Patent ID: 8423376

Claim:
A method for negotiating a sale of an item, comprising: receiving over a computer network an offer to purchase the item; automatically processing the offer in response to receiving the offer, the processing performed by a computer and comprising: accepting the offer if the offer is greater than a bottom line price for the item; rejecting the offer if the offer is below a negotiation range which extends below the bottom line price; and if the offer is within the negotiation range for the item, automatically generating a counter offer price that is greater than or equal to the bottom line price, wherein the negotiation range extends from the bottom line price to a lower boundary of the negotiation range that is less than the bottom line price; and accepting the offer if the offer equals a buy now price communicated to the buyer, wherein the counter offer is calculated according to: Counter Offer= BL +(( BN−BL )*(( BL−O )/( BL*NR )), where BL is the bottom line price, BN is the buy now price, O is the offer, and NR is the negotiation range.