Standardizing price discovery and negotiations in commercial industries with multiple specification layers

摘要

A computer implemented method of price discovery for a commodity having one or more characteristics, wherein at least one of the one or more characteristics is capable of being described by multiple sets of values. The method involves receiving from a buyer a demand set of specifications related to the commodity, each speciification comprising values for the one or more characteristics, including a value from one of the multiple sets of values for that at least one characteristic. Then the demand set is provided to one or more vendors. A bid from at least one of the one or more vendors for one or more specifications of the demand set is received. The received bids are stored. Finally, all the stored bids are analyzed to identify a preferred bid for each specification of the demand set.