Patent ID: 7921053

Claim:
A method for conducting an auction, comprising: obtaining, from a buyer, information associated with a product to be purchased using an auction, wherein the buyer purchases the product from a winning bidder; making the obtained information associated with the product available to at least a first bidder and a second bidder; receiving, from the first bidder, a first bid that includes a first price and a first non-price information; receiving, from the second bidder, a second bid that includes a second price and a second non-price information, wherein non-price information is associated with (1) a description of a particular product a given bidder will provide in the event the given bidder wins the auction and/or (2) delivery of a product by the given bidder in the event the given bidder wins the auction; generating, using a processor, a first comparison value based at least in part on the first price and the first non-price information; generating, using a processor, a second comparison value based at least in part on the second price and the second non-price information; comparing the first comparison value and the second comparison value; and selecting the winning bidder of the auction based at least in part on the comparison.