A platform for online marketplaces could be huge given all of the hype regarding “Reverse-Auction” style transactions.
The platform would allow buyers to specify items they are looking for, and sellers would place bids/quotes on these items.
The buyers would choose the seller that offers the best prices, guarantees, shipping, etc.
Like Moai Technologies Auction platform, this tool would be the transaction enabler for Online Marketplaces.
When the seller replies to an item, the tool would be smart enough to ask the seller the most important information regarding the item (for example, a television: screen size, PIP, remote control, etc.).
When viewing the bid, the buyer would see all of the most important features, as well as the asking price for the exact items from the top sellers in the market (for example, curcuit city, best buy, etc.). This would justify the value of the offer.
The tool would create a profile for sellers, including ratings and past-buyer comments.
It would be used to develop the now super-hyped reverse-auction style marketplaces; everything from:
- Labor Brokering
- Consumer-goods
- Any business where there are multiple suppliers of similar goods/services (especially of commodity items)
Although there will ultimately only be a few successful reverse-auctioning sites for each market (historical examples for Auctioning model include: Ebay, ubid, Yahoo Auctions, etc), this tool has high short-term value as an easy way for different players to jump into the market quickly.
It’s the equivalent of the “tool supplier” during the “Gold Rush” analogy, where the majority of the Goldminers made very little money, while the “tool supplier” did very well.