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

This week Poll Analysis

The title of the pole analysis in this week is "Which group of people do you think are the most bidder?". We had created a pie chart for the vote result.

It had only 6 voters who joined the pole analysis question. There are 4 people who voted for "others" and 1 people for "students and business people". By the percentage 66% for others and 16% for students and other people.

Online Auctions: Deal or Steal?

Online auctions have become big business, with millions of items for sale at any given time. (5 million+ at eBay alone, right now.) Tens of thousands of people around the world currently make a full-time living selling items through Internet auction houses.

One reason for their incredible growth and popularity is that they make it easy for people to find great deals on hard to find items from around the world. The excitement also makes them prime hunting grounds for scam artists, ready to play on the desire many auction bidders have for that "unbelievable deal."

We want to mention right off the bat that the vast majority of sellers and buyers at online auctions are honest people, and deliver on their promises. According to eBay, only one auction in 40,000 on their site ends with a reported case of confirmed fraud.

That doesn't take into account unreported cases, and it's little comfort if you're the one in 40,000.

In fact, auction fraud accounts for roughly 48% of online fraud reports to the FTC. Almost 500 reports per week. And the fraud isn't solely committed by the sellers. Buyers can be just as sneaky.

So, what can you do to protect yourself, short of simply staying away from the online auctions? Plenty. The most important thing is to learn the ropes.

If we had to offer you just one piece of advice about buying and selling on online auctions, it would be to always carefully check the feedback on the seller you're considering buying from. We don't ever buy from a seller who doesn't have at least 10 positive reviews. (More on this later.) If you're the seller, check out the buyer's feedback as well.

If you are really concerned, consider using an escrow service. There's a price of course, but it may be worth it.

Here are descriptions of the most common fraud seen at auctions, condensed from an article by Sharon Curry.

Misrepresentation: One of the oldest tricks in business. Just what it sounds like. Or more accurately, the merchandise ISN'T what it sounds like. Value, authenticity or condition may be overstated, sometimes wildly.

Failure to ship merchandise: The merchant takes your money and runs, leaving you nothing but a lighter wallet for your troubles.

Failure to pay: Through the use of fake money orders, bounced checks, stolen credit cards, or a number of other techniques, the buyer gets the goods and leaves the merchant with nothing in return.

Shilling: Artificially inflating the price on an item by use of fake bids from phony user IDs or accomplices.

Bid Shielding: Using high bids from phony accounts to run up the price and scare off potential buyers, the actual bidder then retracts the higher bids, getting the item at a much lower price than he would have otherwise.

Piracy and counterfeiting: The sale of pirated music and software or counterfeit art, phony jewelry or gems, and forged collectibles.

Internet Fencing: Selling stolen goods through the auction.

Triangulation: The seller offers to send you the item (usually new, brand name goods) on approval. They then use stolen credit cards to order the item shipped to you. You pay for the goods (in cash) after receiving them, and get a visit shortly thereafter from the police. Credit card fraud and theft.

The "Buy and Switch": The buyer gets the merchandise and returns a similar item that has been damaged, or a fake, with the claim, "It isn't what I expected." The seller refunds their money, and is left with broken and unresellable product.

Fee stacking: Fees, usually "related" to shipping costs, are added to the cost after the sale has been made.

Loss or Damage Claims: Not always fraudulent. After all, things do get broken in transit. Often these claims are a result of the buy and switch, or careless handling by the buyer.

Shell Auctions: No merchandise exists. The sole purpose of the auction is to get money or credit card numbers from unwary buyers.

source :

http://www.scambusters.org/Scambusters43.html

Happy Bid Day Auctions

Happybidday.com offers two types of auctions: penny auctions and Happy Auctions. The penny auction is a simple program in which you buy bid packs. These can cost anywhere from 50 to 80 cents and contain bids numbering anywhere from 50 to 1000. Use these bid packs to place bids on penny auctions for brand new electronics, DVDs, gift cards, game systems and other great items.

Bid on steeply discounted Amazon gift cards, Kodak cameras and gift certificates for Chili’s, Cheesecake Factory and your other favorite restaurants using penny auctions or Happy Auctions. There’s no need to buy a bid pack with Happy Auctions. Bid on low-priced new computers, designer purses, bath and body products and gift cards for WalMart or Starbucks.

Bid on Happy Auctions with points you accumulate in your Rewards Program. As with penny auctions, start by registering an account for free. You’ll receive 50 free bids to use only for items in the Happy Auctions program. Get incredible deals on brand new jewelry, touch pads, Spa Finder gift cards and other products. Happy Auctions and penny auctions at Happybidday.com are ideal for buying gifts or something special for yourself.

Create a watch list to keep your eye on that new Play Station, eGift card or other great product you really want. You can even get great deals on giant bid packs to maximize the value of the next exciting auction you find. You don’t need promo codes or coupons to find low prices online. Head to Happybidday.com online auctions for unbelievable discounts on high-quality items.

