denver, Colorado, one of three children of David and Linda Fogel. He attended both private and public schools, graduating from East High School and attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. Along with Sam Wolfson, Fogel developed, wrote, and initially starred in the play Jewtopia, an off-Broadway comedy about the dating lives of two young men seeking Jewish women, which was made into a feature film. The play opened in Los Angeles in 2003 and ran for 300 performances. It moved on in 2004 to the off-Broadway Westside Theater in New York, where it ran for more than three years and over a thousand performances before closing in April 2007. It holds the record as one of the longest running and fastest recouping productions in Off-Broadway history. Fogel is also the author of the best-selling book Jewtopia: The Chosen Guide for the Chosen People, also a collaboration with Sam Wolfson The book was published by Hachette Book Group and Fogel appeared on ABC's The View in support of the book. Fogel also directed, co-wrote and produced the feature film adaptation of Jewtopia which will be released in 2013. The film had its U.S. premiere as the opening night gala of the 13th Newport Beach International Film Festival. The film also won the audience choice award of the 2012 Malibu International Film Festival. The film stars Jennifer Love-Hewitt, Jon Lovitz, Joel David Moore, Ivan Sergei, Rita Wilson, Ton Arnold, Peter Stormare, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Wendie Malick, Phil Rosenthal, Camryn Manheim, Lin Shaye, Bree Turner, Hayes MacArthur. He also had a small part in the 2009 Disney movie Race to Witch Mountain.
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Online auction-style listing and transaction system provides new features including for example allowing sellers to issue offers to sell before auction-style listing completion to encourage direct negotiation between seller and buyer for an out-of channel transaction; postponing auction-style end upon receipt of a last-minute bid to prevent sniping; allowing sellers to contact buyers registering adverse ratings before the ratings are published; allowing sellers to terminate listings before end of auction-style listing and/or to move the listing to a classified ad from an auction-style listing; and other features.
1. In an online network-connected computer system of the type that receives requests transmitted over a network from users and responds by providing responsive data over said network for display by said requesting users, a method of performing computer based processes to process online auction-style listings and provide associated responsive data for display, said method comprising:
recording a predetermined listing end time for an auction style listing stored in a computer memory;
receiving, from users over the network, bids with respect to said auction-style listing; and
in response to a determination that the highest bid is less than a reserve price and the reserve price and the highest bid are close within a threshold, prompting at least a seller to issue a direct offer to a user with a highest bid before a listing expiration without revealing the highest bid value to the seller; and
prompting the seller to issue direct offers to sell to any bidders after a listing expiration.
2. The online network-connected computer system of
3. The online network-connected computer system of
4. The online network-connected computer system of
5. The online network-connected computer system of
6. The online network-connected computer system of
7. In an online network-connected computer system of the type that receives requests transmitted over a network from users and responds by providing data over said network for display by said requesting users, a method of performing computer based processes to provide data over the network relating to online auction-style listings, the method comprising:
maintaining a database of items available for auction-style listing;
receiving requests allowing sellers to specify whether items are to be listed in said database as conditional or binding transactions;
in response to user requests received over the network, generating and sending data over the network representing displays of (a) the conditional or binding characteristic of an item listing, and (b) at least some other information relating to the item; and
receiving, from users over the network, bids with respect to said auction-style listing; and
in response to a determination that the highest bid is less than a reserve price and the reserve price and the highest bid are close within a threshold, prompting at least a seller to issue a direct offer to a user with a highest bid before a listing expiration without revealing the highest bid value to the seller; and
prompting the seller to issue direct offers to sell to any bidders after a listing expiration.
8. The online network-connected computer system of
9. The online network-connected computer system of
10. The online network-connected computer system of
11. The online network-connected computer system of
12. The online network-connected computer system of
13. In an online network-connected computer system of the type that receives requests transmitted over a network from users and responds by providing at least data over said network for display by said requesting users, a method of providing online listings comprising:
maintaining at least one database of items listed for sale;
sending, over the network, data representing a user interface display of at least some of said items in a classified advertising listing format;
sending, over the network, data representing a user interface display of at least others of said items in an auction-style listing format;
prompting sellers, through automatic interaction with the computer system, to select item listings and flexibly change selected item listings between said classified advertising and said auction-style listing formats; and
receiving, from users over the network, bids with respect to said auction-style listing; and
sending data over the network encouraging a seller to issue a direct offer to sell to the user with the highest bid before a listing expiration when the highest bid is less than a reserve price and the reserve price and the highest bid are close within a threshold without revealing the highest bid value to the seller.
14. The online network-connected computer system of
15. The online network-connected computer system of
16. The online network-connected computer system of
17. The online network-connected computer system of
18. The online network-connected computer system of
Priority is claimed from provisional application No. 60/437,153 filed Dec. 31, 2002 entitled "Online Method And Apparatus For Auctioning Motor Vehicles And Other Items," incorporated herein by reference.
Not applicable.
This technology relates to computer systems and methods for online transactions, and more particularly to electronic transaction systems and methods enhancing opportunities for increased efficiency by encouraging "out of channel" price negotiation and other transactional processes in the context of online auction-style listings. The technology herein also relates to improved techniques for using online transaction and/or database servers to efficiently market various items including but not limited to "big ticket" items such as new and used cars, trucks, motorcycles and boats.
Online auction-style listings have revolutionized the buying and selling of a wide variety of goods to end purchasers. The World Wide Web now provides efficient online markets for stamps, coins, sports cards, comic books, antique clocks, statuettes, and virtually every other type of collectible imaginable. Even relatively obscure items appealing to only small niches of the population can now be efficiently sold online to the highest bidder.
End users have also been using online auction-style listings to buy and sell other types of goods—for example, discount airline tickets, financial instruments, home electronics, motor vehicles and more. There seems to be a mystique surrounding online auction-style listings that generates buyer excitement and imposes a sense of time pressure. A national or international database of goods can create numerous buying opportunities. These are all ingredients for successful online transactions.
Such online auction-style listing transactions are relatively easy to participate in. The online service provider maintains and operates an online transaction server connected to a database of items for sale. Sellers generally pay a fee for the privilege of listing their items and having them included in the database. The seller is generally able to input a description of the goods including photos, and can set a minimum price that must be exceeded for the item to be sold. The seller may sometimes pay an extra fee to have a more extensive or more prominently featured listing. Sometimes, a seller may also set a fixed price (if a buyer agrees to the set price, the auction-style listing is cancelled and the item is immediately sold at that price to the buyer). The seller may input other terms of sale as well (e.g., type and timing of payment, shipping terms, etc.) The auction-style listings usually expire at a date and time certain (e.g., exactly 7 days after a listing is activated).
To bid on an online auction-style listing, a potential purchaser connects to the transaction server (e.g., over a network such as the Internet using an appliance such as a browser-based computing device) and searches the database for item listings of interest. To submit a bid, the potential purchaser (who must typically register with the online service provider) specifies a price he or she is willing to pay for the item. In "straight bidding," the transaction server establishes this inputted price as the current high bid if it exceeds all other bids. The buyer will be awarded the item at the close of auction-style listing if the bid exceeds any seller-established minimum or reserve price and the buyer is not outbid. If another bidder inputs a higher bid before the close of the listing, the buyer may receive a notice (e.g., by email) giving him a chance to better his or her bid. In a variation known as "proxy bidding", the bidder inputs the maximum amount he or she is willing to pay but the transaction processor only "uses" as much of this amount as is necessary to exceed any other bid(s) and any seller-imposed minimum price.
