NETWORK BASED SYSTEM FOR REAL-TIME TRADING OF PHYSICAL COMMODITIES

摘要

A network-based system for the real-time trading of physical commoditiesrequiring shipment from a supplier to the buyer. The system comprises acentralserver connected to a number of user stations over a wide area network such asthe Internet and World Wide Web. Trading boards containing posted offers tosell a physical commodity by suppliers are downloaded over the network to theuser stations. Each trading board represents a specific physical commodity andeach trading board is referenced to a trading zone. Each trading zonecomprisesa defined geographical area in which potential suppliers compete and potentialbuyers post bids to the posted offers. A freight rate adder mechanism isprovidedto adjust the posted offers to reflect the price of shipping the physicalcommodityto the trading zone associated with the trading board, and to adjust thepostedbids to reflect the price of shipping the physical commodity to the buyer'sdestination.