A reverse auction is a process where you purchase products, for example services or items, through Internet commerce. You can invite vendors to participate, and they then respond to your auction by making bids on the Web portal, stating delivery time and quantity. Finally, you choose which of the vendors you want to buy from. Each reverse auction should have a unique identification number, so that both customer and vendor can make sure that they are referring to the same auction.
To complete a reverse auction you will need to do the following:
set up vendors as participants
create a reverse auction
choose your participants
handle responses
choose a winner
It is up to you whether the auction should be public or not. A public reverse auction results in an open reverse auction, where participating vendors are able to follow the auction progress. All vendor bids are made public for the rest of the vendors to view and react to. However, not all information about a vendor is made public to the other vendors. The vendors name or other information about the vendor is not displayed on the Web portal.
Role and Permission Management
Creating Commerce Portal Users
Entering Bids at the Web Portal