Electronic catalogs that provide hierarchical access for buyers of goods and services

A method for selectively granting a buyer access to an item in an electronic catalog, comprising the steps of:

• determining a hierarchical level of the buyer and a hierarchical attribute of the item;
• comparing the hierarchical attribute of the item with the hierarchical level of the buyer;
• and
• if the hierarchical attribute of the item does not exceed the hierarchical level of the buyer, granting the buyer access to the item in the electronic catalog.

A method for selectively granting a buyer, who represents a customer, access to an item in an electronic catalog of a provider, comprising the steps of:

• determining whether the customer has access to the item;
• if the customer has access to the item, determining a hierarchical level of the buyer and a hierarchical attribute of the item;
• comparing the hierarchical attribute of the item with the hierarchical level of the buyer;
• and
• if the hierarchical attribute of the item does not exceed the hierarchical level of the buyer, granting the buyer access to the item in the electronic catalog.

A catalog system for electronic commerce, comprising:

• a general catalog of items offered by a provider;
• a terms and conditions database for storing hierarchical attributes in association with items that are accessible to a customer of the provider, wherein the items accessible to the customer are a subset of the items of the general catalog, and further wherein a hierarchical attribute associated with an item indicates whether a buyer who represents the customer has access to said item based on a comparison of the hierarchical attribute of said item and a hierarchical level of the buyer;
• a buyer attributes database for storing the hierarchical level of the buyer;
• and
• a contract catalog that includes the items accessible to the customer and associated hierarchical attributes.

A catalog system for electronic commerce, comprising:

• a general catalog of items offered by a provider;
• a terms and conditions database for storing item identifiers and associated hierarchical attributes of items that are accessible to a customer of the provider, wherein the items accessible to the customer are a subset of the items of the general catalog, and further wherein a hierarchical attribute associated with an item indicates whether a buyer who represents the customer has access to said item based on a comparison of the hierarchical attribute of said item and the hierarchical level of the buyer;
• a buyer attributes database for storing hierarchical levels of buyers who represent the customer;
• and
• a processor for comparing the hierarchical attributes of the items of the subset with the hierarchical levels of the buyers, and in response granting the buyers access to selected items of the subset.