As mentioned earlier, KuwaitMart $$ com will pattern features of $($but not identical to$)$ the

Amazon.com online store $($

www$.$amazon.com$)$ and the eBay online auction website $($

www$.$ebay.com$).$ Thus, it may help to explore these websites to better understand their functions and the requirements for KuwaitMart $$ com. The following is a description of some of the basic requirements, including the types of information that must be stored and how it will be accessed.

Sale Items$-$ The focus here is the itenas for sale These items can be pretty much anything. An item is sold either by listed price or by auction. The sources of the items may be a company $($i$.$e$.,$ a supplier$)$ or an indiyidual $($i$.$e$.,$ an online seller$).$ A unique identifier is assigned to an item when it is in stock or put up for auction. This is used to identify the item. A short description $($no more than $500$ characters$)$ is associated with an item $($provided by a supplier or a seller$).$ In addition, a URL may be provided to link to a more detailed description at supplier's or seller's websites. For items in auction, the online seller may specify a reserve price $($which is hidden from the buyers$).$ A reserve price is the minimum price a seller is willing to accept for the item. At the end of the auction, if no bid is higher than the reserve price, the seller is not required to sell the item. The seller must also specify the location of the item $($i$.$e$.,$ the Country it would be shipped from$).q,$

Categories$-$ The items available at KuwaitMart $$ com are categorized using a predefined classification tree. Each node represents a set of items. The root of the tree is labeled $($All$\text{'})$ and represents allitems. Eachnode has$-$on$-$average five children $($subcategories$).$ Each, with a descriptive name, represents some subset of the items represented by the parent. An item can be specified by a path through this classification tree. For example, we may categorize an item as:

Books $>$ Business $>$ Sales; or

Electronics $>$ Phones $>$ Samsung $>$ Galaxy $...$; or

Baby $>$ Strollers $>$ Lightweight.

The depth of the tree varies but is no more than five levels deep.

Suppliers$-$ All the suppliers of items sold at KuwaitMart $$ com are maintained in the database. Supplier information includes company name, address, point of contact $($person$),$ phone number, company category, revenue, etc.

Registered Users$-$ To sell or bid on an item, a user must be registered. A registered user is identified by a user name and authenticated with a password. In addition, the

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