Patent ID: 7729949

Claim:
A method comprising: capturing, by a computer system, data from a plurality of completed auctions, in which each auction is for a respective item, in which the respective data comprises information about the respective item and the respective auction; storing the data from the plurality of completed auctions; receiving, by the computer system, a search request specifying at least one criterion from a remote device of a user through a communication link; determining, by the computer system, that each respective item satisfies the at least one criterion; receiving, by the computer system, a request to compute statistical data from the remote device of the user through the communication link, in which the request identifies one or more auction characteristics selected by the user through the remote device; determining, by a processor of the computer system and in response to receiving the request to compute, the statistical data from at least a portion of the data captured from each of the plurality of completed auctions that has the one or more auction characteristics; and transmitting the statistical data to the remote device of the user through the communication link.