Patent ID: 8069082

Claim:
A method, comprising: providing, using a computing device, an advertisement to customers on behalf of a specific party, the advertisement including a reference; facilitating, using a computing device, communications between the party and a customer via the reference; charging, using a computing device, the party a fee according to a price bid specified by the party in response to a lead to communications between the party and the customer facilitated via the reference, wherein the fee is determined at the time of the lead according to the price bid and at least one predetermined rule based on a geographic area of the advertisement; and determining the fee, comprising: determining a highest price bid among advertisements covering at least the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no higher than the price bid specified by the party; determining a ratio between advertisements covering a portion of the geographic area of the advertisement and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid, and advertisements covering the geographic area and having price bids no lower than the highest price bid; and comparing the ratio with a threshold value to determine the fee.