Patent ID: 7472076

Claim:
A method for conducting an auction of a plurality of heterogeneous items, said method comprising: making, by offering parties, offers to potential accepting parties for said heterogeneous items, wherein said making begins at a specified time with at least some of said potential accepting parties and at least some of said offering parties represented by software-based agents hosted on terminals connected via a communication network, and wherein any acceptance by any accepting party of any offer from any offering party is binding on said any offering party immediately, but is not binding on said any accepting party until said auction closes such that said method further comprises: accepting, by an accepting party, a first offer from a first offering party for one of said heterogeneous items only if said first offer provides a surplus of at least a minimum surplus amount for said one of said heterogeneous items; after said accepting of said first offer, receiving, by said accepting party from a second offering party different from said first offering party, a subsequent offer for said one of said heterogeneous items, wherein said subsequent offer is different from said first offer and provides an increased surplus for said one of said heterogeneous items compared to said surplus provided by said first offer; accepting, by said accepting party, said subsequent offer; and rejecting, by said accepting party, said first offer that was previously accepted, wherein at least some of said making, said accepting, and said rejecting are performed by said software-based agents and wherein said auction closes when no further offers are made for a specified period of time.