A computer-implemented system for conducting a sealed bid online reverse auction, said system comprising:
- a computing system having one or more processors configured to provide an online platform for remotely conducting a sealed bid online reverse auction;
- a buyer computing device and at least one bidder computing device, each configured to communicate with said computing system over a network;
- one or more non-transitory computer readable program storage medium capable of storing instructions to instruct said one or more processors to perform said auction in accordance with a set of predetermined rules, wherein said one or more processors are configured to:
- receive, from said buyer computing device, an auction request for an auction subject in said auction;
- receive, from said at least one bidder computing device, one or more sealed bids each specifying a bid amount for said auction subject, wherein at least one of said one or more sealed bids is a bid associated with a commitment to pay a price-protection fee;
- assign an anonymous identifier to each of said one or more sealed bids automatically;
- transmit, during said auction, to one or more of said at least one bidder computing device, a first representation of said auction including one or more of said anonymous identifiers, wherein said first representation does not include said bid amount, and wherein said at least one bidder computing device displays at least a portion of information related to said first representation;
- determine a winning bid from said received one or more sealed bids, wherein upon said winning bid being associated with said commitment to pay said price-protection fee:
- apply said set of predetermined rules to said specified bid amount of said winning bid to calculate said price-protection fee;
- determine a designated bid of said received one or more sealed bids relative to said winning bid;
- compute a difference between said amount of said winning bid and an amount of said designated bid;
- apply said set of predetermined rules to said difference to calculate an adjustment amount;
- compute, based on a closing of said auction, a recalculated winning bid amount based on a formula applying at least one of said adjustment amount or said price-protection fee to said amount of said winning bid;
- transmit, after said closing of said auction, to one or more of said at least one bidder computing device, a second representation of said auction, wherein said second representation includes at least said recalculated winning bid amount associated with said winning bid corresponding to at least one said anonymous identifier, wherein said at least one bidder computing device displays at least a portion of information related to said second representation;
- and
- allocate at least a portion of said price-protection fee for distribution in accordance with said set of predetermined rules.