A world that loves to participate in real-time activities would certainly appreciate the idea of an online auction system that opens 24/7. Unlike the traditional auctioning method, this modern system brings together buyers and sellers from across the globe to a single location. Since the items are listed for few days, bidders can think and study the deal before bidding. Since, there is no geographical or time restrictions, the number of bids received will be more. The cost for conducting an auction online is less when compared to physical auction sales and the price of the items are also low. This way both parties the buyer and the seller are benefited. Retailers, distributors and liquidators can test new products, quickly sell off excess inventory and get new customers. Auctions taking place between customers, companies and businesses have gained popularity.
Online auctions are very useful for businesses, regardless of its type and size. Founded in 1995, eBay takes the credit of being the major online auction host. Many businesses have taken off because of the auction space offered by eBay. Bidders go through the product descriptions, shipping information and images of the item before bidding. Advancement in technologies and implementation of new features have made online auctioning simple than ever. From the initial development process to the integration of the online auction system, developers and software engineers encounters many challenges and difficulties. They think, plan, analyze, design, redesign, test and correct errors to set-up the most up-to-date online auction system for their clients.
Basic processes involved in Online auction system are Registration for both seller and buyer, Identifying the auction type, auction rules, names, product information, prices etc, Scheduling times for auction sessions including starting and closing time, Bidding that includes collecting bids and validating the collected bids, Closing the Auction and finally Trade Settlement.
Basic requirements for developing online auction system
An intuitive graphical user interface to make the navigation across the items and page easy.
• System should be able to provide real-time information and also make relevant bidding information such as current status of the item kept for auction, highest bid amount so far, time remaining to make the bid, etc.
• Options to allow multiple participation among auctioneer, bidders and guests.
• Log in method.
• Security measures like client authentication and authorization, bid validation and bid data encryption should be considered. By offering High security standards data disclosure and manipulation could be prevented.
• Privacy feature should safeguard the privacy of participants. Server should not disclose any relevant information to the participant.
• Robust Server to avoid frequent failures
The functional and technical requirements for creating an online auction system differ with each project. A perfectly designed and developed online system can alone deliver the needs of the client and prevent unwanted security issues.
