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OwnerSirish Reddi, Rob Houghton +1inventors
InventorsSirish Reddi, Rob Houghton, Chirag Shah
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Method and apparatus for facilitating a sales transaction between one or more sellers and potential buyers in relation to large numbers of similar units. A seller offers the units to buyers, starting at an initial price. The potential buyers make offers to buy a given number of units at that price. The price is incrementally reduced, with buyers being given the opportunity to bid with each reduction. In other embodiments, the buyer makes an offer to multiple sellers at a given price, specifying the number of units the buyer wants. Sellers offer to fulfil some or the entire offer, and the buyer subsequently reduces the price and makes additional offers until the buyer's requirements are met.
A method of using a computer to facilitate a sales transaction between one or more sellers and potential buyers in relation to a plurality of similar units, the method comprising the steps of:
30 A method of using a computer to facilitate a sales transaction between a buyer and at least one potential seller in relation to a plurality of similar units, the method comprising the steps of, in the computer:
A method according to claim 30, wherein steps (b) to (e) are repeated until:
A method according to claim 30, wherein precedence of the sellers' offers for sale of the units is at least partially determined on the basis of the chronological order in which they are received, such that earlier offers are accepted prior to later offers at that price.
A method according to claim 30, wherein precedence of the sellers' offers is at least partially determined on the basis of the number of units indicated by each of the sellers' offers, such that offers for larger numbers of units take precedence over offers for lower numbers of units at that price.
A method according to claim 30, wherein step (b) is performed at fixed and predetermined time intervals after the initial offer is made by the buyer.
A method according to claim 30, including the step of registering the buyer with the computer prior to allowing the initial offer to be placed.
A method according to claim 30, further including the step of:
A method according to claim 30, further including the step of logging, on the computer, the prices and offers at the prices.
A method according to claim 30, wherein at least some of the data exchanged between buyers and sellers during the sales transaction is security encrypted.
Computer apparatus configured and programmed to facilitate a sales transaction between one or more sellers and potential buyers in relation to a plurality of similar units, the computer apparatus including:
Computer apparatus configured and programmed to facilitate a sales transaction between a buyer and at least one potential seller in relation to a plurality of similar units, computer apparatus including:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.