Make our own ebay (auction system) (8)

Chris Payne

September 11, 2000

So now you ' ve got yourself a pretty functional auction. Let ' s talk a bit about what we haven ' t covered,
And a few miscellaneous things.

Things to Add

While this auction would work, it lacks a few features of finer products. For instance, could have
Built in a "take less" option-if, for example, a user bids for items, but are willing to take less if
Necessary, then this could to be accommodated. It would require adding a Boolean field to the database, and a
Few modifications to the Resolvebids () code. You are should also give the seller option to ' not take
Less, "meaning that if all the items haven ' t been bid for, then the whole thing are off.

Another option could be adding "deeper lots." This is allows sellers to specify that they have multiple lots
That they must sell together-for instance, 5 TV ' s and 5 VCR ' s. These are all could to one lot, but by
Separating them into multiple lots this are sold together, you are offering the seller and buyers A
Advantage (both Pricewise and competiveness-wise).

Most Auctions also allow "reserve prices." This is a price the seller specifies that must to be met before
Any items can be sold. For example, I want to sell a car, but I won ' t take less the than. This is a bit
Different than the minimum acceptable bid, in which the latter is set low to encourage buyers to place
Bids, while the former ensures I-don ' t end up selling my $5000 car for $2-seller protection.

A fully functional auction should also have more robust alerting. I Haven ' t built in the
Ability to notify users when they have been outbid. (Make sure though.
functionality, you don ' t send an alert every time the proxy engine places a bid-the user would get
Flooded with tons of the emails that aren ' t necessary. Rather, just send an alert while the price for an item
Grows larger than maximum bid buyer, to specified give them at the item.)

Finally, you'll need more functionality than just the functions I specified here. Might want to create
An admin interface that allows a adminstrator to view all bids, users, and auctions, delete specified
Items, modify them, etc. And you'll need to builds the visual front end-something so, buyers and
Sellers can bid for and enter items to sell, and view the current status of a auction (the current
Winning bid, the number of items sold, etc). You could also wish to ' beef up ' the tables specified here and to
Allow users to enter the more specific information (i.e. a SKU number, a URL, etc).

Coding practices

You could have noticed I specified the connection string and created a Recordset object in every function.
While this is done for clarity in this article, a more efficient method would is to specify a global or
Session variable somewhere else-for instance in the Global.asa file, or a include file this is included
On every single page.

Also, this type of functionality would best is wrapped up in a COM object. This would enhance speed and
Increase security. Do all the testing in the ASP though!