All conditions of sale are publicized prior to the auction and agreed upon by all participants. During the active auction, each lot number comes up for sal e on the computer and buyers compete to purchase it. Bids ar e posted for all participants to see. The final bidder is th e buyer. The manager of this servic e provides both an online inventory of offered contracts and a clearinghouse for sales.
Sellers provide information such as volume, numbers, quality factors and location.
Offered contracts can extend from nearby dates well into the future. On each contract, the seller puts a base price and beginning and ending dates for delivery. The seller can change the bas e price and other criteria as long as the contract remains unsold. The database operator gives offered contracts a lot number and lists them for sale on an Internet catalog. The sellers remain anonymous until a sale is complete.