Review on the Theory of Multi- Attribute E-Auction

As an old price-discovering mechanism, auction entered the economics literature relatively recently. The full flowering of theory came only at the end of the 1970s. But this old mechanism plays a significant role in the Internet era. The development of e-commerce has given auction newfound vitality. Meanwhile, e-auction is rapidly becoming a new business mode. But in the area of b2b e-business, most procurement processes concern with the price, which is the only attribute in the decision making process. It is necessary to study multi-attribute auction in which we conduct auction with more attributes. In other words, the mechanism should automate multilateral negotiations on multiple attributes of a deal. The objective of this paper is to give an overall review of auction theory and multi-attribute auction. We will provide comprehensive categorization auction type for the first time and identity future research opportunities in the field of multi-attribute e-auction. We will present the direction for the potential research the last section of this paper.