Patent ID: 8392276

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving information from a plurality of users who are interacting with an item transaction system, the received information including indications of desired items that are each indicated by one or more of the plurality of users as being desired to be received by the user via the item transaction system, and the received information further including indications of available items that are each indicated by one or more of the plurality of users as being available to be provided by the user via the item transaction system; for each of at least some of the indicated desired items, automatically matching the desired item to one of the indicated available items, and initiating one or more transactions that result in the one available item being obtained from a providing user of the one or more users who indicated the one available item and being provided to receiving user of the one or more users who indicated the desired item, the automatic matching being performed by one or more configured computing systems of the item transaction system; for each of at least one of the one or more transactions, tracking at least one activity for the transaction to determine when a predetermined point is reached, the tracked at least one activity including at least one of obtaining the one available item for the transaction from the providing user for the transaction and of providing the obtained one available item to the receiving user for the transaction; and after the predetermined point is determined to be reached, performing at least one of crediting an account of the providing user for the transaction and of debiting an account of the receiving user for the transaction; and automatically determining to add one or more additional items for use by the plurality of users interacting with the item transaction system, the automatic determining to add the one or more additional items being performed by the one or more configured computing systems and including: determining that demand via the item transaction system for each of one or more items exceeds supply of those items via the item transaction system, the determining being based at least in part on the received indications of desired items and the received indications of available items; and for at least one of the one or more items whose demand exceeds supply via the item transaction system, determining to select the item as one of the additional items to be added.