Patent ID: 7835977

Claim:
A method for generating an auction for a product using an auction template in an internal auction system using an internal auction application, comprising: initiating an auction template creation process by a seller using the internal auction application, wherein the internal auction application is integrated with a seller business information management system that manages retail sales of seller products; creating the auction template during the auction template creation process by the seller, wherein the auction template is defined as a function of at least one of an already created auction, a set of seller-specified auction parameters, and a set of seller-selected product information; storing the created auction template in an auction template database during the auction template creation process by the seller, wherein the auction template database is integrated in the internal auction system and configured to store other auction templates sharable with multiple internal sellers; selecting the auction template for the auction from the auction template database during an auction creation process as a function of a seller template selection action; selecting the product for the auction from an inventory database in the seller business information management system, wherein the seller business information management system tracks the product throughout the auction; responsive to a seller's request, modifying selected auction template during the auction creation process, wherein at least one of an auction parameter and a product information item for the auction template is modified, wherein the modification is supported by the seller business information management system; creating by the internal auction application the auction for the product as a function of the selected auction template on a seller's e-commerce site, wherein the internal auction application provides interactive processing with the seller business information management system through the seller's e-commerce site; and storing the extracted auction information of the created auction as an association in a database table, the association linking the created auction to the product from the seller business information management system.