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
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