A system and method of initiating an online auction. The system receives a request to acquire at least one line item using the online auction from a buyer and presents a data collection template to the buyer, where the data collection template is being used to collect data having a plurality of attributes relating to the line item being auctioned in the online auction. The system also generates, in response to at least one of the attributes of the data collected from the buyer, a report showing the data including at least one of the attributes relating to the line item and transmits the report to at least one supplier.