I- Classified Sections
Keep in mind that tEC services are best suited for high value matches. Avoid to compete head to head with low value classified ads.
Take dating as an example. One may want to use higher fees to separate tEC users from the crowd or start specialized services addressing specific ethnic or religious segments.
In some cases, high value may be achieved simply by matching complex time constraints, such as in dealing with part-time jobs (e.g., help for the home bound or the elderly).
With this caveat, all known categories can be covered, including but not limited to:
- personals, for dating, finding compatible roommates with whom to share an apartment, finding a suitable spouse
- autos & motos, especially when geographic and time constraints are key, such as in areas with a large student population
- real estate, particularly attractive when the market turns around and parties become more selective or opportunistic
- jobs, from entry level positions to executive ones, whenever the market is wider than the address book of a top head hunter
Dependent on the domain, segmentation and exclusivity may involve geography, occupation, ethnicity, religion...
Services may implement alert services via reverse domains and virtual fairs via pre-declared schedules.
II- Cross Auctions:
Cross auctions differ from ordinary or reverse auctions because they introduce competition in both directions. Think of Stock Exchanges where large fund managers and public companies trade stocks for money.
Cases are especially relevant for tEC services when trade offs are present. Purely comparative sites may come across as biased, rigid and inefficient. For example :
- complex consumer goods or services with multiple elements of choice, such as new cars or vacation packages
- perishable goods or services, such airline seats
- goods or services with limited availability, such as:
- when inventories are depleted on a regular basis (e.g. women clothing)
- for artists, craftmen and tradesmen working on demand (e.g. music teaching and performing)
- hiring newly minted graduates (e.g. an MBA class)
- for antiques with an active market
Dependent on the domain, segmentation and exclusivity revolve around offer categories, and normally involve some geographic limits.
View tEC Fair Play Matching through these analogies:
- an intelligent Yellow Pages directory coupled with yield management
- a career fair with maximum guaranteed productivity
- a confidential and unbiased matching program for student admission and placement (*)
Services may put no time limit on the auctions or, via pre-declared schedules, implement cross auctions under more traditional time constraints.
(*) for a mathematical analysis of bias in current matching schemes, see Michel Balinski's work.
III- Copyrighted Information:
Copyrighted information, including on demand expertise, is an important area which can benefit from cross auctions.
Most copyright management systems tend to be extremely rigid although it is to the benefit of both intellectual creation and commerce to multiply the possibilities of fair exchange between authors and users.
Segmented by domain of interest, a tEC Fair Play Matching service can merge searches for information with appropriate and efficient negotiations about usage and compensation.
Electronic fulfillment of matches is limited today by the current version of tEC Mail but is a natural extension of the service.
Already possible are for instance matching sites for unpublished authors, allowing authors to send copy-protected extracts for free to matched prospects. This service can be offered together with sales fulfillment using on demand printing.