Method and apparatus for certified secondary market inventory management

摘要

A certified secondary market inventory platform maintains a certified catalog of items for sale on a secondary market. Certified items are tracked by the platform and have a verified chain of custody between the manufacturer and the current owner. The certified catalog of items is presented anonymously, such that current owners of certified items are not revealed to potential buyers. Anonymity also extends to fulfillment, with shipment of a certified item to a buyer being performed without revealing the buyer and the current owner to each other. Verification of the chain of custody may, for example, include evidence such as a goods-received note corresponding to a shipment of the certified item from the manufacturer to the current owner, or a shipping notification from the manufacturer. A physical audit may also be conducted in association with publication of the certified catalog of items, as a pre-requisite for such publication.