Development of Online Auction Management System

Abstract

Online Auction management system is a web based application which will assist clients with buying or selling items; they can sell anything they want by posting advertisements. This application will enable clients to post their items for auction; bidders can create an account and are able to bid for any available product. There are some current applications that offer clients to bid on products but these aren’t available in the local area. Which is a disadvantage because you are unable to look at the product before you buy. With this Online Auction application clients will be able to bid for products that are available in their local area.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this project is to construct an online auction system for university students. As a former university student myself when it comes to the end of the year I know the struggles off having to post on third party apps such as Facebook and Gumtree trying to sell all the things that are no use to me anymore such as furniture, electronics and accessories. Most students leave the stuff in their university accommodation as there is too much things to take back home. This online auction system will allow students to make an extra little cash.

You might be thinking why this system is needed. Well It is needed because it gives students easy access to a reliable reuse platform. There isn’t a platform out there where university students are able to post to one marketplace. They must rely on other third-party apps mainly social media and not everyone might have access to them. So, by creating this website it will give access to thousands of people by simply creating an account with their email. As university students progress each year they are left with different text books which are no use to them.  They can sell or auction off their textbooks on the online auction this will help students save money on purchasing expensive textbooks from online and campus retailers by instead connecting them with students on their campus that had those textbooks already and were willing to sell them at a fraction price of new ones.

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Each user weather a buyer or seller will have their own account having a unique username from one another. The users will have an option to use their username or email when logging in. On the other hand, users will be able to browse and have access to all the products without having to create an account. Users who want to sell any product will need to login first there will be an option for the user to choose which category the item fits in such as appliances, computers and software & tickets etc. The categories will be broken down so it is easier for the buyer to find the product they are looking for. After the user selecting the category the user will be prompted to choose which university they are attending so other users are able to see products being sold just on their campus. Then the next screen the user will be able to write an advertisement title along with the product description. Lastly the user will have an option to add a reserve price for the listing. More than that the listings are free however there is an options for the user’s listings to stand out at the top of a category’s page, with an option off 3,7 or 14 days if they pay a few pounds.

The reason why I’m making the listings free because each of the auction sites have their own peculiar trait such one being eBay as their listings are but take a percentage which is charged as commission from the sale. You might be thinking how the website is going to generate money if the listings are free. Well this service is going to be make money through several ways one off which is I will have a donate option where users will be able to donate generously, as they aren’t getting charged for using this service. I got this idea from scrolling through Wikipedia and at the top off the page there was a donate option.

On the other hand, I will be offering paid promotions where users will be able to pay a small amount for their listing to be at the top of search results. There will be three options for users the first option will be the featured promotion where the users listing will appear at the top of the category listings. User will have an option how long they want their listing to be featured for ranging from 3, 7 or 14 days.  The second option will be the urgent option which let people know you want to sell your item quickly this was last for 7 days. Lastly the third open is the spotlight option where the listing will be on the websites homepage for 7 days. The money generated will help the running cost off the website.

Other options how the website is able to generate money through a program which Google offers which is called Google AdSense. Google Ad sense is an advertising program by google where publisher’s or website owners can put Ad code on their website and Google AdSense will fill that ad space and try to pick the right ads for your audience. This is an advantage as Google AdSense does all the work for you and there is no need to worry about selling ad space. Also the user of the website gets paid every time a customer clicks on the Ads.  This will help supporting the running costs off the website.

2. Aim and Objectives

Aims:

The overall aim of the project is to create and develop a web application for buying and selling over the internet for university students. This will be done by creating an online auction system with ASP.net and MySQL.

To achieve the above aim, the following objectives will be carried out:

1. Create a user-friendly web application
2. Create a database where user’s information is stored
3. Research existing Online auction businesses
4.  Implement security measures

Objectives:

2.1. Objective 1 – Create a user-friendly web application

The first objective is to design a user friendly web application this is because this will attract customers and no technical knowledge is really required to operate the website. Also the users will come back to the website if it’s easy to navigate. Also, another reason I want to make my website user friendly is because I want the web pages to load faster because having too much clutter on the website will take longer to load this can cause frustration for the user and not be a returning customer.

