Patent ID: 8374948

Claim:
A method performed at an electronic auction system that is capable of receiving bid information via electronic mail and via a web-based bid form, the method comprising: receiving first bid information via electronic mail and second bid information via the web-based bid form, wherein the first bid information and the second bid information each contain a bid price and a bid quantity; validating each of the first and second bid information; placing first and second bids in a bid database, the first and second bids being based, respectively on the first and second bid information; sorting the first and second bids in an order determined by an auction format used to auction a merchandise item, the auction format selected from a plurality of auction formats when the merchandise item is first listed for auction; processing the first and second bids in the sorted order; updating a web-based merchandise catalog page based on the processed first and second bids; and awarding one or more items from a plurality of items to both a first bidder associated with the first bid and a second bidder associated with the second bid, at different item prices based on the quantity specified in the bid information by each of the first and second bidders.