Patent ID: 8799105

Claim:
An auction method comprising: maintaining, by a processor, a database of upper and lower limits of a bidding price range and a limited number of available products; accepting, by the processor, bidding information including bidding prices for each product from bidders, the accepted bidding prices being within the bidding price range; terminating, by the processor, bidding when a predetermined bidding time is elapsed; selecting, by the processor, a group of winning bidders such that the winning bidders are selected from the bidders in descending order of the bidding prices and a total number of products bid by the winning bidders is equal to the limited number of available products; applying, by the processor, a lowest bidding price among bidding prices of the selected winning bidders as a final sale price to all of the winning bidders; requesting, by the processor, payment from the winning bidders as the final sale price; and determining, by the processor, a surplus margin calculated by subtracting the lower limit of the bidding price range from the final sale price, wherein requesting the payment comprises, if at least one of the winning bidders previously paid a corresponding bidding price, determining, by the processor, a refund amount calculated by subtracting the final sale price from the previously paid bidding price.