In such systems, the item is ultimately awarded to the highest bidder at the close of the listing (assuming the seller's minimum price is exceeded). The transaction processor closes the listing at the appointed predetermined time and sends notices to both the seller and the winning buyer. For successful auction-style listing completion, the service provider typically also charges the seller a success fee (e.g., a percentage of the final sales price and/or a flat fee).
To secure success fees-which may represent a substantial part of the service provider's income—service providers have generally designed their systems to push final price negotiation and successful transaction close toward online completion. Such service providers may generally allow the buyer and seller to work out payment, shipping and other transaction details independently (e.g., by exchanging emails) once the listing closes, but the service provider has a big incentive to keep the price negotiation and deal closure entirely within the context of the online transaction server. Some service providers have strict rules forbidding a potential purchaser from contacting a seller and offering to purchase a listed item outside of the service provider's transaction server.
These online auction-style listing arrangements have been very successful for wide arrays of goods. However, not all types of online auction-style listings have been as successful as hoped for. In particular, there are significant challenges to auctioning "big ticket items" including but not limited to cars, trucks, boats, motorcycles, campers, RV's and other motor vehicles.
One of the challenges to successfully conducting online "big ticket" auction-style listing transactions such as for motor vehicles relates to the relatively high cost and relative infrequency of such purchases. Most people do not buy a car or truck very often—usually only once every few years. And such purchases are relatively expensive—people tend to spend more on their car or truck than they do on almost any other purchase except (perhaps) their home. Purchasing a new car can be a trying experience—especially if the buyer is exposed to hidden or unexpected fees or does not receive expected options and features. Purchasing a used car with an unexpected defect (e.g., engine problems, scratched paint, interior damage or odor, leaky windshield, non-working instrumentation, etc.) can be a real disappointment. The buyer's anxiety about receiving less than he or she bargained for is heightened when the seller is a stranger, the transaction is taking place over a computer network and the buyer cannot inspect and test drive the vehicle.
These risks—which are elevated by the relatively high expense of these types of purchases—cause many or most people to be apprehensive about purchasing new or used cars and trucks online. Some buyers are willing to place initial bids at substantially below market value—believing for example that if they can get the vehicle for a low price they can afford to put some extra money into repairs. However, if the online auction-style listing price begins to creep up into the fair market value range (the type of transaction that makes business sense to most sellers), many potential purchasers are unable to tolerate the increased risk and stop bidding. Often, such potential purchasers "bail out" only a few hundreds of dollars short of the seller's minimum price-whereas he or she would likely have bought the vehicle if the buyer and seller had been negotiating directly without a computer intermediary.
The impersonal nature of the computer auction-style listing process is a difficult obstacle when it comes to competing transactions for vehicles and other expensive goods. Direct personal contact may not be essential or even important when selling fungible or less expensive goods. However, for big ticket items such as cars or trucks, real estate, etc. that may cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and can potentially harbor hidden defects and/or fees, most buyers seem to need opportunities for direct, personal contact with the seller and most sellers seem to need opportunities to directly interact with the potential buyer. Generally, buyers need a chance to personally inspect cars and other big ticket items before making a purchasing commitment. In addition, any good car dealer or real estate agent knows that direct personal interaction with potential purchasers on price and other important terms is often the best way to close a deal. For these and other reasons, even though motor vehicle auction-style listing systems are now widely available on the Internet, most people continue to buy their next car or truck by visiting a dealer, "kicking the tires", test driving the vehicle, and negotiating a deal in person.
While the use of computer technology may have something to do with the impersonal nature of certain online transactions, It is certainly possible to create an online environment that is quite user friendly and which encourages direct, rather than strictly online communication between users. Rather, it appears that for the principal reasons why at least some online auction-style listing and transactioning services in the past have been relatively impersonal and therefore unsuccessful for big-ticket items relates to business model choices made by the system designers. For example, if the online service provider chooses to monetize the representation of information to facilitate connections between buyers and sellers, it may be that the computer systems should then be designed to conceal at least some kind of identity or contact information to prevent the buyers and sellers from simply directly contacting one another and thereby avoiding payment of fees to the online service provider. Similarly, if an online service provider desired to monetize successful completion of transactions online, it will generally go to great lengths to put a reliable transaction tracking system in place or even require transactions to be completed online through the online transaction processor. Sellers of big ticket items, such as cars, boats and real estate, on the other hand, know full well that direct contact with potential buyers is important to closing profitable deals. The inherent risk to buyers in purchasing such big-ticket items sight-unseen often leads to realized sale prices below market value, making online transacting a money-losing or low margin proposition. For at least this reason, sellers of so-called big ticket items have in the past generally been displeased with the results they obtain using existing online transactioning and auction-style listing services.
Another disadvantage of certain online auction-style listing systems has to do with a practice known as "sniping"—a way to bid a low-ball price at the very end of an online listing. In general, online auction-style listings are dissimilar from physical auctions in that listings end at a scheduled time, rather than when bidding has ceased. Such specific close times are beneficial to the online service provider who wishes to push the transaction toward closing and arrive at a successful high bid price so he can assess his success fee. However, sophisticated bidders sometimes take unfair advantage of predetermined auction-style listing closing prices by waiting until nearly the last second before submitting a winning bid on an item that would otherwise be sold at substantially below market value. "Sniping" can lead to bidder and seller disappointment and price inefficiency. For example, an astute bidder may observe that an item is about to be sold at well below market value. The astute bidder can wait until just a few seconds before the listing closes before submitting a winning high bid that is still substantially below market value but is higher than the previous high bid. If the astute bidder times his or her bid submission correctly, there will not be enough time remaining in the listing for the next-highest bidder to react and submit a higher bid to provide a more market-representative selling price. In other words, discrete end times for online auction-style listings encourage last-minute bidding, which in turn suppresses realized prices for sellers.
A "proxy bidding" process is one way to lessen the impact of "sniping" and arrive at a more efficient auction price. As explained above, in proxy bidding, the bidder states a highest bid price he or she is willing to pay, but the system submits only as much of this highest bid price as is necessary to achieve a winning high bid. Commonly, however, bidders do not rely entirely on the proxy bidding process but also expect to be able to better their bids if bidding is particularly active. Moreover, proxy bidding can confuse some bidders since the automatic bidding the transaction processor exhibits when handling proxy bidding is not intuitive.
In light of these and other considerations, attempts to conduct online auction-style listings of high-ticket items directly to end user/purchasers have not always been successful. In the context of motor vehicles, for example, most successful online auction completions tend to be for relatively inexpensive motor vehicles with low margins or for relatively scarce, hard-to-find vehicles. The vast majority of new and used vehicle sales are currently not occurring through online transaction systems. Some sophisticated dealers of high priced items may use online auction-style listings mostly as an advertising tool to draw in potential buyers—and some sophisticated buyers tend to use online auction-style listings to demonstrate interest and gather information before initiating direct, personal contacts with sellers. However, many buyers and sellers—even those who make extensive use of online auction-style listing systems to buy and sell certain types of lower cost items—are not using online auction-style listings to purchase their next car, truck, motorcycle, house or other relatively expensive item.
The illustrative non-limiting technology disclosed in this patent specification overcomes these and other problems by providing new online listing and transaction systems and methods that offer increased flexibility and provide a more suitable and efficient competitive bidding environment especially useful for (but not limited to) selling high-ticket items including cars, trucks, boats and other motor vehicles.
