E-Commerce may be defined as commerce that is conducted by sharing
information, using a variety of electronic technologies. among buyers and sellers
located over a wide geographic area [3]. On-line auctions may be considered a
subset of e-Commerce that uses auctioning methods at the pricing stage. In this
thesis, the focus will be on lnternet auctions held over a pre-specified time
interval. Such on-line auctions are usually conducted from a Web site connected
to the World Wide Web (although on-line auctions may be held on proprietary
networks or Intranets). In addition, the term "on-line auction* is understood to
encompass al1 the different types of auction mechanisms. In other words. one
does not distinguish between an English, Dutch or Japanese auction conducted
on-line.