Generally speaking, individuals often provide items for sale via online auction systems. Conventional online auction systems may conduct an electronic auction of the item on behalf of a provider (e.g., a seller) of the item. For example, an online auction system may make the item available for bidding by members of the general public and facilitate provision of the item from the provider and a winning bidder.
Conventional online auction systems have various limitations and drawbacks. For example, an individual supplying an item for auction may be unable to identify other individuals who may want the item and notify them that the item is available via the online auction system. Similarly, an individual who is interested in acquiring a particular item or perusing potential items of interest that are relevant to the individual may have to search a conventional online auction system and possibly wade through irrelevant items to determine whether the particular item is available or otherwise find potential items of interest.
Further, conventional online auction systems do not provide enough control over the individuals who may participate in the auction. For example, while some online auction systems may allow the individual providing the item to block particular individuals from participating in the auction, they typically do not facilitate targeting potentially interested individuals to participate in the auction.
Conventional online auction systems suffer from these and other drawbacks.