Bidding From the Express Agent

To bid for bandwidth from the Express agent, follow these steps:

1. Make sure the Spot market is selected in the Resource field.
2. Select Auto Strategy in the Strategy field.
3. Select a valuation in the Valuation View field. (For a description of the methods of valuation, see Merkato Buyers’ Reference Manual, “Valuation Overview.”)
4. In the Units fields, you can make changes to money, time, or bandwidth units. Changing units doesn’t change your bid—it changes the display to show the units you choose.
5. In the Min Qty field, enter the Minimum bandwidth you want to buy. (A line through this field means that no entry is necessary.)
6. In the Max Qty field, enter the maximum bandwidth you want to buy. (A line through this field means that no entry is necessary.) If the maximum quantity is the all the seller is selling, check the Max Qty = All check box.
7. In the Budget/Max Value field, enter the appropriate currency per unit/time value for the valuation you selected. For budget-based valuations, this is the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend on the acceptable range of bandwidth you want to buy. For other valuations, this value is related to the maximum you are willing to spend, but does not directly correspond to it. The Merkato Buyers’ Reference Manual, “Valuation Overview” explains how to configure these details for each valuation.)
8. When you are satisfied with all entries, click Apply. The “Current Valuation” display changes to the Valuation View you configured.
9. If you want to begin bidding now, click the active radio button in the Status area.
10. Click Apply to begin bidding. A Bid field appears in the display, indicating the amount of your current bid. Click Refresh to update this display at any time.
11. In five to ten minutes (depending on the length of the auction), click Refresh again. The Allocation field appears. It displays the bandwidth you have won, and its cost, in the completed auction. Click Refresh to update this display.