once the user completes field 650 and is satisfied with the information specified the user clicks on or otherwise activates u201c place bid u201d button 660 to submit the bid auction server 310 checks the submitted bid against the bid history in auctions database 330 to ensure that it is lower than the current bid and if it is updates the bid history in auctions database 330 auction server 310 further notifies the user whether the bid has been successfully placed in one embodiment called incremental price bidding the current bid against which the submitted bid is compared is not necessarily the current low bid identified on page 600 i e 1700 in this embodiment the current low bid in the auction is an amount that is one bid increment lower than the bid of the second lowest bidder thus in this embodiment shoeless joe may have placed a bid of 1500 but since hugh duffy is the next lowest bidder and placed a bid of 1701 and since the bid increment is 1 the current low bid is shown as 1700 accordingly for the bid submitted by the user of node 120 to be successfully placed it would have to be lower than 1500 in an alternative embodiment called fixed price bidding the current bid against which the submitted bid is compared is.