2.2. Objective 2 – Create a database where user’s information is stored

The second objective is authenticating user’s accounts during registration this will be done by users creating an account using their university email. An email will be sent to the user’s inbox. The user will receive an email containing a link to verify the account. This is because we don’t have any spammers.

2.3. Objective 3 – Research existing Online auction businesses

The third objective is to be able to stand out from competitors in the ecommerce sites. This will be done by creating how-to videos and how to create adverts and mark items sold. This is important because some users might not be familiar with the website because they are used to using sites such as “eBay.com”. Also the users won’t have to sit around all day try to figure out how to use the website. Another benefit off having a how to video is it can easily be shared on social media the benefit off this is creating brand recognition.

2.4. Objective 4 – Implement security measures

The fourth objective is to have a database to store all the products information this is so if the user has any problems with product they can contact the admin and help resolve the issue. Another reason using a database is because the site content will frequently change this to keep track of everything.

The fifth objective is to know the products details before they bid on a listing. Each item listed will have an item description so they buyers knows a little about the product and either if the product is brand new or used.

The sixth objective is for allowing the users to list the items. This will be done by the user clicking on the-add new listing button. The user will be able to select which category their item will fall under. Then the user will be able add a title for their product and add the price. It’s easy as 123, 3 clicks and the listing is published. Also the user will be able to choose how long they want to list their auction for. The user will be able to see

The seventh objective is the users be able to bid for items the user will be to bid on any item they will be notified when a newly published has been listed. When the user bids on an item they will get notified when the listing is ending soon so they have a chance to bid again to win the product. Also a user will be able to set a how much they would be to spend on the product and when it goes past that the user will be notified.

The eighth objective will be creating a login page for the user this will be done by two text boxes where the user will be able to their email and password. Also users without accounts there will be a registration form so they are able to sign up and create an account.

The aims and objectives are present but these need work, the aims are more like tasks, with the objectives not being S.M.A.R.T.

•What is the aim of this project, what will you achieve?

•Aim should be brief, concise and concrete (1-2 sentences)

Aims and Objectives

•Objectives expand on the aim

 •What sub steps are needed to achieve the overall aim?

•Objectives need to be concrete and link to your project 

•not: “write code” but e.g. “implement Q-Learning algorithm”

•Objectives need to be measurable: you will be evaluated against having achieved them or not

•Number of objectives will vary, but perhaps between 5 and 10

•Consider optional objectives

3. Background

History of the auction:

Auctions date back to 500 B.C. this is the earliest written records of auctions which were from Babylon. In these auctions it was believed that men used to bid with one another for women who were acceptable for marriage. The highest bidder would marry the women they won. In other sources history it`s reported that auctions were frequent in ancient Rome. They had a primary place where all auctions were held

Research:

Before starting my report, I visited a few physical auctions different type off auctions one off which was a car auction when I arrived I picked up a catalogue which listed the cars which were on auction. Before the auction started the public had a chance to view the vehicles. Ahead off the auction the auctioneer reads out the vehicle details then the bidding starts the auctioneer shouts out a starting price and lowers until somebody is happy and put their hands up and the price increases slowly and people start bidding the highest bidder gets to drive away with their car.

Not only had I researched about auctions I also looked into the security into the auction websites. Websites such as eBay is managed over a HTTPS connection, which means when the passwords are saved they are encrypted so it’s hard for attackers to steal passwords.

Types of online auctions:

There are several different types of online auctions the most commons are the ones listed below.

English auction

The first auction I`m going to talk about is English auctions. How English auctions work a seller lists an item by either having an opening bid reserve, this means that the seller is able to put a reserve before the auction starts so the bid starts from 0 and if the bid hasn’t matched or gone over the reserve price at the end of auction then this item is not sold. Another way a seller is able to list a product is by setting the starting price so at the highest bidder at the end of the auction takes home the prize. This style of auction is called an ascending auction. This is popular amongst most people as “eBay.co.uk” uses this format off auction.

