Patent ID: 7865406

Claim:
A method for facilitating interactive electronic commerce transactions concerning an item being auctioned over an electronic commerce network between a plurality of sellers and a plurality of buyers via an independent service provider, comprising the steps of: receiving from a first seller of the plurality of sellers over the electronic commerce network a request to generate an auction program process associated with the first seller; generating by an electronic commerce computer of the independent service provider, the auction program process associated with the first seller without uploading to the electronic commerce computer any descriptive information about the item being auctioned; generating, by the electronic commerce computer, an URL hyperlink associated with the auction program process; communicating the URL hyperlink to the first seller for insertion into a web page hosted on a website other than the independent service providers' website, wherein the web page displays information about the item being auctioned that is for sale; and activating the auction program process generated by the electronic commerce computer of the independent service provider when a buyer clicks on the inserted hyperlink on the hosting website.