One exemplary, illustrative non-limiting feature provided by the technology herein relates to an openness in transaction handling that does away with restrictions on the ability of buyers and sellers to remove an ongoing auction-style listing from the domain of a computerized online transaction processor and instead encourages direct negotiating by email, telephone, in person or in any other convenient way. Under this approach, the goal of the online transaction process is to sell items to willing buyers—not necessarily to sell them online. Rather than using online auction-style listings to complete online transactions, one exemplary illustrative non-limiting arrangement presents online auction-style listings as enhanced interactive advertising—i.e., a type of classified ad that allows potential buyers to interact with the ad and express interest. Buyers are permitted and encouraged to submit bids, but the online transaction server provides various features that encourage buyers and sellers to negotiate price and other purchasing terms "out of channel"—that is, entirely out of the control of the online transaction processor. For example, one illustrative non-limiting feature informs buyers and sellers who are close in price without informing them how close they actually are, in order to encourage a deal. Upon receiving a "closeness" notification, the buyer may better his or her bid, the seller may lower his or her minimum price, or the buyer and seller may begin negotiating directly outside of the online transaction processor to close a deal. A seller can suspend an ongoing auction-style listing at any time for a limited time period while he or she negotiates with an interested buyer/bidder by for example, issuing a formal offer. If the negotiation results in a deal, the seller can simply terminate the auction-style listing early. This "closeness" functionality encourages many deals that might in other context not be made at all.
For example, in one exemplary non-limiting illustrative implementation, if the buyer places a bid or a maximum bid that is "close to" (within a particular percentage that is randomly selected within a range such as 2% to 16%, such as for example 9% to 16%) but does not equal or exceed the seller's minimum price, the electronic transaction system notifies at least one of the parties (i.e., the seller and/or the potential buyer or both) that the potential buyer has submitted a bid which is close to the seller's minimum price. For example, in one exemplary arrangement, the notification may be trigged by the current high proxy or straight bid (i.e., the maximum amount a bidder has indicated he is willing to pay) being within a predetermined range of the seller's minimum price (i.e., the minimum price the seller is willing to sell the item for). In one exemplary arrangement, the current high bid may be a proxy bid that is different from the prevailing maximum bid (e.g., if it is possible to submit bids that are less than the buyer's minimum price). The notification gives the seller and/or potential buyer an opportunity to establish contact and try to negotiate a mutually agreeable price. In one illustrative implementation, the system does not reveal the actual current high proxy bid (if proxy bidding is being used) or the seller's reserve price—but it informs the parties that those two values are within a predetermined range (which range may itself be kept secret and which may be changed from time to time to reduce predictability). This encourages the parties to contact each other and negotiate a price.
In an exemplary illustrative arrangement, upon receiving such a notification, the seller has the option of reaching out to the potential buyer by using the online transaction process to send the potential buyer an offer to sell at a specified price—and/or the potential buyer can reach out to the seller by sending the seller a price at which he is willing to purchase the item. In the exemplary embodiment, the formal offer to sell may be time-sensitive, i.e., it may expire within a certain amount of time. In such non-limiting arrangement, bidding on the item is temporarily halted while the receiving party considers the offer. If the offer is accepted, a contract of sale is formed and the item is removed from listing. If the offer is ignored or declined, it expires and bidding on the item resumes. If the offeree is unwilling to accept the offer but wishes to negotiate, he or she can submit a counter-offer—and the potential buyer and seller can continue to negotiate on price and terms until they reach agreement. This negotiation can be by email exchanges, chat, telephone, in person or any other convenient way. If agreement cannot be reached, bidding resumes so other buyers once again have a chance to bid.
This enhanced acceptance functionality as described above has the effect of taking the transaction "out of channel" by interrupting the ongoing auction-style listing and possibly placing it "on hold" while the seller and a potential buyer "step off to the side" to negotiate. Such untraditional behavior at real-life auctions would likely get buyers and sellers into trouble. However, we have discovered that untraditional approaches may be more effective and efficient in the context of online auction-style listing and transactioning of certain types of items such as motor vehicles or other high-ticket items. In such contexts, an online auction-style listing may function as a very effective, interactive classified advertisement to attract buyer interest, but a direct negotiation will usually be much more effective and efficient for developing a mutually agreeable price and closing a deal. Exemplary illustrative implementations meet this challenge by providing online transaction presentation and processing techniques that actively encourage out-of-channel price and other negotiations instead of the more traditional approach of maintaining control over the transaction.
Another interesting and advantageous non-limiting feature relates to the use of auction-style listings as interactive advertisements. Traditionally, auction-style listings have been used to drive online transactions towards an online closure. In contrast, in accordance with this non-limiting aspect, auction-style listings are used more as interactive advertisements that solicit potential purchaser interest and contact information. More than simply providing "leads" of some conventional interactive ads (e.g., indicating that the user has "clicked on" an online ad to indicate interest and to request additional information), this advantageous use of auction-style listings provides sellers with the ability to reach out and contact potential buyers who have expressed sufficient interest in possibly one-of-a-kind merchandise existing at a particular geographical location, that they have submitted a potentially binding bid offering to purchase the item for a particular specified amount. Such "leads" are much more valuable and useful to sellers than mere indications of interest in receiving additional information.
One example illustrative non-limiting implementation provides the following advantageous features among others:
Additional non-limiting illustrative features of one example implementation include:
Illustrative General Auction Rules/Processes
Illustrative Registration Processes
Illustrative Seller Registration
Illustrative Seller Summary Page
Illustrative Buyer Registration
Illustrative Login Summary Page
Illustrative Listing Sources
Illustrative FSBO And Dealer Listing Tools
Illustrative Dealer Listing Tools Functionality
Illustrative Other Listing Formats
Illustrative Off-Line Sales
Illustrative Bidding Activities
Illustrative Purchase Now
Illustrative "Deadbeat" Bidder Processing
Illustrative Bidding Styles
Illustrative Seller Advantages
Illustrative Shill Bidding Processing and Detection
Illustrative Feedback Mechanisms
Illustrative Seller Initiated Feedback
Illustrative Buyer Initiated Feedback
Illustrative Feedback Lag Time
Illustrative Negative Feedback Processing
Illustrative Trusted Seller Status
Illustrative Security Procedures
Illustrative Data Services
Integration of third party services into the auction product. This involves data passing between online transaction site and the vendor. Third-party services can play a role in the auctions product. The following services may be provided in a motor vehicle context, for example:
Illustrative Lead Management
Illustrative Billing Processing
These and other features and advantages will be better and more completely understood by referring to the following detailed description of exemplary non-limiting illustrative implementations in conjunction with the drawings of which:
As shown in
If the user 90 is a seller, the user can insert a classified listing or an auction-style listing into the database 106 a (
Users 90 may review selected listings and, in the case of auction style listings, submit bids (
In one example illustrative non-limiting implementation, online auction platform 50 is used to provide online retail automotive and other auction-style services to enable dealers and private sellers to list items for sale in an online auction-style setting but other types of goods are also possible including for example real estate, boats, airplanes, or almost any other king of item. Sellers are able to set a minimum price and a "purchase now" price. Buyers have the ability to research sellers' items and past transactions via history reports, inspection service partners and seller ratings. The functionality is that of an open-ended, advertising and transaction mechanism—meaning it is designed to minimize system-imposed rules that could slow down the speed, frequency and efficiency of transactions. The illustrative implementation sacrifices ability to measure conversion rate in some regards to improve ease of use and success for its participants. Offline item sales—that is, sales resulting from online auctions that do not "close" online—are considered a good result even though the online service provider is not necessarily able to measure performance due to the out-of-channel nature of these transactions.