Dutch auction

The second auction I’m going to talk about is Dutch auctions. Dutch auctions work very differently compared to the English auction this is because this is only used as a method to price shares. This is done by having high asking price for example £40 a share at the start off the auction price decreases as investors bid how much they want to pay when all the bidders have bided. When all the bids are in then it is determined what the highest price the shares can be sold at. So if most off the bidders bided for the share to be £30 then this is the price everyone will pay at the end.   

Bidding fee auction

The third auction I`m going to talk about is bidding fee auction also known as a penny auction. This works by users buying bids and using those bids to bid on the product. For e.g. in a penny auction a when a product is being auctioned the price increases by 1p every time a user bid and the time is rest by 10 seconds, but every time a user bids they must use the bids they purchased. The auction continues until there is a highest bidder. The disadvantage off this if a user buys 100 bids for £50 and uses half on a single listing and isn’t the highest bidder the user has lost out on £25.

First-price sealed-bid

The fourth auction I will be talking about is first price sealed-bid auction. You can compare this type off auction to the English auction but the only difference is that in a sealed-bid auction bidders bids are private but in an English auction everyone’s bids are public. The highest bidder like in every auction takes home the product.

Second-price sealed-bid

It is known as Vickery auction too. It is very similar to first bid auction and it is working in the same way. The only difference between this type of auction and first bid auction is that the bidder with the highest bid who wins will pay the second highest bid instead of the bid made by him.

Rules and regulations on E-Commerce:

The Data Protection Act 2018:

Organizations are allowed to use personal data on shoppers in some ways in which however there are limits to what they will do with it; these criteria are made public by the Data Protection Act. This act makes sure that data is used lawfully and fairly, may be a restricted and adequate manner which implies information is simply kept for as long as it’s needed. it’s even stronger precautions for ‘sensitive information’ like ethnic background, political choices, spiritual beliefs, health, sexual health and criminal records. further as protective information, the Data Protection Act gives a person a right to know what information an organization has on you.

The Computer Misuse Act 1990:

Before this act came into place there was no laws and regulations in place to combat hacking problems which was at a rise compared to other crimes at the time. The Computer Misuse Act protects against accessing another person’s computer files without their permission; with intent to commit further criminal offences such as hacking. These offences now can land you a minimum six months’ prison fine or a reasonable fine. These laws would definitely prevent any potential hackers but since the law has been in place, they haven’t really been enforced to their full potential as hackers are sometimes untraceable and hard t0 catch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zt8qtfr/revision/2

The Consumer Credit Act 1974:
 

The consumer credit act covers people who enter into credit agreements which range from £100 – £30,000 under section 75.  It regulates enforcement of agreement for both the creditor and debtor. Also this act protects customers from any likely finical breakdown. If a customer couldn’t keep up with their payments the bank will pay up to £30,000, this means the business will receive its money and the customer will revive its products.

– Background is again brief, and talks about other systems but doesn’t really give a justification for why this system is needed or is going to be better, it talks about different types of auctions, but what about background into the technology?

Why this system is needed?

This system is needed because they aren’t anything out there like this also this will be an easy way for students to buy and sell their items. The main objective of this project is to make Students who want sell their unwanted items a computerized business by developing a database system together with a database driven site to give online services for their customers. In order to give a good service and stay competitive on the market, the business should be able to adopt this new system.

The project will research on other Auction Businesses who already uses this technology and also investigate on how this business can give online services. In addition to that, the project will investigate the existing systems used by the existing online auction companies in day to day activity and identify the problem area of their system in order to come up with a better system.

Starting from the research and analysis it will go to the implementation by having an appropriate report on the process undertaken including explanation of techniques and software used to develop the system. It will also analyse and identify the appropriate technology for SOAS Ltd to give an efficient service and to run the business more effectively.

Finally, there will be testing and evaluating the finished product to make sure that it meets the requirements to satisfy the client.

There are no current systems which I am proposing to build as students have to rely with other services such as Facebook groups, eBay, Gumtree. Making a website will make it easier for students to buy and sell the product because it will all be on one platform as not everyone has Facebook this is where most people rely on selling their text books or other things such as tickets. The implementation off the online auction is to let students to earn that extra cash as former university student myself I know that money can be a struggle but this system can help students so it’s a win-win for the seller and consumer. The seller makes money and consumer gets a product fraction off the price from retail price.

