Patent ID: 8545229
Filing Date: 2013-10-01
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for conducting an on-line auction of the type wherein a plurality of customers may receive, via said auction, offers of products supplied by one of at least two merchants, wherein the method is implemented in a computer system comprising one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, said method comprising: executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to obtain, over a network, customer information from said plurality of customers, wherein said customer information comprises: executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to automatically group the plurality of customers into pools based on customer selections of the indications of product preference indicated in the sets of customer information corresponding to the individual users, wherein the pools comprise: executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to obtain, over said network and prior to the first set of customer information, the second set of customer information, and the third set of customer information being obtained, from individual ones of said at least two merchants bids to provide offers of products to customers in the plurality of customers, wherein obtaining bids to provide offers of products to one or more pools of customers comprises obtaining bids to provide offers of products to ghost pools of customers into which future customers will be grouped; executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to select bids from the obtained bids to provide offers of products to customers from the plurality of customers, wherein individual bids correspond to individual pools of customers such that the bids include a first bid that corresponds to the first pool of customers and a second bid that corresponds to the second pool of customers, and wherein the selection of the bids comprises: executing, on the one or more processors of the computer system, one or more computer program modules configured to individually notify customers of the corresponding pools such that: