Patent ID: 7330826

Claim:
A fully automated method of facilitating an electronic auction between a prospective buyer and a plurality of prospective sellers with near perfect information, comprising the steps of: inputting into a computer a buyer's request for an offer; communicating the request for an offer to at least two of the sellers; receiving offers, including terms of sale in response to the request for an offer, from at least two of the sellers; automatically generating rating information about seller offers based on a plurality of predetermined criteria; communicating information regarding at least some of the seller offers to at least one other seller; receiving an adjusted offer from at least one of the sellers during a specified auction period; and communicating information regarding at least some of the seller offers and at least part of the rating information to the buyer, wherein a software process initiates the communicating of seller offers and rating information to the buyer when a buyer-specified event occurs, and wherein the buyer-specified event is the receipt of a seller offer with a rating above a buyer-specified rating level.