Patent 7672894 was granted and assigned to Shopzilla on March, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A computer implemented bidding method for use in bidding on auction items that allows for a desired optimization of bid amounts. The method includes selecting a set of one or more biddable items offered at auction wherein for a biddable item the auction offers a ranking for one or more received bids according to bid amounts, determining the current bids for a set of the biddable items, determining a bid amount for a selected biddable item based on a given utility function to determine a set of rankings for achieving a desired optimized outcome from the bidding, and submitting a set of bid amounts.