Source : Fact : About Happybidday.com

               URL : http://myreviewsnow.net/reviews/index.php/online-auctions-976 

Using Mobile Web Services in Electronic Auction

Electronic marketplaces can provide several types of business processes depending upon their target audience. A form of such processes is electronic auctions. Several companies have built and marketed auction software. Flexibility in customizing the software has been a design goal of many auction systems. However, due to the lack of flexible design methods and implementation technologies flexibility is achieved only in some degree. The topicality of this problem is also recently increased as new advanced auction formats such as combinatorial and multi-attribute auctions are introduced. In order to preserve the flexibility in this new context new technologies have to be introduced for designing and implementing advanced electronic auction systems. In order to achieve this goal, BPMN in the design of auction formats, BPEL4WS in implementing the auction processes, and mobile web services in implementing the interaction of mobile users. Technologies can be put together to form a working electronic auction system that can be easily modified as the requirements or target audience changes and also illustrate the use of such a system in supply chain management.

Source: http://www.actapress.com/Abstract.aspx?paperId=27717

This week Poll Analysis

The title of the poll analysis in this week is " Have you ever bid in online auction? " We had created a pie chart for the vote result.

It had only 6 voters joined the poll analysis question. There are 3 voters answered "Yes" for the question that has been stated, and also 3 voters for the "No" answer. By the percentage, 50% for "Yes" and another 50% for "No".

The Very First Online Auctions

From time to time I see postings on eBay boards and elsewhere arguing about where and when the first online auctions were held. Some folks naturally think eBay (as eBay or Auction Web) was first, because it was the first auction of which they were aware.

Several other Web sites are suggested as candidates for having held the first-ever online auction, but the truth is that the first online auctions weren't on the Web at all.

As I mention in the Introduction to The eBay Survival Guide, major consumer online services such as CompuServe (nee MicroNET) and The Source were sponsoring auctions in the early 1980s. Specifically, Comp-U-Card Online/Comp-U-Store held weekly auctions for consumer goods like the brand-new Sony Walkman in 1983, and CompuServe's first eBay-style automated online auctions were held in 1982.

But those sales were predated by auctions conducted through bulletin board postings and email. The auctioneer/seller would post a notice on a system bulletin board, describing the item for sale and setting a minimum bid and closing time. (There was no way to post a photographic image back then). Bids were either emailed to the bidder or posted as replies to the seller's original message.

CompuServe was sponsoring such auctions through its classified ad system in 1980. But individuals ran their own online auctions as early as 1979 on both CompuServe and The Source, which were in beta the first part of that year. Such auctions were also run on the earliest public BBSes, going back to 1978. (There's no record of auctions being held on the first public BBS, Ward Christensen's CBBS, in 1977.)

So who held the very first online auction? The early BBS callers and members of MicroNET and The Source out there will have to slug it out for the bragging rights. I didn't hold my first online auction (via email) until 1983, when I sold off an old printer for parts, and I don't know anyone who held an auction before 1982.

All of this talk of "first" pertains only to computer bulletin boards and consumer online services. If you expand the definition of "online" to include cable TV-based interactive electronic communication, you'll find that online auctions predate BBSes, CompuServe, and The Source. Warner Cable Corporation's Videotex experiment, QUBE, which went live on December 1, 1977, included online auctions among its many services. QUBE (and later services like Channel 2000 and Viewtron in other parts of the country) offered pretty much everything you get on the Internet today: email, shopping, polls, ads, single-and multi-player gaming, news, weather, stock reports, and bulletin boards - along with real television. These were computer-based services delivered by cable television. (The Source actually provided many of the services for Channel 2000 and Viewtron.) The only major elements missing were software downloads and instant messaging.

The QUBE auctions were held nightly on a talk-variety show called "Columbus Alive." The proceeds went to charity, and the auction period was limited to an hour or three in the evening. Bidding was in realtime. Viewers could leave the program, return to check the progress of the sale, and bid again - overall, not unlike an eBay Live Auction, but with live video of the item being sold, and no absentee bids.

Most auction sale amounts were added to the viewer's monthly cable bill, and there was no feedback system.

Credited to  : Michael A. Banks
URL           : http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y206/m08/abu0173/s04

This week Poll Analysis

The title of the poll analysis in the this week is "Will you participate in this coming contest?" We had created a pie chart for the vote result.

It had only 5 voters joined the poll analysis question.Most people are interested to participate the contest because it had 3 voters out to 5 voters choose the answer "yes". It had only 2 voters choose the answer "Maybe", that means the 2 voters are still considering to participate. Besides, there didn't have any voters vote for the last answer "No, I'm not interested".

In conclusion,as the vote result,there are more voted in "Yes".I appreciate the voters that have been voted on this question.Crossword puzzle is the good way for improve the knowledge.So by doing the contest,you can improve your knowledge on electronic auction.I hope there will more people will participate in this contest.

