E-COMMERCE QUOTATION MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATIC PURCHASING

摘要

A method for quotation management and automated purchasing on an extranet-based e-commerce platform. A custom extranet (310) is created comprising vendors of products demanded and buyers of products for sale by a first extranet-based e-commerce platform user. Groups of vendors (3811) or groups of buyers are created by product or product category from the vendors or buyers in the custom extranet. A group of vendors is selected during creation of a request for quotes or a group of buyers is selected during creation of a request for bids. The groups of vendors/buyers allow a request for quote/bid to be sent to each vendor/buyer in the selected group with a single command, automating the purchasing process and reducing the need for redundant supplier selection steps. In one embodiment the quotation/bid data is automatically presented in a spreadsheet showing vendor/buyer, pricing, and terms and conditions.