WO2001026016A2

WO2001026016A2 - System and method for purchase and sale of transportation assets via a global computer network

Info

Publication number: WO2001026016A2
Application number: PCT/US2000/027829
Authority: WO
Inventors: Frank William Dewolf; John Wesley Huegel; Vaseem Mahboob
Original assignee: General Electric Company
Priority date: 1999-10-07
Filing date: 2000-10-10
Publication date: 2001-04-12
Also published as: AU7874300A; WO2001026016A8

Abstract

A computer implemented, internet based commerce method for purchase and sale of goods and services between multiple, unrelated parties using an auction type process. The method allows an auction owner to offer to purchase or to sell goods or services from or to qualified bidders while having an option of controlling admission of bidders to the auction. The method can be used in an anonymous auction wherein neither the auction owner nor bidder are known to each other. The method can also include search functions to identify goods by alternative descriptors, error detection to identify bid errors, monitor functions to allow monitoring of multiple auction events, bid analysis functions to determine actual bid value and trending analysis to predict needs in goods and services.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PURCHASE AND SALE OF TRANSPORTATION ASSETS VIA A GLOBAL COMPUTER NETWORK

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for buying and selling of items in the transportation industry using a global computer network to advertise availability of items and/or needs for items and to allow parties to reach agreements to buy and sell on an anonymous basis. The development of a global computer network, generally referred to as the

Internet or World Wide Web, has given buyers and sellers the opportunity to buy and sell goods between numerous, widely dispersed parties. Many of these opportunities are implemented in auction type scenarios, either direct conventional auctions or in reverse auctions. Conventional auctions are exemplified by eBay, Inc. (http://www.ebay.com); ZD, Inc. (http://auctions.zdnet.com) and egghead.com. The system used by egghead.com is described in U.S. Patent No. 5,835,896. Reverse auctions, in which buyers state a price they are willing to pay for a particular product or service and then sellers decide whether they are willing to provide the product or service at that price, are exemplified by Priceline.com as described in U.S. Patent No. 5,794,207. These systems typically have similar structures in which the user is obligated to register and thus reveal his/her identity before being permitted to use the system. In the reverse auction system, the user may not know the seller before being committed to a purchase and is therefore subjected to a purchase of a product or service from a seller based solely on the willingness of the seller to sell at the bid price. In the direct auction system, the user may view all the sellers and can select to bid on individually selected items knowing in advance who is selling.

In a typical auction system, when a sell is consummated, the provider of the Internet site is compensated by receiving a fee that may be based on the value of the sale. In the direct auction system, it is desirable to have some assurance that the buyer and seller will not go outside the system to complete the sale and thereby deprive the site operator of its compensation. In ordinary systems such as eBay.com, the value of the goods is relatively small and each item is usually bid upon by several bidders. Thus, there is little incentive for a buyer and seller to go outside the system to negotiate a final price. If the goods were relatively high priced and the number of bidders at any time were only one, then such incentive would exist and there would be a likelihood that once the buyer was aware of the availability of the goods, the buyer would contact the seller directly in order to obtain a better price without paying the site operator. Accordingly, it may be desirable to have a site for higher priced goods in which the buyer and seller identities are confidential until the transaction has been substantially completed so that the site operator is assured of receiving compensation for the use of the site in putting the buyer and seller together.

Notwithstanding the desirability of keeping buyer and seller identities confidential, there may also be situations in which a buyer may want to limit the potential sellers to some selected group. For example, a buyer of railroad equipment may only want to purchase equipment from selected manufacturers whom the buyer knows can supply equipment of a particular type or meeting particular specifications. In situations in which surplus railroad equipment could be purchased from different rail operators, one rail company may not want to engage in transactions with another rail company. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide some method and system for allowing selection of potential sellers and for allowing a buyer or seller to eliminate selected buyers or sellers from potential transactions, e.g., to actively select auction participants.

Another issue that arises in existing Internet shopping and auction sites is the inability of the search engine to identify products that may be available but are not clearly defined by the same technical terms as may be used by the potential buyer. For example, a buyer may search for a type 752 motor and while such motors may be available, sellers may have simply listed such motors as "DC motor" or "traction motor". The buyer's description is intended to limit the number of "hits" to something reasonable since a search on just "motors" would find literally thousands of items.

However, by reciting the type 752, the search may be too restricted. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a domain specific search engine that could recognize names of items and identify synonymous terms to allow all available items to be found.

In situations in which the goods advertised for sale via the Internet are excess inventory, the seller may be willing to auction the goods for sale to the highest bidder. In other situations, the seller may be willing to sell the goods but only at a price at or above some minimum price. At other times, the seller may simply want to present the goods for sale at a fixed price. Similarly, a buyer may be willing to bid on goods sometimes, but at other times may only want to offer a fixed price for goods. Additionally, the buyer may be looking for a long-term continuous supply of particular goods and may want to enter into a supply arrangement with a distributor or manufacturer. Thus, it would be desirable for an Internet site to have capacity for interfacing with buyers and sellers at different levels for different types of transactions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above desirable features are implemented in an Internet web site having a database for storing selected information about businesses registered to use the site and about goods and services available to users of the site. The web site resides in a secure host computer using conventional Internet software protocols to allow access to selected data stored in the database from a plurality of user computers connected to the Internet. The site is provided with features such as the ability of registered users to view a listing of other registered users, the ability to accept credit card purchases, the ability to post feedback about other users, the ability to self register, the ability to change passwords, the ability to set preferences for automatic email notifications of products, and the ability to search by category, keyword, part number, description, price range, industry, part condition, quantity available and function. Additionally, the site may include the ability to search by method of sale, e.g., by auction, negotiated pricing, make an offer or fixed price. Further, the site may include the ability to review open, completed and closed listings.

Among the other desirable features, the site may allow the user to view the list of users and to designate selected users to be on an exclusion list, i.e., the excluded users would not be included in any buyer/seller relationship with the designating user. For example, a first railroad could exclude other railroads from its list of suppliers so that when the first railroad specifies a product that it seeks to purchase, the search engine would not return any hits from the other railroads. Similarly, if the first railroad were selling a product, it could specify that it would not sell to another railroad and the search engine would then exclude the first railroad's products from any search conducted by the other railroads. As a further modification of this feature, the system allows the user to specify an inclusion list from whom the user is willing to buy (or to whom it is willing to sell) products. Thus, the user could select only manufacturers on the user list and thus exclude all other possible sources of products or services.