Exemplary illustrative online transaction platform 50 provides ease of use, focus on driving local transactions (on and offline), and integrates well with existing/future portfolios of classified listing products 106 a, 202. For example, in an illustrative non-limiting implementation, sellers can easily move listings between classified and auction style listing presentations. The online platform 50 and associated services can be offered as both stand alone services and as part of a bundle of advertising products (e.g., including online and print classified advertising). Posting 203, 204, managing, reporting 202 and billing 210 are synchronized between auction and non-auction style listings in the exemplary illustrative implementation so each can leverage off the other.
The illustrative online platform 50 is simple to use for dealers and private sellers and buyers in all functional areas including for example registration, listing, management and bidding. A rating system 206 is used to rate sellers, with a "cooling off" delay time before ratings are posted and published. Third party services are offered to provide data on items available through auction-style listings.
Example Registration Process
Before participating in an online transaction using exemplary illustrative system 50, both sellers and buyers register with the server 104 (
Dealers who do not use online classified listings but wish to sign up for online auction-style listings may be asked to provide various information (e.g., dealership name, contact info, address, phone, inventory size, franchise brands, contact names, etc.). Their registration-whether initiated in the field by dealer sales or online via a dealer community signup form—may be processed manually to generate customer support and training follow up. Private sellers are discouraged from posting fraudulent listings by, in one exemplary embodiment, a required submission of credit card information for listing fee payment before the listing is posted. Verification provider services may be used for additional security and fraud-protection if desired.
Seller registration in one exemplary illustrative implementation requests the registrant to acknowledge that the online transaction platform 50 is designed to drive item sales both online and offline. The onus of making sales is upon the seller, not the service 50.
Seller tools 208 including login-protected seller summary pages are used so sellers can view recent and historical activity on their auction-style listings. They are able to retrieve bidder email addresses and other information. Dealer sellers may access such interface in an online dealer community. Private sellers are able to access such functions in a consumer seller online summary area. Sellers are preferably, in one exemplary illustrative implementation, restricted from re-registering with a new user name to escape feedback ratings.
Bidder registration 214, in one exemplary arrangement, uses an online form that collects various bidder information such as name, address, telephone number, email, etc. Email addresses may be verified by an email confirmation loop sent to the user with a link that the user uses to come back and complete registration (see
All registrants are, in one exemplary illustrative arrangement, asked to choose a password. A password reminder utility may be used to help with this process. By inputting user ID and password, bidders are given access to buyer tools 209 including a login summary page where they can view their bidding activity, links to listings upon which they have bid or may have an interest in bidding (e.g., a "watched item"), and to see summaries of auction-style listings they have won or lost.
Example Listing Process
System 50 may accept listings from multiple sources including, for example:
For sale by owner and dealer listing tools 208 are preferable provided in one exemplary illustrative arrangement with a variety of listing functionality including for example:
Dealer listing tools 208 may have the following additional illustrative listing functionality:
In one illustrative implementation, sellers may be asked to pay a per-listing fee for auction-style listings. Dealers may be able to receive discounted insert fees by committing to a certain volume of use within a given time period. System 50 does not, in one exemplary illustrative arrangement, levy any success fee. Private sellers may pay the same fee as dealer sellers (except possibly buy and discount opportunities). Dealers are able to sign up for an a la carte service online within the dealer community to allow for paid sampling of the online listing service. Measures may be put in place to prevent dealer-sellers from using for sale by owner auction-style functionality if desired.
In one exemplary embodiment, listing durations can be selected by the seller to range from certain time periods (e.g., three to ten days) with no change in fee structure for duration. Various listing reporting formats are possible including for example:
As shown in
High proxy bid amounts are displayed in one exemplary arrangement, on the auction style listing in as close to real time as possible. The high bid may be displayed with the high bidder's chosen user name. All bidders are encouraged to protect themselves and may be educated in what "free" or low cost services are provided, e.g., item history reports, third party inspections, service contracts, transaction insurance, mediation and transportation services.
Bidders may be able to bid any amount above the seller's pre-set minimum bid. In the event a bidder's bid is higher than the seller's minimum sell price, both parties may be notified that they have reached a binding price by an indicator within the listing (seller's minimum price met notice). Both high bidder and seller will also be notified if a subsequent higher bid is submitted (an outbid notice). The previous high bidder may have the option to return to the listing and submit a higher bid. Bids near the end of an auction-style listing (e.g., within the last five minutes) may automatically extend the duration of the listing for another pre-set period (e.g., another five minutes). Each subsequent bid in the extended listing time may extend the auction time by another pre-set time period to ensure the most efficient price has been reached and to discourage "sniping."
"Purchase now" functionality may allow sellers to set a purchase now price which, when met, closes an auction-style listing automatically. "Purchase now" may be available to all sellers free of charge. "Purchase now" prices can be equal to or above an item's minimum price, and disappear once an item's minimum price has been met.
Proxy bidding may in some implementations be used to record a bidder's maximum bid amount and to automatically bid for bidders only to the point where they have beaten the next highest bidder. Proxy bids that meet the seller's reserve may result in the bid matching the reserve price and notifying buyer and seller that they have reached an agreeable price. Bidders may be allowed to out bid themselves (e.g., set a higher maximum bid amount). Proxy bidding may be augmented by an auction-style management interface and update emails providing buyer and seller with near-perfect information on bidding activity and how close the maximum bid amounts (e.g., rather than the publicly displayed proxy bid amounts) are to reaching an agreeable price. This mechanism encourages many additional potential transactions to occur because buyer and seller are informed that they are relatively close in price. In one exemplary arrangement, bidders are not able to retract bids whereas sellers have the option of canceling bids.
Users who bid and win auction-style listings and are reported as "dead beats" may be suspended from using system 50. Merely failing to complete a transaction is preferably, in one exemplary arrangement, not sufficient grounds for suspension (e.g., the item may have been misrepresented, extra unexpected fees may have been tacked on, etc.) Not responding to repeated attempts at contact by the seller after a successful auction may be cause for suspension.
System 50 also provides "blocked bidders" page freezed by sellers to specify (and unspecify) particular bidders that the seller blocks from bidding on auction-style listings. The seller may add and delete bidders at will from this list.
Shill bidding is preferably forbidden and aggressively policed. Functionality is provided to track bidding patterns (a bidder who frequently bids on a seller's listing), IP address recognition and other tracking ability to link sellers who register with a separate bidding ID to bid on their own vehicles. Shill bidding may result in automatic suspension from using the auction-style listings and cancellation of all outstanding listings by the seller with no credit for listing fees.
In one example implementation, once the seller has inputted all the information for an auction style listing, the seller may be asked to log in (block 612) (if not yet registered, the seller may be asked to register at block 236 a) and agree to pay (or be billed by credit card or other payment mechanism) for the new listing (block 614). System 50 acknowledges the new listing and the payment (block 616).
Manage Inventory
The following describes a particular non-limiting example of how a seller might manage listing inventory and place and maintain an auction-style listing a Jeep Wrangler:
The list displays a variety of information as shown with embedded hypertext links that when selected bring up the "edit item info" page (also reachable under "add inventory" shown in
As shown in
Clicking on the "ad inventory" link in this exemplary illustrative implementation moves the seller to the exemplary page shown in
In one exemplary arrangement, "comment builder" assists users in preparing comments by displaying a list of prepared comments. The user can click on any of the prepared comments displayed in this window and the selected comment will be inserted into the comment window. The user can save his own customized comments for later use in a personalized comment builder if desired.
