Patent ID: 7272568

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of matching an offer for a product with a quote, comprising: at a first computer: receiving the offer from a customer; selecting a preferred provider from a group of preferred providers; obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider; evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer; if the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider does not satisfy the offer, repeatedly: selecting another preferred provider from the group of preferred providers; obtaining at least one quote for the product from the selected preferred provider; and evaluating the at least one quote from the selected preferred provider to determine if the at least one quote satisfies the offer; until the offer is satisfied or until the group of preferred providers is exhausted; if the group of preferred providers is exhausted without satisfying the offer, attempting to satisfy the offer from a group of non-preferred providers; if the offer is satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, negotiating a purchase of the product from the provider associated with a satisfying quote; and if the offer is not satisfied from either the group of preferred providers or the group of non-preferred providers, returning an indication that the customer's offer was not accepted.