The database, in addition to storing information about all registered users, all available goods and services, all goods that are being sought for purchase and all information about completed and pending sales, may also include a synonym database, which may include fuzzy logic, to allow the search engine to find equivalent products or services to those that are actually specified by the user. Further, the search engine can identify all registered users who either have the sought item on hand or have the capability of producing the item. The buyer-user then has the option to invite all the identified registered users to participate in an auction or other form of relationship or the buyer-user can select certain suppliers who will then be notified of the opportunity to participate. Further, any selected supplier can elect not to participate in any particular opportunity or not to participate in any opportunity involving a particular buyer-user. The auction can then commence with the selected registered users who have not opted out of the opportunity. The opportunity to enter into a buyer/seller relationship may involve more that just the purchase or sale of single commodity and may extend to longer term supplier contracts. In this respect, the buyer-user may be seeking production of products and may enter into a supply arrangement with a manufacturer or distributor. The ability to limit the participants in an auction allows the buyer to select from a group of manufacturers and eliminate bidding that may arise from another user merely disposing of excess inventory. In contrast to other auction type systems, the present system may allow the buyer to upload specifications for product manufacture so that the potential suppliers can bid on the production of products to meet buyer specifications. The invention may also include the integration of statistical tracking of products that are sought and/or sold through the system. This data can be used by manufacturer-users of the system to forecast future requirements and to automatically populate the site with products based on demand for the products. The invention may also include the ability to participate in and track multiple deals or auctions concurrently. The system may allow the user to "box" each deal on a computer screen in a small area such as 3x5 inches or smaller (so-called 'thumbnails') so that the user could continue to do other work while monitoring the status of a deal. Using this technique would also allow multiple thumbnails to be displayed simultaneously so that a user could monitor multiple deals. The system may operate on an active basis if such is selected so that each deal can be automatically updated. The concept of auto-update can be characterized as a method of implementing an auto-refresh cycle for the Internet connection.

A further feature of the invention may include the ability of a user to extend a preselected time for bidding or participating in a deal or auction. Typically, a user desiring to sell or buy a product may specify a time by which the deal or auction will terminate. If there is sufficient activity, the user may elect to extend that time to allow more opportunities for the participants to bid. Optionally, the user may set up the auction or deal parameters to let the system automatically extend the time for bidding based on selected criteria, such as, for example, number of bidders or bids or requests from persons who want to bid. The extension times may be small, such as five minutes for purposes of allowing a bidder to get on-line to bid or may be longer if the user determines that such additional time may be beneficial.

By way of summary, Table I lists some of the features of the invention that may be implemented for a buyer, Table II lists some of the features for a seller, while Table III lists technical attributes that may be implemented. Buyer features

Extensive Search features including:

Search by category

Search by keyword

Search by part number

Search by description

Search by price range

Search by industry

Search by part condition

Search by quantity available

Search by functional part category

Search by method of sell (auction, negotiated sale, make an offer, fixed price) Ability to create an "exclusion list". The "exclusion list" would exclude all items posted for sell from the companies listed in the "exclusion list". Expanded search segmentation. Ability to limit search to industries and components previously set in the user profile.

Ability to save and rerun searches. Capability to manually rerun a saved search OR to specify the frequency to automatically rerun search and notification of buyer via e-mail. Ability to post request to purchase specific items. "Wanted to buy" feature.

Ability to get in contact with seller and ask questions about the product / service posted.

Ability to identify existing auctions and participate as a bidder.

Ability to directly negotiate and make offers for items that are listed as non-auction sale.

System will notify buyer upon acceptance of offer from seller.

Seller Features

Capability to manually add specific individual items up for bid.

Capability to execute a batch load from an external user designated file which is in a predefined format.

Ability to classify the asset / service of the item being posted:

By major industry (e.g. Transportation)

By industry (e.g. Railroads)

By product category (e.g. Locomotives)

By manufacturer (e.g. GE Transportation Systems)

By functional part category, (e.g. Diesel engine)

By functional part subcategories as required (e.g. Power assemblies)

Ability to classify the part condition: New

Like new

Used

Refurbished / Rebuilt

Core

Broken / non functional

Classify warranty information:

As-is no warranty

Warranty by seller (free form text description of warranty information) Warranty by OEM (free form text description of warranty information) Description of return policy

Description of shipping and payment terms

Allow the following methods of bid from a prospective buyer:

Part auction - Fixed starting and ending times; opening and minimum bids

Negotiated sale - Buyer and seller can negotiate through system. Initial price can optionally be listed.

Make an offer - No price listed, buyer to make an offer. System authorized to accept offer if above minimum acceptable price.

Fixed price - seller will only accept offer for listed price.

Ability to post pictures and other graphical files for review by potential seller.

Ability to respond to potential buyer generated inquiries.

Ability of seller to update an existing listing:

Delete a listed item

Modify a listed item. Including listed item and sell / posting attributes.

Ability to selectively advertise selected listings using advertising banners, preferential display methods such as keywords search and e-mail broadcasts, search ranking, boldfacing / unique fonts or colors.

Technical features:

Dynamic batch load. Ability to synchronize data stored on a registered users computer system to the posting database.

Advanced smart search technology. This search subsystem will optionally (through a check box) execute a "smart" search of text data that will: Perform EXACT text match Match on combinations of word abbreviations All combinations of search words without vowels will be matched Synonym database will be referenced when performing search. Example: If a search for "electric motor" was entered, the following combinations would also be searched:

Electric motor (exact match)

Lctrc mtr (no vowels)

Electric mtr (all combinations of vowels eliminated)

Etc. (all combinations of vowels eliminated)

Traction motor (found in synonym database) Digital photo wizard

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description taking in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of data structure and flow in an auction system in one implementation of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for use in creating one form of an auction in the system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for one feature of the inventive auction system;

FIG. 4 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for setting auction parameters in one implementation of the invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for allowing a third party to confirm participation in an auction of a second party in one form of the invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for setting forth conditions precedent to participation in an auction in one form of the invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for enabling a bidder to observe status of bids;

FIG. 8 is an illustrative example of a computer screen for a buyer to observe status of an auction;

FIG. 9 is a functional flow chart illustrating selection of auction participants in one form of the invention; FIG. 10 is a functional flow chart illustrating selection of an item for auction in one form of the invention;

FIG. 11 is a functional flow chart illustrating pushing of available items to potential buyers in one form of the invention;

FIG. 12 is a functional flow chart illustrating creation of an auction monitoring screen for multiple auctions;

FIG. 13 is a functional flow chart illustrating monitoring of auction events for a monitoring screen created in the method of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is a functional flow chart illustrating one form of bid processing for the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a functional flow chart illustrating completion of a contract between parties at completion of an auction;

FIG. 16 is a functional flow chart illustrating setting up of an auction event in one form of the invention;

FIG. 17 is a functional flow chart illustrating bid management of an auction event in one form of the invention;

FIG. 18 is a functional flow chart illustrating bid processing based on deviation from bid item in a buyer's auction;

FIG. 19 is one implementation of a computer screen for the method of FIG.

