Patent ID: 8645203

Claim:
A method for bartering items between two or more parties using a communications network, comprising: enabling each of the two or more parties to access a server via the communications network to provide a list of items a respective one of the two or more parties has to trade and a list of items a respective one of the two or more parties wants to obtain, wherein both the list of items the respective one of the two or more parties has to trade and wants to obtain is not limited to items previously listed in the system, at least one directional link for each of the two or more parties relating at least one item to trade of the respective one of the two or more parties and at least one item to obtain of the respective one of the two or more parties, the at least one directional link being indicative of the respective one of the two or more parties' willingness to trade at least one item of the list of items a respective one of the parties has to trade for at least one item of the list of items the respective party wants to obtain, and a description of the items and any conditions for trade of the items; storing the list of items each respective party has to trade and wants to obtain and the at least one directional link in a matching engine database; automatically creating, using a processor, directional item transfers indicating the respective party's possibility to acquire items in trades including a trade of a single item for another single item, a trade of a plurality of items for a single item, a trade of a single item for a plurality of items, and a trade of a plurality of items for a plurality of items; automatically storing the directional item transfers in the matching engine database; assigning weights to the links that represents a degree of similarity between descriptions of items available for trade and wanted items, a search for possible trades between the parties being conducted in consideration of the weights of the links; conducting via a matching engine processor, the search for possible trades between the parties using the directional links and directional item transfers represented as closed loops of interconnected directional links and directions item transfers thus avoiding a repetitive and time consuming database search of each recursive step; notifying the parties involved in each possible trade about the possible trade and requesting approval of the trade; and upon receipt of approval of the trade from each party listed in the possible trade, processing the trade to completion.