Patent ID: 7617145

Claim:
A method of conducting an online auction comprising: a) providing an auction web site system including a merchandise database of information pertaining to auction lots to be sold; b) with respect to an auction lot, using said web site system to conduct an auction in the following steps: i) assigning an opening auction price and a plurality of predetermined bid increments to said auction; ii) displaying to a bidder the current auction price of said lot as well as said predetermined bid increments; iii) inducing bidders to place a bid by selecting from said plurality of predetermined bid increments wherein selecting a bid increment simultaneously transmits details of said bid to said web site system and records said bid in said web site system, and wherein the amount of a bid is the current auction price plus the selected predetermined bid increment; iv) upon occurrence of a revision event, revising said predetermined bid increments and refreshing the display of said revised predetermined bid increments to bidders; and v) upon occurrence of an auction-closing event, accepting no further bids and determining the winning bidder based on bids having been stored in said web site system, wherein said revision event comprises the detection of a preprogrammed condition by said web site system, and wherein said preprogrammed condition is related to the passage of a certain period of time during which there are no bids placed.