18;

FIG. 20 is a functional flow chart illustrating communication being auction owner and bidder in an auction event;

FIG. 21 is a functional flow chart illustrating another communication process for an auction event;

FIG. 22 is a functional flow chart illustrating one method of correcting for bid errors;

FIG. 23 is one implementation of an input screen for the method of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is a functional flow chart illustrating one method of loading data into the auction system of the invention;

FIG. 25 is a functional flow chart illustrating one method evaluating bids having variable landing costs; FIG. 26 is one implementation of a computer display screen associated with the method of FIG. 25;

FIG. 27 is a functional flow chart illustrating one method of loading bid request data to specific bidders; and

FIG. 28 is a functional flow chart illustrating establishment of trading groups and directing auction events to such groups.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the organization of an Internet auction site in accordance with one form of the present invention. The auction site sets up several integrated databases that are used during the course of any auction activity. Database 10 stores information about potential buyers who utilize the auction site to purchase goods from suppliers whose data is maintained in a supplier database 12. In addition, the system keeps tracks of information about items being bought and sold in an item database 14 and about bidding information on items involved in an auction in a bidding database 16. Further, there may be included an auction database 18 which keeps track of various administrative functions involved in the auction process. Each of the databases use conventional database software for storing and retrieving data from computer memory.

In the inventive system, a buyer can perform various administrative functions using the auction database 18 to track items which are to be involved in an auction, keep track of who is participating in an auction and who would be invited to participate as a supplier in an auction and also to track bids being made by various suppliers during the course of the auction. The item database 14 can be used to maintain descriptions of items that are being sold or offered for sale or for which a buyer has requested quotes from various suppliers. The item database 14 may include names of the items, a synonym list which provides the ability to give alternate names for the same item and also a list that may provide specifications for particular items.

The bidding data in database 16 typically tracks the particular bids being made or offered by suppliers or buyers with regard to items identified by database 14.

It will be noted that each of these databases, 12, 14, 16 and 18 are integrated with each other in order to coordinate items being sold or purchased with suppliers who are capable of providing those items and allowing those particular items to be coordinated with the bidding data with bids submitted by a particular supplier.

The present invention enables conventional types of auctions and reverse auctions to occur on the same website. In addition, the invention allows a buyer or seller to bypass the auction function and simply specify a particular price that the buyer is willing to pay or at which a seller is willing to sell. By way of example, reference is now made to FIG. 2 which illustrates a screen shot for a buyer to enter data to establish a new reverse auction scenario. In this example, the buyer desires to purchase particular items that may be used in a unique application such as the illustrated insulation for use in a locomotive. The buyer can enter the part number associated with these products where appropriate such as, for example, when the particular insulation product is specifically designed to fit into a particular locomotive, such as a General Electric locomotive. The buyer can initially enter dates on which the auction is to start and when it is to end as shown in blocks 20, 21. The start hours and end hours are then shown in blocks 22, 23. In addition, the system can accept an exact minute for the auction to end at some time other than on an exact hour such as shown by blocks 25, 26. The buyer also has to identify the auction by name for tracking purposes, block 28, and must select a password in order to be able to make further changes in the auction information or to access auction data as shown by blocks 30, 31. If desired, the buyer can enter a reserve price, block 32.

Information in blocks 34, 36, 38 and 40 identifies the buyer by name, phone number and e-mail. In block 40, the buyer can enter any comments relating to the particular auction that is being established at this time.

As discussed above, the auction site may be limited to particular types of equipment such as locomotives or off-highway vehicles and as such, certain items for which the buyer is seeking or for which a seller may be trying to sell, can be identified by a part number. Such part numbers can be entered in block 42. The database may be preprogrammed with part numbers so that the buyer may enter only a portion of the part number and then click on a pull-down menu to enter the remaining portion or select the particular part number that he is actually searching for. The buyer can also enter the quantity of parts that he is seeking in block 44. In addition, a seller may want to establish a start price for bidding and such can be entered in block 46. All of this information entered into the blocks 42, 44, and 46 appears in the descriptive area 48 as part ID, part description, auction quantity and start bid price. Once the buyer has finished completing the entries in the box 42, 44 and 46, the buyer can then click on the execute button 50 and the system will proceed to the screen shown in FIG. 3. The function identified in the screen of FIG. 3 allows a buyer to select suppliers from a list of available suppliers and thereby excludes other potential suppliers from participating in the auction. Some of the rationale for the exclusion or selection of suppliers may be that the buyer has particular suppliers that he wishes to deal with or that the buyer does not wish to deal with certain suppliers who may be in competition with the buyer. For example, in the case of a railroad buyer, the buyer may not wish to purchase excess inventory from competing railroads and may wish to assure that any parts that he is buying is coming from an original manufacturer of those parts. The system also allows suppliers, at the time they register with the auction site owner, to designate any potential buyers to whom they do not wish to sell. If the buyer creating the auction is on any suppliers' exclusion list, that supplier will not appear in the supplier selection block 52 for the auction. In block 52, the buyer merely checks off the names of the suppliers that he wishes to participate with in this reverse auction. In addition, the buyer can add other suppliers that are not in the list in block 54. In the case of additional suppliers added in block 54, the system can e- mail the supplier to notify the supplier that he is being invited to participate in an online bidding system for the supply of particular parts to a potential purchaser. Note that the system does not supply the name of the purchaser to any of the potential suppliers. Once all of the suppliers have been identified, the buyer can enter this data by clicking on the execute icon 56. This will bring up the next screen shown in FIG. 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the auction has been assigned a number and name based on the data input of FIG. 2. In FIG. 4, the buyer is now allowed to select various auction parameters which comprise the administrative functions illustrated by block 18 of FIG. 1. One of the first actions that the buyer can take is to determine the auction order, block 58. One of the options is to allow the lowest bidder to win while another option is to split the order between two or more bidders. The buyer can also select the auction type, block 60 such as a blind auction, a binary auction or show low bid process. Additionally, the buyer can allow a potential supplier to split the required quantity or can only accept bids for the entire lot, block 62. Further buyer options includes the ability to show rankings or positions to potential suppliers, block 64 or show bid streams, block 66. The bid streams block allows the options of not showing any bids, of showing bids only from the particular supplier, showing bids by other suppliers, showing only the first one or two bids and showing the bidder names and other bidders also. Finally, a seller may want to show or not show a reserve price as shown by block 68. Once the auction parameters have been selected, the buyer/seller can click on the execute icon 70. Once the buyer has clicked on the confirmation icon 70 in FIG. 4, the system automatically sends notices to each of the suppliers that the buyer has selected to participate in the auction. When the supplier accesses the auction site, the supplier is presented with the screen of FIG. 5. The screen identifies a particular supplier, the current date and time, the auction information including the type of auction and the parts for which bids are being solicited. The buyer then has the option of electing to agree to the terms and conditions of the auction and participate or to decline to participate. The supplier may also click on the unsure icon, block 72, indicating that the supplier may or may not choose to participate in the auction at some later time. In addition, the supplier may enter any particular comments in the block 74 which can be transmitted to the buyer. Once the supplier has confirmed his participation in the auction, the supplier clicks the execute icon 76 to enter his decision. If the supplier accepts the auction terms and conditions, the acceptance screen of FIG. 6 opens to set forth all of the terms and conditions under which the auction is to take place. The supplier then has the option to accept or decline the terms and conditions at block 78. Turning now to FIG. 7, there is shown a typical screen for a supplier who has made a bid to supply the items requested by the buyer in the exemplary auction. In addition to the general information about the quantities and parts that are up for bid, this screen also provides a continuous update of the time left to participate in the auction and the lowest bid which has been made by a supplier to supply the parts. This screen also supplies the supplier with the current bid price and the lowest bids so that the supplier can determine whether or not his bid needs to be lowered if he desires to participate further in the auction. If the supplier is the winning bidder, then the buyer's name will also appear on this screen at 80.

