Patent ID: 8364554

Claim:
A method of sharing proceeds of an online auction among a seller and at least one share bidder, comprising: receiving a request to list an item for sale in the online auction; generating, by one or more computer processors, the online auction listing the item for sale, wherein the item is available for bids for a predetermined period; receiving share bids from a plurality of share bidders, wherein each share bid identifies the item for sale, a percentage of the proceeds of the online auction that each share bidder is bidding for, and a share price that the share bidder is willing to pay for the percentage; receiving an acceptance of one or more of the share bids from the seller; during the predetermined period, receiving one or more bids for the item for sale, wherein each bid specifies a price that an item bidder is willing to pay for item for sale; at the end of the predetermined period, determining a highest bid received from the item bidders for the item for sale; and upon determining the highest bid was submitted via a web-site associated with one of the share bidders accepted by the seller: determining a distribution amount for the share bidder equal to the percentage multiplied by the sale price, and sending a message to the seller and to the share bidder indicating the distribution amount.