Any of these fields are searchable by users looking for items. For example, in the context of a motor vehicle search, users may be able to search based on mileage, retail price, exterior color, number of doors, engine, body style, transmission, etc.
As shown in
Once the seller has completed all of the information, hitting the "next" button brings up a preview page as shown for example, in
At the bottom right-hand corner of
Once the user is satisfied with the auction-style information inputted, the user may select the "next" button to display an "upload photo" page of the type shown in
In the exemplary implementation, clicking on the "next" button brings up a "preview listing" page of the type shown in
Example Search, Select and Bid
Search results can be compared automatically to provide a spreadsheet of equivalent information.
In one exemplary non-limiting implementation, ZIP code based searches are particularly advantageous because they facilitate the ability of potential purchasers to inspect the item and meet the seller.
The exemplary illustrative non-limiting auction-style details page shown in
If the prospective buyer wishes to place a bid, he or she enters an amount in the "your maximum bid" field box and clicks on "place bid." In the illustrative implementation, the bid is not yet final when the user clicks on "place bid"—the user has another chance to review it later. The exemplary illustrative arrangement, a winning conditional bid simply obligates the bidder to inspect the item (and to complete the purchase if the item is as described in the listing). A winning final and binding bid obligates the bidder to buy the item. Bidders choose the maximum bid they are willing to make for the item. This amount is kept secret. In one exemplary arrangement, the auction-style listings use a bidding system called proxy bidding. This system places bids on the bidder's behalf up to their maximum bid. The system 50 only ever bids the minimum necessary to make the prospective purchaser the high bidder. If the maximum bid is above the seller's reserve price, the system automatically enters a bid on the bidder's behalf equal to the reserve price. If the seller has set a reserve price (a minimum selling price) the system 50 can detect when a bidder is going to pay an amount for a car that is close to what the seller wants. When this happens system 50 e-mails both parties and suggests they negotiate directly. However, under such conditions, system 50 does not necessarily reveal the bidder's maximum bid or the seller's reserve price. In this example, the reserve price is set by the seller and typically represents the lowest amount they will accept for the item. The seller has no obligation to sell the item in response to a bid unless it equal or exceeds the reserve price. If a listing has no reserve price, the seller must sell the item at the winning bid price no matter what that may be. In one exemplary embodiment, system 50 indicates whether or not the reserve price has been met but may not necessarily make the reserve price public. The bidder with the highest bid outbids all others. Other bidders are notified when they are outbid, and can bid again. The highest bidder at the listing's end wins. If the seller has set a reserve price then the winning bid must also be at least equal to the reserve price. If it not, the seller need not sell to the winning bidder.
In the
As one example of how bidding works suppose Scott is selling an item auction style. He sets a starting price of $5,000.00 and a reserve price of $7,000.00. Vicky enters a maximum bid of $6,000.00. Hers is the first bid, so the system bids the starting price: $5,000.00. Nathan then enters a maximum bid of $8,000.00. Because Nathan's bid is above Scott's reserve price, the system enters a bid equal to the reserve price. Nathan is now the high bidder at $7,000.00 and Vicky is outbid. Because his reserve price has been exceeded, Scott is now obligated to sell his item to the eventual winning bidder. Esther then places a maximum bid of $8,500.00. Although there is a difference of $500.00 between Nathan and Esther's maximum bids, the system bids the least amount necessary to put someone ahead. The system therefore enters a bid for Esther of for example, $8001.00—and Nathan is outbid. Different increments may be used (e.g., increments of $50.00 as opposed to $1.00 if desired). Assuming there are no further bids, Esther wins with a bid of $8,001.00 (even though she is prepared to pay up to $8,500.00). Esther and Scott complete the transaction. If the winning bid had not or exceeded his reserve price, Scott would not be obligated to sell.
Suppose Scott creates a conditional listing with a reserve price of $7,000.00. Nathan bids on the listing. He understands that a winning bid obligates him to inspect the item and, if it was accurately described in the listing, to purchase it. When the listing ends, Nathan's bid of $7,050.00 wins. He contacts Scott and arranges to inspect the item. Nathan inspects the item but is concerned about some defect that was not mentioned in the listing. He concludes that the item was not accurately described in the listing and decides not to buy it. He immediately tells Scott. Scott offers to fix the item free of charge and offers Nathan an additional free premium. Nathan agrees. Scott has the item fixed and they complete the sale.
At auction-style listing end, system 50 in one exemplary arrangement delivers to the seller the contact information for the winning bidder (should one exist) and also allow the seller to access contact information (e.g., via email only) for non-winning bidders. Winning bidders' name, phone number, email address, city and state may be revealed to the seller.
Encouraging Out of Channel Negotiation
The illustrative implementation is designed to create a dynamic priced negotiation mechanism—i.e., a haggling tool for the buyer and seller. Auction-style management tools 211 in exemplary arrangement present nearly perfect information on buyer-seller activities in the marketplace without removing the protections inherent in a proxy or other bidding system. Proxy bidding (e.g., the system bids for the bidder up to a maximum amount specified by the bidder) may be used but with an additional layer of information delivered to buyers and sellers when they near a transaction. As an example, if a bidder's maximum actual bid is $10,000 and a seller's minimum sell price is $11,000, proxy bidding could make public a bid of only $5000 (enough to outbid the next highest bidder). System 50 may initiate a notification function to give both high bidder and seller an indication (but not actual numbers) letting them know they are close to an agreeable selling price. This communication can be facilitated by both email and by notifications within the bidder's and seller's login-protected auction-style activity pages. The fact that the auction-style marketplace provided by system 50 allows near-perfect information is desirably clearly stated in user agreements, buyer-seller frequently asked question reports (FAQs) and elsewhere to make it clear that proxy bids are not necessarily perfectly private.
Exemplary illustrative system 50 also allows sellers to make an offer to high bidders during an auction-style listing and to multiple bidders once an auction-style listing is closed. Such seller offers take place in the background, invisible to other bidders and sellers using system 50. If a bidder accepts the offer, the auction-style listing can be updated to indicate the winning bidder, the final price and the time of sale. Any "purchase now" offer on a listing with a live seller offer outstanding is preferably disabled in one exemplary embodiment to prevent two bidders from purchasing the same item.
System 50 may also in one exemplary arrangement allow sellers to change their "purchase now" price during an auction-style listing and/or accept an existing bid that has already been placed if it is above the seller's minimum price, ending the auction-style listing at that price. System 50 may also allow sellers to cancel bids from individual bidders and/or block bidders from bidding on their items.
In a case where a seller and buyer agree to a selling price outside the auction-style listing environment, seller tools 208 may provide sellers with a function that allows them to remove the item from auction-style listing and indicate that the item was sold to a bidder. Because there is no success fee contemplated in one exemplary non-limiting arrangement, there should be little incentives for sellers not to freely acknowledge use of the auction-style listing as a selling tool. Sellers may also elect to use a seller offer function if that bidder is the current high bidder and the auction-style listing is still live.
Sellers and buyers who transact offline may be notified that their purchase will be ineligible for ratings, but not otherwise pressured to transact online. In one example implementation, there are no penalties or suspensions implied or levied against buyers and sellers for successfully transacting offline after placing an online auction-style listing.
In one exemplary arrangement, a mechanism is used for motivating buyers to report out of channel auction-style item purchases. For example, in the context of a motor vehicle auction-style transaction setting, a limited powertrain warranty could be offered either free of charge or at a discount to buyers (whether they committed online or offline) if they communicate with system 50 to confirm their purchase within a certain amount of time. Such a warranty would allow the warranty provider an upsell opportunity on a more extensive service contract. Such a mechanism would provide buyer-side verification of the system 50's utility as an advertising/selling mechanism.
