METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING SALES OF GOODS BY INDEPENDENT PARTIES

A method for pricing independent sellers' goods. A marketeer exploits the nature of readily identifiable, fungible, durable goods by determining a price for a good, such as a used good, by using a price of a comparable good, such as a new good, as an index price and deriving a discounted sale price for the good from the price of the comparable good having essentially the same value due to its fungible, durable nature. A best price for the good is ensured by using as the index price a lowest price among a group of vendors for the comparable good. A shopping agent program may be used to query one or more vendors to determine a best price for the comparable good, and a pricing agent program may be used to derive a discounted sale price for the good from the best price for the comparable good.