This system will be in beta testing starting from the university of Hull from there it will gradually expand to other universities.

Ethical Issues

The world of online auctions is a minefield of patents and legalities all of which would need to be researched and accounted for if this system were ever to become live. I have endeavoured to research these as far as possible, however I am not a lawyer and to search for every possible patent that covers what I am doing would be impossible for a project of this scale.

If this were a real project, I would have to consider these, however as this is an academic project, I see no issues with patents and the like. This does not mean

•What is the context of your project and field of research?

•What existing work (research / technology) is there?

•How does your work link to existing work? E.g. are you targeting an extension? An alternative solution? A new application?

•Describe technologies, algorithms and examples of existing work in the field of your project

•This section should make use of academic references (and others if appropriate, see references slides

4. Technical Development

Use case diagram

For specifying the functionality of the system the use case was chosen. It provides a better view of the system. It shows the interaction between the user and the system. The use case is used for documenting the requirements of the system.

User Stories:

Upon completing my use case diagram, I can put together the user stories. “User stories are short, simple descriptions of a feature told from the perspective of the person who desires the new capability, usually a user or customer of the system.”

User Side Stories:

• Home Page
• Login
• About us
• Search
• Contact us

Personal page:

Each user will have their own personal page. How the user will be to access it they will need to have account registered and be logged on. This pages shows what items the user has posted and from here they are able to modify or mark the product as sold. Also this page will show the users purchase history so they can keep track of what they have been buying in the past. If the user wanted to they could also list their products from here.

Login:

If a user wants to browse through the website they can do so as this is available to the public. But if they wanted to access other parts off the website they will be prompted with a login screen. So they will have to be logged on to have all access.

Registration:

The registration page this will allow users to create an account for the website. There will be a form for the user to fill in they will need to provide their personal data such as (name, address, email address, phone number, username, and password). After the user will need their username and password to login. Also it will recognise if a user has already used the email before. So they will be able to reset their password.

Browse:

The user will be able to browse through the website they will be able to narrow down their search by selecting which campus they study at. Also with categories the user will be able to find exactly what he was looking for. The user will be able to filter results such as when the auctions ending soonest.

Bid:

The user will need to be logged in to make a bid. The user will have a choice off how much they want to bid. The bid has to be higher than the previous users bid. Whoever is the highest bidder at the end of the auction the product will be there’s. The format I will be using is an English auction.

Post an auction:

From the user’s personal page, they will be post an auction listing here I will go into more detail what else the user can when posting a listing. The user will be able to write an advertisement title along with the product description. Also the user will have two options wither to add a starting price or set a reserve price.

Help:

How help will be provided for the users is there will be several step by step video tutorials to perform different actions such as how to create listing, how to delete a listing etc.

Messages:

Users will be able to private message each other, they will also get the message in their inbox just in case they are not logged in their account and don’t see it. Users will be able to discuss about if they want the product delivered in or they want to go and collect it. Also users will be able to talk about if they want to pay by card or pay by cash.

Usage Scenarios

Scenario 1: New Bidder

Jane is a new user. They browse the catalogue, and notice a hard to get item that they would like. They sign up, and provide payment details, and download the bidding client. At the time the auction begins they log into the system and enter the auction. They wait until their item comes up, and bid. They win the auction and are sent back to the website to pay for the item. The buyer’s details are then sent to the seller who packages the item once payment is received and sends it to the new owner.

Bob is a new user off the website. They look around the website and see something that they want. In order for Bob to bid on the product that he wants he has to sign up. He signs up and bids for the product when the

Scenario 2: New seller

Alex is a new user. They have some items they have to sell. They register at the website and provide their payment details. They are then allowed to list the item along with photos and a description. The auctioneer starts the auction and reads the information of the database, sending additional information that has been researched to the bidders. The auctioneer watches for irregularities and bad behavior, and get rid of unruly bidders.  The item sells for a respectable amount and the seller is notified by email. The buyer pays for the item and the seller is again notified by email.