Sellers may be encouraged to work leads created during an online auction-style listing, especially in cases where the winning bidder does not complete the transaction. In one exemplary arrangement, sellers are not provided with the bidder's phone numbers unless they are the winning bidder. Subsequent bidders may be approached by the dealer via email (a less intrusive contact in general than a telephone call) and should in one exemplary arrangement not be obligated to respond.
In the illustrative arrangement, if the requisite degree of closeness exists ("yes" exit to block 252), system 50 displays this fact to the bidder immediately (e.g., via a "popup" or other web page notice) sends notifications (e.g., by email) to both the buyer and the seller indicating for example "you are close, you should talk and work a deal" (
Mid Auction Functionality Including Formal Offers to Sell
In one exemplary illustrative arrangement, the seller at any time has an opportunity to issue an "offer to sell" to the potential buyer (
In one exemplary arrangement, once an offer is made an "offer outstanding" indication is added to the auction-style listing with a link to something that explains it. In a particular implementation, the auction style listing gets put on hold for a duration. If the offer is accepted, the auction-style listing ends. If the offer is not accepted, the auction-style listing continues. The seller in one exemplary arrangement comes in an closes the auction style listing when an offer is accepted. If nothing happens within a predetermined time period, system 50 takes the "offer outstanding" off of the listing and the auction-style listing continues (but in one exemplary arrangement does not extend beyond the original auction duration/time left).
The exemplary
In one exemplary illustrative implementation, similar "offer to sell" functionality can also be invoked unilaterally at any time by the seller during or after an auction to offer to the current highest and/or other bidder(s) whether or not the highest bid satisfies the "closeness" threshold. See
An additional interesting feature that may be useful in certain contexts is to allow the seller to manipulate the seller's "reserve" price (i.e., the minimum price the seller is willing to sell the item at) during bidding. For example, the seller might wish to lower his or her reserve price to below an already-existing top bid in order to drive a transaction. In such an instance, the system 50 can send an e-mail notification to the buyer saying in essence "the seller has lowered his reserve price to below your bid—do you still want the item or should be cancel your bid?" Such an e-mail or other notification is probably desirable since the bidder had previously received feedback from system 50 that his or her bid was still below the reserve price and may then have changed his or her plans and gone off to purchase or bid another similar item. In other exemplary arrangements, it may be desirable in certain contexts to allow a seller to raise his or her reserve price in order to obtain higher bids. For example, if bidding on an item is particularly active but the reserve price has not yet been met, the seller could take a change and increase the reserve price before any bidder has exceeded the reserve price in order to try and drive a higher final sales price. Many bidders assume that the seller's reserve price is a reasonable price for the item and may therefore be hesitant to bid much beyond the reserve price (except in the case of a bidding war). By notifying bidders in advance that the seller can manipulate reserve price information in the middle of an auction-style listing, the seller could be given additional flexibility in terms of changing the minimum price at which he or she will be obliged to sell the item.
Exemplary illustrative system 50 provides auction-style listing management tools 211 in addition to those described above. These tools 211 allow sellers and bidders to freely interact with one another and also provide additional functionality such as displaying historical information. See for example
Example Seller Rating Processing
In one exemplary illustrative arrangement, seller ratings allow users to learn about other users experiences with sellers. Ratings help prospective bidders decide whether to do business with a particular seller. The seller rating system also encourages seller and buyers to resolve any outstanding issues between the time the ratings are first submitted and the final posting. The seller rating system provides an incentive to sellers to operate with honesty, consideration and courtesy, and rewards them for doing so. In the exemplary implementation, any winning bidder—including "purchase now" bidders can write sellers based on their experiences. Not all winning bidders will complete all sales they bid on in the exemplary arrangement (e.g. some bids are conditional), but they may, nevertheless, submit seller ratings in the exemplary implementation. System 50 prompts winning bidders to post feedback within a certain time period after they have won a listing. To rate sellers, winning bidders may answer three simple questions described above. Winning bidders may also leave comments about their experiences with sellers. When a rating is posted, the system alerts the seller to review their rating. Seller ratings are, at this stage, visible only to the winning bidder and the seller. Ratings are editable within a certain amount of time period. During this time, sellers and winning bidders should work together to remove outstanding reasons for any unsatisfactory rating. After that certain time period has expired, the seller rating is published and added to the seller's profile. The seller rating is now viewable by all users of system 50. Once published, neither the poster nor the seller can change seller ratings in the exemplary embodiment. If the seller is content with the winning bidder's feedback, they may post it immediately rather than waiting the predetermined time period.
The average person only purchases a high-ticket item such as a house or motor vehicle relatively infrequently. In one exemplary embodiment, system 50 does not necessarily provide any feedback ratings on buyers (although they may be removed or suspended as discussed above). However, seller feedback may be used as driven by buyers' experiences with that seller in online transactions. Sellers may be given an incentive to receive positive feedback from buyers using the auction-style listings. In cases of negative feedback, sellers may be given opportunity to work the issue out with the user who has posted the negative feedback before the negative feedback is actually made public. In one exemplary arrangement, the buyer has the ability to express degrees of satisfaction with the transaction overall and the components of the dealer's handling of the transaction (e.g., responsiveness, price, accuracy, etc.). A feedback system consisting of a single "yes or no" recommendation may be insufficient for these types of needs.
In the exemplary arrangement, ratings are not instantly applied to a seller's rating. Instead, all feedback relating to a particular seller may be available for review by that seller for a certain amount of time (e.g., a week). The seller may receive email notification when new feedback is posted to maximize his or her time to review the rating. The seller may then have the option of allowing the feedback to be immediately posted in his or her permanent record, or to work with the buyer to satisfy any concerns. During the review time, the buyer will have the opportunity to alter his or her feedback. If the buyer does not alter his or her feedback in one exemplary arrangement, it is applied to the seller's rating history after the predetermined time period has expired. The seller may also have the opportunity to comment in response to any individual rating. Buyer attempts to blackmail a seller using feedback may be discouraged or prevented using various mechanisms.
Sellers who build up substantial negative feedback over the course of several listings may be contacted and issued warnings. Continually negative feedback may be cause for removal of the dealer's access to the product. Bidders will see seller's feedback ratings in full detail when they click on the seller's feedback rating on a listing. Sellers whose ratings reaching a certain point may be granted "trusted seller" status for display on all their listings. Such "trusted seller" thresholds may be accompanied by lower listing fees, special customer service treatment and/or other perks.
Any user 90 of system 50 can display the ratings associated with any seller to determine, based on past experience that other buyers have had with the seller, whether the seller is trustworthy (see also
Example Third Party Service Offerings
Third party services may be used to augment the auction-style listing services. Such third party services may include for example:
Reporting may be provided to dealers including for example:
Such reports may be summarized by a variety of methods e.g., sales representative, district, or region or in their entirety. For sale by owner reports may be generated similar to those listed above. It may be desirable to provide an ability to "snapshot" product activity (e.g., current count of items up for auction, sold items, month to date, etc.). It may also be desirable to collect consumer use data such as for example number of clicks/uniques to auction listings, number of leads generated, number of leads driven to other products, number of service partner session/uniques, etc.
