Patent ID: 8095451

Claim:
A method for conducting an auction over a network, wherein each of a first and a second bidder is competing for a first lot and a second lot to be auctioned by an auction requester, said method comprising: receiving electronically at least one bid for each of said first and said second lots from each of said first and second bidders, wherein the first and second bidders are sellers for supplying the first and second lots and wherein the auction requester is a buyer seeking to purchase the first and second lots; waiting until bidding for each of said first and said second lots is closed; for said first bidder, presenting a first transformed price for an aggregate lot based on a first price offered for the aggregate lot by the first bidder and one or more first transformed bids received from said first bidder for said first and second lots individually, wherein each of the one or more first transformed bids is transformed by a processor based on a first transformation function and a first set of non-comparative bid parameters, and wherein the first transformation function and at least one of the first set of non-comparative bid parameters are known only to the auction requester; and for said second bidder, presenting a second transformed price for said aggregate lot based on a second price offered by the second bidder for the aggregate lot and from one or more second transformed bids received from said second bidder for said first and said second lots individually, wherein each of the one or more second transformed bids is based on a second transformation function and a second set of non-comparative bid parameters, and wherein the second transformation function and at least one of the second set of non-comparative bid parameters are known only to the auction requester.