Turning now to FIG. 8, there is shown a sample of the buyer's view of an ongoing auction. In this view, the buyer can actually check the various activities that are going on including monitoring the participants in the auction and the current bids of those participants.

The system thus described has been established so that buyers of materials or services can create a reverse auction to buy items. The system also allows entities to create auctions to sell inventory or services. Auctions may be automatically created if sufficient information is available on demands, suppliers, parts and conditions. For example, if there are products that are available from various suppliers, the system can automatically create an auction by extracting data from the various databases and placing those items into an active notification system so that potential buyers are notified of the availability of certain supplies. For example, the system could monitor the buying habits of certain buyers and automatically notify those buyers when goods or services that they had bought in the past become available.

The present invention can also create an auction which operates as a commitment to sell a quantity of parts or services at a given price or to buy a quantity of parts or services at a given price, i.e., to create a supply contract. Another feature that can be implemented is to isolate the actual purchase transaction from the auction so that no title transfer takes place during the auction. Rather, the buyer and seller are identified to each other at the end of the auction and the buyer and seller must then separately enter in to the actual transfer of title to complete the transaction.

The reverse purchase options described in the various screens is set up by invitation. The suppliers are invited based on their eligibility to participate in the auction as suppliers. For example, the suppliers may be considered eligible if they have previously sold similar parts or services to the buyer or they have passed a rigorous production validation process to assure that they can produce suitable parts or services for the buyer. For bidders, the system is available for selling but the bidders must be registered and must agree to the terms and conditions of the auction site including the obligation to buy if they win the bid. As discussed above, in a reverse auction, the low bidder wins the auction. The low bidder is determined to be the first bidder to enter a low bid that is not beat by another bidder. Some auctions may allow multiple winners or multiple suppliers and in that case the winners can be declared by time of equal low bid placement or by bid amount. In a reverse buy auction, payment from the buyer to the seller results from the execution of the purchase contract which follows the auction and not as a direct result of the auction itself. In a sell auction, payment flows from buyer to seller either through the auction host or directly from the buyer to the seller. In either case, the auction provider may charge fees such as subscription fees, listing fees, auction dollar volume percentage fees, savings percentage fees, and fees for preparatory services, advertising or other promotional services, data storage, archival or reporting services or other value added activities provided by the auction provider to buyers and/or the sellers.

In general, the present invention features both forward and reverse auctions, auction alert features, multiple simultaneous auctions open for any buyer, bidder or seller. Further, the system may use bid confirmation by requiring that a bid be entered twice to help avoid data entry errors. The system also allows for setting bid increments by the auction initiator or automatic bid increments based on a total package price in order to prevent small bid increments for large cost items. Multiple items can be listed in a single auction so that a seller may list numerous items that he has for sale or a buyer may offer to purchase numerous items in a single auction. Multiple item auctions can be fixed lot with individual price quotes or split lot with individual price quotes so that each item in the auction can be won by a different bidder based on the lowest bid for that particular item. The auction invitation feature can be implemented via e-mail with the required conditional activation of the participant based on response to the invitation. One of the unique features of the invention is the incorporation of the ability to compute freight and landed costs and other handling costs into the bids so that bids from suppliers with differing additional costs to acquire goods, such as bidders from long distance, can be compared with bids that are received from more local bidders. The costs can be calculated based on primary factors such as distance, location, origin and destination, part weight and any other factors which may affect delivery costs including import or export duties associated with shipping into or outside the primary location such as the United States.

The system may also allow the bidder to customize the display that he or she views and includes a plurality of options that allows disclosing or preventing disclosure of other bidders, other bids and ranks of bidders.

The invention may also include the ability to award percentages of an auction lot to more than one bidder based on winning bidders rank and a predetermined split table. For example, the buyer may allow the lowest bidder to receive some large percentage of the business, a second bidder to get some lower percentage and a third bidder to get the remainder of the business. This allows the buyer to split up the auction and assure a better flow of supplies or services in response to the auction.

Another implementation of the present system includes an interface to particular part drawings and other technical information directly from an auction preview or bidding screen. This implementation is designed for particular types of goods or services which can be unique to an industry such as transportation and allows parts drawings for various components to be stored in the database so that the specification for those particular parts can be accessed by bidders who wish to bid on producing or supplying those parts.

In addition to the above technical features, the system also provides for graphical and data displays of auction participants, bids and total bid package amounts, downloadable auction data to common file formats and databases and interface with various secure systems when required.

In summary, the present system provides an auction type of arrangement in which the entity creating the auction, whether a buyer or a seller, is subject to a verification and eligibility process. Essentially, all participants in the auctions have to register and be approved for participation by the owner of the auction site. The system can be set up such that the auctions can be created by authorized agents of a company or corporation which uses the auction's service. In addition, the item database is constructed so that images of items can be stored in the database and displayed to bidders. The items are also described in text with technical information and specifications. Whenever an auction is completed, the buyers or sellers are notified that the auction has closed by e-mail. Auction winners are also notified at the same time by e- mail that they have been successful in the auction. Concurrently, the auction creator is notified by e-mail of the winner of the auction so that the buyer and seller can independently contact each other to conclude the transaction. The only funds flow that occurs through the auction are commissions, selling fees and other fees resulting from usage of the auction service.

