1. The Problem - If you want to buy an item, which is offered several times in (internet-)auctions and you want to pay a finite maximum price, then you have to bid for each offer separately until you suceed buying at your maximum price or lower. This is unpleasant.
2. The Solution - Order the auctions you are interested in in a list I (the auction, that will finish soonest, first) and mark some maximum price p_I for the list. Now an (computerized) agent might bid for the first item on the list until it wins the auction or the maximum price p_I is surpassed. In the first case, you got your item and the agent drops your list and stops bidding. In the second case, the agent drops the first item from your list and continues to bid for the rest of the list.
By that, you either win exactly one item from your list, or all items are sold above your maximum price.
I call this serial bid.
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