Patent ID: 7461084

Claim:
A method for creating an electronic marketplace, comprising: receiving from a first client a request to create an electronic marketplace; creating a marketplace metacatalog associated with the electronic marketplace using a template; associating product information with the marketplace metacatalog, the product information comprising information regarding a product associated with the electronic marketplace; receiving data comprising at least one of the product information and a reference to the product information stored external to the marketplace metacatalog; and facilitating completion of a transaction involving a second client using the marketplace metacatalog; wherein: associating the product information with the marketplace metacatalog comprises: if the received data comprises the product information, storing the received product information in the marketplace metacatalog; and if the received data comprises a reference to the product information stored external to the marketplace metacatalog, storing the reference to the product information in the marketplace metacatalog; the product information is stored external to the marketplace metacatalog; and associating the product information with the marketplace metacatalog comprises: creating a catalog binder; storing a reference to the externally stored product information in the catalog binder; and storing a reference to the catalog binder in the marketplace metacatalog.