Electronic marketplaces are the latest development in business-to-business electronic commerce. This paper describes research into the impact, and acceptance of, fully-automated e-markets by potential users in the freight industry. The main finding of the research is that users would be nervous relinquishing total control to such systems from the outset. They would like. to be able to develop a relationship with the system over time and, when trust has been established, to increase delegation and reduce, their monitoring of the system.