Scenario 3: Help

The user can’t login. He is able to reset his password an email will be sent to him and he will be able to reset his password. A verification link will be sent to his email then

Data Flow diagram:

5

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)

HTML is one of the next generations of Generalized Markup Languages (GMLs). HTML is very easy to use language for web designing. HTML allows web developers to format web page using set of markup tags provided by HTML.

HTML can be used within asp.net codes. This can only be made possible by using an asp.net function called asp followed by “(HTML)”, e.g. “

Hello Word

”. HTML is used within asp.net to design the interface to make it easy to navigate through a site. HTML forms static Web sites, but with the use of ASP.net is can be dynamic.

3.4.5.1 ASP.NET

ASP stands for Active Server Pages. This is one of Microsoft’s latest software product. ASP.NET is built upon the .NET Framework. The .NET Framework consists of two main components: the common language runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework class library. The foundation of the .NET Framework is the CLR. It is like an agent that manages codes at execution time for both Windows and ASP.NET applications. The class library is an object-oriented collection of reusable components. It can be used to develop applications for both Windows and the Web. The .NET Framework is a free download, but the development tools can be expensive.

ASP.NET is used by Web developers to create dynamic Web pages. It offers a set of reusable, predefined and ready to use controls. This control saves time as it minimizes the amount of codes to be written.

Active Server Pages (ASP) is Microsoft’s server-side script engine for dynamically-generated web pages. It is marketed as an add-on to Internet Information Services (IIS). Programming ASP websites is made easier by various built-in objects. Each object corresponds to a group of frequently used functionality useful for creating dynamic web pages.

Most ASP pages are written in VBScript, but any other Active Scripting engine can be selected instead by using the @Language directive or the <script language=”language” runat=”server”> syntax. JScript (Microsoft’s implementation of ECMAScript) is the other language that is usually available. PerlScript (a derivative of Perl) and others are available as third-party installable Active Scripting engines.

3.4.5.2 Java Script

JavaScript is a client side scripting language. It is highly efficient as many tasks are client-side processing. JavaScript is an interpreted programming language with object oriented capabilities. JavaScript can be embedded into the HTML to add functionality. JavaScript is very useful for setting validations on a page to minimize error entry.

Microsoft SQL 2000

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 is a full-featured relational database management system (RDBMS) that offers a variety of administrative tools to ease the burdens of database development, maintenance and administration. It has features such as Enterprise Manager, Query Analyzer, SQL Profiler, Service Manager, Data Transformation Services and Books

MySQL is the most common database management system that is corroborative by Oracle corporation, is developed and handed out by Oracle. MySQL is a relational database that keeps data in different tables instead of placing all data in one storeroom. The MySQL database is accessed through SQL language because it is open source everyone can use it. It can be freely downloaded from the internet and use it without paying any fees.

The MySQL was chosen as a database because it is very fast, reliable and due to PHP’s ability to connect directly to MySQL database. MySQL and PHP are major elements for developing this online auction system. The stored, altered and retrieved data in MySQL is made obtainable to the Apache web server by the PHP interpreter that was located in the web server.

Data Flow Analysis

The data flow analysis mainly includes the flow, transfer, processing and store etc of information. The purpose of data flow analysis is to identify and solve problems in data flow. The existing data flow analysis is achieved by multi-tiered data flow diagram (DFD). Its specific approach is to: according to the order of transaction flow sorted by the transaction flow diagram to process the data which has been figured during investigation and then completes a whole data flow diagram. Online Trading System Data Flow: first, sellers place some certain information which will be saved into database and then they add, delete or modify the information which will be viewed and searched by all the system users.

Management Module Detailed Design

Searching module flow diagram

Search module structure design

There is a search bar displayed directly on the main page from here you can search for anything you want. Both registered and unregistered can be able to use this function. There are several pull down menus from the top tool bar which there are several options.

UI Design of Registration and Login

The primary function of this interface is to validate users email addresses and password for logging in. Users could successfully login only if the email addresses and password are valid. There are also several texts field for users to enter as they are registering. Once the users have already entered all the required information by clicking the next button all the information will be transferred into MySQL server where all the information will be stored.

