Exchanges utilize the Internet to allow qualified and registered users to look for buyers or sellers of goods and services. Depending on the approach, buyers or sellers may specify prices or invite bids. Transactions can be initiated and completed, and ongoing purchases may qualify customers for volume discounts or special offers.
In Internet-speak, a two-sided marketplace where buyers and sellers negotiate prices, usually with a bid-and-ask system. Exchanges are typically centered around specific industries, where all the users can compare and contrast products and services based on common standards.
Two-sided marketplaces where buyers and suppliers negotiate prices, usually with a bid and ask system, and where prices move both up and down. Work best with easily definable products without complicated attributes--commodities, perishable items such as food, or intangibles such as electric power. Produce fluctuating, sometimes volatile prices. Particularly appropriate if a true market price is difficult to discover. Also work where brokers make high margins by buying low and selling high to purchasers who don't know the original sellers. Examples: Altra (energy), Paper Exchange (paper products), GoFish.com (frozen fish), Arbinet (telecommunications bandwidth). Synonyms: digital exchange, online exchange, dynamic exchange, dynamic trading exchange.