Patent ID: 7860749

Claim:
A method for managing inventory stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) backend system using a network-based auction service supported by an auction application with respect to which a user logs into at least once, comprising: listing the inventory for sale in a product catalog supported by the CRM; identifying products in the inventory that are available for auction; providing, at the auction application, a user login adapted to limit access to information about a user-managed auction of products to the user, the user login independent of the network-based auction service; defining a login script of the user associated with the user login, the login script including a query to the CRM backend system, the query including user-specified criteria for the products in the inventory to be placed in the auction; logging the user into the auction application with a user id and a password and automatically performing the following: (i) executing the login script of the user that includes the query, (ii) transmitting the query to the CRM backend system to retrieve product information based on the user-specified listing criteria, and (iii) transmitting to the user a list of products that meet the user-specified listing criteria, receiving user identification of a selected quantity of products for a listing of the network-based auction service; listing product information about the selected quantity of products on the network-based auction service; generating, using a computer processor, a page providing a graphical user interface to display information about the user-managed auction; receiving a selection by the user of a plurality of status items to be displayed in a status summary; displaying on the generated page the status summary of the user-managed auction, the status summary including the plurality of selected status items; receiving from the network-based auction service updated status information about the user-managed auction; and displaying the updated status summary information in the generated page.