Online marketplace for information and intangible goods

A method of selling information, said method comprising:

• (a) enabling a plurality of vendors of information to provide an indication of information for sale using at least one input mechanism;
• (b) enabling at least one of a plurality of potential purchasers of information to provide at least one input indicative of a desired subset of the offered information;
• (c) causing at least one processor to determine whether the information for sale satisfies the at least one input indicative of the desired subset;
• and
• (d) if the determination is that the information for sale satisfies the at least one input indicative of the desired subset, causing the at least one processor to provide the portion of the information to the at least one of the plurality of potential purchasers.

An information distribution system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• at least one network interface device;
• and
• at least one memory device which stores a plurality of instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to operate with the at least one network interface device to:
• (a) enable a plurality of vendors of information to provide an indication of a desired sale price of each of a plurality of pieces of information;
• (b) enable a potential purchaser of information to provide at least one input indicative of a desired purchase price for information and a desired time frame for delivery of information;
• and
• (c) for each of the plurality of pieces of information:
• (i) determine if a vendor provision time for that piece of information is within the desired time frame for delivery,
• (ii) determine if the desired sale price of that piece of information is less than the desired purchase price,
• (iii) if the determination is that the vendor provision time for that piece of information is within the desired time frame for delivery and that the desired sale price of that piece of information is less than the desired purchase price:
• A. debit an account of the potential purchaser by the sale price and
• B. provide that piece of information to the potential purchaser, and
• (iv) if the determination is that the vendor provision time for that piece of information is within the desired time frame for delivery but that the desired sale price of that piece of information is greater than the desired purchase price,
• A. offer the desired purchase price to the at least one vendor providing said piece of information,
• B. receive an indication of whether the at least one vendor accepts the offer at the desired purchase price, and
• C. provide said piece of information to the potential purchaser if the at least one vendor accepts the offer at the desired purchase price.