METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING AND DETERRING THE SUBMISSION OF SIMILAR OFFERS IN A COMMERCE SYSTEM

摘要

A system and method for processing buyer offers of products, to diminish the occurence of similar, repetitive offers whereby buyers "ping" to determine a confidential floor price for the products. In one embodiment, a first offer is received from a buyer (702), the first offer including a plurality of offer terms each having a respective first value. A second offer is later received from the same party, the second offer including generally the same plurality of offer terms each having a respective second value. The invention operates to determine for each of the plurality of offer terms a corresponding unacceptable similarity range, and to compare the respective first values with the respective second values for each of the offer terms (714). If the respective first and second values for at least one of the plurality of offer terms fall within the unacceptable similarity range, a first selected process is performed on the second offer. For example, the offer may be rejected, taxed, or otherwise processed so as to discourage pinging. If the respective first and second values for the plurality of offer terms fall outside of the unacceptable similarity range, a second selected process is performed on the second offer. For example, the offer may be processed in an effort to identify a willing and able seller, in a conventional manner (712).