Patent ID: 8762223

Claim:
Method for operating a trading platform for selling goods using a computer system, the computer system including a communication interface configured for an exchange of information between users and the computer system via at least one communication network, a memory unit for storing information associated with a good to be sold, and a price variation unit, connected to the memory unit and the communication interface, for varying a price associated with the good as a function of time, based on a parameterized price function, the method comprising: carrying out, via the trading platform, a sequence of sales processes for selling the good, in each respective sales process of the sequence of sales processes a current price of the good determined by the price variation unit according to the price function being provided to a user via the at least one communication network, transmitting by the user to the computer system via the at least one communication network a purchasing decision for purchasing the good at the current price of the respective sales process, wherein: during each of the respective sales processes, beginning from a start of an offer in which the good is offered at a starting price, the current price provided to the user drops according to the price function during a maximum offering period, in which no purchasing decision is made, until an end of the offer, in which the good is offered at a minimum price that is below the starting price, the price function starting at the starting price and passing through at least one local minimum before rising and subsequently decreasing to the minimum price between the start of the offer and the end of the offer of each of the respective sales process; the starting price is specified to the price variation unit, before the start of the sequence of sales processes, by a seller offering the good; the minimum price is specified to the price variation unit, before the start of the sequence of sales processes, by the seller offering the good; for each of the respective sales processes subsequent to an initial sales process, the starting price and the minimum price are set based on the starting price and the minimum price specified by the seller before the start of the sequence of sale processes; and a current one of the respective sales processes being carried out is terminated when there is a purchasing decision by the user at the current price of the respective sales process.