Patent ID: 8326662

Claim:
A method of e-commerce, the method comprising: capturing in a database product preference criteria for a consumer by a website server associated with a website of product listings, the product preference criteria including price information; prompting by the website server for a contact address for the consumer to associate with the captured product preference criteria so that the consumer expressly confirms an interest in receiving an electronic alert regarding new product listings that satisfy the product preference criteria; determining a number of electronic alerts that will be generated for a potential product listing as a function of price responsive to an aggregate of captured product preference criteria for a plurality of consumers; displaying on a display device associated with a computer of a seller a multi-dimensional graph of the number of alerts for a potential product listing so that the seller can gauge market demand prior to listing a product for sale and so that the seller can more intelligently price the product; receiving a new product listing from a seller by the website server; and sending an electronic alert from the website server to the contact address associated with the captured product preference criteria of the consumer responsive to a new product listing that satisfies the criteria.