What Is a Reverse Auction?

As the name suggests, reverse auctions are, in many respects, the opposite of traditional auctions. In a traditional auction, a seller offers an item, and potential buyers compete with each other for the purchase. Potential buyers continue to drive the price up until no other participant is willing to bid any higher.

In a reverse auction, multiple suppliers are vying to sell goods and services to a single buyer. The potential suppliers are driving the price down until a pre-established bidding period ends or until no supplier is willing to offer an even lower price. Contrary to traditional tender processes, reverse auctions allow companies to submit multiple prices.

Source: http://blog.eauctionservices.com/

Fraud Detection in Electronic Auction

Auction frauds plague electronic auction websites. Unfortunately, no

literature has tried to formulate and solve the problem. This paper aims to tackle

it by suggesting a novel method to detect auction fraudsters, which involves determining and extracting characteristic features from exposed fraudsters,

through analyzing the fraudsters’ transaction history which exists as a graph.

We then use the features for detecting other potential fraudsters. Choosing the

best features is a challenging and non-trivial task; however, with the features

that we have currently selected, our method has already achieved a precision of

82% and a recall of 83% during an evaluation on some real test data from eBay.

3.1 Problem Definition

Here, we examine the problem of detecting auction fraudsters. Specifically, we define

the problem as:

Given:

· The information of some electronic auction users: their profiles and their transaction

history

· Some exposed fraudsters

We want to find out:

· Who else are also fraudsters

The profiles and transaction history of eBay users are readily available from the eBay

website (Appendix), while the knowledge about the exposed fraudsters can be acquired from

news articles, user forum on eBay, and by noting the large number of negative feedback

we define the auction fraud problem as given these two pieces of information, how do we

given by other buyers or sellers saying the fraudsters have never delivered the items. Thus,

identify other potential fraudsters before they carry out frauds.

source:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dchau/papers/chau_fraud_detection.pdf

Get start with the contest

We are the founder of 'electronicAuction.blogspot.com' I am Kumaran, I'm Arul, and I'm Jana. There is a surprise for you!In order for people to be aware of electronic auction, We have organised a contest related to our blog. Are you eager to know what is the prize?

We have planned to give a headphone for the winner.

To win this prize, Please do participate in this contest. DON'T MISS THIS CHANCE !!!


This week is the first week of the contest. Lets start from CROSSWORD PUZZLES. The following are the questions.

Please do the registration before you start doing this contest. Visit to our facebook page to get to know the registration method. (Kindly to inform, Please read the Rules and regulations.)

Once answered the question, you may email us the answers.
EXAMPLE :
(Your Name)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

This week Poll Analysis

We did poll voting with a question regarding " What do you think about our Blog ?"

By giving some examples such as Perfect, Good, Okay, Need to improve.We also created a pie chart which is related to our topic to show the vote results specifically.

The Contest

We having a contest regarding to our topic.It will start on the 11th of October till 20th of October 2011. For your information, the question will be post on the 11th of October at our facebook page which are still under our concern.

There are prizes will be given after the contest end.Which we have planed to give a HEADPHONE. we are sure it is a reasonable prize.

For any enquiries about the contest or you are not sure with some rules and regulations, feel free to email us at one of the following email address:

kumaran.csc@gmail.com

arulselvan.csc@gmail.com

janapathma.csc@gmail.com

Top 20 Best Sites

1. ebay
2. uBid
3. Bidz.com
4. Auctions at Overstock.com
5. Amazon.com
6. Online Auction
7. WeBidz
8. Auction-Warehouse
9. ePier
10. It's Gotta Go
11. AuctionFire
12. AuctionAddict
13. Auction.com
14. Bidz Alot
15. Dell Auction
16. SkyAuction
17. GSA Auctions
18. Auctions.com
19. Auctionguide.com
20. Auctionweiser

e-Reverse Auctions in the Public Sector Procurement

The existing literature on e-RAs focuses primarily on the private sector, and little research has been conducted on e-RAs in the public sector.

The literature generally assumed that the higher the number of bidders, and the greater the competition, the greater the success. Similarly, higher auction volume, ease of specification and low purchase complexity are each thought to attract more suppliers, leading to more successful e-RA outcomes. Higher auction volume may also increase success by permitting suppliers to accept lower margins, while clearer specifications and simpler products give suppliers the confidence to better price their offerings.

However, Shalev & Asbjornsen, in their research, found no correlation between e-RA success and the number of bidders or auction volume, but correlation between e-RA success and each of competition among suppliers, purchase complexity and purchase specification. The number of bidders was found to be correlated with competition among suppliers, specification and complexity. Auction volume was found to be correlated with none of the factors, which was a big surprise. They discussed the possible explanations for our results and draw conclusions for public sector procurement managers to consider when deciding whether to conduct an e-RA for a particular purchase.