Developing a Fuzzy Multi-attribute Matching and Negotiation Mechanism for Sealed-bid Online Reverse Auctions

Online reverse auctions have benefits in reducing business purchasing costs and lead times. Previous research focused on developing new mechanisms for open-cry and multiple rounds of auctions, which is not appropriate for direct goods purchasing. Moreover, the implementation issues in the web-site design are not considered. We construct an easily-computed fuzzy multi-attribute matching mechanism for sealed-bid and single round auctions, which include price and attributes like quality, due dates, credit rating, etc, and are suitable for procuring direct input goods. To improve the negotiation quality, an aftermath negotiation mechanism is also developed so that the auctioneer can negotiate with the bidders for certain attribute values when the bid does not meet the requirement of the auctioneer. We further build an online fuzzy negotiation system (FNS) to evaluate the proposed mechanism.