One of the unique features of the present invention is the auction bid report screen shown in FIG. 7. The small screen 82 is updated at regular intervals, typically about every ten seconds and reports the auction number, the time remaining, the items and bid prices, and the bidder's rank in the auction. Since multiple auctions can be in process at the same time, these small windows can be used to watch several auctions and then respond to an auction if action is warranted by the bidder.

In addition to the tracking functions that are available in the inventive system to keep track of bidding and purchasing of various goods and services through the auction site, the system may also provide a follow-up form and tracking function to allow buyers and sellers to keep track of post auction activities. In particular, the system may provide a method for tracking activities through the actual delivery and acceptance of the goods and services that are bought and sold through the auction site. In general, the present invention is designed to improve value to the transportation market by allowing vendors in the market to sell excess inventory and assets using an on-line web-based auction system to obtain more asset recovery, dollars, decreased promotion costs, shortened time to market of inventory assets and decrease the administrative costs of selling excess inventory and assets. On the buyer's side, the invention allows the purchase of major components and assets using a faster procurement cycle, decreased administrative costs, broader market selection and facilitates market-based pricing. While the invention is particularly directed to the railroad industry, it can be used by other industries in which there is a need to sell or dispose of excess inventory and surplus assets to a limited group of buyers. The system enables connection between buyers and sellers in the industry with the option of offering fixed, negotiated or auction sales of items and automates the flow of documentation between the buyer and seller. The web-based system includes an internet site integrated with a major supplier so that management and logistics for transportation of inventory, processing and tracking shipments and reducing the costs of transportation can be achieved. In addition, the system allows for integration of financing for both domestic and international buyers. The inventive system is implemented on an Internet accessible website and provides search engine capability for locating items of interest and for identifying buyers and sellers of various items. The system allows for different pricing options, such as fixed pricing, negotiated pricing and auction pricing. There is also provided a work flow tool to manage each transaction with streamlined registration processes and on-line help. The system also maintains information about buyers and sellers for internal use such that buyers and sellers can be evaluated. The actual buy or sell transaction can be handled off-line after completion of all negotiations in the on-line process. The system is capable of handling a flat file format or manual upload with digital imaging of the part and implements standard purchase order and contracts of sale for on-line use. Buyers can also introduce a "want list" and obtain e-mail notification when a part from that "want list" becomes available. A shopping basket is provided for buyers searching for multiple items.

FIG. 9 illustrates a feature of the present invention in which the user is able to select or exclude from the buy-sell process particular companies. For example, the user may have a desire not to deal with direct competitors and thus may want to exclude those direct competitors from the list of persons from whom he is willing to purchase excess inventory or assets. As shown in FIG. 9, when the user first enters the site, block 100, the user is provided with a list, block 102, of all registered companies, i.e., companies that have registered to do business on this site. The user then picks, block 104, from the list any companies that he wants to exclude from his list of sellers or alternatively, picks particular companies that he wants to include in the list of sellers. If a company that the user wants to include on his list is not on the list, block 106, the system allows the user to add the new company, block 108. If the company is on the list, the user can simply select the company, block 110, and create a list of companies, block 112, who may be involved in the transaction. Once the list is created, the user then can do item selection, block 114, or provide input information on the item that he desires to buy or sell. FIG. 10 shows that the user enters the item description, block 116. The search engine identifies the item, block 118, and then resorts to an internal database to identify equivalent item names, block 120. For example, if the user is searching for a traction motor, the search engine will identify possible synonyms or acronyms, block 122, for traction motors such as, for example, tm, trctn mtr, trc mtr, ahtm, or hetm. Further, the synonym list may also include particular part numbers associated with the traction motors so that the system can actually search by part number for identical traction motors for sale. Once the search engine has identified the particular item that is being searched and its equivalent item names, the engine then searches for the items from the selected companies, block 124. The list of items are then displayed, block 126, to the user but without the actual source of the items. It should be noted that there may be instances in which sellers have items for sale but have put conditions on the items that the items are not to be sold to their direct competitors. Thus, even if the listing competitor is added to the user's list of potential suppliers, if the system identifies any items that may be available from that competitor, those items will not be displayed to the user since they are tagged by the system due to the competitor providing an exclusion to sales to that user.

FIG. 11 illustrates another embodiment in which the system is able to create a buyer profile, block 128, for the purpose of anticipating potential items that may be desired by a buyer. In this instance, the system analyzes the buying patterns, block

130, of a particular buyer including the search patterns, block 132, and a list of items, block 134, that the buyer has said is wanted. The system then generates a report, block 136, based on all the buyer collected data and uses that report to predict buyer trends, block 138, i.e., buyer future want items. These items are then posted to sellers, block 140, on the system to allow them to adjust their offerings to include items that the buyer may want. The system also maintains a list of items, block 142, that are available in a database and automatically matches the items on the database against the items that the system has predicted that a buyer will want, block 144. When such items are available, the system automatically notifies the buyer of the availability of the item, block 146.

As previously discussed, one of the features of the present invention is the ability to monitor multiple auctions that are occurring at the same time. Referring to FIG. 12, there is shown a functional block diagram of the operation of what is referred to as a dashboard 148 which contains thumbnail pictures A-F of on-going auctions for any particular user. In this instance, the system defines the scope of events to monitor for a user, block 150, creates a dashboard which includes the thumbnail sketches of each event being monitored, block 152, and displays that dashboard to the user. The system has the ability to add or delete items to the dashboard, block 154, as new auctions are entered or as older auctions are closed out. The user can move, modify the look and format and other parameters of the dashboard to his/her particular preferences, block 156. FIG. 13 shows the typical flow of events in which the dashboard is periodically refreshed, block 158, and new events processed block 160. This system determines the status of each thumbnail item that is being monitored, block 162. Any changes in the thumbnail status for each event is displayed, block 164, as a change in the thumbnail sketches, the sketch is then reformatted, block 166, and shown on the dashboard, block 168. Each of these displays may be maintained for a fixed time or can be changed based upon some event trigger, block 170.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes the ability to set a finite time within which a buy-sale arrangement needs to be consummated. Typically, an auction may have a fixed time in which a final bid is to be accepted. The present system may allow the owner of the auction to extend the time period for the auctions based upon various options that can be selected, block 172. In particular, a user can select the option of allowing extensions of time for bidding to occur, block 174, based upon various criteria such as the receipt of bids at or about the time that the auction is closing. If this option is selected, the user can define the length of the extension increment and the number or count of extension increments, block 176, that may be allowed. The increment and count is necessary since the system can implement automatic time extensions. The system also defines a "time left" period, block 178, during which an extension will be allowed if a bid is received during the time left period. The extensions are shown to the bidders, block 180, and the automatic extension is triggered by the bids submitted near the end of the bidding event, block

