1.   Another winner was Commerce One, a Walnut Creek, Calif., company whose software creates a vendor network that lets buyers bid for goods online.

2.   Buyers can bid online at icollector.com or watch the auction live on the Internet at Earthcam.com, said Ron Berkowitz, a spokesman for the auction.

3.   Fifty-four percent of the buyers were Americans, he said, and several first-time buyers bidding for themselves tried to buy multimillion-dollar paintings.

4.   In an online auction, potential buyers bid on property from their home or office computers.

5.   Nevertheless, she said, Butterfields was strongly considering adding an option to allow potential buyers to bid on the entire collection to avoid its dispersal.

6.   Other times, buyers may bid up the price of especially rare vintages.

7.   Prospective buyers often bid by phone or nominate others to bid for them.

8.   Rather than having buyers bid on items listed by sellers, these services have sellers compete to fill orders submitted by individual buyers.

9.   That a buyer was bidding for himself in the salesroom was unusual.

10.   The abundance of world wheat allows buyers to bid lower for the grain.