Patent ID: 7107230

Claim:
A system for modifying a price curve in order to approach a seller's sales goal for a featured item in an on-line buying-group sale, comprising: an e-commerce server data processing system, the e-commerce server data processing system including e-commerce server software executable on the e-commerce server data processing system and configured to define the on-line buying-group sale for the featured item; a storage device coupled to the e-commerce server data processing system and having stored therein a data repository including at least price data for the featured item, quantity data for the featured item and buyer-submitted offer data; and a merchandising staff data processing system coupled to the storage device, the merchandising staff data processing system configured to: define a first price curve for the featured item in the on-line buying-group sale by using the price data for the featured item; receive an input from the seller during the on-line buying-group sale; dynamically define a second price curve during the on-line buying-group sale for the featured item in the on-line buying-group sale responsive to the input from the seller in order to approach the seller's sales goal for defining the on-line buying-group sale for the featured item.