A system and method of ordering components over the Internet. A website owner
would
provide websites for one or more wholesalers including a home page for each of
the wholesalers on the Internet as well as various cascading website pages. A customer
would be able to determine whether a particular component was in stock utilizing
the webpage of a particular dealer and would have the ability to order that component
from that wholesaler. The customer can request a blind shipment which conceals
the fact that the product came from the wholesaler's inventory and not the customer's
inventory. Additionally, one or more graphical representations would be provided
illustrating the customer's participation in a bonus discount program. More specifically,
a bar graph would be used to show the user's participation. When an order is in
place, the height of the bar graph would increase until it reaches a particular
target value. An exchange platform can be provided allowing a number of customers
to retrieve the inventories of a number of sellers. The customer could search the
inventories of the sellers and would be able to contact the sellers directly to
place an order to utilize the exchange platform to place the order.
