39 A Web-Based Recommender System for end-of-use ICT Products Angelika I. Kokkinaki 1 , Rommert Dekker 2 , Nikos Karacapilidis 3 , Costas Pappis 4 l)Econometrics Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands Phone: +3110 4081416, Fax: +3110 408 9162 E-mail: kokkinaki@few.eur.nl 2)Econometrics Institute, Erasmus University Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands Phone: +31 10 4081274, Fax: +3110 408 9162 E-mail: rdekker@few.eur.nl 3 )Industrial Management Lab, MEAD, University of Patras, GR 265 04 Rion-Patras, Greece Phone: +30 610 997257, Fax: +30 610 997260 E-mail: nikos@mech.upatras.gr 4)Department of Industrial Management, University of Piraeus, GR 185 34 Piraeus, Greece Phone: +30 10 4142150, Fax: +30 10 4142328 E-mail: pappis@unipi.gr Abstract: Original Equipment Manufacturers in the Information and Communication Technology sector have recently started to prioritize management of their returns for several reasons. Effective management of returns is a complicated problem due to the uncertainty related to the quantity, quality, timing and place of origin of returns. Exploring the case of end-of-use PCs, this paper describes a web-based system, namely Reverse Logistics Marketplace, in which the interested parties, delegate tasks related to management of returns to software agents, instead of carrying out physical operations. PC users, interested in returning their PCs or their parts, can access the e-marketplace using the PC in request and call for a "trusted-third-party" agent to perform configuration detection and benchmarking of their PC. Potential buyers can also access the e-marketplace to register their collection requests, regarding either complete PCs or modules of them. Advanced features of the system include the permanent existence of agents in the e-marketplace to learn from conducted transactions, their ability to act proactively to initiate a transaction, J. L. Monteiro et al. (eds.), Towards the Knowledge Society © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2003