Like it or not, electronic auctions are here to stay. Management loves them and large numbers of corporations are quietly putting big chunks of their annual spend on the electronic block.

Do e-auctions threaten supplier relationships? Absolutely! But there are plenty of big spend categories where relationships matter very little. And even where it makes sense to partner with suppliers for the long haul, the astonishing price reductions achieved in some electronic auctions are causing many purchasing execs to wonder if the love they feel for their supplier partners might really be unrequited.

With a nod to the oft repeated caveats that,

• Reverse e-auctions are just one item in a fast-expanding array of technology options for strategic sourcing and procurement,
• Auctions should not be deployed without careful strategizing, and
• Auctions should be used in conjunction with attempts to permanently drive costs out of supply chains,
• Purchasing has called upon a group of experts to reveal some of the lessons they have learned in blazing the e-auction trail.

Because reverse electronic auctions are so new—and because they are gaining acceptance only slowly—much of the learning is still focused on strategy—when to use reverse electronic auction technology and what are the best process steps for doing so.

Growing fast, however, is a body of tactical auction knowledge. These are lessons learned, often by trial and error, about how buyers can win at the auction game without sacrificing their ethics or damaging their companies' public images. They cover: how many suppliers make a market; how to obtain adequate supplier participation; how to set starting, ceiling and reserve prices; how much and what information to reveal to bidders; how to schedule auctions; how to ensure an auction achieves the greatest price compression in the shortest period of time; how to preserve integrity as an auctioneer; how to keep suppliers coming back for future auctions; and how to behave professionally during the auction event.

Contributors to PURCHASING 's first E-Auction Playbook represent both purchasing professionals and suppliers who have participated in reverse auctions, technology developers, market makers, management consultants and other e-auction facilitators. A condensed version of PURCHASING 's E-Auction Playbook appears as a special supplement to this issue of the magazine. The complete 30-plus page PlayBook, which comes highly recommended for any purchasing professional who is thinking of deploying e-auction technology, will soon be available in the bookstore at www.purchasing.com. As always, your feedback is most welcome (e-mail to amillenporter@cahners.com).