Example Illustrative Non-Limiting Architecture
Web servers 1002 in the illustrative non-limiting examples may require information from databases 106 (e.g. auction-style information, item information, etc.) to generate and populate web pages for use by user browsers 100. In the example illustrative arrangement, these user interface web servers 1002 generate API calls requesting web and other service functions (e.g., information about groups of items and/or users, searches, certain calculations such as start, end and expiration times for listings, seller history based on ID, etc.). Any of a variety of different calling mechanisms (e.g., single object access protocol "SOAP", XML, RMI, HTTP "get post", or other transmission protocols) can be selected based on performance optimizations or for other reasons. User interface web servers 1002 provide these API calls to API servers 1004 via a load balancer 1008. Load balancer 1008 in the example illustrative arrangement provides "round robin" routing of API calls to API servers 1004 to evenly distribute loading and achieve speed performance and fault tolerance. API servers 1004 may be, if desired, separated into different categories (e.g., one set of API servers for the user community, another set for the dealer community) so that speed performance is maintained under unequal loading conditions. API servers 1004 communicate with resources at the "back end" (on the right hand side of
In the example embodiment, "back end" consists of database management systems including for example an auction style GBMS 106 b, 106 c that stores auction-style listing related information (e.g., registered user information, seller ratings, scheduling and expiration, bidding amounts, etc.); an item master DBMS 106 a that stores item related information (e.g., in one exemplary illustrative arrangement for both classified and auction-style listed items); a snapshot DBMS 106 x which in the exemplary arrangement replicates the item master DBMS 106 a; a data warehouse 106 e, and other resources 106 f. A single API call from user interface web servers 1002 can cause an API server 1004 to generate multiple SQL or other database calls to database system 106, gathers the various information and packaging in an appropriate form for applying to the user interface API call. One exemplary arrangement, API servers 1004 may be able to access outside resources 106 g to any desired path (e.g. via network 102) to satisfy requests.
In one example arrangement, third party applications 199 may be able to access API servers 1004 directly to provide various services including for example listing design, value-added user services, etc. API servers 1004 can provide translation services if necessary to provide compatibility with third party applications.
The example arrangement, the API servers 1004 are built around real time operations so that most things happen immediately. JMS (part of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition) can be used to provide real time request queuing and response. In the example embodiment, messaging is implemented as a background process but is performed in close to real time as opposed to in a batch mode for example. Thus, generation of e-mails and other messaging happens substantially in real time with when the associated API call is made. System 50 performs some routine housekeeping operations on a non-real time scheduled basis (e.g., cleaning up data that has not been touched for a while, issuing acceptance from minors to dealers that they have received feedback and that the deadline for response/posting is coming up, etc.) but in the exemplary illustrative arrangement most events happen in real time or close to real time. Component reusability is used as much as possible for ease of design and flexibility, and extensive performance tuning and configuration is used to provide quick real time scalable responsivity under variable loading conditions.
While the illustrative exemplary technology described herein has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the illustrative exemplary technology described herein is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment. For example, while the preferred embodiment has been described in connection with an illustrative system for selling "big ticket" items such as motor vehicles, the techniques herein could be used for online auctions, offerings and listings for any type of goods or services of any value. While the preferred embodiment has been described in connection with an exemplary web-based system using Internet connectivity, any other type of connectivity and display technology could be used instead. The illustrative exemplary technology described herein is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the claims.
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- MSRP from $69,900*
Trim Overview
2015 CTS-V Coupe CTS-V Coupe
- As shown: $69,900*
- Rear Wheel Drive
- 14 City /
- 19 Highway
- **
- Exterior
- Wheels, 19" x 9" (48.3 cm x 22.9 cm) front, 19" x 10" (48.3 cm x 25.4 cm) rear, Satin Graphite (No charge for available (RUZ) 19" high polished wheels.)
- Tires, P255/40R19 front and P285/35R19 rear Y-rated summer only performance (Do not use summer only tires in winter conditions, as it would adversely affect vehicle safety, performance and durability. Use only GM-approved tire and wheel combinations. Unapproved combinations may change the vehicle's performance characteristics. For important tire and wheel information, go to www.cadillac.com/owners/accessories or see your dealer.)
- Tire Inflation Kit
- Grille, Black Chrome finish
- Headlamps, high intensity discharge with Adaptive Forward Lighting System and flash-to-pass.
- Headlamp washer system
- Fog lamps, integrated in front fascia
- CHMSL, V-Series
- Mirrors, outside heated power-adjustable, body-color, manual-folding
- Glass, Solar-Ray light-tinted
- Wipers, front intermittent with washers
- Wipers, Rainsense
- Interior
- Seats, Recaro performance
- Leather Seating Surfaces with Sueded fabric inserts
- Seats, heated/ventilated driver and front passenger
- Seat adjuster, 8-way power front passenger
- Head restraints, active front
- Seat adjusters, 2-way power driver and front passenger lumbar control
- Seat, rear split-folding
- Console, front floor with floor shifter, integral armrest, storage compartment and cup holders
- Armrest, front center
- Console, rear center with dual cup holders
- Floor mats, carpeted front and rear
- Steering column, power rake wheel and telescopic with memory
- Steering wheel, sueded rim and sueded shift knob
- Steering wheel controls, mounted controls for audio and cruise and Bluetooth (Also includes Traction Control/StabiliTrak button.)
- Instrumentation, analog with speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, oil pressure gauge, engine water temperature gauge and Driver Information Center
- Fuel gauge, analog
- Windows, power with front Express-down/-up and front passenger lockout
- Door locks, power programmable includes lockout protection and delayed locking
- Pedals, sport alloy
- Keyless Access, passive entry
- Keyless start, switch
- Universal Home Remote, includes garage door opener, 3-channel programmable
- Cruise control, electronic with set and resume speed
- Trunk release, power
- Theft-deterrent alarm system
- Theft-deterrent system, vehicle, PASS-Key III
- Climate control, dual-zone automatic with individual climate settings for driver and right-front passenger
- Air filtration system, automatic cabin odor filtration
- Defogger, rear-window electric with front and side window outlets for the driver and right-front passenger
- Mirror, inside rearview auto-dimming with OnStar controls
- Visors, driver and front passenger illuminated vanity mirrors
- Lighting accent, LED spotlights with lighting pipes
- Cargo convenience net, trunk
- Mechanical
- Engine, 6.2L supercharged V8 (556 hp [414.6 kW] @ 6100 rpm, 551 lb-ft of torque [743.9 N-m] @ 3800 rpm)
- Transmission, 6-speed manual (Must specify a transmission. No charge for available (MX0) 6-speed automatic transmission.)
- Differential, limited slip
- Drivetrain, rear-wheel drive
- Battery, maintenance-free with rundown protection
- Suspension, Sport with Magnetic Ride Control
- Steering, power, rack-and-pinion
- Brakes, 4-wheel antilock, 4-wheel disc
- Brakes, Brembo
- Brake, electronic parking
- Calipers, Red Brembo
- Exhaust, stainless steel dual
- Safety
- Traction control, all-speed, brake and engine controlled
- StabiliTrak, electronic stability control system
- Daytime Running Lamps
- Air bags, dual-stage frontal driver, dual-depth frontal passenger with passenger sensing system, driver and right-front passenger side impact and front and rear outboard head curtain (Always use safety belts and child restraints. Children are safer when properly secured in a rear seat in the appropriate child restraint. See the Owner's Manual for more information.)
- OnStar Directions and Connections plan for 1 year including Automatic Crash Response, Stolen Vehicle Assistance, Roadside Assistance and Turn-by-Turn Navigation. (Visit www.onstar.com for vehicle availability, details and system limitations. Services may vary by model and conditions.)
