US Patent 7739134 Method and system for preferred vendor pre-transaction bidding

In one embodiment, a method that can be performed on a system, is provided for preferred vender pre-transaction bidding. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing to a user one or more offers for sale of an item or service, the offers matching criteria pre-determined by one of a separate user or entity; receiving a selection of at least one offer from the user; comparing the selected offer to a set of pre-determined preferences of the user and generating and transmitting a request to one or more vendors for a counter-offer based on the set of pre-determined preferences of the user; in response to receiving one or more counter-offers, comparing the one or more counter offers to the criteria pre-determined by the separate user or entity; and providing to the user one or more of the counter-offers matching the criteria pre-determined by the separate user or entity.