Method and system for handling disruptions in the management of electronic auctions

A method of conducting an online auction between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a plurality of lots, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, each of said plurality of lots having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for each of said plurality of lots, wherein a closing time for a lot defines a time before which bids for the lot are to be submitted by a potential seller;
• (c) upon the extension of a closing time for a first lot, determining whether a closing time for a second lot is within a predefined time interval from the extended closing time of said first lot;
• and
• (d) if the closing time for said second lot is within a predefined time interval from the extended closing time of said first lot, extending said closing time of said second lot such that the time between the extended closing time of said second lot and the extended closing time of said first lot is at least said predefined time interval.

A method of conducting a business-to-business online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a plurality of lots, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, each of said plurality of lots having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for each of said plurality of lots, wherein a closing time for a lot defines a time before which bids for the lot are to be submitted by a potential seller;
• (c) defining an overtime extension parameter for each of said plurality of lots, said overtime extension parameter indicating a length of an overtime period for an associated lot, wherein an overtime extension parameter for a lot is based upon characteristics of one or more items in the lot;
• (d) determining whether an overtime period is triggered in one of said plurality of lots;
• and
• (e) if an overtime period is triggered in said one of said plurality of lots, extending the auction for said one of said plurality of lots by an amount of time defined by said overtime extension parameter associated with said one of said plurality of lots.

A method of conducting a business-to-business online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for said lot, wherein said closing time for said lot defines a time before which bids for the lot are to be submitted by a potential seller;
• (c) receiving a first bid from a potential seller for said lot;
• (d) identifying said first bid as a current best bid;
• (e) comparing each successively received bid to said current best bid, and identifying said successive bid as said current best bid if said successive bid is better than said current best bid;
• (f) within a first time interval of said closing time for said lot,
• (i) determining whether a received bid is better than said current best bid;
• (ii) if said received bid is better than said current best bid, identifying said received bid as said current best bid and extending said closing time for said first lot by a second time interval;
• (iii) if said received bid is not better than said current best bid, determining whether said received bid satisfies at least one behind-market bid lot extension criteria;
• and
• (iv) if said received bid satisfies at least one behind-market bid lot extension criteria, extending said closing time for said first lot by a third time interval.

A method of conducting an online auction between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for said lot, wherein said closing time for said lot defines a time before which bids for the lot are to be submitted by a potential seller;
• (c) within a first time interval of said closing time for said lot, determining if a received bid satisfies at least one behind-market bid lot extension criteria, wherein said at least one behind-market bid lot extension criteria can be satisfied if said received bid is not better than a current best bid;
• and
• (d) if said received bid satisfies at least one behind-market bid lot extension criteria, extending said closing time for said first lot by a second time interval.

A bidding method in an auction between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving initial line item bids for individual line items in a lot of products, at least one of said initial line item bids including a locked portion and an unlocked portion;
• (b) calculating an initial lot bid price using said initial line item bids;
• (c) receiving an adjustment to the total bid for a lot;
• (d) calculating line item price adjustments using said lot bid adjustment, wherein line item price adjustments are made on a pro rata basis to the unlocked portions of said initial line item bids;
• and
• (e) calculating an updated lot bid price using said line item adjustments.

A computer program product for enabling a processor in a computer system to process bidding information in an auction between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, said computer program product comprising:

• a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied in said medium for causing an application program to execute on the computer system, said computer readable program code means comprising
• a first computer readable program code means for enabling the computer system to receive initial line item bids for individual line items in a lot of products, at least one of said initial line item bids including a locked portion and an unlocked portion;
• a second computer readable program code means for enabling the computer system to calculate an initial lot bid price using said initial line item bids;
• a third computer readable program code means for enabling the computer system to receive a lot bid adjustment;
• a fourth computer readable program code means for enabling the computer system to calculate line item price adjustments using said lot bid adjustment, wherein line item price adjustments are made on a pro rata basis to the unlocked portions of said initial line item bids;
• and
• a fifth computer readable program code means for enabling the computer system to calculate an updated lot bid prices using said line item adjustments.

A bidding method in an on-line auction, comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a flexible line item decision rule, said flexible line item decision rule being created to accommodate a pre-auction bidding strategy relating to one or more aspects of a line item portion of a bid for a lot of products;
• (b) receiving information specifying a bid for a lot of products, said bid including a plurality of line item portions for corresponding line items in said lot of products;
• (c) receiving information specifying an adjustment to one or more aspects of said bid for said lot of products;
• (d) analyzing said adjustment to said one or more aspects of said bid for said lot of products based on said flexible line item decision rule to determine a corresponding adjustment to one or more aspects of one or more line item portions of said bid;
• and
• (e) effecting said corresponding adjustment to said one or more aspects of said one or more line item portions of said bid based upon the analysis of step (d).