- Rear Vision Camera
- Rear Parking Assist, Ultrasonic with audible warning chimes
- Side Blind Zone Alert
- Safety belts, 3-point, driver and right-front passenger
- Child seat restraint system
- Tire Pressure Monitoring System
- Warranty
- Basic: 4 Years/50,000 Miles
- Drivetrain: 6 Years/70,000 Miles
- Corrosion: 4 Years/50,000 Miles Rust-Through 6 Years/Unlimited Miles
- Roadside Assistance: 6 Years/70,000 Miles
- Maintenance: 4 Years/50,000 Miles
Compare Trims
- Exterior
- Interior
- Mechanical
- Safety
- Warranty
- CTS-V Coupe Starting MSRP:$69,900*
* *** Tax, title, license and dealer fees (unless itemized above) are extra. Not available with special finance or lease offers.
** EPA Estimates Only
Cadillac CTS-V Coupe in Seymour at Bob Poynter GM
Bob Poynter GM has a huge selection of the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe in Seymour, IN for you to look at. If you're searching for a new CTS-V Coupe, our Seymour Cadillac showroom is an excellent place to start your search. Our website is where you can get any information regarding Cadillac CTS-V Coupe specials that we're currently offering, together with our present inventory of cars, vehicle specs and more.
Seymour New Cadillac CTS-V CoupeCadillac vehicles are famous for their extraordinary performance, stability and all-around good value. Though it truly is difficult to go wrong with any of the new Cadillac models, the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe is truly a wonderful vehicle which we're positive you will enjoy. Feel free to contact us anytime at 800-681-4080 to organize a test drive or come see the inventory at our showroom in person. Plus, Bob Poynter GM has a friendly financing department to help you get in the vehicle you are looking for at your neighborhood Seymour, IN Cadillac dealership. Drop by today!
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Acne often leaves behind some bothersome scars that are very annoying, but getting rid of them is not always easy. Depending on pigmentation, acne scars may be either red or brown in color. Removing or reducing minor scars can be done using homemade remedies, laser therapy, or topical skin creams like Mederma. The use of creams like Mederma for acne scars has proven to be very beneficial.
What is Mederma?
Mederma is an over-the-counter acne cream that is widely recommended for the treatment of acne scars. It is a topical gel that is made with the active ingredient allium cepa. Allium cepa is an onion extract that is often referred to as a spring onion. It is marketed by the manufacturers of Mederma under the name Cepalin.
The presence of onion extract in Mederma is the main reason that the product is highly recommended for the treatment for acne scars.Studies carried out on onion extract have confirmed its anti-inflammatory properties, and have also verified that it promotes the production of the skin protein, collagen.
Mederma can be applied to the skin up to 3 times per day. It should be applied into the affected areas of the skin until it is fully absorbed. Mederma also has a skin protection element to help protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun, and has an SPF rating of 30. This is important, because acne scars are apt to get a lot darker when they are exposed to the sun. So if you have acne scars, and have to be out in the sun a lot, then Mederma may just be the right product to treat your acne scars.
If you have older acne scars, then you will have to apply Mederma for at least 3 months before you can expect to see any noticeable improvement. For newer scars, you can expect improvement after using the product for about 8 weeks.
Mederma is recommended for use to reduce the appearance of acne scars. The results of using Mederma for acne scars have been mixed. Some consumers have confirmed that after using the product for an extended period of time, they have noticed a significant improvement in the appearance of their acne scars.
Mederma seems to work best for persons with relatively minor acne scars, as these appear lighter over time. Mederma also improves skin texture, making rough dry skin a lot softer. They also reported that while some scars faded quickly, in as little as 4 weeks after use in some cases, other scars took a much longer time to show any improvement.
Some users complained that they experienced a lot of itching once they started using the product. Others noticed that after applying the product, a thin layer of gel remained on their skin and slowly peeled away throughout the day.
Based on the results, it does appear that Mederma for acne scars is a useful product. However, results have been more positive when the product has been used on minor, newer scars.


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This Chinese company is not that well known outside its country, but they have introduced phablet (phone-tablet), that is nothing but revolutionary, in today's sense of the word. Their product has stirred a lot of dust, because of the performances and its overall dimensions that are not matched so far.
The phablet is called Oppo Find 5 and it has a 5 inch screen that has a resolution, which even Apples products dream of. Its 5 inch screen works in full HD (1920×1024) 1080p resolution that measures 441ppi, which are more than 100 pixels per inch, when compared to Apples iPhone 5.
Except for the amazing screen, this phone can brag also with its dimensions, especially its thickness that measures amazing 6.9mm. But, the great specifications don't end there, because under its thin hood beats a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that works on 1.5GHz, accompanied with 2GB RAM. There is an option of 16GB, or 32GB internal storage space and a price of $475 and $520 respectively. It also comes with a microSD slot for expansion.
It has a back 12MP camera, with a Sony backlit sensor that doesn't bulge the device and can record 1080p video with 30fps.On the front side there is a 2MP camera, for the standard communication. From a connection aspect it has Wi-Fi a/b/g/n support, Bluetooth 2.1, USB 2.0, but it lacks the new NFC standard.
It works with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean that has been a bit modified for it. It holds also an impressive battery (2500mAh) that should give it a great lifetime expectancy of more than the standard day.
The phone works with GSM, WCDMA 3G and UMTS (with HSPA) networks, so it will be usable outside Asia. That is a great thing for everyone that will want it.


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Hold down Control (PC) or Command (Mac) key + mouseclick to select more than one option
|Avg. Dinner Entrée
|Greater than $25
|$18.01 - $25
|$12.01 - $18
|$7.01 - $12
|Less than $7
Posted by Brian on 10/10/2011
I order delivery from this place at least once a month since I moved into the neighborhood and so I tried the Treasure Island special and when it came I was shocked when I saw the "fresh lobster meat" that was in the description of the dish was actually that fake Krab stuff. Im from Boston and I know lobster, and that was NOT lobster of any kind. I am going to call them tonight when I get home. They have lost my business forever over it.
Posted by local family on 08/18/2011
we're new to the neighborhood and thought we'd give this local chinese restaurant a try instead of driving 12 miles to our usual place. When we first entered the restaurant, we were impressed - beautiful decor, large aquarium, employees very friendly. But the food? It was disappointing - the soup, the eggroll, our main dishes - unappetizing. We will never go there or order from there again - and anyone who asks about Chinese, we tell them not to go there.
Posted by BGB on 08/13/2011
They thought someone ordered from my place of business, its not unsual it happens, but this time no one ordered and someone from the restaurant called and practically yelled at me about the order. Very poor customer service skills. I'll never order from there again because I'd be afraid of what they'd do to the food because they can't get the name, address, and phone number of a customer right.
Posted by Anonymous on 06/23/2011
The food is okay but there are a lot of better places. I called to ask a couple of questions about prices and the person who answered was very rude! Unfortunately for him it is called customer service and he's not good at it.
Posted by otfg on 01/10/2009
But its definitely edible! Their crab rangoon is good!


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Student lands summer internship with Department of Energy
Student lands summer internship with Department of Energy
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Marian Alicea, a student in the Civil Engineering Technology (CET) department, an appointment in its Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The CET senior is helping to conduct cutting-edge research, has access to state-of-the-art equipment and instruments, and is interacting with senior-level researchers at the laboratory. While there, she is required to attend weekly seminars, write a research report, prepare a poster presentation and participate in a poster session. The program began June 4 and will conclude in mid-August.
Alicea is the president of the SPSU Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers and a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers. She has received scholarships for the coming year from Women in Electronics and the American Society of Civil Engineers.