Method and system for virtual sealed-bid competitions held over a communictions network

A method of transacting a sealed bid purchase competition over the Internet, comprising the steps of:

• providing a buyer that is intending to hold a sealed bid purchase competition with a machine having a data storage device and a connection to the Internet as well as providing the buyer's machine with computer-implemented means for originating a “request for bid” communication that includes bid data as well as a parameter of deadline;
• providing a plurality of vendors with access to the “request for bid” communication by means of the Internet;
• providing those vendors which choose to respond by the deadline with computer-implemented means for responding with “response” communications containing substantive content presumptively responsive to the “request for bid” communication;
• providing the buyer's machine with a computer-implemented process for writing data to the buyer's machine's storage device in a form which is substantially un-editable by the buyer;
• providing the buyer's machine with a computer-implemented opening process to open the “response” communications including the substantive content thereof, without computer-implemented restraint thereto and without buyer's discretion being subject to the denial by any other party or computer-implemented process, whereby merely the buyer's voluntary restraint is relied upon to assure buyer doesn't open the substantive content until some time determined from the deadline;
• providing the buyer's machine with computer-implemented means for originating an informal message and utilities for broadcast transmission of, during the time period between origination of the “request for bid” communication and accessing the substantive content of any vendor's “response” communication, such informal message to all of the plurality of vendors whose respective contact data was known or otherwise supplied to the buyer previous to the instance of the broadcast transmission;
• and
• providing the buyer's machine a computer-implemented log process that operates automatically with the computer-implemented opening process that writes data comprising a log record that is committed to the buyer's machine's storage device in the form that is substantially un-editable by the buyer automatically with the buyer's use of the computer-implemented opening process such that the buyer's activity with opening at least the substantive content of the “response” communications is logged so that such log record can be audited after-the-fact to disclose if the buyer voluntarily restrained itself from opening at least the substantive content of the “response” communications until the lapse of the some time determined from the deadline.