5. System testing

System testing is a significant phase of Software Quality Assurance. It represents the last inspection of design and coding. Testing is a process of performing a program with the purpose of finding an error. The goal of testing is to point out and fix bugs in the developed system. The system is not complete without testing. Testing is the essential step to the success of the system. There are many approaches to system testing. The system testing was done based on integration testing to verify, whether the developed system meets the requirements or not. The testing of the system is shown on the table 4 below.

Testing Background:

For the developer of this project, the following aspects have been always focusing on: the stability, functions of website, cost of website, project demonstration. The web page layout was achieved by CSS technology and it can be reasonable for the demonstration. This website was developed by PHP and MySQL, PHP is completely free and MySQL costs very low plus both of them have good portability, the running cost of website is relatively low which achieve developer’s requirements.

Importance of Testing and Objectives

Importance of Testing

Software testing is extremely important to software development life-cycle. In the traditional waterfall model, test phase is located just before the system maintenance phase, which is the key measure that ensures the quality of software before delivered to users. Lately, there is a trend of view in software engineering – every phase during software life cycle should include testing so that to test whether the result of the current phase matches the objective. In this case, errors can be identified and corrected in the early time. If the testing was not carried out in the early phase of development, the delay of errors would be spreading which would cause seriously difficulty to the test of final product.

As a matter of fact, to the software, no matter what techniques and manners were used, there are still errors in software. To using new languages, advanced developing manner, improved development process can reduce the import of errors. However, it does not completely stop the errors. These errors should be identified by testing, and the density of errors should be estimated by testing. Testing is the basic unit in all engineering science and is the important part of software development. As the survey stated, in a typical software development project, the workload of software testing usually accounts for 40% over the overall phases, and the cost of testing accounts for 30% to 50% of the overall cost of development, if the maintenance phase was taken consideration into cost then the cost of testing would be reduced. But maintenance is known as the customization development and there must be a lot of testing work in it.

Objectives and Goals

Objectives

1. Identify as many as errors (or bugs) as possible in a given time.

2. Demonstrate a given software product matching its requirement specifications.

3. Validate the quality of software testing using the minimum cost and efforts.

 4. Generate high quality test cases, perform effective tests, and issue correct and helpful problem reports.

Goals

• Identify the errors in the software, including errors in:
• Requirements from requirement analysis
• Design documentation in design specifications
• Coding
• System resources and system environment
• Hardware and Software problems

Test Strategy

The test of the Online Trading System will be planed prior to the functions achievement, concentrating on the interactions between server and client. A test plan will be created and it will include description of the test, the action in the test and functional requirement related to the test case. Once the code has been done and uploaded onto web server. The test plan will be implemented mainly pointing at the web compatibility and each model functions and will be recorded in the test log. The majority of the functions are the users‟ activities to the web and messages or information sent back and displayed to the users. For this system, each module will be tested to establish the correct pages are being achieved. The system uses top-down approach to verify down through the subsystem or sub-models created by the code solution. An object-based data flow testing approach is used. The approach is based on a test model that captures data flow test of web applications. Each entity of a web application is known as an object. The system breaks down into several objects and will be tested step by step or one by one.

1. Appendix: Risk Analysis

2. Appendix: Task List

C: Appendix: Time plan

References

• Prince, D. (1999). Online auctions at eBay. 2nd ed. Rocklin, Calif.: PRIMA TECH,
• Ullman, C. (2004). Beginning ASP.NET 1.1 with C♯.net 2003. Indianapolis, Ind.: Wrox.
• Cohn, M. (N.D.). User Stories and User Story Examples by Mike Cohn. [Online] Mountain Goat Software. Available at: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/user-stories
• Robertson, S. (N.D.). The UK’s E-Commerce Regulations. [Online] Out-law.com. Available at: https://www.out-law.com/page-431
• Aashish Pahwa. Let GO Business Model. [Online] Feedough.com. Available at: https://www.feedough.com/letgo-business-model-how-does-letgo-make-money/
• Campusboard. [Online] https://www.campusboard.co.uk/about