Patent ID: 7133835

Claim:
An exchange for facilitating online purchases and sales via a communications network, said exchange comprising: a control unit for coupling to the communications network; a server coupled to said control unit and comprising an offer to sell database for storing specific offers to sell, an offer to buy database for storing specific offers to buy, an administration database for storing information related to seller accounts and buyer accounts, and a processor programmed to: receive offers to sell from potential sellers, said offers to sell defining actual offers to sell, said processor further programmed to download said offers to sell into said offer to sell database; receive a buyer inquiry from a potential buyer, the buyer inquiry defining a desired purchase, upon receipt of the buyer inquiry, said processor programmed to compare offers stored in said offer to sell database with parameters of the buyer inquiry, and if one or more offers to sell are identified that match the buyer inquiry, designating only a lowest price identified offer to sell which matches the buyer inquiry for being communicated to the buyer; receive offers to buy from potential buyers, said offers to buy defining actual offers to buy, said processor further programmed to download said offers to buy into said offer to buy database; receive a seller inquiry from a potential seller, said seller inquiry defining a desired sale, upon receipt of the seller inquiry, said processor programmed to compare offers to buy stored in said offer to buy database with parameters of said seller inquiry, and if one or more offers to buy are identified that match said buyer inquiry, designating said offers to buy for being communicated to the seller; said processor further programmed to download, into said administration database, acceptance data upon acceptance of an offer stored in at least one of said databases.