Methods and system for preferred vendor pre-transaction bidding

A machine-readable medium having stored thereon a set of instructions, which when executed perform a method comprising:

• in response to a request from a user for an airline-flight from a first location to a second location, providing to the user, via a network connection, one or more offers for sale of the airline-flight from the first location to the second location, the one or more offers matching a price-criteria pre-determined by an employer of the user, and the one or more offers excluding offers from a preferred vendor of the user;
• receiving, via the network connection, a selection of at least one offer from the user;
• identifying, via a computing device, at least one preferred vendor of the user;
• automatically generating and transmitting, via a computing device, a message to the at least one preferred vendor of the user, the message identifying a price of the user-selected offer, and the message requesting from the at least one preferred vendor a counter-offer for sale of an airline-flight from the first location to the second location, based on the price of the user-selected offer;
• in response to receiving at least one counter-offer for sale of the airline-flight from the first location to the second location, comparing the at least one counter-offer to the price-criteria pre-determined by the employer of the user;
• and
• providing, via the network connection, to the user the at least one counter-offer for sale of the airline-flight from the first location to the second location matching the price-criteria pre-determined by the employer of the user, wherein the at least one counter-offer is within a predetermined range of the price of the user-selected offer.