A method of conducting a business-to-business online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) setting a bidding status for said lot to a first bidding status indicating that the buyer will accept bids from the potential sellers on said lot;
• (c) receiving bids from potential sellers for said lot;
• (d) upon closing of said lot, changing said bidding status for said lot from said first status to a second status indicating that the buyer will not accept bids from a potential seller on said lot of products but that said bidding status may be subsequently changed to said first bidding status;
• (e) determining whether a return to open trigger event has occurred within a predetermined time period following the changing of said bidding status from said first status to said second status;
• (f) if said return to open trigger event has not occurred, setting said bidding status to a third bidding status indicating that the buyer will no longer accept bids from the potential sellers on said lot of products;
• and
• (g) if said return to open trigger event has occurred, returning said bidding status for said lot to said first bidding status.

A method of conducting a business-to-business online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for said lot before which bids for said lot are to be submitted by potential sellers;
• (c) setting a bidding status for said lot to a first status indicating that the buyer will accept bids from potential sellers of said lot;
• (d) determining whether an auction pausing event has occurred;
• (e) if an auction pausing event has occurred, changing said bidding status for said lot from said first status to a paused status indicating that the buyer will not accept bids from the potential sellers on said lot and that all existing bids for said lot are preserved;
• (f) altering said closing time for said lot during said paused status for said lot;
• and
• (g) changing said bidding status for said lot from said paused status to said first status once said auction pausing event has been corrected.

A method of conducting a business-to-business online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a plurality of lots, defined at least in part by a buyer, to a plurality of potential sellers, each of said plurality of lots having at least one product;
• (b) defining an opening and a closing time for each of said plurality of lots;
• (c) determining whether an auction pausing event has occurred;
• (d) if an auction pausing event has occurred, changing said bidding status for at least one of said plurality of lots to a paused status indicating that the buyer will not accept bids from the potential sellers on said lot and that any existing bids for said lot are preserved;
• (e) altering at least one of said opening time and said closing time for at least one of said plurality of lots during said paused status for said lot;
• and
• (g) changing said bidding status for said lot from said paused status to a second status once said auction pausing event has been corrected.

A method of conducting an online auction for custom industrial products or materials between a buyer and a plurality of potential sellers, comprising the steps of:

• (a) setting an individual bid ceiling for each of a plurality of potential sellers, wherein an individual bid ceiling for at least one of said plurality of potential sellers is different from an individual bid ceiling for another of said plurality of potential sellers;
• (b) receiving bids from one or more potential sellers;
• (c) determining whether a received bid for a potential seller is greater than a corresponding individual bid ceiling for said potential seller;
• and
• (d) if said received bid is greater than said individual bid ceiling for said potential seller, communicating to said potential seller that said received bid is invalid.

A method of conducting an auction, comprising the steps of:

• (a) setting an individual bid floor for each of a plurality of potential bidders, wherein an individual bid floor for at least one of said plurality of potential bidders is different from an individual bid floor for another of said plurality of potential bidders;
• (b) receiving bids from one or more potential bidders;
• (c) determining whether a received bid for a potential bidder is less than a corresponding individual bid floor for said potential bidder;
• and
• (d) if said received bid is less than said individual bid floor for said potential bidder, communicating to said potential bidder that said received bid is invalid.

A method of conducting an online auction between a plurality of bidders, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by an originator, to a plurality of potential bidders, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) receiving a bid from a bidder for said lot, said bid being confirmed by said bidder prior to submission;
• (c) determining whether said bid price on said lot passes at least one bid failsafe criteria, said at least one bid failsafe criteria incorporating system-based intelligence to determine whether said bid price on said lot is a permissible bid in view of previously received bids;
• and
• (d) if said bid price on said lot fails said at least one bid failsafe criteria, implementing a pre-defined consequence that is associated with said at least one bid failsafe criteria.

A method of conducting an auction between a plurality of bidders, comprising the steps of:

• (a) offering a lot, defined at least in part by an originator, to a plurality of potential bidders, said lot having at least one product;
• (b) defining a closing time for said lot, wherein said closing time for said lot defines a time before which bids for the lot are to be submitted by a potential bidder;
• (a) receiving bids from potential bidders for said lot;
• (b) determining whether an erroneous bid has been submitted by a bidder;
• (c) if an erroneous bid has been submitted, deleting in real-time an erroneous bid and any consequential bids of said erroneous bid from the auction;
• and
• (d) communicating with potential bidders that said erroneous bid and said consequential bids have been deleted from the auction.