HSN Inc., parent of Home Shopping Network, debuts its First Auction site today, and another public company, Micro Warehouse Inc., plans to start one later this year. International Business Machines Corp. The site sells about 6,000 items a day, mainly computers and home electronics, and has registered more than 230,000 bidders. To select an item, bidders click on its icon. Then they see a product description and a list of high bidders. To participate, they enter their bid and billing information on a form.
Bidders also can choose to be contacted by e-mail if their bid is topped.
Auctions last for one to two days. Most sites feature this traditional auction format. Others, like TravelBids, use what is called a reverse auction. On that site, travelers post desired trips, and travel agents bid against each other for the business. Flea Markets Many sites take advantage of the freewheeling, anonymous features of the net.