Patent ID: 7853484
Filing Date: 2010-12-14
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for selling items and processing items for sale in which the sale of items is accomplished via an auction system comprising the steps of: (a) setting, by the auction system, a plurality of bidding parameters for an auction of an item selected from a quantity of items, each item itself being available in a quantity of one or more in the auction, said plurality of bidding parameters comprising a starting price, limit in the number of bids allowed, and an end time or time limit for the auction; (b) communicating by the auction system, said plurality of bidding parameters to buyers for consideration; (c) receiving, by the auction system, a bid command for the selected item from one of said buyers in response to the plurality of bidding parameters communicated, wherein said bid command includes an identifier of the buyer of said selected item, wherein said identifier identifies additional information about the buyer including the quantity of value points available for purchasing items associated with the buyer, and wherein value points have a monetary value depending on a set exchange rate; (d) retrieving, by the auction system, additional information about the buyer identified by the identifier, acknowledging the bid command for the selected item; and checking to determine whether the buyer possesses sufficient value points to purchase the selected item based on the bid command received; (e) when the auction system determines that the buyer does not have sufficient value points for the bid command including any commission, notifying the buyer to replenish the value points; (f) when the auction system determines that the buyer does have sufficient value points for the bid command including any commission, storing a bid price from the bid command; deducting value points from the quantity of value points available for purchasing items associated with the buyer and recording the deduction of value points; (g) determining, by the auction system, a lowest price bidder by determining and adopting a qualified lower bid price, wherein steps (c)-(f) are repeated for each bid command received from the buyers and wherein said qualified lower bid price is lower than the starting price and stored bid prices from bid commands previously received; (h) concluding, by the auction system, when the limit in the number of bids allowed is reached or when the end time or time limit for the auction is reached; (i) when the sale is concluded, determining, by the auction system, whether the sale is successful by evaluating whether the number of lowest price bidders matches the quantity of items in the auction; if so the lowest price bidders become winning bidders; if not, the value points deducted from the quantity of the value points available for purchasing items associated with each of the buyers that are not the lowest price bidders are restored; (j) when the sale is successful, awarding the items to the winning bidders.