Agents for E-Commerce

They are there to enable:
Need identification: helping the user identify some need he has which is met by an existing product.
Product brokering: the consumer obtains information about the features of the products that are available.
Merchant brokering: the consumer obtains information about the merchants.
Negotiation: they agree on the terms of the transaction: price, warranty, delivery method, etc.
Purchase and delivery: money and product exchange hands.
Product and service evaluation: consumer and merchant provide feedback on each other.