This Week Poll Analysis

The title of the pole analysis in this week is "Electronic auction is the easiest way to buy things". We had created a pie chart for the vote result.

It had only 3 voters who joined the pole analysis question. There are 2 people who voted for "Yes" and 1 people for "No". By the percentage 66% for 'Yes' and 33% for 'No'.

Supplier Ethic

This section covers ethical rules that suppliers must adhere to in order for them to truly benefit from an auction.

1. The Supplier, by participating in any sourcing project constitutes acceptance of all referenced and required terms and conditions.

Do not try to recoup perceived losses post-auction by charging exorbitant fees for change orders. In addition to expecting that a supplier will maintain the same level of quality, buyers expect that the supplier will maintain the same ethics and fair price structures that they have in the past. Charging more might help a supplier’s profits in the short term, but when the contract ends, chances are the buyer will drop the supplier. Furthermore, if a supplier gains a reputation in the marketplace as being deceitful, the chances of that supplier being invited to other auctions will severely diminish.

2. The Supplier will hold all information of the Buying company in confidence and shall not disclose it to third parties.
3. The Supplier will participate in an auction only if qualified to supply the specified goods and services.
4. All bids submitted in an auction are legally valid quotes without qualification; therefore Suppliers should only submit bids they can support.

Exceptions are made for honest, data entry errors. Any errors submitted during an auction should be immediately reported to the Buyer to prevent disruption of the auction. Many e-Sourcing software providers can support a process for managing auction-related errors. It is important that the e-Sourcing software can technically remove bids placed in error.

5. The Supplier will communicate to the Buyer in a timely, accurate manner.

This includes any discrepancies or inaccuracies the supplier may find in the RFQ and timeline. The buying team should establish a process for handling this type of feedback. Additionally, the e-Sourcing software should have a technical ability to accept comments from the suppliers.

6. The Supplier intends to provide goods and/or services and will not use the auction as a fact-finding project.

If the buyer thinks a supplier is participating solely to collect market intelligence, not only is it likely that the buyer will not award that supplier any business, but it is also likely that the supplier will not be invited to participate in future auctions. If a supplier gets a bad reputation by word of mouth, it could be a long time before that supplier is invited to another auction.

7. The Supplier will only submit bids through the auction.

Interested suppliers cannot sabotage the auction process by submitting bids via email, fax, post or orally. To be considered, all bids must be submitted via the online auction.

Buyer ethics

This section covers ethical rules that a buyer should always adhere to in order to achieve a successful auction. From the very beginning of the sourcing project, these rules should be outlined and communicated to the Sourcing Team and all suppliers.

1. The Buyer will communicate and consistently adhere to the auction rules as outlined in the RFQ.
2. The Buyer will hold all supplier information in confidence and shall not disclose it to third parties.
3. The Buyer will only invite qualified suppliers. This also means no “rabbits.” A rabbit is a tactic used by a buyer masquerading as a supplier in an attempt to drive bidding activity and price reductions. This has also been referred to as “phantom bidding” in the past.
4. The Buyer will communicate timely, accurate information regarding the business equally to all suppliers.
This includes any changes or corrections to requirements, specifications and timelines. The initial RFQ posting and any changes should also provide suppliers adequate time for review.
Open and honest communication is one of the foundations of a successful auction. This dictates that each and every supplier have the same unrestricted access to all relevant event information.
5. The Buyer intends to award the business and will not use the auction as a price discovery mission.
The Buyer will award the business only to those suppliers submitting bids in the auction. Interested suppliers cannot sabotage the auction process by submitting bids via email, fax or post. To be considered, all bids must be submitted via the online auction.
In situations where a reserve price is established, and no submitted bids meet the reserve price, a Buyer can choose alternative solutions. However, the reserve price standard and process must be clearly communicated to the supply base up front.
6. The Buyer will award the business based on quotes submitted in the auction.
The Buyer shall not participate in offline, after-the-auction negotiations. All bids must be submitted during the auction so that other suppliers are given the opportunity to respond.
In situations where a reserve price is established, and no submitted bids meet the reserve price, a Buyer can choose alternative solutions. However, the reserve price standard and process must be clearly communicated to the supply base up front.
7. The Buyer will communicate the award decision within the timeframe specified in the RFQ.
To add an even greater level of professionalism to the auction process, many organizations develop and publish a forum to allow suppliers to resolve ethical disputes with their buyers. In many cases, the e-Sourcing software provider can help manage the dispute process.
Source: 
http://www.esourcingwiki.com/index.php/E-Auctions_in_Sourcing#Buyer_Ethics

This Week Poll Analysis

The title of the pole analysis in this week is "Can you save money by buying things using electronic auction?". We had created a pie chart for the vote result

It had only 5 voters who joined the pole analysis question. There are 4 people who voted for "Yes" and 1 people for "No". By the percentage 80% for 'Yes' and 20% for 'No'.

Success enabler: Open communication and consistently run ethical sourcing projects

Avoid this barrier by openly communicating with suppliers at all times, particularly with regards to the award criteria. Be very clear as to what will be the critical factors determining who will win the business, when possible what weight is given to each, and how it will be assessed. Only use the pre-established forums for communication, consistently and honestly follow up on any and all issues that arise, and stick to the code of ethics, which should be available to all suppliers at all times.

Furthermore, if the buyer doesn’t follow through on award and contract negotiations quickly, the buyer could lose credibility in the marketplace. It is very important that all auctions conducted by the Sourcing Team are managed in a consistent and ethical manner. News travels fast, especially when suppliers feel they have been treated unethically or unfairly.

Source: http://www.esourcingwiki.com/index.php/E-Auctions_in_Sourcing

The Contest

Our contest have been held for ten(10) days. There are two(2) participants has been taken part in this contest but unfortunately there is only one(1) for this contest and the winner is Mr Venggadeshwaran. We would like to thank the participants who take part in this contest.

Our contest are officially ended and the winner has been announced. A sincere thanks for the other participants that has been taken part. 

This is the answer for the CROSSWORD PUZZLE :

Across

1. Auctionyard

4. Upperbid

5. Bidstick

8. Swoopo

Down

2. Ubid

3. Bidhere

5. Bidz

6. Ebay

7. Weebidz

9. Auctionfire

Here is this the photo with the winner :

This is the winner Mr.Venggadeshwaran of our contest as shown in this picture. As we promised, We have already hand over the headphone which worth RM 25.90 to the winner. Congratulations for the winner.

Current Online Auction Agents

Online auctions are not just electronic markets that connect buyers and sellers; they also are services thatcan be used to improve the purchasing/sales efficiency and decision making of auction participants (Kambil and Van Heck 2002). Much literature has been written on the use of ‘comparison-shopping’ agents to automate the search for price and product information across multiple online merchants simultaneously (Clark 2000; Crowston 1996; Doorenbos et al. 1997). Online auctions provide potential buyers and sellers with a unique ability to use similar software agents to improve their purchase and sales outcomes. This section examines the availability and use of agents on several B2C and C2C online-auction sites to gain a better understanding of how agents impact online-auction processes. The first part of this study involved gathering data on auction site activity and the availability of different software agents at various online-auction sites. This data was used to determine what agent-based services are currently being provided at different online-auction sites. The various types of agent-based services are discussed in the remainder of this section.

source: Anonymous (2002) ‘EBay Help Basics’, online at: http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/ [accessed 5 February 2002].

Bakos, Y. (1998) ‘The Emerging Role of Electronic