A buyer's agent

Personal agents have been developed that assist user with information processing needs by generating, filtering, collecting, or transforming information. On the other hand internet stores are providing services customized by the needs and interests of individual customers. Such services can be viewed as "seller's agents" whose goal is to push merchandise and/or services on to the users. This leads us to believe that there is a growing need for deploying "buyer's agents" whose goal is to best serve the user's interests. In particular, such agents should alert the user of the complex interactions between specified preferences and prevailing market conditions. The availability of such information makes the user a more informed customer. We discuss the design and prototype implementation of a buyer's agent in an apartment locator application.

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