Patent ID: 8352325

Claim:
A method for conducting an auction of a plurality of heterogeneous items between a plurality of selling and potential purchasing parties, said method comprising: accepting, by a party and during said auction, first offer in respect of an item; accepting, by said party, during said auction and after said accepting of said first offer, a second offer; and rejecting, by said party and during said auction, said second offer, said rejecting of said first offer being allowable because acceptance of offers is non-binding on said party until said auction closes, said accepting of said first offer, said accepting of said second offer, and said rejecting of said first offer being performed using a software-based agents acting on behalf of said parties, said software-based agents being hosted on terminals connected via a communication network, said accepting of said first offer being performed by a software-based agent only when said first offer provides a first surplus that is greater than a minimum surplus amount, and said accepting of said second offer being performed by said software-based agent only when said second offer provides a second surplus that is greater than said first surplus provided by said first offer, said first surplus and said second surplus each being calculated as any one of the following: a difference between a valuation of said item by said party and a current price of said item; a ratio of said valuation of said item by said party to said current price of said item; a function of said current price of said item that increases as said current price decreases; and a function of said current price of said item that increases as said current price increases.