182. If the bidding occurs during the defined time left period, block 184, the system then checks to see whether an extension is appropriate. If the bidding does not occur during the time left period, then the system automatically steps forward and provides a report to bidders, block 186. If an extension is appropriate, that is if the extension counter is less than the predetermined count, block 188, then the system will add one to the count, block 190, add an increment to the ending time of the bidding event, block 192, and report the remaining time to the bidders, block 186. Once all the new bids have been processed, the event simply ends, block 196 and block 198. Also shown in FIG. 14 is a provision for manual interruption, block 200, so that manual authorization of an extension of time can be implemented, block 202. For manual interruption, the user has to specify the extension, block 204, and the system will then adjust the end time, block 206, and generate a report or display to the bidders, block

208.

Turning now to FIG. 15, there is shown a process of ending a bidding sequence in which the buyer has won and needs to acknowledge the winning bid, block 210. The system has an option, block 212, for jumping directly into an on-line purchase order screen, block 214, or the buyer can simply cut his own purchase order.

If the buyer elects to use the on-line screen, the system goes directly to that screen and issues a purchase order over the Internet to the seller. Once the seller has received the purchase order, block 216, the system keeps track of the status of events monitoring whether or not the item has been shipped, block 218. Once the buyer notifies the system that the item has been shipped, the system then begins to check for acknowledgement from the buyer that the item has been received, block 220. Once the buyer acknowledges receipt, the system then closes the entire event process, block 222.

FIG. 16 is an overview of the process of creating an auction event, block 224, in which the auction owner sends invitations to various potential participants, block

226. The participants review the invitations, block 228, and then make a decision as to whether to accept or reject the invitation to participate in the auction, block 230. If the participant is unsure, there is a time delay, block 232, to allow the participant to reconsider the event and then again review the invitation. If the auction is actually activated, block 234, prior to the participant electing to participate in the auction, then the potential participant is excluded from that particular event. If the potential participant declines to participate, the system removes the participant from the bid list, block 236. If the potential participant accepts the opportunity to participate in the auction, an acceptance is returned to the auction creator for review, block 238. The auction creator then has the opportunity to activate the auction, block 240, and enter into the bidding phase, block 242. There are different types of auction events that can be implemented in the invention including a fixed lot auction or a split lot auction. In a fixed lot auction, the bidders are required to bid on everything in the fixed lot. In a split lot auction, bidders may divide up the lots in any form and bid on any item or portion of items in the lots. FIG. 17, illustrates an auction process implemented in the present invention and which allows selection of either a fixed lot or split lot type auction by the auction administrator, block 244. If a fixed lot auction is designated, block 246, the system allows calculation of a package price, block 248, and then setting a reserve price for the lot, block 250. The reserve price does not have to be set by the seller but is generally preferred. The system can be programmed to automatically set a reserve price at some percentage of the calculated package price. Once the pricing has been set, the system awaits bids, block 252. For any bid that is submitted, the system automatically checks to determine if all of the items in the lot have bids greater than zero and if not, returns to the awaiting bids process, block 254. If all the items have bids greater than zero, then the system calculates the bid price for the entire lot, block 256, displays the bids, block 258, and determines the winner, block 260. In the split lot process, block 262, the system can automatically set a reserve price per item or the seller can manually set a reserve price, block 264. In this form of auction, the display lists all of the items and their respective bids, block 266, and then determines winners for each of the individual items, block 268. FIG. 18 illustrates another feature which may be implemented in the system to handle bids from potential sellers in which the item offered for sale in response to a buyer's request differs from the item requested by the buyer. If offered item differs, block 270, the bidder can describe in detail the item offered, block 272, and the user then has the option of accepting the substitute item, block 274, or rejecting the offer and demanding the exact item. An example of a computer screen in which feature is implemented is shown in FIG. 19. The comment screen 273 corresponds to block 272 and allows the bidder to specify deviations. The auction owner can then accept or reject the bid.

FIG. 20 illustrates a chat option, block 276, that may be made available on the system. The chat function can be implemented either by supplier electing to chat with a potential buyer, block 278, by buyer electing to chat with a supplier, block 280, or in response to a message received from either the buyer or supplier, block 282. If the supplier selects to chat to buyer, the system allows composing of a message, block 284, sending the message, block 286, and waiting for a response, block 288. If the buyer selects a chat to a supplier, block 280, the additional step of selecting the particular supplier to which the message is to be sent is implemented, block 290. Of course, the buyer can select a message to be sent to all potential suppliers. The buyer then composes the message, block 292, selects the send message function, block 294, and awaits a reply, block 296. In the message received mode, the receiver views the message, block 298, composes a response, block 300, and sends the response as though it were ordinary e-mail, block 302. A modification of the chat option of FIG.

20 is shown in FIG. 21 as a broadcast function, block 304, in which a message is to be sent to a number of users on the system. In this case, the originator composes a message, block 306, selects the particular method to be used for sending the message, block 308, such as by e-mail, and then selects the target for the message, block 310. A list of options can be provided, block 312, such as whether the information is a copy, archival, future delivery or some degree of urgency. The initiator then submits the message, block 314, to be stored or delivered immediately and awaits a response, block 316. FIG. 23 is a sample computer screen showing block 313 for selecting suppliers to add to a list, block 315, and for entering a message, block 317, to be sent to all suppliers in the list block 315.

There may be occasions when a bid needs to be retracted and the system can provide for retraction of bids. A retraction can be caused by a bid that is clearly out of an expected range or it can be initiated by the submitter of a bid for any reason. As shown in FIG. 22, the receipt of a bid that is clearly out of range could be resolved by removing the supplier, block 318, and deleting the bid. Removal of a bid that is submitted in error, block 320, by the bidder is also permitted. In each event, the system can suspend the bidding event, block 322, to prevent additional bids if necessary. Once the event is suspended, the user can choose the bid to be retracted, block 324. In some instances, it may be necessary to retract all bids submitted by a particular supplier or merely to retract a single bid. The approval is given by the auction owner who then allows the bid to be erased and confirms by message that the bid is deleted. At this point the supplier can be removed at the option of the auction owner, block 326, or can be allowed to continue in the bidding process and the event reactivated.

