Online-auction technology provides several benefits relative to traditional auctions.
Internet auctions give bidders increased convenience, both geographic and temporal,
relative to traditional auctions. Instead of having to come to an auction house to participate
fully in the bidding, the bidder can stay at his home or office. Traditional auctions require
all bidders to participate at the same time (synchronous bidding), tying each bidder up for
the entire length of the auction, but Internet auctions typically have asynchronous bidding
lasting days or weeks, giving bidders much more flexibility about when to submit bids.
These increased conveniences can also benefit the seller, by creating a larger market for the
auctioned good. On the Internet, one easily can obtain a relatively large group of bidders
on short notice, rather than scheduling an auction a month in advance and being restricted
to local bidders who could travel to the auction at the scheduled time. Furthermore, search
engines and clickable hierarchies of categories for browsing make it more convenient for a
bidder to find the goods she’s looking for. The computer technology makes it easier for