The procedure is commonly referred to as a reverse auction.
The report also called for staging online reverse auctions, where companies could compete to offer lower prices.
In a reverse auction, sellers compete for the right to provide goods or services.
If you supply larger companies, you may be asked to compete for their business in a reverse auction.
It is unusual for smaller businesses to make purchases using reverse auctions.
Like other deregulated electricity markets, California set prices using a reverse auction.
Jellyfish.com was a reverse auction online shopping site website.
It said that the move, to be carried out through a reverse auction, was intended to reduce electricity rates for customers.
Fortune magazine published an article in March 2000, describing the early days of reverse auctions.
In the past few years mobile reverse auction have evolved.