For each bid that is retracted, a record is maintained so that the system saves and/or sends any retracted bids by e-mail to the auction owner, block 328. If the supplier is not bidding according to the agreed terms and conditions, that supplier can be prevented from transmitting further bids, block 330.

Information about particular parts can be loaded into the system either through a manual load process, block 372, in which the user types in the data or through a download process from a user computer as shown in FIG. 24. In either event, more than one object can be loaded at any one time, block 374. If only a single object is to be loaded, the system defaults to a load data function with a single object to load, blocks 376 and 378. The user can then fill in the information, block 380, and submit it to the system, block 382, where it is checked, block 384, to make sure that all the appropriate information is provided. If there is certain information that the system recognizes as being missing, the system will default to an edit mode, block 386, and require the user to enter the missing data. In the case of multiple objects, the user can manually load but would preferably copy the data from its computer to the auction system using a download function, block 388. The information can be used to fill in or populate a spreadsheet, block 390, having a conventional load date form on it. As with a single object, the system can automatically check each of the items and information to assure that the proper data is transferred to the system and if not, requiring that the user edit the information to make it complete, as shown by block 392.

FIG. 25 illustrates a supplier setup process which allows the system to calculate extraneous cost of transport of items such as shipping, taxes, tariffs, duties, freight forwarding or other charges. These additional costs may affect the ability of a distant supplier to compete with a local supplier in some auctions. More importantly, because a local supplier may not have the same costs, that supplier may be able to bid and win at a higher price than a remote supplier since the remote supplier's final delivery costs may be higher than the local supplier. In this instance, the system tracks the supplier, determines the supplier location and computes the various additional costs which a supplier may experience in delivering an item. All of the adders are available on a review screen and are shown on the bidding screen. When the bid is submitted, the adders are summed with the bid to create a new evaluated bid which can then be compared to other bids and determine which is the actual landed cost of the item from any supplier. Block 394 shown in FIG. 25 summarize the steps performed by the system in computed "landed" bids. Block 396 represents the data entry to identify the supplier and location for computing landed costs. FIG. 26 illustrates a sample computer screen for the process of FIG. 25.

The system also has the ability to store company specific load routines as shown in FIG. 27. The system maintains a unique table, block 398, which identifies an event owner or administrator with a business or company and defines a location, process, or method parameters for that company to tie in to its own system, block 400. When an event owner is a defined associate with a company, block 402, the system can link to the company, block 404, and load data for an event which originates at the owner's company, block 406. This allows the company to monitor the event without being tied to a specific computer and further allows the system to connect to draw data from a remote system or data source. This system setup may require that the user specify various query fields, parameters or make record selections that can be accessed and then used to transfer selected information to the "load data" tables or storage area, blocks 408-416, as described in conjunction with FIG. 24. In addition to the above, and as shown in FIG. 28, the system also has the capability of doing an automatic invite to selected entities to participate in an auction. The entities can be formed into a trading group, block 418, by selection from various known suppliers or registrants in the system, block 420. The trading group is then maintained as a separate group, block 422, and can be notified as a group of an impending auction in which they may have a particular interest, block 424. In this manner, the user of the system may have the option of automatically selecting a particular trading group or user group to participate in a auction without having to individually identify persons who may have a particular interest in bidding on or bidding for a particular item.

Each trading group is assigned a unique name in block 418, which allows an auction initiator to establish auctions with previously identified parties by selecting a group name, block 426. In an auction invitation phase, block 428, parties comprising one or more trading groups may be invited to participate in an auction. The selection can be based on any one or more of the characteristics of a trading group. Block 430 represents an option allowing trading partners in any trading group to opt out of an auction. Block 432 establishes minimum conditions for automatically continuing the auction, such as by requiring a minimum participation of at least five trading partners.

If auto-activate conditions are met, block 434, the auction is allowed to proceed, block

436. Otherwise, the system will delete the auction. However, the auction owner can select a manual override, block 438, again allowing the auction to proceed, block 440.

While the invention has been described in what is presently considered to be a preferred embodiment, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the specific illustrative embodiment but be interpreted within the full spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: a first party hosting the auction for the benefit of a second party; the second party being a potential auction partner with one of a plurality of potential third party participants in the auction; the second party identifying third parties from the plurality of potential third party participants with which it seeks to participate within an auction; the second party notifying the first party of the identified third parties; the first party notifying those third parties identified by the second party of the auction to enable them to participate and excluding those third parties not identified by the second party from participation.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first party does not give notice of the auction to the third parties not identified by the second party.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the second party broadcasts messages relating to the auction to the identified third parties, without giving notice to any third party of the identity of any other third party.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the potential third party participants exclude third parties which have elected not to participate in auctions with the second party.

5. The method of claim 4 and including the method of creating, by either of the second party and each of the plurality of potential third party participants, a list of one or more of the multiple parties with which auction participation will not be permitted.

6. The method of claim 5 and including the method of concealing from a third party auctions of the second party whenever the third party is on a not permitted list of the second party or whenever the second party is on a not permitted list of the third party.

7. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for purchase and sale of goods between multiple, unrelated parties, the method comprising: establishing a database of available goods in a host server having remote access over the internet, each of the goods being linked to a source of the goods; providing a domain specific search engine on the internet to allow a user to search the database of available goods using a single descriptor of the goods, the search engine concurrently searching the database for additional goods identified from a synonym list based on the single descriptor and displaying the additional goods with the available goods; and transacting commerce directed to any of the displayed goods.

8. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the reverse auctioning among multiple parties of goods of unique requirements of the purchaser, the method comprising: establishing a database of goods to be auctioned in a host server having remote access over the internet; linking each good to be auctioned to a detailed specification of the purchaser's requirements; providing the potential sellers access to the detailed specification for each good via the internet prior to the auction for the sellers to evaluate the requirements for the goods; and auctioning the purchase of the goods from potential sellers of the goods who have an interest in sourcing goods in accordance with the purchaser's specifications.

9. The method of claim 4 wherein the database of goods and the database of the detailed specifications for the goods are stored on the same computer.

10. The method of claim 4 wherein the database of goods and the database of the detailed specifications for the goods are stored on different computers

11. The method of claim 4 wherein the potential sellers are provided internet based access to the buyer to present their inquiries regarding the product requirements.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the purchaser posts the detailed specification to the host server and invites selected sellers to bid on supplying the goods.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the seller provide bids based on future production of the goods.

14. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: establishing a database of auction activity for a set of auctions of related assets; predicting from the database a trend in the quantity and timing of demand for such assets at auctions in the future; and scheduling auctions based on the trend of demand for such assets.

15. The method of claim 14 and including offering for sale to bidders a plurality of assets selected as a function of previous sales of the selected assets.

16. The method of claim 15 and including identifying previous bidders for the selected assets and directing offers to such bidders.

17. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: conducting several auctions simultaneously; and monitoring the progress of the auctions via a single monitor screen at a participant by creating several on-line displays each occupying only a small portion of the monitor screen and refreshing the displays for each auction frequently to enable reporting of auctions simultaneously.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the displays provides simplified indications of the status of the auctions, with such indications being limited to whether the auction is still active and whether the participant has the winning bid at the time.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the display links to detailed information relating to the auctions.

20. The method of claim 6 wherein the display is refreshed automatically at predetermined time intervals.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein each of the displays can be individual selected and a revised bid submitted.

22. The method of claim 19 wherein each display may include a counter indicating time remaining in the associated auction.

23. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: establishing a closure time for offering bids at the auction; and extending the closure time for the auction if the level of auction activity in a predetermined time before the closure time differs from a predetermined level; and notifying the auction participants of the extension of the auction closure time limit, so as to elicit more bids.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein the auction activity is the attendance of parties accepting the offer to enter the auction web site and viewing the bid activity.

25. The method of claim 23 wherein the auction activity is the bidding activity of parties participating in the auction.

26. The method of claim 23 wherein the auction activity is the pricing activity of the bids made by parties participating in the auction.

27. The method of claim 23 and including setting of a maximum number of allowed closure time extensions and permitting further extensions based on auction activity up to the maximum number of extensions.

28. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: automated noticing of each party in a list of potential interested parties of an upcoming auction, such notice being given on an individualized basis, so that parties are not notified of the invitation to participate extended to other parties; receiving acceptances and adding the respective parties indicating their acceptance to the pool of participants for the auction; and receiving refusals and removing the respective parties indicating their refusal from participation in the auction.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein declining to give notice of acceptance is considered to be a refusal to participate.

30. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the reverse auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: identifying a set of goods to be auctioned as a package over the internet; establishing a price on each of the goods within the package; establishing an overall package price for the package of goods reflecting the price on each good within the package; identifying a party bidding the best package price for the goods; and entering into a sales agreement with the identified best bidder.

31. The method of claim 30 and including allowing bidders to bid on goods within the package without bidding on all goods.

32. The method of claim 31 and including setting a reserve value for each of the goods in a package and accepting only bids meeting at least the reserve value.

33. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: conducting an auction for the benefit of a first party as a auction partner with one of a plurality of second party participants to the auction; and notifying the second parties of their status in the auction by providing their respective then current ranking in the bidding, but not the identity of any of the other second parties.

34. The method of claim 33 further comprising providing the price of the then current winning bid.

35. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, the method comprising: conducting an auction for the benefit of a first party as a potential auction partner with one of a plurality of second party participants to the auction; notifying the second party participants of the auction status via a web page display having two sections; posting information that remains unchanged during the course of the auction, constituting static information, to the first section of the web page display; and posting information that changes during the course of the auction, constituting dynamic information, to the second section of the web page display.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the static information comprises information relating to the type of assets, asset specifications, quantity of assets and identity of the auction host.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the dynamic information comprises information relating to the amount of the then current winning bid, bidding time remaining in the auction and the party's current offer.

38. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple auction parties, with the system being administered by a host, the method comprising: establishing a set of rules for the proper functioning of the auctions; monitoring the performance of the auction parties in participating in the auction; identifying an auction party that has violated the auction rules; the host taking action against the rule- violating party in the auction and related auctions; and revising the auction activity in light of the host's response to the rules violated.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the auction is revised by eliminating the rule-violating party's bid from the auction activity.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the auction is revised by terminating the auction in which the rule-violating party participated and initiating a new auction related to the earlier auction but in which the rule-violating party is not permitted to participate.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the violation of rules includes an action taken from the group of offering non-responsive goods, inadequate financial credit to support a bid, or failure to respond to requests for necessary information.

42. The method of claim 38, wherein the other parties to the auction are notified of the rule violation and the host's response.

43. The method of claim 38 wherein the rule violated comprises a bid error and revising the auction activity comprises substituting a proper bid for the bid error.

44. The method of claim 38 wherein the rule violated comprises a bid error and the bidder is allowed to retract the bid prior to auction termination.

45. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple auction parties, with the auction being administered by a host, the method comprising: providing auction activity information via the internet from a host to each auction party for viewing on a video monitor at the party's location; and including in the activity information the time lapsed since the auction was last monitored by the party, the other parties bidding at the auction, and the amounts of their bids.

46. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable assets, among multiple parties, each of the parties having at least two different bidding relevant characteristics, the method comprising: establishing a database of bids and the identify of the party making each bid; establishing a database for each party making a bid and of a bid adjustment factor indicative of the bidding relevant characteristic for each respective bidder; adjusting each bid to reflect the bid adjustment factor associated with the respective bids; and evaluating the bids on an adjusted basis.

48. The method of claim 46 wherein the cost of delivery are chosen from the group comprising freight, duty, taxes, packaging, and handling of the goods.

49. The method of claim 46 wherein the bidding relevant characteristics include at last one cost from the group of factors including freight, taxes, duties, insurance, handling and time delays arising from the delivery of the goods.

50. The method of claim 46 wherein the bidding relevant characteristics include at least one from the group of factors including the prior performance, quality assurance procedure and existing fixtures, jigs and molds for each respective bidder.

51. In a computer implemented, internet based commerce system for the auctioning of goods or services, constituting auctionable goods, among multiple auction parties, with the auction being administered by a host, the method comprising: establishing a database of potential auction parties and the nature and type of their database of information for an auction; identifying the auction parties; establishing the data needed from each auction party; configuring the host's software to access each auction party's database; gathering relevant data from each auction party; and integrating the data into the database maintained by the host for an auction.

52. In a computer implement, internet based commerce system for auctioning of goods or services among multiple auction parties, the method comprising: defining a trading group comprising a plurality of auction parties having some common interest; and selectively addressing auctionable goods and services to the trading group when the goods and services correspond to the common interest.

53. The method of claim 52 wherein the auction parties are organized into a plurality of different trading groups based on an identifiable common interest for each trading group, the method including selecting multiple trading groups for announcing auctions when the goods and services are susceptible of multiple ones of the common interests.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein each member of each trading group independently elects to participate in an auction event.