Particularly in consumer markets, suppliers tend to make prices while customers take them. A notable exception would be auctions, but the proportion of consumer goods purchased in this way has always been very small, and has been mainly devoted to used goods. There are a number of instances on the Web where the opposite situation is now occurring. On-line auctions allow cybershoppers to bid on a vast range of products, and also services such as airline tickets, hotel room, and tickets. Already, many are finding bargains at the hundreds of on-line auction sites that have cropped up. Onsale.com is a huge auction Web site that runs seven live auctions a week, where people outbid one another for computer gear and electronics equipment. Onsale buys surplus or distressed goods from companies at fire sale prices so they can weather low bids.
At a higher level of customer price making, Priceline.com invites customers to name their price on products and services ranging from airline tickets to hotel rooms, and new cars to home mortgages. In the case of airline tickets, for example, customers name the price they are willing to pay for a ticket to a destination, and provide credit card details to establish good faith. Priceline then contacts airlines electronically to see if the fare can be obtained at the named price or lower, and undertakes to return to the customer within an hour. Priceline's margin is the differential between the customer's offer price and the fare charged by the airline.
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