Patent ID: 7937312

Claim:
A method for using a computer system, operating on a communications network comprising one or more central nodes communicably coupled to a plurality of user nodes corresponding to one or both of buyers and sellers, to facilitate a transaction between a seller and at least one buyer, the method performed by a computer system at a central node comprising: hosting an electronic marketplace having an operably coupled transaction processor for processing transactions between buyers and sellers; operating the electronic marketplace under a legal framework that imposes requirements on sellers of items, the legal framework including requirements that an item posted for sale is available for physical and legal ownership transfer to a buyer and that the seller is legally required to convey physical and legal ownership of the item if the buyer meets one or more seller-specified conditions of sale including a sale price; receiving information from a seller corresponding to an item to be sold, the received information including a data record corresponding to the item to be sold, the data record including a description of the item to be sold, a sale price for the item, and a header including seller-specific identification information, the received data record representing a binding offer by the seller to sell the item; verifying authenticity of the received data record based at least in part on the received seller-specific identification information; upon successfully authenticating the received data record: (i) outputting the binding offer to sell to a plurality of potential buyers; (ii) receiving acceptance of said binding offer to sell said item from a first buyer, said first buyer tendering acceptance by providing payment information, said acceptance giving rise to a legal obligation by the seller to convey physical and legal ownership to said first buyer; (iii) temporarily locking the data record corresponding to the item; (iv) rejecting another acceptance of the binding offer by a second buyer while processing acceptance from, and payment by, the first buyer; (v) processing the purchase transaction using the first buyer's provided payment information and the transaction processor operably coupled to the electronic marketplace; and (vi) unlocking and updating the data record corresponding to the item to indicate ownership of the item by the first buyer.